I have been watching this form for awhile and have decided to jump in and try to make my own cartridges. Here is my little introduction. I have a side job and run a small vacuum forming co. in my basement. We make reproduction inserts / bubbles for toys from the 80's. We also make full size stormtrooper armor. Right now we are taking a break from these items and will restart after the new year. We recently have started working on molds for mini and table top arcades. We hope these will be easy to assemble and then you could modify your nintendo NES and Gameboys for the arcade kits. However, I am a huge collector of NES games. I would love to put some of the homebrew games on a cart and play them on the arcades we are making. I want to start buying the tools and this is were my questions start.
I have a few basic questions so I can get started.
What type of Soldering Iron? What voltage?
What gauge of wire?
Do I need a multimeter?
Would this EPROM Programmer
workhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/PCB6-0-USB- ... 336fc65685
I see there a ton of different types of C27 EPROM's, how do I know which one to buy?
Do I need anything else?
Soldering Iron, no more than 15 watts. Wire gauge should probably be 22 or less as in thicker. Multi-meters are handy but not required. The EPROM programmer you linked looks as though it supports the common 8bit eproms for use in NES reproductions. No you don't need anything else. All you are doing is replacing the memory, a MASKROM, with another memory, an EPROM, to change the game in the cartridge. It's very simple. The only time it's more complicated is in a few special cases where major changes are made to the board for some reason, such as Final Fantasy III (Famicom) could require modifications since there is no exact donor.
I was looking at 15 watt soldering irons. I see they range from temperatures from 600 to 1000 degrees. Should I get one that works at lower temperatures? Should I get one that takes batteries or plugs in?
Should I get a desoldering Iron?
You'll need a desoldering iron, solder with flux, some extra flux anyway, and then I'd get one about 800ish degrees, in the middle seems the best. When melting lots of solder like on the RF or AC adapter joints you don't want to wait forever. And get a plug-in one. And a sponge to clean your tip on and also maybe 1-2 extra tips just in case.
If you want to do it right get yourself a Weller soldering iron with adjustable temperature setting. It'll cost quite a bit more than others but it'll last forever and meet any needs you have. I use one everyday and constantly adjust the temperature setting. Mine goes from 350-850F but I'm always between 500-700. I do very similar soldering work and made a few carts myself and I wouldn't want to be working at 800F personally, nor can I imagine you'd want to be for this type of work. Something like a WESD51, it'll run ya $200 or more. But if you're serious about this it's worth every penny.
They little $20 or less de-soldering irons from radioshack with the red bulb are great.
I also can't imagine not having a multimeter. No offense but if you're the type of person that doesn't own a multimeter this is going to be a challenge for you. Yes you could get by without one, but good luck finding out what's wrong without it, you'll be in the dark. Or even having it to check for shorts from Vcc to GND. Make this mistake one time and you'll need to replace your NES. You can get one that'll work for less than $10.
As for size of EPROMS buy the ones that you need for what you're making or larger. There isn't one answer for this question. These are the types of things you'll need to research and learn up about.
22ga or larger seems pretty big too me. I wouldn't want to deal with anything larger than 24ga personally. I use 28ga and would recommend something from 24-28ga. I do use 30ga occasionally but I would say it's a little small for this task. And I like to use a flux pen I picked up off Digikey, just make sure you use flux of some sort (the stuff in the solder doesn't count).
Also if you're using EPROMS you'll probably want an eraser. And I would recommend a cartridge dumper or some sort to help troubleshoot problems when they arrise.
What kind of mold capabilities do you have with your vacuum molds? Are you able to make cartridge plastics? Do you have any links or pictures of past projects with your moldings? Because that is something that could be useful around here.
I'm also curious about these table top arcades you're making. I'm kind of confused on how this kit idea is supposed to work by modifying the NES/Gameboy, especially when you're asking these basic questions...
The reason I asked about the tools is because I have started many projects and went out and bought the wrong tools. I was hoping not to do this for this project.
I got the idea of making kits from this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MblnbUURHjY
I want to make an easy plastic kit to assemble. To order just the arcade box from him cost 70 dollars. If I can get a good mold I could charge way less.
I have never solder before but have watched many video's. I know I will mess up a few time, but I figured if I bought the right tools from the start it would be much easier.
I could make cases and other objects with the former. Just need to know what people need.
I recently traded a stormtrooper armor for 400 nes games. I was thinking about offering them for sale to be made in reproductions.
My wife was kind enough to buy me a vacuum chamber and pressure pot to do custom casting. This is another outlet I have.
ptrckcrw2 wrote:
I got the idea of making kits from this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MblnbUURHjYI want to make an easy plastic kit to assemble. To order just the arcade box from him cost 70 dollars. If I can get a good mold I could charge way less.
Those look like some pretty nice cases for only $70, and completed product for only $300 is a steal IMO. Not that it really matters, but I still don't see how one could provide a "simple" kit to rip their GBA apart to make something comparable to that. But yet your making one that you pack your NES or SNES into? And you're trying to produce homebrew games for people to put inside them? I guess you're still in early stages but I would still think your a little ahead of yourself...
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I recently traded a stormtrooper armor for 400 nes games. I was thinking about offering them for sale to be made in reproductions.
Please don't.
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My wife was kind enough to buy me a vacuum chamber and pressure pot to do custom casting. This is another outlet I have.
If you're able to make up some cases for NES games at a low price of $1-2 each I think some people would be interested myself included. But I'm not really sure on how you could do this well with vacuum molding, it seems you'd have a hard time holding the PCB in place well. I've never played around with vacuum molding before though so maybe you've got some ideas.
ptrckcrw2 wrote:
you could modify your nintendo NES and Gameboys for the arcade kits. However, I am a huge collector of NES games. I would love to put some of the homebrew games on a cart and play them on the arcades we are making.
I had a very similar idea. So I ended up building this.
http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Genuine-NES-Bartop/. It is still a bit big, and using something like a PS1 screen is what I would probably go for next. I'm not sure if you have heard of the PowerPak, but you can load it up with all the homebrew your heart could handle (as demonstrated in the instructable).
I messed around with my vacuum former trying to make some cases. Do not think the process will work. I spoke with a friend who runs a plastic company. He said I could get a mold made for around 1,000 and then it would cost about .25 -.75 each case. I would have to charge around 4 dollars for each. This is maybe something for the future.
That instructable is the one who inspired me to make my own table top arcade machine. It is very cool. Great work. I have seen the powerpak, it seems a little to high for me. I also like the idea of see cartridge artwork while I play.
ptrckcrw2 wrote:
I have seen the powerpak, it seems a little to high for me. I also like the idea of see cartridge artwork while I play.
If only the PowerPak menu system were a bit more open, it might be possible to make a menu that looks like a bunch of carts on a shelf, and then show the label while the cart is loading. I made a mock-up some time ago:
ptrckcrw2 wrote:
I messed around with my vacuum former trying to make some cases. Do not think the process will work. I spoke with a friend who runs a plastic company. He said I could get a mold made for around 1,000 and then it would cost about .25 -.75 each case. I would have to charge around 4 dollars for each. This is maybe something for the future.
Yeah I didn't think it would work so well. That's a pretty good starting price actually. I've checked with some online places and the molds were running at least $5k for one side. One thought I had to lower starting cost was to have a shell that would mate up with itself. That way you would only need one mold for both halves. The down side being that nothing would prevent you from putting the cart in upside down except maybe a label.
tepples wrote:
If only the PowerPak menu system were a bit more open, it might be possible to make a menu that looks like a bunch of carts on a shelf, and then show the label while the cart is loading. I made a mock-up some time ago:
This is tangential, so feel free to split or whatever, but if you were fully designing this, how were you thinking of storing the cartridge art?
My buddy and I grew up together. The co. is actually his fathers. He is pretty much giving me everything at cost. He wouldn't charge for CAD. I would have to buy him a few cases of beer, but we do this anyways.
Him an I would go in after business hours and run the injection machines. He wouldn't cut this deal for anybody else.
What about resin casting. This would be pretty cheap way of making cases. Have you ever thought about doing this. It is pretty cheap to get all the equipment you need.
Do you know anybody that will program EPROMS?
ptrckcrw2 wrote:
My buddy and I grew up together. The co. is actually his fathers. He is pretty much giving me everything at cost. He wouldn't charge for CAD. I would have to buy him a few cases of beer, but we do this anyways.
If it was allowed, I wouldn't have an issue doing CAD myself.
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What about resin casting. This would be pretty cheap way of making cases. Have you ever thought about doing this. It is pretty cheap to get all the equipment you need.
That is an interesting option, I haven't seen it before. Looks like it wouldn't take much to put a few together, but it looks like it would get old after making a couple dozen of them... You might be able to make it easier by only having one piece that required a two part mold. Sort of make it like a box and then cut up a lid from some sheet plastic or something.
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Do you know anybody that will program EPROMS?
That's pretty trivial all you need is a programmer. A few people including myself would be willing to help assuming the roms are legit.
I have been ordering everything I need to get started. I am not sure if these EPROM's will work. I know they are large enough for what I want to do, however I am confused by the letters before the C27xxx.
On the 27C010 I can offer you:
AM27C010120DC I have 14 stock
AM27C010-150DC I have 25 stock
AM27C010-150DC I have 10 stock
AM27C010-150DC I have 3 stock
AM27C010-70DC I have 13 stock
On the 27C1001 I can offer you:
M27C1001-12XF1 I have 96 stock
M27C1001-15FI I have 2 stock
M27C1001-20F1 I have 18 stock
M27C1001-15F1 I have 12 stock
On the 27C020 I can offer you:
AT27C020-70JC I have 6 stock
On the 27C2001 I can offer you:
M27C2001-12F1 I have 100 stock
M27C2001-15F1 I have 5 stock
ptrckcrw2 wrote:
however I am confused by the letters before the C27xxx.
It denotes the manufacturer. AM for AMD, TI for texas insturments etc...
Would it be difficult to just order from a company pcb boards so I wouldn't have to solder wires? How much do you think it would cost? I know plans have to be drawn up. I would be willing to buy the boards, if some body would draw the diagram and I would just give some boards to them.
Probably something like $35 or so for the first board and then discounting on the more you order. I believe 200 boards would be around $2 each, but you'll never use that many.