Naimlessones N64PRO-ject

[naimlessone]

Edit:

Finished product- http://youtu.be/89QtsCsjtaw

finished product thread-http://forums.modretro.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13613



Hey everyone.

So I've finally sat down to put this worklog together after working on my first portable for a few weeks now here and there. Haven't came up with a name yet, so N64PRO-ject is what I'll leave it until I come up with a good enough name to christen this with.

I'm working with a Rev6 board



My first attempt at relocating the cart slot was a huge fail. I tried to use #22 THHN stranded copper wire from work. Slight mistake. When I tried to fold the slot down to the board THe solder joints started popping off.





So I ordered up some IDE cable and re-relocated the cart slot:




Much Gooder....


Until I went to test it.. and got nothing.

Turns out there was a little speck of stray solder under the expansion pack slot that must have flown off when I desoldered the copper wire on the cart slot:


Bud suggested using a small screwdriver to remove it instead of the desoldering braid or pump which worked perfectly as it wasn't bonded to the board. I just used the plastic on the slot as a small lever to gently slide it back and off the board. Hooked it back up and Voilà!:

 

[naimlessone]

So a week or so ago I started in on the case. I got the idea for the tupperware container from Bacterias n64 guide on how to make a portable n64:
http://moddedbybacteria.wordpress.com/r ... guide-log/

Basically took this:

and turned it into this:

^ I took a large zip-tie (or ty-rap as some call it) and glued it to the inside lip of the bowl to reinforce the edge as it's quite thin and flexible without the part the lid snaps to.

I got a 12" sq sheet of Lexan (basically super strong Plexiglas) to make pieces for the cart slot port:








^Ripped apart a PS1 controller to use as should R and Z buttons for the back of the case and the D-pad for the front.




Still have a bit of work to do on it; adding the rest of the buttons, audio jack, etc, etc

More progress pics to come as I go (hopefully these aren't too much lol)

 

[naimlessone]

MAJOR *Can'tSayThisOnTV* UP:

While I was removing the on/off switch from the mobo, the dremel wheel slipped and cut across some traces....


I assume that this is pretty much unfixable by a first time modder... soooo disappointed.

I have two more N64s sitting here though, a rev3 and rev4 by the looks of their S/N.

But, at least my components for the 3.3v voltage regulator came in yesterday, along with my PCB for my battery. I'm not sure that I will need it though, as the battery pack I removed from the portable DVD player looks like it already has one on it.

Does anyone know if this is the PCB for the pack or should I just put the red black and white leads from the batteries themselves to my new pcb to be safe?

DVD Battery pack:


New PCB:



And the wiring diagram toward the bottom of this page:
http://www.all-battery.com/datasheet/32 ... asheet.pdf



Had to use http://moddedbybacteria.files.wordpress ... ators1.pdf as the pic in SS's thread is dead, although the info is still good.

Here is my assembled regulator using #18 stranded copper wire for leads :


I was also wondering, as to avoid anything touching these leads if I should cover the exposed wires with some electric tape like this or would I have to worry about the tape doing anything?:

 

[supersonic_32]

1. Even if you are a first time modder, this should not be really hard to fix, it's actually just 3 copper traces, you could just scratch green stuff on the traces each side of your dremel trace and solder with wires, should be back on track(do not scratch each trace side to side, you have more chances to bridge em) Just look for green lines going to cpu pins, the other ones "between" them are just ground, no need to relocate, they leads no where.

2. Actually, the pcb for your dvd player may have multiple others connections, you better use your new one, you know for sure how it works and it's much smaller.

3. No prob for electrical tape, I also used it, it's made to isolate electricity, so it's perfect, just make a "ball" of tape with your regulator, you could also cover it with hot glue, but it would be hard as f*ck if you have to make a modification...


By the way, really like the style you choose for your case, can't wait to see it finished

 

[naimlessone]

Thank you!

Unfortunately in a fit a rage/disappointment I cut the ide cable near the hot glue I put on the connections at the board, so I could reuse the cart slot, and decided to use the messed up board as a template for future portables... So it would be a pain in the A to get the glue off and re connect the slot again.

But the only thing I was worried about with the tape was heat. But now I don't anticipate it getting too hot as I'll have a fan in the unit.

I'm also limited with the spacing now that I see that the expansion pack will sit right where I had planned on the full 4-cell battery pack going. So my new plan is to split the batteries up an put one on each side of the case. That will also leave me with some more room for the switches, headphone jack and power plug and give me an extra set of batteries for another unit.

I ordered a few of the XR-57PMBR from polycase for my next portable, for just in case this case didn't turn out how I wanted lol.
http://www.polycase.com/xr-57p



I'm really getting into this stuff; very fun to build I've found lol. So I think I may build two at a time now heh.

 

[supersonic_32]

You should not have any problems with tape And actually, you are new in modding, so it's good to have some tricks... You can remove hot glue with a heat gun or a hair dryer, just put some heat on the glue and pull on it, it will come off very easily

 

[naimlessone]

Oh, good idea!! I'll give that a try. I may be able to save this board yet then! Thanks for the tip!

 

[Miceeno]

Before you try a heat, try some rubbing alcohol on the hot glue. If you just put it on and let if soak for a minute it peals free of anything it was touching without risk of weakening solder joints.

Also before you forget, try to figure out the best way to hold the case closed before you get too far along. I've scrapped several cases because board, battery, and controls placement block all potential screw post spots. Unless of course, you plan to hot glue it closed.

Other than that it looks really good. I've always liked the idea of the cartridge inside the case (my portable its on the outside), because you get tons of room for batteries!

GLHF

 

[naimlessone]

Hello again!

So I have decided to shelf the case I have been working on until the next portable. I ordered a few xr-57 cases from polycase http://www.polycase.com/xr-57p and decided to go with this for this one as it cut back on the amount of work I would need to finish it, as well as it solved the problem I had with holding the case halves together that Miceeno mentioned. The other case will be used, it just needs a lot more work done on it right now, and I'm itching to play some LoZ:MM and Super Mario lol.

Anyways, this is what I've been working on for the past week or so:

Front of the case:


Back of the case w/L,R, and Z buttons along with the cart slot:



Side with air vent:


Side with Fan intake:


I just threw a coat of primer on them tonight and am waiting for that to dry to put the first layer of color on them.


Also worked up a wiring diagram that maybe one of you veterans could verify being correct on the general wiring of a portable:


Yes, I did forget the connection from the N64 mobo to the LCD in the diagram, but thats pretty easy with the info available on here, The power wiring is gonna be the tricky part IMO.

Thanks for all of the advice and tips you guys have been giving too! It's very much appreciated!

 

[naimlessone]

More progress on the case!
Got a coat of automotive primer, two coats of Green, and two coats of clear coat:



Primer, Flat Black and Clear Coat on the buttons:



Here's the case halves together:


Hopefully I can start working on the new board wiring tonight, possibly tomorrow!

 

[naimlessone]

Hey peeps!

So some updates!

-I finally finished the case for good now (I Think) I'll be posting pics tomorrow for that.

-Wired up the voltage regulator and tested it out getting 3.25v out for the 3.3v line.

-Attached the heat sinks to the mobo and wired up power to it, which is where I've run into a slight problem; I don't have any output to the screen. My little LED I've wired back into the board for on/off indication comes on when power is attached and I can hear the speakers make a little noise when power is applied but nothing else.

I believe I have properly tried the 2k resister fix of Betas and Ashens, but I'm not quite sure.

According to Buds trim guide, you place a 2k resistor on pin 8 of the PIF and hook that up to 3.3v, which is what I did, and still got nothing. Is there a certain way you need to do this step I'm not getting? I plan on ordering a new monitor for another portable I plan on making this winter I could use to try it on soon.


Does anyone have any suggestions for me to try or ideas of where I may have gone wrong?

I have wires attached to the board to go to the controller board but have not hooked that together yet.

 

[supersonic_32]

Did you relocate 3.3v on the back of the board?

 

[naimlessone]

Well, I did some of SS's trim but with more cuts like Buds trim. So I only relocated the one leg of the 3.3v line that I thought needed to be relocated here:




This is the same wire (blue wire) in both pics, I just couldn't fit it all in close enough in one pic.

I'm also not really sure on where else I would need to connect 3.3v other than there as it looks as if the via continues on unbroken from the board cut.

 

[naimlessone]

Also here is some more pics of the progress on the case and wiring of the board:

Case:




I added some support for the game carts by adding the slot out of the back instead of just having the cart slot sticking out the back of the case, unprotected. Had to strip the paint off the entire case to repaint as well as the paint job was looking horrible, but now it's like green glass.


Test wiring:

Blue wire is 3.3v, Red wire is 7.4v, Black is my return voltage and Green is ground wire which I have hooked together; not 100% that that's correct either lol.





2k ohm resistor fix:




only part I haven't completely wired yet is the controller buttons on the face of the case. I'm waiting until I have the mobo installed in the case so I can organize my wires better after having to abandon my case fan to make room for batteries. I didn't leave myself enough room on the side of the inside for the length of the batteries when I drilled out my fan holes. So now I have small exhaust holes and larger intake holes with no fan lol.

 

[naimlessone]

GOT IT!!

had a short to ground on one of the cart slot pins!!!

IGNORE!



only thing bad i'm noticing is there is a slight clicking in the sound with headphones in the jack; wondering if its the jack not getting the male part on the headphones in or not, but I can almost hear it with them out too.

 

[supersonic_32]

Glad it works! Also like the design and color of your case!

For your sound problem, I looked at your cut, and think I know were the problem is, while cutting the part where originals left and right audio are supposed to be wired, looks like you removed or cut through resistances on audio traces, which actually filter noises. Look on that screen:

Follow the R et L traces (board is actually not the same revision as yours I think, but look with yours) and double check if you removed any resistor, if you did, use sames and wire them to your audio pins on the board then wire your audio cables after them, so the noise still get filtered, got it?

 

[naimlessone]

Yup. That's what happened. I did cut through a couple of resistors. I'll have to find out what they were and splice them in later today. Than you very much for that suggestion, never would have thought of that!

 

[supersonic_32]

Actually there may be capacitors too, mounted resistors are black or blue with numbers on it and capacitor are usually brown. The problem with capacitor is that you don't know it's value from just being brown, you can try some capacitors around 37uf, but I'm not exactly sure of what you really need. When that happened to me, I had plenty of n64 board, so I just desoldered from others to replace them...

 

[naimlessone]

Would mounting them there even make a difference though? I'm reconnecting my audio directly to the chip and not where the old port connections were.


Also noticed another problem; I just received Super Mario 64 in the mail, popped it into the working portable after I took Zelda out, and Mario didn't work. Hooked up a unopened n64 to my TV and popped it in and it works fine. Any suggestions?

 

[supersonic_32]

Surface mount them or not would not make difference, you can even use standard capacitors, as long as you put them between the n64 board audio chip and your wire going to your amp, it would filter the sound. For mario 64 I'm not really sure, I had a problem like this once, and my wires for cartridge slot were too long, but when I look at yours, seems like it's 4.5-5 inches, which is good... From researches, I know that n64 games do not always use all the cartridge port pins, or not the same for every game, so double check all your connections, maybe zelda do not use one connection you wired bad, but mario uses it so it doesn't work...