sudomod

Hello! Welcome to my build blog thing! I saw this project a while ago, and I now have almost all of the parts. Thought I would give it ago!

NOTE: I am following Wermy's build pretty closely. I am now (see Part 2 Update) using a custom button PCB. The only differences are that I am using the Kitsch-Bent PWM audio filter http://store.kitsch-bent.com/product/easy_pwm_audio and Helder's power strip from OSH Park https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/tQqjx16m. I am not doing a cartridge reader either. Sorry!

[Part 1]

My dad helped me with some of the dremeling. It took a while, it was tough, but after about an hour (yes, an hour), the battery compartment was looking nice and smooth. We used a sharp knife a lot more than I thought we would. Next we moved on to the X and Y button holes. We found a drill bit that was the perfect size, but it was too big for our drill! We made a few pilot holes, drilled the biggest hole we could, and forced the big drill bit through the holes. They came out looking pretty nicely.
Update!: 3D printed button wells are in!

Then we moved on to the screen. We used a saw bit to cut most of the bezel out, used a grinder to get the large curve, and I used the knife and a straight and curved file to get the rest. We drilled a hole for Micro-USB charging, and it was a good fit. Then we widened the EXT Port to fit the USB Port. We did not drill/dremel the holes for the L and R buttons, but we will when they come in from China (Banggood)

Update!: The buttons are here and we have drilled the holes!

[Part 2]

So I desoldered a couple of things on the button board, and that went pretty well. I cut the board in half with a dremel and I'm starting to solder my wires. (Didn't take a pic)

UPDATE: After fudging up and accidentally removing a copper trace while soldering, I will now not be using the original board. I figured this would happen since nobody else here is using the original board instead of a premade button board. This is--of course--after I had only one wire left to solder and had already burnt my finger... Whoops! I'll probably move on to the screen while I wait for the Kitsch Bent PCB. It was worth a try.

I will update when I move on to other steps. Feel free to ask any questions!
Bye!

After fudging that up too, the screen has finally been fixed, and I should be doing way more stuff in the future.

Keen to see how this progresses

Finally, I'm back! I've been busy lately, so I'm trying to do as much as possible!

Some bad news: I removed a pad on my teensy. Woohoo. Mistake #3.

Good news: Because I couldn't finish the controls, I couldn't do just about everything on the front. Keyword just. However, I have pretty much finished the back (I will not be doing a cartridge reader)!

Pretty much, I've been able to do all of the power stuff in the back, L and R buttons installed, and I have the headphone jack, amplifier, and speaker wired up.

Here's all that I've done.

The back took a total of 2 days to finish, since I was pretty busy, and if I had to give any advice, I would say to be lenient on the glue. It's pretty easy to put a ton on and think you're safe, but you can end up putting way too much on, or clog a port or moving part. Then I did the audio stuff as well. Same advice applies, here, I used WAY too much glue. Here is the screen installed into the case! And finally here is the front! I forgot to show the screen modification, after it was fixed. You can see the things that I removed and had fixed.

Looking good!