NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

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burgerkingdiamond
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NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by burgerkingdiamond »

I figured that since we're all geeks to one extent or another someone might be interested in this. I finished this back in December, but couldn't find the time to put all the pics together. enjoy!

So I decided to build myself an MP3 player as a little project. It ended up taking more time than I hoped it would, but it turned out pretty good. It’s an NES controller with a 4GB Coby MP3 player gutted and transplanted inside. I know this is not original at all, it’s been done before but I really took my time on it and I think it’s turned out better than any other ones I’ve seen online.
On to the progress pics… (I’m a crappy photographer.. )
Here’s the controller in it’s original state. I decided to try out something I’ve wanted to do for awhile. I mixed up some RetroBrite, http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/. This stuff is supposed to work wonders for getting the yellow out of old consumer electronics. It worked pretty well for me (although it wasn’t in very bad shape to start with.

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sitting in the sun waiting for reaction to work it’s magic

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finished product

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original MPS player (Coby 4GB, $20 ebay)

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innards exposed…

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battery holder and USB jack

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feeling out the battery placement. Some plastic removed with the Dremel.

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hole cut out for USB port (slow and steady with the Dremel. I like to use some masking tape, and draw my line on the tape with a Sharpie. The tape is there to save the plastic if your hand slips at all). Always measure 23 times before you cut! Headphone jack just fits right where the cord used to be.

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used a 16 pin IC holder as a way to organize wiring a little bit. The wires from all the NES buttons are soldered to the pins that sticking through the board. On the other side the wires to the MP3 PCB. This might make sense later.

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plastic window scavenged from the MP3 player. The silver bezel hides the imperfect cut.

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The player has a mini USB jack. It’s way too small for me to try and wire directly to. So I scavenged the Mini USB plug from this adapter that came with the player. I cut away the plastic to expose the leads underneath. Wires go from the Mini USB plug to the regular USB jack pictured earlier. Then the Mini USB plug goes into the jack on the player.

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close up of headphone jack and USB jack wired up. Hot glue is essential!

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I’ve done one of these before but I used small tact switches for the buttons. They work great, but it doesn’t feel like an NES controller. So this time I wanted to keep that same feel. So I cannibalized the NES PCB (did I mention I used a broken controller? Don’t worry I wouldn’t ruin a good working one.) Originally I thought that if I just wired up to the contacts that the buttons would just work (2 wires per button, the player PCB isn’t common ground. I found that out the hard way the first time I built one of these).

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That didn’t end up working. I don’t know exactly why, but I came up with a pretty good workaround. I just scraped off all that black stuff from the contacts to expose the bare copper.

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then I cut out little circles of aluminum foil and superglued them to the rubber pads that depress when you push a button.

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directions and A,B wired up and in place

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wired up to MP3 PCB

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PCB lifted out of the way while the LCD and backlight are glued in place.

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everything wired and glued in place. The little piece of perf board in the middle is glued to keep the start and select buttons in place. They don’t actually do anything. Only 6 buttons are needed. You might see a 4 strand piece of ribbon wire sticking out near the headphone jack. They’re the left,right, and grounds for the headphone jack. Originally I had the jack wired up to the IC header, but it there was a bad connection, and I realized that it was easier to just ditch the header and wire straight to the PCB in that case.

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final shot of the headphone and USB jacks.

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closed up. Only the corner screws are used . the two middle had to go. The little hint of blue in the middle bottom screw hole is the batter peeking out.

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final shots and the male/male USB cable I wired up.

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xbl0x180
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by xbl0x180 »

Dude. That is totally awersome :shock:
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Jonathan Ingram
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by Jonathan Ingram »

Quite possibly one of the most awesome things I`ve seen lately.
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Aguraki
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by Aguraki »

love it!
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undamned
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by undamned »

Sweet work, man! :D
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Herr Schatten
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by Herr Schatten »

xbl0x180 wrote:Dude. That is totally awersome :shock:
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emphatic
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by emphatic »

It's.... BEAUTIFUL...
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shmuppyLove
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by shmuppyLove »

Image

Also, ponies.
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Blackbird
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by Blackbird »

AWESOME. I want one!
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burgerkingdiamond
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by burgerkingdiamond »

thanks everyone. I'm happy that people like it.

I was considering building some and seeing if they sold as a little side hobby. The electronics part isn't tough, but I hate all the Dremel work you have to do. I just don't have the time, and if I were to make another I'm sure that the price would be prohibitively high.
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Deca
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by Deca »

This is incredibly cool, big props. Also I'm very intrigued by this retrobrite stuff, that controller looks pristine post treatment!
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renardqueenston
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by renardqueenston »

holy hell, that's incredible! wonderful stuff, man
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burgerkingdiamond
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by burgerkingdiamond »

Deca wrote:This is incredibly cool, big props. Also I'm very intrigued by this retrobrite stuff, that controller looks pristine post treatment!
dude, give it a shot. Do you have a SNES lying around? it's probably pretty yellow.

I want to try it out on my NES, but I haven't been able to find the time. I mixed up a big batch of RetrBrite though, so it's ready to go.
Let's Ass Kick Together!
1CCs : Donpachi (PCB - 1st loop) Dodonpachi (PCB - 1st loop) Battle Bakraid (PCB) Armed Police Batrider (PCB) Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 (360 - Original) Mushihimesama Futari BL (PCB - Original)
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ChainsawGuitarSP
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by ChainsawGuitarSP »

THAT'S PRETTY COOL OP, BUT I THINK I LIKE MINE BETTER
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(But seriously, GJ.)
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burgerkingdiamond
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by burgerkingdiamond »

ChainsawGuitarSP wrote:THAT'S PRETTY COOL OP, BUT I THINK I LIKE MINE BETTER
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(But seriously, GJ.)
not bad. Is it just a stick? That would make a pretty fucking sweet supergun if you ask me!

I guess I have to try and one up you now.. I built this NES PC last year ( I haven't been able to come up with any original mods. This has been done to death, but I like it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTkojWEFpho

do yourself a favor and skip to about 7:00 minutes in. I ramble on way to much at the beginning. I didn't really have planned what I wanted to explain so it's pretty boring.
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Skykid
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by Skykid »

Best MP3 player ever dude, I want one.
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Deca
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by Deca »

burgerkingdiamond wrote:dude, give it a shot. Do you have a SNES lying around? it's probably pretty yellow.
Actually my SNES has very little yellowing! It could certainly be improved but as it stands its not awful. Still, it'd be very cool to have all the old consoles looking like they're brand new again :)
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rancor
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by rancor »

I wish someone would bottle and sell that retrobright.. I could probably retire buying old yellow Saturns for 100 yen and making them white again. I've got almost every ingredient, but it is ridiculous trying to find hydrogen peroxide here in Japan.. I've tried about a dozen shops and pharmacys and they just give me a quizzical look like I'm trying to build a bomb or something.. :| My wife has never even heard of it, and that seems to be the norm over here.
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burgerkingdiamond
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by burgerkingdiamond »

rancor wrote:I wish someone would bottle and sell that retrobright.. I could probably retire buying old yellow Saturns for 100 yen and making them white again. I've got almost every ingredient, but it is ridiculous trying to find hydrogen peroxide here in Japan.. I've tried about a dozen shops and pharmacys and they just give me a quizzical look like I'm trying to build a bomb or something.. :| My wife has never even heard of it, and that seems to be the norm over here.
what?????????? that is odd. it's a pretty common chemical.
Let's Ass Kick Together!
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by rancor »

yeah - I know.. You can buy it in practically every grocery store in America. Must just be one of the things that never made it to Japan along with multivitamins, deodorant (that works), anti-bacterial soap, and Baconaise. :mrgreen:

oh yeah - and the NES MP3 player kicks ass..
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burgerkingdiamond
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by burgerkingdiamond »

made it on Hackaday : http://hackaday.com/2012/01/19/nes-cont ... enclosure/

and there's only 2 dickhead comments. That's not bad considering this is the internet we're talking about. :mrgreen:
Let's Ass Kick Together!
1CCs : Donpachi (PCB - 1st loop) Dodonpachi (PCB - 1st loop) Battle Bakraid (PCB) Armed Police Batrider (PCB) Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 (360 - Original) Mushihimesama Futari BL (PCB - Original)
lered
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by lered »

Skykid wrote:Best MP3 player ever dude, I want one.
Yeah, i also want one. A cool job.
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Re: NES MP3 player complete with lots o pics

Post by Julow »

I think you did a great job. If you are interested in building one for sale I'd be very interested in purchasing it. Email me if you are willing to sell one. Justin.low@gmail.com
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