Posts Tagged ‘Vacuum Forming’

Case #2 for Gman

Posted: 03/22/2013 in General News
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Case #2 for [Gman] is almost done. Unlike the last case, this one was done up from scratch. Though I love vacuum forming and making these from nothing more than a block of wood, the whole process is a great deal more time consuming. With that said, this is probably one of the best vacuum formed casings I’ve made to date and I’m quite proud with not only the form but the quality of the cuts and general layout.

Most will notice right away that this resembles the [Wii U] controller. That was the point, however now a Game Cube portable is going to be stuffed into it! And I say stuffed because apparently the commissioner is going to be putting the whole original disc drive into it as opposed to the now standard [WiiKey Fusion] mod chips that allow people to play ROMs of their games via SD card. But it should be interesting to see the progress on in the near future!

Got a few more jobs to finish up and then in the next couple of weeks the meet-up so things are about to get crazy busy! Loving every second of it though and can’t wait!

GeneBoy Reloaded Still for Sale!

Posted: 09/16/2012 in General News
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Still up for grabs people! This is the only one of its kind and is a great bargain! I’d still like $225 for it but if you have a reasonable offer, I’ll gladly give it consideration. Please let me know, all proceeds go to help make me less poor…it’s a sad story. hehehe.

Case making to a new level!

Posted: 09/16/2012 in General News
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In a time span of less than a week, my knowledge of CNC work has grown over 100% and I still don’t feel like I’ve scratched the surface. As you can see by the video, I did my first test cut on a vacuum-formed casing. The results were nothing less than perfect in terms of how the machine performed. I had a few errors in my design which resulted in the cutting of right buttons twice making them far too big, but that was not the machines fault.

This was cut in about a 6 or 7 minute span and would have been only 5 had I had my drawing done correctly. But the cuts and the placement came out beautifully! This really is an exciting step for me as it gives me the confidence that I can take my work to the next level. Time alone will tell how far this goes, but I have to say that I’m more excited by today’s results than I’ve been with anything for awhile! (Modding wise of course).

I’ll have more projects coming up shortly (like today) that further shows the capabilities of this machine, software and user! Stay tuned!

New Shop, New Equipment

Posted: 09/02/2012 in General News
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Well, it’s official! I’m venturing into the world of CNC milling and CAD. I suppose this isn’t much of a stretch considering where I am now in my modding career, but it’s still a pretty big step for me.

On Thursday, August 30th I bit the proverbial bullet and pushed the “Buy It Now” button and got my first CNC Router enroute from California. This is a very small, very basic unit which runs via PC software (Mach3). I’d been on the fence with it for quite awhile as starting out is always a very penny-pinching practice, but there is no question that if I were to move forward with this endeavor, I was going to need one and get good at using it quickly.

I spent close to 4 hours with MBB forum user Electro Modder from the UK  via video chat on Thursday and he gave me the basic run down on the design and conversion software. For being so young he certainly knows his stuff to a more advanced level than would be expected, but I suppose that’s what happens when you’re not chasing women yet. haha. Technically I’m in the same boat now too really, being married and all, so I think I’ll catch up pretty quick!

Anyway, back on topic.

After getting home on Saturday afternoon, I spent the evening (2:30 to 11:30) tearing apart my workshop as I needed to make a bench sturdy enough to hold the machine as well as house the XP computer I had hiding in my closet.  This made some very nice improvements to the shop as well as adding an entirely new workstation where the paint cabinet used to be.  I’ll post some new pics of the shop once the CNC Mill gets here (hopefully Thursday) next week.

But anyway, I’ve still got quite a bit of work to do to get ready for it’s arrival. Posts may be a bit further in between than normal because of this, but fear not, it’s just building for the next post which will have a lot of cool advances to read about!

With that said though, I’m actively taking commissions for work now, weather it be a portable, a case, a controller or something electronically related! Hit me up if you’ve got an idea you want to throw my way!

GeneBoy Reloaded Complete!

Posted: 08/23/2012 in Current Project, General News
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Wow, been a busy day and at the end of it all is a nice, sleek looking portable! This certainly turned into a project that was a bit more involved than I was hoping for, but nevertheless, I’m 100 times happier with the outcome of this one than the first version.

Everything from internal layout and external handling has been altered and for the better. You can check out the full work log here over at MBB or you can watch the video at the end of the post to get a feel for how this all came together.

So, with that out of the way, I redid this so I could sell and not feel morally guilty about it! It’s still not perfect, but it is something I’m proud of. Let me know what you think of you’re interested in this! $225 shipped is what I’m asking which considering there’s about $180 worth of parts alone and 25 hours in just this version, that’s not a very steep price. hehe.

Well, have many other projects to attend to! Hope you enjoy!

Original GeneBoy Video

Two more cases en-route to the UK

Posted: 07/07/2012 in General News
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My new best customer, Evil Nod from the Made-by-Bacteria Forums, last week commissioned me to to make two cases for his two new portable gaming system commissions he just took on. These again were just case shells that I made up from wooden molds. Though this was a simple design for both of them, the thicknesses were a bit of an issue and when trying to form both at once, I ran into issues and had to redo them a couple of times. But it’s still a learning process.

These cases are not fully finished in the sense that they are cut to their final thickness. Evil Nod likes to cut them down after the fact so he is sure he has enough room to make it work. Can’t say I blame him and it saves me a step, but that’s why they don’t look like they line up properly. They will when he cuts them down.

You can view his progress on both builds at the links below. Looking forward to seeing the progress when they get across the pond!

Evil Nod’s SNES Commission

Evil Nod’s N64 Commission

Also if you’re new to my work, you can see other successful portable systems that I did case shells for!

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