This was sent to me by wolf!
Hi there,
sorry about the delay. I'm currently travelling a bit and liable to diappear on occasion.
The hardest part of building the case is the cutting. You basically open a neo-geo cart case (cheapest car you can find) using a screw driver around the clips holding it closed. It might take you a while to find the clips, as they are not visible from the outside of the case. Be patient and it should pop in half.
Then, put the phantom 1 into your cart shell to get a rough idea where to cut. NOTE: The case will not close on the phantom 1 at this point because the stereo jacks are in the way.
Overall, you want to cut the case as high up as possible to maintain as many clips as you can, while still allowing MVS carts to plug in the top.
I suggest a hack saw to cut the case. It's easier to cut if you clip the case together (without the phantom 1) for the actual cutting. You CANNOT screw up this stage!!!!!!!!!!! If the blade wanders you are SCREWED.
Lastly, I used my tiny hand-saw to cut out two slits in the front-half of the case for the stereo jacks. I cut two vertical slits into the case that are wide enough to clear the stereo jacks and then used a knife to score and bend-out the plastic tab that was created by the 2 cuts from the handsaw. It is best if you score it on the inside of the case and bend it outwards. This preserves the outside case finish.
Lastly, you can use sandpaper to clean up some of the rough edges from cutting plastics.
Sorry I can't provide pics, but I didn't take any during construction and the final pics are not with me right now. I will have access to them in February.
I hope this helps, but this is a moderately hard thing to do because of the opportunities for failure.
I suspect that a nice band-saw would eliminate the risk of blade wandering while cutting the top of the case off.
Cheers,
John M.
The hardest part of couse was trying to cut an opening for the stereo jacks. It turned out pretty decent, although the front of the case came out a little uneven.