Portable Handheld Rasberry PI Console.
Just like the title says, this project is a portable handheld gaming console powered by a Raspberry PI 3B+. It houses a 5inch screen, two speakers for sound, custom FDM printed buttons and case, duel Nintendo Switch joysticks, and a legitimate membrane D-pad and buttons hacked from a 3rd party Super Nintendo Controller. The goal of this project was to build the console using as many off-the-shelf parts as possible.
The internals.
In terms of circuitry and wiring, this project was challenging from a technical standpoint. I had to learn a new soldering technique to incorporate the Nintendo Switch joysticks into this build. Some of the internals consist of a lithium polymer battery, audio amp, a Teensyduino (for controls), and a power bank board which supplies power to all the components.
Bottom side.
This side of the console gives you access to a micro USB port for charging the console, a USB Type-A port to charge other devices like a cell phone, battery level indicator, and access to Raspberry Pi’s micro SD card slot.
Topside.
This side of the console contains the on-off switch, another USB Type-A port for peripherals like a keyboard or a second controller, a headphone jack, a volume dial, and four trigger buttons.
Backside.
Not much on this side except for lots of ventilation to passively cool the Raspberry Pi during operation. I resisted active cooling to increase operating time.
Prototyping.
This project required many hours of prototyping to ensure that the dimensions and tolerance for all the components were sufficient. This was done by meticulously checking every component separately, designing and printing small portions of the device before incorporating everything into the final model.
The Pi.
In order to reduce the console’s footprint, I removed the two USB port stacks and the ethernet port from the Raspberry Pi. I also installed the largest heatsink that fit the Pi to aid in passively cooling the CPU. The small aluminum square-shaped heatsink at the top is the usual size sold for the Pi. In my testing, I experienced no throttling.