This Walnut Stewart's G3 Box Hides a Fully-Functional Raspberry Pi Gaming System and Four Speakers

Made up of three pentagons, three squares, and seven equilateral triangles, this impressive EmulationStation build is a wooden wonder.

Gareth Halfacree
2 years agoArt / Gaming / Retro Tech

Pseudonymous woodworker and electronics enthusiast "mw33212" is back with another portable gaming build, this time housing a Raspberry Pi single-board computer in an unusual folding "Stewart's G3" box — with enough room for a display, amp, and four speakers.

"This build for a good friend who supplied the Raspberry Pi and had seen some of my other console builds. Case is 10mm walnut, hand tools and a cordless drill for the build," mw33212 of his latest creation. "Second time making this shape, last attempt was a smaller keepsake box - for those interested, the shape is known as 'Stewart's G3.' 13 faces: 3 pentagons, 3 squares and 7 equilateral triangles, all edges of equal length."

Inside the unusual box, hidden underneath a hinged lid, is a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B running the popular EmulationStation software along with an amplifier connected to four speakers, a transformer — though, this time around, no battery pack — and a 7" colour LCD. There's even room for two wireless controllers, located beneath the screen.

This latest build is far from mw33212's first blend of woodwork and electronic tinkering: Earlier this year the maker showed off a walnut-encased system with three displays designed to keep a child entertained; a month later came the unveiling of a custom laptop, again constructed from walnut; while a month after that was a rather more practically-shaped wooden gaming system hiding a built-in projector.

"Challenging little build," mw33212 admits of the difficulties cramming a functional gaming system into a Stewart's G3 box. "I really do like the shape but it was incredibly impractical for this purpose!"

More details are available on the project's Reddit thread.

Gareth Halfacree
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.
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