HDMI Nintoaster Project! (Work in progres)

You know what would look cool.
If you used some of those flame like leds inside the toaster, so it looks like fire!

Or just some red and orange leds super low current to emulate the heating elements

 

Yes! This was planned all along, there will be a potentiometer on the side of the unit, that will regulate the LED's brightness
However currently that wiring is killing me...

 

So here is a video of the problem.
I do get a picture, but it crashes a few seconds in.
The game I am trying to run is abadox (Cause I was told it was great for testing).
Is this a CPU/PPU issue, or is it the connectors fault?

I have tried to remove both the CPU and PPU, clean all the contacts and carefully place them again.

 

I wonder if extending the cartridge connector is adding resistance that the system doesnt like. Maybe measure resistance between cart connector and the motherboard? Have you checked for continuity to make sure there are no cold solder joints?

 

Try adding another earth wire between the -ve input pad on the hi-def NES board and the NES board groundplane.

 

Thank you for the input!
There seem to be no difference in resistance from connector to board at all.
I have checked for continuity, from connector to board, and it all works fine, no bridges or anything.
There are no cold solder on the board or connector, all of the joints looks nice and shiny.

Should I add an extra ground wire to the ground terminal on the board?
The one in the left corner?

 

Went through alot of troubleshooting today.
I desoldered the entire catridge connector, and mounted the original 72pin one.
To my surprise the system still gave me an error..

I had an famicom board laying around, I decided to desolder the CPU and change it on the board.
I went ahead and changed the crystal as well.
System is now fully operational again.

However I will have to redo the entire cartridge connector once more.
This time I will try some IDE cables..

*This project is driving me crazy

 

It's probably a good idea - in the normal installation that ground wire is hooked to what used to be the center pin of the 7805 regulator and is hence grounded to the main board groundplane. It should still work even without it since there are ground connections in the FFCs, but I found there was quite a bit more noise on the signals just using that.

 

AFAIK you can control the volume with different values of resistors. I think I personally used something other than 56k so it would be quieter, but I don't recall the value I used

 

I have a couple of other resistors at hand I could try.
What value is optimal you think?

 

Honestly I'm not sure what I used at this point. I think most people say 56k is pretty optimal, but a bit higher may be fine too. Lower ohms will be louder, so 24k for instance will likely way overpower the other audio channels.

 

So finally a positive update.
It has been months. I have been trying to get that cartridge connector to work, for so long.
The original idea was to make the wires going from the PCB to the cartridge connector, long enough to make them able to twist, inside the toaster housing.
However, this can not be done, since the NES is so unbelievable extremely picky with the lengths of those wires (At least in my experience).
Even though it is possible to get a picture with this method, it will crash at a certain point.

Therefore I have cut the lenght of those wires in half, and soldered it on. It mimics the length of the original connector now.
And luckily it works!
However, I will need to do some case modding to the toaster internals, since the motherboard have to sit opposite than first intended.
This is primarily a challenge due to the Hi-Def NES interposers. But I do think it is possible.

So finally an update, I will return once I have modded the toaster housing.
I am also now using a 9V 2A power supply, which seems to run a little bit better than the (9V 1A) I was using before.

 

Huge update!
So with the cartridge connector finally in place, it was time to focus on the insides of the toaster.

I have measured everything carefully and trimmed away just enough, so that everything fits.

- That should be enough.

I have secured the edges with electric tape, so nothing shorts when I test everything.

Likewise I have cutted some acrylic with will help support the cartridge connector, and the pressure that gets applied once you insert a game.



Luckily very little trimming was needed of the actual board.
I have cut a small square in the left bottom, which makes it sit perfectly on the toasters skeleton.
A small corner of the top, has been removed as well.



Moment of truth.
Will the outer housing have enough room, for the interposed chipset?
Answer is YES!



Project is really starting to take shape (finally).


However does everything still work?



Next up, acrylic and LEDs.
Stay tuned, it is getting close

Edit: And no, nothing will be hold in place by tape. It is only while testing

 

Since last I have come a very long way with the toaster.
In face it is close to being finished.
The HDMI board has been mounted inside the toaster, it is on top of a piece of plexiglass, so nothing shorts out.
This is the same for the internal power supply, which is mounted on the inner side of the housing.

I have raised a momentary push button, on the inside of the handle.
The entire mechanism have a very "toaster"-like feed back.

You can actually both see and hear it here


I have done all of the wiring atm, all the LED's are in place, and everything gets power.


Hope you are not sick of seeing that intro to Abadox yet

I have some acrylic that will arrive with the mail this week, and that is more or less all that is left to do.
That and cutting the HDMI "shape" in the housing, which I really, really dread..

 

So I am back with another update.
Currently I spent a lot of my freetime on the project.
It is going in the right direction. But it goes very slow.

I have just finished making the controller ports.
It is set on top of a "skeleton" of plexiglas, which is glued together along side the original reset button.



This is my first time working with plexiglas and epoxy, but the result turned out fantastic.
The legs of the "skeleton" feeds two purposes. One to secure the pressure applied once your insert the controller.
And two, it works great with the LED's, since it feeds the lights upwards.



Next up is drilling and shaping the HDMI input.
This have been something I have dreaded ever since I started this project.
Hopefully it will work out as intended.

I have decided to drill a hole in the housing, and then filling the metal away, with a small file.
It's gonna take a while, but hopefully I will have more control over everything this way.



Horrible photo.. I know.
But hopefully this template can help me get everything done right.

Hope you like these updates, even though I don't do them as much as I would like to!
Not that much left to do after the HDMI port is done!

 

So 3 hours of carefully filing later, and the HDMI port is mounted.
Not perfect by any means, but this will do the job!



I still need two screws for the mounting holes. Somehow I find it rather difficult to the smaller size screws around here.
Will try to hear my local watchmaker tomorrow

I am also waiting for a new potentiemeter.
The ones I got, is the wrong length, but I have managed to found a perfect fit (hopefully) in the U.K.
It should be here one of these days.

When that is taken care of, it is assembly!

 

So with everything in place, there was nothing left but to screw and glue everything together.

I proudly present to you the final product:
(Also my girlfriend helped me with fancy hipster filters).



Controller sticker is a replica sticker bought of eBay.



The LED's shines beautifully through the plexiglass.



HDMI port is perfectly aligned on the back.



Not the greatest of photos, but it works!

I hope that you can bare with me for one last time. The bootup of Abadox:



I do have to give a couple shoutouts to a few people.

youruglyclone - Thank you so much for sending the toaster to me!
Hope you liked what I did with it.

Bearking - Thank you so much, firstly for the NES board you prepped for me.
And secondly the huge amount of guidance you gave me during the project.

I hoped all of you enjoyed following along

 

Looks really great. The orange lights look really kewl

Also really nice attention to details and overall a really clean end result. Good job!

 

The final product is absolutely gorgeous! You did a great job man!