Arduboy Handheld Gaming Console Gets Upgraded by Removing the PCB
Johan Von Konow's 3DPCBoy is an adorable, Arduboy-compatible gaming device that costs around $10 to make.
The Arduboy, created by Kevin Bates, is a Game Boy-like handheld gaming console that debuted back in 2014 as a successful Kickstarter project. The console packs an ATmega32U4 microcontroller (32Kb Flash, 2.5Kb RAM, 1Kb EEPROM), 128 x 64 OLED, six momentary tactile buttons, two-channel piezo speakers, and a 180mAh thin-film lithium polymer battery. All of that hardware is packed inside of an enclosure about the size of a thick credit card.
The Arduboy is a great design, certainly so for a Game Boy emulator, but designs can always be improved upon, which is what Swedish engineer Johan Von Konow did by 3D printing an Arduboy enclosure with ready-made channels for all of the wiring. Von Konow's 3DPCBoy essentially does away with the traditional PCB and replaces it with a 3D-printed version to keep the hardware from being consumed by a rats nest of wires.
Von Konow 3D-printed the housing with all the necessary holes and wiring traces built into the print, which lets him connect all of the hardware without the need for wiring, which includes an Arduino Pro Micro, 0.96" monochrome OLED display, and a half-dozen round push buttons. It’s also outfitted with a piezo-electric speaker, slide switch, and a 1000mAh Li-ion battery. Von Konow has uploaded a detailed walkthrough of his 3DPCBoy handheld gaming console on his project page (linked above), complete with all the necessary STL files for those interested in recreating his build.