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WIP: Procube

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 6:37 pm
by iggunr
I've been working in this project for quite some time.
It is a GC featuring:
  • Wii drive
  • WKF
  • GB Player
  • 512mb (4x 2043) Block internal memory card
  • BBA
  • MEGA3 board (component and vga)
  • Internal ps2 keyboard adapter
  • AV outs
  • Some other surpprises
All inside a GB player base and a custom acrylic case barely larger than a standard cube.

Some pictures of the progress so far:
Parts:
Image

Some ports on the back:
Image

Acrylic front:
Image

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 6:56 pm
by Ashen
Very nice! I can't wait to see how it turns out. :D

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 7:36 pm
by megalomaniac
great project, looks like it will be a nice setup and fully loaded too...

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 9:29 pm
by dilav
Sounds amazing. Acrylic cutout? Awesome, can't wait to see how this turns out as well.

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 10:39 pm
by deckard
What a great project! "Procube" is definitely an apt name for it, considering all of the great hardware you're packing in there ;)

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 3:13 am
by deku_scrub
cant wait for more pictures!!! :D

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 7:21 am
by liquitt
nice!

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:57 am
by megalomaniac
Hehe
I just noticed your WKF MegaWire mod
Nice

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:02 am
by liquitt
btw, the board left of the controller board - is that a naked bba?

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2013 3:39 pm
by iggunr
Thank you all so much for all the comments, it means a lot.
liquitt wrote:btw, the board left of the controller board - is that a naked bba?
It's a ps2 keyboard adapter
http://supremefactory.en.alibaba.com/pr ... apter.html

Here are some more pics:
Image

Image

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 3:25 am
by Diminuendo
iggunr wrote:
liquitt wrote:btw, the board left of the controller board - is that a naked bba?
It's a ps2 keyboard adapter
http://supremefactory.en.alibaba.com/pr ... apter.html
What are the benifits of having one of these? Also looking great!

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 3:28 am
by megalomaniac
phantasy star online

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 3:48 am
by iggunr
uuughh I'm into something bad...
While testing, the power led turns on briefly before turning off, nothing else happens.. I guess it's some kind of short :x , i hope I can find it and fix it, desoldering the megadrive board and the little mega3 pcb from the digital out sound frustrating enough... at least I have a replacement gc mobo around..
megalomaniac wrote:phantasy star online
This is also intended to be the perfect pso gc

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:19 am
by megalomaniac
which power LED?
the WKF or the controller board?

what was the last component you soldered on before it stopped working?

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:41 am
by iggunr
megalomaniac wrote:which power LED?
the WKF or the controller board?

what was the last component you soldered on before it stopped working?
the controller led, wkf remains off.
I desoldered everything and the problem remains, if you see on the gc motherboard picture I trimmed the motherboard to make room for the controller board, my guess is that the short could be there, I'll sand it thoroughly tomorrow.

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 6:22 am
by megalomaniac
a simple sanding should solve the problem if there is a loose trace somewhere making slight contact

after sanding, get the front controller board back on and check for power...
then video...then check for power
then memcard slotA...then check for power
then memcard slotB...then check for power
then WKF...etc etc etc


sometimes working slower is faster...

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:45 pm
by iggunr
Short fixed, it's slowly coming back to life..
I'll be testing all the components today.
Here's a pic of the Procube fully assembled just before I noticed it wasn't working:

Image

There is still a lot of work to do.

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 12:04 am
by emu_kidid
love the Wii DVD drive and perspex.

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 2:48 am
by megalomaniac
i see an on/off switch on the side
i also see the mainboard is "floating" because of the PSU and PSU cage..
ever thought of wiring the PSU to save a few inches in height?


how will the drive stay aligned and in place? it just looks like its sitting on top of the drive cage
there have been many many many discussions on IRC of making a GC Slim, but you know us, something else always comes up and none of us ever get the chance to make one...


im really interested in your project...
cant wait to see more photos of how you put this together...



BTW, did i ever send you those files you were needing or did you get that resolved already?

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 10:32 pm
by iggunr
The space the PSU makes will be filled with the BBA and some other stuff, it's actually very tight.
The mainboard and the drive will be hold and secured in place with the acrylic case sides, I'm still figuring stuff out.

Unfortunately, I think I fried the sound amp and I'll have to change the mainboard, the wii drive was also compromised but it's not such a big deal because I'm waiting for a DMS board (wiikey, backups...)
I couldn't test the MEGA3 succesfully and I really hope It's working ok once I finish testing everything else, or else I'll be seriously pissed about my carelessness.

The rest of the acrylic case will take a while to be ready, so this project will be on hold until I get it and also fix all my mess...

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:54 pm
by iggunr
It's been a long time, I started to work on this project again.
I changed the whole mobo and I'll start wiring and testing everything, component by component.
I was concerned about the mega3 board, but I just tested it and it works great, next step will be to connect and test the controller board.
More pics soon.

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 8:11 pm
by novenary
I'm guessing the left slot in the front is wkf SD ? And the other memcard B ?

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2014 9:48 pm
by iggunr
Streetwalker wrote:I'm guessing the left slot in the front is wkf SD ? And the other memcard B ?
Yes, left slot is wkf, wkf led's will be wired to the holes.

Right slot will be a standard gc mem slot wired to the motherboard's slot B, for external memory cards or sd-adapters.
A 512MB memory card is permanently soldered to the motherboard's slot A.

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:14 am
by marcus9199
Man that thing is nice looking. Great work!

Re: WIP: Procube

Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:15 am
by marcus9199
Did you use a CNC and auto cad to cut the acrylic.