Wii DVD/Wiikey Fusion/WODE + GC Portable Discussion

[0uttake]

oops made a little mistake... Thought the wiikey fusion wasn't out yet... But it is

Gonna order one right now! See if it works on the gamecube.

Also connected my usa wii drive same model as Ashen to my usa gamecube and it indeed works!

Altough I didn't use the slide mechanism. I has a slimed downed drive with a normal switch for the eject button.

I'll take some pics whenever I get some time.

How "slim" did you manage to get the wii drive without the slot load mech? Do you think it is possible to slim the slot load mech aswell? I don't have the money to buy a wii drive for testing.

[Ashen]

These are pics of a Wii drive slimmed down by Palmertech of the ModRetro forums. All cred for these pics goes to him.

[0uttake]

Zen and tchay, few question about board cutting:

1. The 4 separate layers of the board are much closer together than I expected... Do I need to worry at all after cutting about the layers "bridging" together? I went all around the perimeter of the cut area with sandpaper as much as I could but I'm still worried.

2. Can I solder directly to the via's without modification? Or do I have to sand the board down first around the via's I want to solder to?

The layers shouldn't "bridge" just give the edges a sanding and they should be fine. You don't need to sand the vias to solder to them. I would suggest glueing all around the areas you are going to solder as its so easy to knock off a component. I have a wiring diagram on my build log http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=41023. This includes relocating the power as well so should serve you well.

[0uttake]

@Ashen

Thanks for the pics, that is sooooo slim compared to the cubes dd. Will have to get one now!

[Ashen]

Outtake, thx a bunch. Not having to sand every single via will make things considerably easier. Your GCp project looks awesome so far man! What screen are you planning to use? Pics? Links?

[0uttake]

Outtake, thx a bunch. Not having to sand every single via will make things considerably easier. Your GCp project looks awesome so far man! What screen are you planning to use? Pics? Links?

not too sure just yet, I have a gamecube screen but it's rubbish, PS1 screen would be good but VERY hard to get hold of in England. I believe the Joytech 5.6" gamecube screen has crystal clear image quality so probs will order one and see if it will fit. Here are two pics of what it should look like (I have sanded the paint and began respraying as I was not happy with the finish)

pic

pic

It is small but deep as I intended to have an internal GC drive in it, so might use that space for extra batteries.

[emu_kidid]

Ashen, yep, silly me I wired up the connector backwards.. back to the drawing board for me tonight

[gtmtnbiker]

I already have 4 sundrivers sitting here and when I contacted the sun team they weren't much help at all.

In which forum/place did you contact the Sun team?

[Ashen]

@ emu. Woops lol

Gtm, i just e-mailed them

[Tchay]

Zen and tchay, few question about board cutting:

1. The 4 separate layers of the board are much closer together than I expected... Do I need to worry at all after cutting about the layers "bridging" together? I went all around the perimeter of the cut area with sandpaper as much as I could but I'm still worried.

2. Can I solder directly to the via's without modification? Or do I have to sand the board down first around the via's I want to solder to?

1. Yes. Sanding the edges will take care of this problem, BUT be patient. If its shorting, its still salvageable.

2. You should sand the via plating (to remove the slight coating on top). But you can solder to the actual vias. Make sure you know where they are going of course. The vias are isolated properly so they are safe to use.

[Ashen]

Got my cut board all wired up to power test. First time I turned it on it got some random error but after a reboot it seems to be working perfectly. Need to wire up memcard a, an SD slot to memcard b and all the wires for the DVD drive still though. I didn't sand any of the via's. I just jammed the wires down into them and topped em off with a bit of solder.

Considering frankencasing out of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RtAUob2FZM

Zen, Tchay or Outtake you guys know of any decent 7" widescreens?

Meh, nvm... Thought the thing opened up different... I'll have nowhere for L and R

[Tchay]

wow, the board works!?! Thats great. Im going to copy your cutting style and then do some more cuts to confirm what I know about the controller board area.

I'm putting together a video that will show all the steps in slimming the board. Hopefully it makes these mods more mainstream for the hacking community.

[Ashen]

Hmmmm.... I'm thinking of ditching the flip top idea for this and going with a more gameboy'esque design. I'm figuring if the Wiikey fusion or the WODE is a no go on the cube its just going to end up making a flip top unit too thick even using the Wii DD. Of course it all depends on what results we get with these chips.

Boredom struck me so I started doodling out case designs. I figure if I go with the "gameboy" design I can cram everything into a case slightly larger than an original GB DMG case. Roughly 7.5" x 5" x 1.5". I could probably slim it down a bit if I ditch the PSone screen and go with a 4" LCD but I think a 5" 4:3 screen would be nicer. Thoughts and suggestions welcome

[0uttake]

A flip case could still be feasible, but I think a Gameboy shape design would also look nice, would you go with slot loading or not?

[Ashen]

If it comes to having to go with the Wii DVD drive I'll probably be ripping all the slot loading mech off to make it slimmer. It all depends though. My thoughts on these things change daily. I'm still in planning mode. ><

[yamaharacer]

i have just watched your last movie with the sundriver connected. looks realy good. and seems to work even when its only the sundriver menu to see. great work. my question is do you maybe prepare a plug and play adapter when it finally works?

[kevstah2004]

How do strip the FFC cable to reveal the copper?, I tried doing it to fix the cut on my power on / eject cable for my v7 ps2, but I ended up going straight through it with a razor blade am I just too heavy handed?

[Ashen]

The easiest way if you have a damaged flat ribbon cable is to cut the whole cable straight across and use a fine grit sandpaper to sand off the plastic coating.

[Abb_eliten]

Suggestions on 5 inchers:

Got this one a couple of weeks ago. It's really thin, has a small driver board and image quality is superb, but it's a bit pricey.
If you do the VGA mod on the GC you would end up with a crystal clear image. I believe Tchay has done it...

I've been looking around for a cheaper alternative and found these.
Same driver board, but an Innolux display. Current price is around $66 +shipping for 2 sets.
I'm thinking of ordering a few to test them out.

[kevstah2004]

The easiest way if you have a damaged flat ribbon cable is to cut the whole cable straight across and use a fine grit sandpaper to sand off the plastic coating.

Thanks for the tip, that's the greyish-black sandpaper right?

[liquitt]

i have some in green and red
the fine grit is important, not the color

[kevstah2004]

It's wet dry sandpaper I think, says 240 on the back.

[KrzyInuYasha]

for that you'll want some thing a bit finer around 800-1000 it will take longer, but there's less chance of damaging the traces in the plastic. Worst case is you end up buffing them a little at that grit if they're exposed where a 240 grit would eat them with in 2-3 strokes after being exposed.

[Ashen]

Any sandpaper over 150 grit should be fine (thats what I used). Shouldn't matter much what type its for. Its all the same.

[0uttake]

That lcd is a good find, might have to order myself one.