Updated: 07/23/2019
ORDERING CLOSED
Introductory Price $175 + shipping
Order your Metal PiBoy kit today. Each kit will include the following:
- Metal PiBoy aluminum billet front and back housing
- Aluminum back cover buttons, set of 4 (LS, RS, LT, RT)
- Laser cut acrylic screen protector
- Aluminum LCD screen spacer
- LED indicator diffuser
- Aluminum LCD screen backplate
- Aluminum battery cover
- Metal screws (set of 25)
- Hex keys (3 piece set)
Each kit is $175 + USPS shipping. (In USA $15 flat rate shipping, worldwide $40 flat rate shipping)
USA customers click here for order form I only accept mailed payments at this time.
Customers outside the USA email me about sending Western Union payment.
Since I can only work on these after my day job, I'm estimating it will take me a couple months to get everything produced. These metal housings are obviously much more expensive than injection molded plastic housings but if you are wanting to build a GameBoy that is truly unique, then this kit is for you.
I'm not a professional pcb designer so it's taken me a little longer to get the bugs worked out of the control and power pcb's. There are a couple minor things I'm still working through and they are listed below. I will make the Metal PiBoy pcb files available for download so anybody can tweak the boards and have their own produced. I'll also sell the blank (unpopulated) pcb boards later. I'm not setup to mass produce assembled pcb's but I may consider building a few for guys who can't solder their own. I manually pick and place the components with tweezers and then reflow them one at a time in a modified toaster oven. Needless to say it's very time consuming.
Known issues:
- 13khz range buzz in speakers only when screen is on. Might be a poor quality LCD screen. You need to be very quite in order to hear it. I will be testing a shielded wire and also a different LCD screen.
- If using cheap silicon pads, you may need to use a thin spacer behind d-pad to get proper button travel. Authentic GameBoy silicon pads don't have this issue.
NOTE: The Metal PiBoy internal layout is slightly different than the GameBoy DMG so aftermarket control boards won't work with the Metal PiBoy.
All aluminum parts will be left raw so you can apply your own finish and color. With just a little sanding and polishing you can have your housing look like a mirror. The Metal PiBoy uses standard GameBoy DMG buttons, d-pad, silicon pads and power switch. A few of the things you will have to provide is the Raspberry Pi, LCD screen, battery, speakers, PCB's, front buttons and silicon pads.
If you have any questions please email me at justin@cncguns.com
Coming soon:
- build tutorial
- list of exact components to complete build
- Raspberry Pi build image
- aluminum d-pad, ABXY buttons, and power switches
Metal PiBoy Design Features:
- Classic GameBoy DMG size and shape but in a heavy duty metal case
- Raspberry Pi Zero W soldered with wires so it can be removed if needed
- 3.5" LCD screen
- Thick screen protector
- Independent power and LCD switches
- LED indicators: power, low battery, charging and fully charged
- Uses standard GameBoy DMG buttons, d-pad, silicon pads and power switch
- Micro USB charging port
- HDMI out. Restart the Pi with the LCD switch off and HDMI will be output
- Bluetooth controller friendly
- USB Type A port for a keyboard, mouse, etc.
- Integrated USB hub
- External volume adjustment dial
- Rear buttons: Left Trigger, Left Shoulder, Right Trigger, Right Shoulder
- Power reset button in case the Pi gets locked up.
- Atmega32u4 microcontroller
- Headphone jack
- Dual speaker for stereo sound
- 3w Class-D stereo audio amplifier
- PWM audio filter just like on the Raspberry Pi 3
- Built in power boost 1000c
- Safe shutdown circuit
- Battery monitor circuit
- Adafruit Lithium Ion battery pack - 3.7V 4400mAh