Pac-Man Themed CS Build (Log)

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djascher
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Pac-Man Themed CS Build (Log)

Post by djascher » Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:36 pm

Hi all

Welcome to the build log for my Pac-man themed build.

This is a project that sat dormant for two or so years. My Kite purchase was in the Feb 2018 window to show how long ago I started this project. Since then, my wife and I opened a new medical clinic, we went on a family vacation to Australia, had our fourth child, and several other milestones also (such as, creating my own card game and getting it out on Kickstarter). In that time, I also put this on hold and built a CartPi, because I could (and wanted to).

The big driver for getting this project finished now is a) I want it done to play some games, and b) we bought a house here in Toronto, are moving in a few weeks, and I'm going to lose my workbench area. It's do this now or shelve it even longer.

At least several good things happened by waiting. For one, the available colours for buttons is greater than two years ago. This is relevant because two years ago, I had to settle for Neon Pink buttons from Retro Modders. But the delay meant a new pink colour was now available that more closely matched Pinky.

Before we get into any details, I just want to give a shout out to Retro Modders for their customer support, to Hoolyhoo for his 3d printing of parts for me, and to Kite, who no matter how many times I email him with questions, helps me to bridge the two year gap in knowledge.
Last edited by djascher on Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

djascher
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Re: Pac-Man Themed CS Build (Log)

Post by djascher » Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:42 pm

Button Colours / Case etc

Two years ago I ordered a variety of buttons from both Retro Modders and Kitsch Bent. They both have several light blue buttons suitable for use, several different reds, oranges etc. In the end I went with buttons from Retro Modders, as a liked the feel of them better. In recent days when I started up this project again, I bought more colour buttons such as the newer pink instead of neon pink, and now I'm just waiting on orange buttons from Retro Modders to build the damn thing (behold neon orange actual vs website picture).

So, colour scheme is:
Joypad - yellow (Pac-man)
Start/Select - white (dots)
4 buttons on front - red, pink, blue, orange (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde)

I went with a transparent black case from Retro Modders for the build. Black, because Pac-man is played on a black background (duh) and transparent, because if you're gonna have awesome electronics like the Circuit Sword inside, you wanna see it! :)

I also bought an original Gameboy game that was a yellow cartridge ($5 on eBay) to fit in with the colour theme, and I wanted the cartridge to say Gameboy rather than the aftermarket 'Game' (if you are spending so much on this project already, might as well go all out).

All other buttons (Hoolyhoo slim PCBs etc) are black to be unobtrusive. Same for the On/off switch and port cover - bought yet another set of buttons in transparent black just for those!) (I have SO MANY leftover unused buttons!!!). I also had Hoolyhoo print all of his 3d bits (mode support, screen support etc) in black to be unobtrusive also.
Attachments
IMG_1149.JPG
neon orange how it looks on the website
IMG_1149.JPG (3.92 MiB) Viewed 4382 times
IMG_1148.JPG
neon orange actual colour
IMG_1148.JPG (983.19 KiB) Viewed 4382 times
Last edited by djascher on Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.

djascher
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Re: Pac-Man Themed CS Build (Log)

Post by djascher » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:42 pm

Status Lights

So one thing I plan for this build is to place four status lights in the Gameboy cartridge. I got out my breadboard and made a simple test circuit, mostly to see what resistor values I'd need to make the status lights have even brightness (some are way brighter than others).

The four LED colours are, you guessed it, red, pink, blue and orange :) (Also tested two different red LEDs, from memory...)
Attachments
IMG_1190.JPG
They work!
IMG_1190.JPG (1.6 MiB) Viewed 4377 times
IMG_1186.JPG
LED test
IMG_1186.JPG (1.65 MiB) Viewed 4377 times
IMG_1175.JPG
my basement workspace
IMG_1175.JPG (1.4 MiB) Viewed 4377 times
Last edited by djascher on Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

djascher
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Re: Pac-Man Themed CS Build (Log)

Post by djascher » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:54 pm

Case Mods

I'm honest enough to know that my skills in cutting the case in preparation for such a build as this, is not up the standard I've seen on here. And I also know, if it didn't look good, I'd have the shits with it forever. So, two years ago, there was some guy on here (sorry whoever you are that I've forgotten your handle!) that was offering to CNC cut the USB-C hole and the third and fourth button holes on the front as well as the screen hole and most of the screw supports. I took him up on his offer and so at least the case looked good on the outside.

That left me enough work, as I had to still perform the internal devastation to the case. So, with my trusty flush cutters and a borrowed dremel (with the wrong bit for this work but it was slim pickings), I got to work. The outcome is less than perfect but I'm happy with it and its all internal ugliness anyway :)
Attachments
IMG_1198.JPG
the devastation doesn't look so bad from out here
IMG_1198.JPG (1.56 MiB) Viewed 4376 times
IMG_1221.JPG
"safety glasses" = wife's borrowed sunglasses, as I lack the real thing!
IMG_1221.JPG (223.72 KiB) Viewed 4376 times
IMG_1222.JPG
back of the case after flush cutting and dremeling
IMG_1222.JPG (1.83 MiB) Viewed 4376 times
IMG_1200.JPG
battery compartment
IMG_1200.JPG (1.37 MiB) Viewed 4376 times
IMG_1202.JPG
this was the best dremel bit I had to work with
IMG_1202.JPG (1.07 MiB) Viewed 4376 times
Last edited by djascher on Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

djascher
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Re: Pac-Man Themed CS Build (Log)

Post by djascher » Mon Jul 27, 2020 10:09 pm

Current Build Progress

I'm currently holding at step 17 or 18 of Kite's setup list. I've discovered that soldering skills are NOT like riding a bike, and they do not come back so easily. For example, that one step of soldering two spacers onto the back board took me a million tries and over an hour to get right. But in the end I either did it or said, screw it, close enough (it was probably close to 1:30am by then).

I also managed to get HoolyHoo's Mode/Power button PCB support bracket installed in the case. That involved a frustrating hour of trying to undo my best solder of the night, upon discovering I had to distance the mode switch from the PCB in order to fit in the hole and work with the support bracket. My bad, as I didn't follow HoolyHoo's instructions and soldered as per Kite's setup instruction photo.

All up, I ended my night at 3am and was up a few hours later doing the morning kid routine. So no further work today. Tomorrow my replacement orange buttons hopefully arrive and I can start mounting stuff in the actual case...

Also, as you can see in one of the pics, I decided to go with the analog volume wheel rather than the backboard with the HDMI output.
Attachments
IMG_1256.JPG
support bracket installed
IMG_1256.JPG (1.01 MiB) Viewed 4375 times
IMG_1251.JPG
it at least powers on and boots
IMG_1251.JPG (1.8 MiB) Viewed 4375 times

djascher
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Re: Pac-Man Themed CS Build (Log)

Post by djascher » Sun Aug 02, 2020 10:29 pm

So I tried to make progress tonight on the build after almost a week of no further work.

I was always worried about one thing with a transparent case: light leaking through the case in the corner which is covered by the case. So I decided to see how bad it would be; if I’d find it annoying etc.

So I put my screen inside the Hoolyhoo bracket and put in the main board in the front of the case, powered up, and watched the test Color screen come up. Yep, it leaks and yep, it would distract and bother me. So I knew I had to cover it. I debated covering with black electrical tape until I realized I’ve no idea where my tape is. Also, tape would make an uneven “seal” between the screen and case as only one corner is being covered.

In the end I went with carefully going over the offending corner with a black sharpie (Permanent marker). When I put everything back in the case for a second test run, I was pleased to see that the picture in that corner has now been blocked and is not showing through the case.

And that is where I got stuck for tonight. Because the next step involves hot gluing the screen and bracket down. And although I’ve had a glue gun sitting on the shelf next to me for months waiting for this moment, I never realized that it didn’t come with any sticks of glue! And the sticks, if we haven’t thrown them out, are somewhere in a box packed for our house move. And tomorrow is a civic holiday so stores aren’t open to buy. So, unless I locate glue sticks by the light of day, I’m at a standstill once again. Bugger.
Attachments
2538EA0D-E24E-4BE4-BE4D-2622D8C0BC64.jpeg
Corner blacked out
2538EA0D-E24E-4BE4-BE4D-2622D8C0BC64.jpeg (1.54 MiB) Viewed 4298 times

djascher
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Re: Pac-Man Themed CS Build (Log)

Post by djascher » Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:22 am

Back on track! My wife found the glue sticks this morning. It was in the box that had just been packed yesterday. But of course...

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