MiSTer FPGA Forum

Nice. I like the style of your case.

Would it be considered off-topic to show off one's overall retro setup in this thread? My actual MiSTer is kinda pedestrian (so far), but it is part of a fairly elaborate retro console gaming environment I've built up over the years.

antibolo wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:56 pm Would it be considered off-topic to show off one's overall retro setup in this thread? My actual MiSTer is kinda pedestrian (so far), but it is part of a fairly elaborate retro console gaming environment I've built up over the years.

i wouldnt consider it OT
MiSTer does not work by itself
lets see it

Awesome case design @bluescrn! Nice to see something other than the generic rectangles. Do you think you will ever share the files?

@bluescrn very nice and different from the usual 3d printed tower of power type case......its turned out really nice

https://imgur.com/gallery/OW99vtP

Here is my Astro City/PVM/LG OLED setup!

Mmsiphone wrote: ↑Sun Jul 12, 2020 8:02 pm https://imgur.com/gallery/OW99vtP

Here is my Astro City/PVM/LG OLED setup!

great setup Mmsiphone
love it

Here's my stealthish MiSTer Famicom. Bought a broken Famicom a few years ago from Japan and originally wanted to throw a pi in there, but this is much better imho. I love the fact that the 8bitdo fc30 controllers fit directly in the side slots. It integrates a 4A psu, a 3 port usb hub and 2 controller dongles.
The one thing I wanted though was add a hardware reset switch without the IO board, but I don't understand electronics well enough to read the schematics. If anybody here knows of a way, please let me know.

That's amazing! Well done on such a clean retrofit too!

My humble setup

Nice work!

p60091 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 8:13 pm Here's my stealthish MiSTer Famicom. Bought a broken Famicom a few years ago from Japan and originally wanted to throw a pi in there, but this is much better imho. I love the fact that the 8bitdo fc30 controllers fit directly in the side slots. It integrates a 4A psu, a 3 port usb hub and 2 controller dongles.

The one thing I wanted though was add a hardware reset switch without the IO board, but I don't understand electronics well enough to read the schematics. If anybody here knows of a way, please let me know.

This is fantastic!

here are my mister actual setup


the printable case is freely available here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4343777

That's awesome, love it for a computer form factor.

Juri wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 9:43 am here are my mister actual setup

the printable case is freely available here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4343777

Spectacular!

B&O omg:)
super tidy inside and out

Thanks! It was my first foray into electronics and metalwork in *very* long time. I would have loved to mount the d-types on the inside but my hole-saw skills weren't up to it. The LED circuit board saga continues in the 'Official Add-on Boards' section. It's an HD-Recorder case, so I'm desperate to see the 'Replay' text light up!

All of the custom cases on here look awesome! Great work, everyone!

Inspired by all of you, I made a wooden case and (somewhat) matching joystick for my MiSTer setup.

I sandwiched several layers of different types of wood together to get some interesting stripes, and left some gaps in some of the layers to create openings in the front of the case to allow the exhaust fan in the back to draw air inside the case and over the heatsinks.

get wood for wood

lots of little details in those pics.
decased psu with AC switching
lettering on the ports
three (?) heatsinks on the SOC

what else ??

Beautiful work!

Think my next case is gonner have to be wood, now.

what a great job you've made there Zach.. love it..

I been sitting on posting this for a while now, but now I got some time off I decided its better now that later.
I put everything into a metal electronics project box enclosure measuring 9.8" x 7.5" x 4.3" which is more room that what I wanted to do, as I also want to include a hard drive into my enclosure.

Here the front. With 4 of the USB ports extended, indicator lights and IO Buttons, and a latching light-up push button for power

Back. To the left is the hot swap bay for a 2.5" HDD, an SD card extension, access to the MiSTer Rear IO and the Power Only USB connector is there for a Wii Sensor Bar.

Inside case shot. Ignore that green piece of shrink wrap, that was taken out after the picture was take.

Side shot with the MiSTer it self and the custom USB extension cables.

Side view of the Hotswap bay with an attached SATA to USB adapter board pulled from an external drive enclosure.
After I took this pic the board died and replaced it with a board pulled from a external Seagate laptop hard drive

bazza_12 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 4:45 am what a great job you've made there Zach.. love it..

Thanks a lot!

Geords wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 12:55 am Beautiful work!

Think my next case is gonner have to be wood, now.

Thank you! And yes, please do build a cool wooden case and post photos here for everyone to see!

muthuxmut wrote: ↑Fri Aug 14, 2020 12:11 am get wood for wood

lots of little details in those pics.
decased psu with AC switching
lettering on the ports
three (?) heatsinks on the SOC

what else ??

Great attention to detail!

There are actually four small heatsinks on the SOC, two black and two blue, but you can't see them all due to the angle of the photo. That's just what I already had, and they're stuck on chip 2 x 2 to cover the entire surface. They seem to work great, but could certainly look better.

Yes, I'm switching the AC going in to the PSU which has been opened up to allow for better cooling since it's inside the case with all of the other components. It all stays very cool in there. The power switch lights up, too.

The lettering is printed on waterslide decal paper, and the decals are applied in between layers of 2K clear coat. They're just like guitar headstock decals, and are protected by and encased in the clear gloss finish.

One more cool thing: The "lid" of the case is a single piece of poplar with two little pegs/hooks on the front corners which stick down at an angle into holes on the bottom of the case. It's then pulled back tight toward the back of the case, and two small screws go at an upward angle from the back of the case up into the lid to hold it down and back. This way you don't see any screws from the front or sides, but it's easy to take out those two screws to open up the case for modifications or repairs.

nice job on the hotswap bay there.
lots to like in this build too

muthuxmut wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 1:38 am nice job on the hotswap bay there.
lots to like in this build too

Thanks.

I know my Metal cutting leave some to be desired. But I want to get some functions in that I haven't seen in a MiSTer case yet.
For me that was putting in a Hotswap drive.

The exact Hotswap drive I was using is no longer on Amazon, but this is almost the exact same thing
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Alu ... 00H91BXJU/

I want the whole thing to be tool-less, No Keys, no cartage or tray to load, and has to take a 2.5" HDD. It has Sata output so you still have to provide a SATA to USB adapter. I used some 3.5" to 5.25" Metal mounting brackets with one side of each bracket hacked off so I can maintain the 3.5" footprint, the brackets also allows me to mount the Hotswap bay to the case (as the only mount holes are on the sides of the hotswap bay.

Outside of my MiSTer I been using this SATA to US adapter with my MiSTer drive, https://amazon.com/gp/product/B011M8YACM/
You can use it with the hotswap bay too, but you have to be careful you have enough clearance for it to fit.

I also borrowed ideas heavily from @terminator2k2 who has the first post in the thread.

darksakul wrote: ↑Sat Aug 15, 2020 5:44 am
I know my Metal cutting leave some to be desired. But I want to get some functions in that I haven't seen in a MiSTer case yet.

some cases are pure art.
some are pure function.
i see the beauty in both

Here's mine