Ultimate Pi Zero W emulator machine inside SNES Cartridge

thingiverse

This is a 1 day project I did. All 3D printed pieces were designed and printed in the same day and the whole machine was also assembled during that same day. At around 10:30PM I was playing games on it. If you want to build one for youself, what you'll need is: - 1x MicroUsbBracket.stl - 1x USBPortsBracket.stl - 2x PiZeroBracket.stl - 1x Raspberry Pi Zero W - 1x Raspberry Pi Copper heatsink (the copper ones have a lower profile) - 1x Micro SD card (at least 8GB) - [RetroPie Image for Raspberry Pi Zero](https://retropie.org.uk/download/) - 4x M2 Threaded brass metal inserts (Can be salvaged from old laptops) - 4x M2 Screws, at least 5mm long and at most 7mm long. (can be found with the brass inserts) - 1x Mini-HDMI to HDMI cable adapter. 1 foot long or shorter, the shorter the better. - 2x Small cable tie - 4x USB type A ports - 1x USB micro port. (also include some heatshrink that fits around it. The bracket for the USB micro port was designed for a very tight fit when heatshrink is used) - 1x [4-port NanoHub](https://www.tindie.com/products/mux/4-port-nanohub-tiny-usb-hub-for-hacking-projects/) - 1x SNES cartridge of your choice (can be found on ebay for varying prices) - (if damaged SNES catridge) SNES replacement game stickers - A bunch of 22AWG wires of different colors (red, black, green and white for standard usb colors) - Solder and soldering iron - Utility knife or rotary tool (for modding the cartridge) - (not requiered but useful) Solder sucker - A LOT OF PATIENCE. This project requieres to solder extremely tiny solder holes/pads, so take your time and never go faster than you think you can. #### Notes: HDMI adapter might need to be trimmed down to flatten it so it can fit in the cartridge. Catridge needs to be moddified at many places inside: - Cut away the middle support. - Cut all walls in the connector opening. - Remove the corner supports - Might need to remove the extra supports on the tabs of the top cover, you'll see if you can't close it. All 3D printed pieces are held in place using super glue. The USB ports are reinforced from the inside with hot glue and the HDMI female end of the adapter is glued to the catridge using super glue after flattening its surface. Threaded brass inserts are inserted in the brackets by placing them on top of the holes in the brackets and then pushing into them with a soldering iron that is turned on. After the brass heats up (takes about 5 seconds) it will start sinking inside the PLA piece very easily. Simply push them down until they are flat with the top of the pieces or push them down a bit lower, since the brackets were designed so that longer screws can be used. Solder 2 cables to the Micro USB port, one for 5V+ and one for GND, then add the heatshrink around it and heat it up. Once assembled, simply pass the wires through the hole of the bracket and push the port inside until it's flat with the wall. Make sure you insert it in the correct orientation, because it's almost impossible to get the port out of the hole without damaging it once it's fully inserted. You will probably need to a pair of small tweezers to take the micro sd card in and out of the pi zero. Don't force it, it can break and ruin your whole raspberry pi board. #### Extra Notes: I purposely do not talk about how you should wire the USB hub or the USB ports and which pads you should solder to on the raspberry pi zero because I believe that this kind of project should only be done by people who understand how these things work and how to solder properly (even if my soldering isn't that good). All missing information to build this project is easy to find with some quick research on Google, so if you're not able to find the information I purposely didn't mention here on your own, then maybe this project is too advanced for you. I'm open to helping others build this if they ask it in the comments, but this is a learning experience and you should go through it all if you want to understand how all of these things work.