Designing a 8Bitdo SN30 Pro+ docking station
Getting started
I bought two of these 8bitdo pro controllers for a steal on ebay, they’re not the latest, but still well regarded controllers with rechargable batteries. My problem is that there was no off the shelf solution for a docking station to charge them.
For the initial sketched I used canvases with images calibrated via a ruler to draw out some of the more complex curves, i.e. the back of the controller and the usb port c model
The parts
| Item | Cost | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Pack usbc-usbc cables | £5.99 | internal wiring of the dock two needed |
| 2 Pack usbc splitter | £9.99 | one needed, acts as the ‘port’ on the back of the unit |
| Threaded inserts | £10.99 | Optional as could be glued in place, I used 4 M4x8.1x6.3mm inserts |
| M3 Bolts + Nuts | - | Around 200mm long used to fasten the cable using the ‘cable holder’ could also be glued |
Rapid prototyping
Rather than design the whole project, I’d design it in small parts with small test prints with the idea being to rapidly test each fit would be right, this allowed me to solve fit problems early.
For example I modeled the usb port based on images, but due to depth some of the measurements would be off by 0.1mm - 0.4mm which would cause the usb c cable to not quite fit into the slots modeled too, so I would slowly scale up the models and print again until a nice fit was made.
I designed the dock to just clamp in all the cables, but they can also just be glued into the inserts. I finally added a little 8BitDo logo to the front with a slight indentation just using the text tool
Final result
