Projekt Numbers.....On Hiatus :(

[sam_thornley]

Looking good so far , are you using composite for the video? Try RGB video if composite flickers.

[Metallica Man X]

RGB eh? I had forgotten that the PS1 screen can accept that....I'll definetly have to try that


Now for an update to the progress!

Hit the garage the other day and did some cutting to the drive case....



Don't forget the safety glasses when you have to deal with flying bits of burning metals!





Sparks a flying!



My awesome clamp assembly to make the cuts easier.



Got da hole!



Ah..nice fit...



The fit is quite nice, did a test with it just sitting in it, leveled of course, to see how well it loads and spins disks in it.....flawless baby!

[dragonhead]

nice. get that drive rigged up and working good before going much further. nice use of an imac drive hehe. if you need spares i can send you the parts i have from a few here.

[hackmodford]

Awesome project and pictures. I always wanted to use the CDX and throw a 32X in there. (unless it's already built in... can't remember now.) But definatley throw the 32x in there!

[dragonhead]

was just looking at the drive ive got here, youre going to have to swap the old slot loading spindle over to the sega unit. its magnetic to hold the disc-retainer on. you could probably use the entire motor actually. just swap it over and hook the 3 wires up in the right order.

[Metallica Man X]

I'm quite aware of the magnet thing (see page 1)...there's no way I could use the motor from the Slot drive, as it was totally different in every way possible. However, I was able to get the spindle from the slot motor to fit on there, hence the need to make a big hole in the SL case lol.

[Metallica Man X]

and...UPDATE!

Finally got around to trying out RGB instead of the composite for video...


Needless to say, both were a pain in the rumpus...it shouldn't have been so annoying, but for whatever reason, I lopped off the other wires on the original PS1 screen plug, so I had to go through and do it the hard way.

So then came the picture test...


Not too bad...but unfortunatly, it still wobbles a little. Not nearly as much as with the composite, but still wobbly just the same. Kinda disappointing...However, upon checking out my CDX's power supply, I saw that it's actually a Genesis 2 power supply!

I recall reading somewhere that a genny 2 power supply isn't enough to run a CDX properly. So my picture issue might actually be from a simple lack of power

Fortunately, I do like how the colors look coming from RGB vs. composite, so at least it wasn't a total waste of time.


On another note, I managed to create a working disk loader/ejector circuit! ..It's mostly based on Werds circuit design, but I had to modify a few portions of it so it'll work right with my slot loader.
It's kinda ugly now since it's in a breadboard with a bazillion wires apparently going nowere, but it'll look much nicer when it's all hooked into its perf board (and smaller too!).



So my next step is to get a power supply that can provide a few more mA of power..see if that helps the picture issue. Then, after that, gonna put the loader circuit into some nice perf board

[Metallica Man X]

Small Update!

Just completed the creation of the Disk control board.

Nothing like a little mess....took a lot longer to make than one would think...

...But at least it looks very nice on top



As for my power issue...I'll get to that sometime soon lol.

[leonexodio]

this is going to look awesome when its done iv never seen a sege cd portable

[Metallica Man X]

After short hiatus, there's finally some progress!



Gots my batteries for the device finally...This beast is gonna need a whopping 10 of the type C size battery to run
But yeah, got them hooked up and charged for a test, with everything working well enough...the picture still has issues, which means it's probably the caps going bad...oh well. Still haven't tested the disk drive yet as it still needs detector switches installed into it. But I just got some SMD switches for it which means I'll hopefully be able to finish and test that little guy out as well fairly soon.



Also, started the new controller parts. Opted to destroy the original pad and use tact switches hooked to the glop top in the controller. Got the D-pad done, need to get a bigger piece of perf board for the ABC/XYZ buttons, that'll be arriving sometime this week (probably either friday or saturday). So by this weekend, I should be having a completed Controller, working one-button disk drive and will be able to begin working on the case!

Yeah, this little projekt is gonna be a real brick to say the least. It's kinda funny when a portable of a console winds up being bigger than it's original hahaha. Current estimated size will be around 9" wide x 6" high x 3" deep....pretty chunky to say the least

[Metallica Man X]

Ok, an update from stuff done over the last while....


Got the tact switches for the controller finished up now with the completion of both the ABC/XYZ buttons and the wiring of it all to the central controller thing.

Yeah...got lazy with the controller...was gonna carve that end off to save some room, but since it's gonna be huge anyway, I just slacked on the last half and connected straight to the button spots haha.



Next thing on the list was the removal of the controller ports on the CDX board, quickly followed by the removal of the power switch (it's now permanently set to ON).


Extended the player 2 port out...as unlike my previous 2 efforts, this will have 2 player capability.


Removed all the CD buttons from the CDX board, as well as the track indicator and the CD Door button, I also attached extensions in the door button's place (those'll link to the new drive).


Lastly, since the ICs on the disk loader circuit kept getting a little too warm for comfort during tests, I decided to attach a couple of heat sinks to them. They may look a bit silly, but they should keep things from toasting on me.

[Life of Brian]

Yay! Progress pics! My favorite!

What a cool project. Don't sleep until it's done!

[Metallica Man X]

Ok, an update from the stuff finished over the past while.....

Removed the LEDs from that CDX top board...so it's very flat in that area now.


I also did an extension of that power board...I can save a little space by moving it elsewhere (I need to save as much space as I can, no matter how little lol).



Gots the controller hardwired into the CDX as well.


And with the insides nearly complete (still gotta deal with that darn disk drive ), the guts are ready to go.

So now begins the best part...the case work!

Created me a bit of a cardboard mock up of the PS1 screen and speakers.


While it's not super accurate, it's more than enough to aid in the positioning of items.


From repeated mock up placements, and some scribbles, I'm happy to announce that it will be somewhat smaller than what I had originally figured it'd be! As of right now, the dimentions will be right around: < 2.5" thick x 6" high x 8.5" wide.
A nice improvement from my original estimate...

I was actually thinking about trying that little thing with the vac former, but I don't know if it'll work all that well since the cardboard has room to squish. Perhaps if I added another layer to the board? Hm. Need to test and see how much squish occurs....because if the cardboard works, that'll save me a bit of woodworking time since cardboard is much more forgiving (and much cheaper) than wood.

Anyway, that's it for now...more to come over the weekend...

[dragonhead]

i would see what you can do to make it thinner. perhaps switch to lithium polymer batteries instead of those giant C cells?

[Metallica Man X]

Actually, the thickness is coming from the hardware itself, not the batteries. In fact, the reason I'm using the C cells is because of the hardware thickness