Archive for the ‘General News’ Category

Downings Basement: Now with 50% less URL

Posted: 07/25/2012 in General News
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Well, I officially decided it was time to ditch the .wordpress advert in my site address and bought the domain “downingsbasement.com”! I’d been on the fence about it for some time now, but with the popularity of the site increasing and the attention spans of internet users everywhere decreasing, I came to the conclusion that it was time to make this site my own and give new users an easier domain name to search.

However, I did just recently discover that if you Google “Downing” I am surprisingly close to the top of the list. The site shows up only behind 10 Downing St, Downing College, and an English Soccer player, but then is followed by a news story of some perve who lured a couple of 16 year old girls into “Downing’s Basement” and got charged with statutory rape… Not exactly helpful promotional press I’m afraid, but I don’t think it will take long to make the distinction.

But anyway, here’s to fewer letters typed from now on and more updates about my projects to read about! Cheer’s Mate!

UPS gets a color show

Posted: 07/24/2012 in Current Project, General News
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How befitting it is that the sacrificed encasement for this project comes from an abandoned product called ColorMorphics?! Though this was simply an unnecessary add-on to the unit while waiting for my regulators to arrive, I figured this would be a nice touch. Though the third LED from the right is still giving me trouble, you can see that all are in place and all are wired up. However, I did make a mistake that I didn’t notice until after I had all the LED’s in place. I wired up all Green LED’s, not Red! I know, the pic above shows blue, that was intentional as that’s not a voltage line, it’s the A/V power line and was supposed to be that way. But man was I surprised (and quite frankly temporarily blinded) when the bright green light came emitting from the unit to my retina! So, it’s a lot brighter than I was anticipating, but that’s really alright and I’m not redoing it at this point.

So after the regulators arrive and I can get those wired up correctly I’ll be able to start the testing of the test box and then back to my desk. Oh, and the pic up top also shows the far left switch being turned on but no light. I didn’t have both power supplies in plugged in so the pic below shows that in working order. More details soon!

Custom UPS should eliminate testing headaches

Posted: 07/22/2012 in Current Project, General News
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Some say necessity is the mother of all creation. Though this really has nothing to do with that in the sense that this hobby as a whole isn’t “necessary” really, in context this new side project is pretty useful. While working on my current project, I was unexpectedly taken down another path that will help in the testing of said project as well as future projects all together.

When I was preparing to test my new controller for the three Nintendo systems being put into my desk, I came across a rather frustrating constraint. 3 systems, all with three different power supplies and well as the need to have each one wired up to a custom rigged screen to test if the controls were working properly. I soon became lost in a tangle of wires and more wires without a single square inch of my work desk visible.

This got me thinking, “wouldn’t it be nice if I had just one outlet to plug into that also acts as an Audio/Video interface for the systems”? It couldn’t have smacked me harder!

Now there is no work log set up for this yet, but the basics are as follows. What I’m working on is a quick release, multi-voltage output control box which will allow me to quickly hook up to the desired voltage, as well as allowing me to hook up to two different voltages at once, or to add the two selected voltages together to get the required value. It will be controlled by a series of step-down regulators with the two voltage inputs being donated by Game Cube PSUs.

More to come on this shortly, but I am quite excited about this project as 80% of it is being done simply with recycled parts I had laying around the shop. Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks or so for some really cool tests of it in action!

Oh and sorry for the grammar on this one. Must have corrected it about 6 times by now…can’t win them all!

10 hours of progress in a single photo

Posted: 07/14/2012 in Current Project, General News
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As my 3 week vacation is quickly coming to an end, the modding time has intensified. Spending close to 5 hours straight in my basement today alone, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m either obsessed the extraordinary, or bored with the ordinary, can’t figure out which…

Anyway, that really doesn’t matter.

In a combined effort from yesterday and today, I completed several tasks that have made the controller almost ready for testing. This was quite a post over on the MBB forums so for the fine details and more photos, I’ll again send you in that direction. But a quick list of what was completed since Friday;

  1. Vacuum-Formed the back half of the controller
  2. Cut slots for N64 Memory Card holder and VGA cable out which will be used to connect the controller to the systems.
  3. Mounted and wired N64 Controller
  4. Completed mounting of all controller buttons
  5. Added header junction for the controller’s interface
  6. Wired the D-pad and Start/Select buttons to the header.

Still lots to do but this project is drawing close to completion after nearly a year and a half in the making. More updates of course when I get more done.

CPU/Retro Gaming Desk takes control

Posted: 07/07/2012 in Current Project, General News
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Now there is something very satisfying to see an idea come around into some form of physical manifestation, even if it’s only in appearance. Show above is the painted up/mocked up version of my new controller that will take the job of playing all three of Nintendo’s early generation systems.

This controller will be able to play the NES, SNES and N64 games all from one unit. Using a parallel printer cable and connections, this will automatically flip to the unit that is powered on. The three holes you see in the center there are LED holders and house an LED that will illuminate depending on which unit is on.

It’s got a long way to go yet, but it will be getting there soon and then I can finally put this project to bed! Lots of changes over the year, but will certainly be worth it! As always, have a look at the WorkLog on the MBB Forums to get up to speed!.

Two more cases en-route to the UK

Posted: 07/07/2012 in General News
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My new best customer, Evil Nod from the Made-by-Bacteria Forums, last week commissioned me to to make two cases for his two new portable gaming system commissions he just took on. These again were just case shells that I made up from wooden molds. Though this was a simple design for both of them, the thicknesses were a bit of an issue and when trying to form both at once, I ran into issues and had to redo them a couple of times. But it’s still a learning process.

These cases are not fully finished in the sense that they are cut to their final thickness. Evil Nod likes to cut them down after the fact so he is sure he has enough room to make it work. Can’t say I blame him and it saves me a step, but that’s why they don’t look like they line up properly. They will when he cuts them down.

You can view his progress on both builds at the links below. Looking forward to seeing the progress when they get across the pond!

Evil Nod’s SNES Commission

Evil Nod’s N64 Commission

Also if you’re new to my work, you can see other successful portable systems that I did case shells for!

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