SNES (SNS-001)

Print at your own risk warning: Without at least reading through the list of fitment issues with the original and V2 prints, this can damage the original bottom shell of your SNES if you try to attach it. I am going to upload a V3 which may fix some of these issues, but I don't know if they will match the tolerances of every SNES shell or if they will resolve the issues stated fully

Print files are for a Elegoo CC2 Combo


My goal for this project was to create a replacement SNES shell top that would allow me to play Japanese carts on my US SNES without physically damaging the shell. Normally, you can just break out the tabs in your SNES to play carts from any NTSC region, but this results in permanent damage.

After some research, I found a 3D model of the shell which was not designed for 3D printing as far as I could tell. My first instinct was to reprint the whole shell since it was likely not a great idea to try to mate a printed model top shell with the original base. After looking at the print time and material cost, I decided it was not a great idea to try to print the shell as there are no flat surfaces to print off the base and a serious amount of support would need to be added. I then did some quick measurements and decided to create a flattened top shell that still mounted to the original base and had a completely open slot so that any game could be placed.

The first draft that I created leaves the original spacing for the slider buttons and the eject button. It required further redesign, but I did print it (in transparent green PLA), and it was 90% of the way there. I am going to also upload this version in case anyone wants to work off of it, and list the major problems below:

1) This is the most important thing to consider if you are printing this to put on an original base shell. The original 3D model did not account for the depth of the screws (it didn't model the screw thread at all) and if you fully tighten the original M3 self tapping screws you can put enough pressure on the base that it cracks around the screw. I recommend only screwing it in until it just feels secure, I did end up cracking one of the screw holes on my base shell. I had originally considered using heat-set inserts for the screw holes which may also help, but I didn't have them on hand when I test fit this. I am not going to try to engineer in stops for any of the models that I upload, so this will always be an issue unless you do it manually. 

2) The locating tabs along the perimeter of the V2 shell have the potential to damage or chip the existing plastic when press fitting the shell onto to bottom half. This happened in a few locations on mine, so I ended up clipping out a lot of them with flush cutters. I am probably going to remove them just to be safe, which should allow the print to rest easily on top of the original base.

3) The perimeter left around the eject button is too small, and causes it to interfere. I cut back this lip on my first print and the eject button now works perfectly. I'm going to just remove this section in the second revision.

4) the power button slider box is too far to the right because it doesn't account for the offset used in the original shell to grab and bush the switch. I plan to redesign these cutouts so that they are located correctly and are smaller to just allow you to reach through and press the power and reset switches without huge unnecessary holes, but I don't plan to redesign the original switch function (which would require much more complex prints). I think having a vertical chamber which bottoms out at the switch and blocks your finger form accidentally getting under the shell would make sense, but I don't really feel like modeling that right now.

5) the screw holes did work for some of the screw locations using original hardware, as the M3s that come with the system are self-tapping. However, not all of the holes line up, in my case the back two didn't line up well, and i'm not sure what the tolerances were on the original case so I don't know if that was because the original print was flawed or just made off of a slightly different top shell. I will relocate these holes based on my measurements (basically offsetting for where the self tapping screws left a mark), but I don't know if I will actually print the V3 yet as I mostly got what I was originally shooting for. (I believe they are both off by about 1 mm down and 1 mm to the left when viewing it from the bottom).

6) the screw mount points for the two locations around the cartridge slot got deleted in V2 and I plan to add them back in for V3, but I may not get it completely correct. Without them in V2, the shell fits perfectly fine, you would just leave the two middle screws out.

I ended up doing a few things for a V2.5, and a V3 which should fix everything noted here (but has not been test printed or fit yet, so may need further readjustment on the top holes and top four screw points).