Hacking My Custom Nintendo DS...

[Apache Thunder]

It took a combined 20+ hours of work. But I finally finished rebuilding my DS with a new shell:

(odd angle for third one was needed for LCD screens to show properly)

Initially I thought I broke it, since afterwards the DS wouldn't boot up. But I fixed that. It turns out the DS is real temperamental when it comes to how well the ribben cables for the LCD screens have to be inserted. If they are out of the jack even slightly, the DS won't start.

A few of the original parts are still present. The right end bracket (were the LEDs are), and the R and L buttons. This is because the clear version of the buttons don't fit well, and the LED bracket thing has bad screws. So I had to use some of the parts from the original shell. But this is only a minor inconvenience for me.

Now I have a cool DS with clear shell! It takes lots of work to do this. Especially for me, since I have the fine motor skills of a 5 year old lol. I have trouble handling the small parts and such. So it took me quite a bit of time to do this.

If you plan on doing this your self. I would recommend you have someone else do it for you. Its a pain in the arse to do! Believe me. It took me 2 hours just to get the dam springs for the R and L buttons to stay in place! Not to mention the top screen is a bitch to work with. You have to roll up the ribben cable and squeeze it through a small hole. Its a slow process if you don't want to brake anything.

So what do you think? You have a custom shell for your DS/PSP/other gaming console.

Screw the cheap ass shell casing things they have. This is a full shell replacement. Not those cheap cover type things that go on top of it.

Just a little warning here, this will definitely void the heck out of your warranty!

EDIT: (6/6/2011) Devin is now the proud owner of this DS. I am parting with this to buy the new 3DS which I plan to rebuild in the same style as this one as soon as replacement cases become available for the 3DS.

 

[DanTheManMS]

I've always been partial to clear cases, but this one is just friggin awesome. Good job man!

 

[Apache Thunder]

Thanks! Its not 100% clear, notice that a few parts are white instead. Some of the shells found out there arn't as high quality as the original Nintendo shells, so I had a few problems with a few parts. But in the end it makes my DS that more unique from the rest.

 

[jalaneme]

http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=908...90&start=90

 

[crazyazn5]

Good Job. XD

 

[Toni Plutonij]

Nice job....It's great you got it working in the end..and 20 hours....wow, that's a long time..
I did mine in about 4 hours (actually less, but it's was because of the problems I had with mixing cases)..

And, it's not THAT hard, there are some crucial parts, where you have to be really careful, but it's doable..

And I know what have you gone trough with shoulder buttons springs, I spent over one hour to set them up, and then I realized that clear buttons don't fit so well, so I used white ones..

All in all, nice mod..

 

[TaMs]

I don't really like clear cases, but well it's your ds.

but well good work i guess.

 

[Licardo7]

Crap, I think I broke my DS too. I'll see if putting the ribbon cables on properly will fix it.

 

[crazyazn5]

I thought i screwed by ds up cuz i kinda had a few scratches on the main ribbon to the top screen. When I placed the battery in, it didnt turn on. But when I finished nothing happened. My friend's ds had a problem with the top screen cuz he bent it. =P

 

[Joey90]

20 hours? Did you just sort of look at it most f the time?

It took me under 2 hours...

It also looks kinda odd with random white parts...

(We are kinda desensitised to casemods because so many people have done them)

 

[Wabsta]

I like it!

 

[javad]

Love it, you really did do a good job

 

[keras]

Nice work. But I don´t have 20 hours to do that

.

 

[-Mew-]

GJ!

 

[laminaatplaat]

Cool shell to bad the build quality is so bad, i want to do that too with a clear shell but i want it to be perfect

(so no old pieces) .

 

[Mohammad]

hmm I can't see the pics, I'm on a mac... any other mac users see it?

 

[flamesmaster]

Very very funkey.

 

[Salamantis]

hmm I can't see the pics, I'm on a mac... any other mac users see it?

Yep, I can see them. Must be something with your internet.

 

[pasc]

the case looks gorgeus ! Great work

ah, and what is the thing running on the 3rd pic ?

 

[Rowan]

i dont like clear shell it looks kinda gay (please dont flame)