Introduction: Nintendo Controller Business Card Holder! W/sound

Finally! A card holder that shows your co-workers you have been kicking video game butt since the 80's!

This is my first instructable AND my first "project." I haven't attempted to build anything since 8th grade shop class I think. So it is not perfect and in fact my true hopes for posting this instructable is that someone will take it and modify it, make a better one and post it on here. All criticism and tips are welcomed.

Alright so what you see here in the main pic is classic NES controller with a hole cut in the top.... How exciting right! No... Yea, your right that's not very exciting is it. Actually what you see here is a classic NES controller with not just a hole in the top but also with functional A and B buttons in which the A button produces the classic 1 up sound and the B button produces the classic coin sound both from the original Mario! Now that is exciting. Lets start off by listing what you will need for this project.

1.)Classic NES controller....... duh dude! or dudette... sorry.
2.)A small phillips head or flat head screw driver
3.)Mario classic sounds keychain. (found mine at www.thinkgeek.com)
4.)Rotary tool
5.)Hobby or Exacto knife
6.)Hot Glue Gun
7.)A door hinge
8.)Safety Glasses (Remember! The cool thing you build wont look as cool if your seeing it through only one eye!)

Step 1: Lets Get Jiggy Wit It!

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the keychain before I disassembled it but based on what you see it should be pretty easy to figure out what it is I bought. Like I said just go to www.thinkgeek.com for the key-chain. Although of course you can find it other places as well.

First thing of course is to take the screws out of the the NES controller. Go ahead and remove them from the key-chain while your at it.

After removing the screws go ahead and gut the NES controller. What your gonna wanna save is the A, B buttons, the rubber backing for the A, and B buttons. The start select buttons. The directional pad. You will not need the rubber backing from the directional pad.

Once everything is removed go ahead and grind down the parts that you see I have grounded in the controller.

Once that is completed now is a good time to go ahead and put the two main pieces of the controller back together with a couple screws. Measure out the length of the card and grind your hole in the top of the controller as well.

Once your done with the hole in the top of the controller use your hobby knife to clean it up. For me the hobby knife was great for the bigger chunks. I then used sandpaper to clean it up even further but that is optional. I suspect probably unneeded for someone with rotary tool experience. For me it was my first time so I made quite mess in making that top hole.

Step 2: The Keychain!

I used a key-chain to provide the sound because I did not want to mess with buying programmable chips and have to solder wires and what not. You will soon see this partially backfired.

The only thing your gonna remove on the key-chain is the blue buttons, but hang on to at least one of them because it will come in handy for later testing.

Originally I took my rotary tool and ground away everything except the whole of the battery pack. However save yourself some time and just grind away everything like you see in the last pic. Its not all gonna fit properly otherwise.

*Note: Be very careful when your doing all this. If your as careless as I was.... (I thought I was being careful) then you may accidentally brake one of the wires away from its soldered point on the battery pack. If you do your gonna have to go and spend the money on a soldering iron like I did :)

Step 3: Glue.

OK now we come to probably the biggest flaw in my design. Unfortunately due to the setup and the way this is done you have to glue the batteries down so they will stay. Which means once their dead that's probably it. Use just a little bit of glue it wont take a lot. I recommend doing one at a time to ensure you didn't cause an interruption in the contacts. You can just hold down the other batteries with your fingers.

Now go ahead and glue in your directional pad. First glue the four area's as seen below. Then for extra protection put a thick layer on the back around the circle. These buttons will not be functional at all.

Once everything is dry go ahead and glue the battery pack in to the back of the controller at the middle top area as seen below.

Once dry go ahead and glue the speaker down as seen below. Make sure there is enough clearance for that little tab on the A button. I didn't the first time and had to pry my speaker up and move it up a bit.

While were at it lets go ahead and glue down those start select buttons as well. I did trim a very thin line from the top of the rubber however I'm not sure with the final product that this was necessary. Use your own judgement here. This was a very messy process and I got a nice little blister on my finger during it. Your not gonna be able to get these as secure as the directional pad. They will be able to be pressed even with the glue in place. At times they may even seem to stick down in the controller a bit since there is no controller board behind it. However they easily pull back out without taking anything back apart. I recommend lots and lots of glue here just to be safe. Once were done this thing is gonna be a pain to take apart.

Step 4: The Circuit Board.

Ok this part is a little tricky but just a little. First put the A and B buttons into place along with the rubber backing. Now line up the circuit board so two the outside buttons line up with the A and B buttons. Just hold it in place with one hand and press the buttons on the other side with the other. The rubber on the A and B buttons acts exactly like the original blue buttons that were on the key-chain originally. Once in, you have an idea of how it is gonna line up. Apply hot glue to the top of the speaker. Now mash that circuit board on there and be quick to get it lined up perfectly before that glue starts to dry.

The circuit board is gonna be at an angle. Do not think you made a mistake in seeing this.

Once dry go ahead and glue the bottom right of the board. Thankfully on this side there is a pole for the rubber that we didn't have to grind down. This gives it extra security for a nice hold and keeps you from having to use obscene amounts of glue on that part of the rubber.

I had to drill a stripped screw out so unfortunately the same is not true for the bottom left side. No extra pieces for security. So I used a whole lot of glue here. I pretty much ended up filling the corner up with glue. Just be careful not to get any glue on the front of the board. This will obviously brake the connection for the sound.

If you didn't have to drill any screws out there like I did then much less glue will be needed.

Step 5: Almost Done!

Now this is where our door hinge comes into place.

First glue the controller together. just a little bit across the entire seem of the controller, seal and hold it shut till it dries. You can easily clean up any excess with your finger nails.

Once dry take your door hinge and glue that to the back of the controller.

When that's dry go ahead and get the appropriate angle for the controller to lean slightly back. Once you have that just drop gobs of hot glue on the inside of the hinge. That will hold the hinge in place with the right angle just fine without being visible to anyone even though it will look messy.

All done!!!! Now admire it. Yes you have indeed just completed the best business card holder ever made!

The second biggest flaw in the design. Due to the space of the chip and speaker and the location it is in. You will not be able to put the cards very deep into the controller. Originally I wanted to put like a small piece of flat metal that would hold the cards about half way down the controller. There was no way to make this work. The cards however do rest in there fine even though they are not deep as you can see in the picture. The hole I made in mine holds maybe 20-30 cards. Not bad.

So while I will say this is not the perfect setup it is a well working one and not too shabby at all for my first project. I am not motivated to do this again and make it better but if someone else is and they post an instructable you better believe I'll be all over it. Again all criticism, comments and tips are welcomed.

Thanks and I hope you enjoy your new business card holder.