Testbox phase 1 complete, Johnny #5 approves of spare parts usage

Posted: 08/05/2012 in Current Project, General News
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Every now and again I get an idea that actually pans out the way I intended. This was not one of those cases, but the end result was still in line with the original idea. As the previous posts state, what I’ve completed phase 1 on is a multi-voltage power supply that connects quickly and is switchable. And it was made out of 90% spare parts!

A key change from the original design is that after a regulator exploded on me, I decided that I needed something a bit more stable. A PC power supply unit was forced into my head by a member on the MBB forums and as much as I hate to admit it, it worked out much better than my original plan. Though it’s not until after the fact he tells me that the PSU has enough amps going through it to fry an elephant and that connecting with it could be quite bad for my health. Important safety tip, thanks Electro.

So, next up is phase two which will be the addition of two variable regulators and an LCD voltmeter which will allow me to really have any number of voltages in the 12V range. Though I’m not sure I’ll need to have anything that specific, the ability to get to that odd voltage will be a good benefit to have.

As always, check us out on the MBB forums for some more info and I’ll post some more updates when I get them on the start of phase 2!

Testing of the test box is so far successful!

Posted: 07/25/2012 in Current Project, General News
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So far I have to say that I’m quite pleased that this worked on the first shot and didn’t turn my evening into a lesson on fire safety! In terms of the audio/video, everything worked exactly like it was meant to, a trend I intend to keep up once the regulators arrive in the mail.  Though of course I did once again wire the audio tact switches backwards…so down is up and up is down…and on the SNES-001 Advance I had the left switch as volume up and the right a volume down…I’ll get that right one day.

But as you see, I’ve made a quick demo video of the test and how it works, so please have a look! More info with more progress. Hopefully I’ll have this complete within the week and then I can start the testing of my controller for the computer desk. Until then, just wait!

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.

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