MOD - Homemade converters

[Necromancer]

Have you given any thought to making a reverse converter? So US hu cards could be played on a Japanese Duo-RX, PC Engine GT, or PC Engine LT.

Converters work both ways - they simply reverse the order of some pins.  The chopsado^TM should work, as long as the Japanese console is modded to be region free by the grounding of pin #29.  If you're looking for a converter that wouldn't require any interior modifications, sorry, but there's no such thing.

[chop5]

yeah the pin in the pc engine still has to be grounded before a reverse chopsado can be used.

I have found out something testing the new ribbon. The new ribbon passed all the stress tests and can probably last 100 years. But all this time Ive never used it on a tg-16 because my duo's and express are my primary consoles. So i dragged out my typerwriter like case that has my tg-16 and cd attachment and was surprised that my chopsado wouldn't fit. You can see the tape jammed up in the razor thin insertion canal or whatever its called:

The duo and express have a very generous opening and can allow one or two layers of tape easy and more but the tg-16 will only allow the ribbon and no tape.

So the chopsado has to be built a little different for tg-16 owners.
First no tape can be in the insertion zone. The 2 pieces of ribbon have to be held together by glue. For this proto i used rubber cement but i think elmers glue can do. Only tape is by the solders and the tape that holds it in place. You can barely see the tape cause of the picture but look closely by momo's boot and hair, The tape on the other one is on the black area:

Not glue to hold it in place but the 2 pieces of ribbon after you soldered on the wires. Like in my sig.
And the anchoring piece of tape is no longer on the black part of the hucard but on the art. I'm afraid of the tape lifting off the paint so dull the tape a bit like run it on your shirt. Make it a bit weak but not too weak so it wont hold the chopsado in place. The small piece of tape holding down the ribbon on the pins is unaffected by the thin slot and wont get caught.
And still when you insert all of this in the hucard slot its still tight. As tight as a **** on a *** with a pickle.
So be careful not to shear off the pins on the chopsado.


I should probably use glue on all my chopsados instead of tape. I kinda like tape cause of i can always take it apart easy if i need to. But i don't think i will need to. And yes i need a manicure.

[Duo_R]

question - is there a risk that the middle pins are going to get bent slightly more and eventually cause issues with playing non chopsado games? I know that sometimes aftermarket converters or carts there are risks with that happening - such as using the old Gameshark on the Saturns made the controller port less and less likely to read the 4MB carts.

[chop5]

question - is there a risk that the middle pins are going to get bent slightly more and eventually cause issues with playing non chopsado games? I know that sometimes aftermarket converters or carts there are risks with that happening - such as using the old Gameshark on the Saturns made the controller port less and less likely to read the 4MB carts.

yeah but i believe the risk is small or non existent. the ribbon is extremely thin. the chopsado is probably thinner than a sheet of paper. But still ive always kept that in mind and the way the pins are made its possible to bend them back into shape with a needle. The tg-16 slot is very sturdy and repairs possible.

[chop5]

Michael Helgeson wanted a region converter for his son and had these materials laying around. A busted hucard and slot from a busted pc engine.
I always wondered what i would do if i ever got my hands on a hucard slot.

Gentlemen behold.......the WH-1 ultimate converter!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/protoMH1pic2.jpg
in action on a duo:


this project took many weeks to finish. And at first was to look similar to one of my other converters using the thin ribbon on a card and wires soldered on the pins.
But all that changed when i noticed the ribbon was out of pitch and michale showed me a pic of this other members creation:


The pins are better aligned and would mean less solder points and less chances for something to go wrong with it.

So first i started with the hucard. I was shocked to learn that the chips are on the little black thing. i thought they went all through the card on some ultra thin like membrane:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/openhucard1.jpg

Started to hollow out the hucard with a dremel so it can make room for the wires. Decided on using pc floppy cable for the nice order there in. Was gonna do smaller wires:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/picd.jpg
but it looked terrible.

dremeled the rest of the chip area to about half way through:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/dremeledcard2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/dremeledcard1.jpg

set that aside then cut a floppy ribbon to about 6 inches. removed 2 wires to make 38 then used a wire stripper on the ends.
Then removed the traces and chips:


now the hard part,soldering to the pins:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/mproto8.jpg
the ribbon was painted black.

then to solder on the hucard slot:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/almostdone2.jpg
and glue it all together.
The gluing was a major obstacle. i tried may epoxies and glues and the ribbon would just rise up off the hucard. A different way had to be found to hold it in place and stop it from wiggling.
Drilling small holes near the top of the hucard seemed best and then weaving wires inside and out to hold the ribbon firm.
*i did not take a picture of this but you can see the wire in the top finished picture*
Does anyone have an idea how i could of held down the ribbon better?

the glue on the chip portion held good. followed the same groves that held the chip on the card with nec's original greenish glue. Pic where glue was placed and not:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/protoMH1pic3.jpg

Everything held strong and worked on the first try on all 3 consoles. Should last a hundred years.

if i get another slot i will mount it the floppy cable connector like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/itfits.jpg
its a perfect fit and conducts easy.

So many more ideas can be made. I think i may even be possible to alter region inside of the hucards nice and neat.









I am known in some regions as the full turbo alchemist 

[nat]

Do you have a job?

[Arkhan]

Do you have a job?

of course he does!

Makin' Macgyver'd HuCard stuff!

Im workin on a converter too... but with a board, and stuff..... >_O

[nikdog]

How's work on the reverse Chopsado coming?

[TH0R]

  wow, i'm jealous dude, that's badass...which one of these has been the easiest/best to work with?

[Michael Helgeson]

Just a update on this, that Chops work on the WH-1 ultimate converter was wonderful. The thing worked great. My son used it on Bloody Wolf and Street Fighter 2 the other day, no probs. Very nice work indeed.

[chop5]

good to know PC-ENGINE HELL that one of my babies is doing ok.


I have completed what i thought would be a reverse chopsado to work on a pc engine or japanese console. Found out that the pins on the chopsado are symmetrical and will work without any wires being repositioned or turning it backwards.
So the chopsado will work on both consoles as long as you have that 1 wire soldered inside the japanese console as described here:
http://www.gamesx.com/importmod/necjapmod.htm

dual use chopsado 


And for those that have one of my babies a new instruction sheet has been made:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/chopsadoinstr1copy.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/chopsadoinstr2copy.jpg
older instruction sheet
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/chopinstrctfrontpage.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/chopinstructbackpage.jpg

the instruction sheet is for the new models that have the piece of scotch brand double stick tape on the back to better hold on the hucard and prevent tape jams when inserting.
If you have an older chopsado model follow the instructions on the back page of the instructions to add a piece of double stick tape to the back if you want.
The new instructions also address the tarnish issue thats happening to many models and how to prevent and fix.

[chop5]

Gentlemen behold.......the solderless chopado!   



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/jetbue7/chopsadoperfectback.jpg

Now even more easier to make with just a piece of ribbon,double sided tape and safety scissors.

First you get a piece of ribbon about 5 inches. Scrape the edges either all the way as in this picture or short of the end so the pins are held down with some of the insulation like in the top picture. Cut out 9 pins from the rest of the excess ribbon,better to scrape first then cut it away from the rest.


scrape opposite sides

Now take a razor blade and gently cut the center about 1 and a half inches along the separations not cutting into the metal:

I left the 2 pins next to the ground pin in a single piece of 2 on the top picture,you can also do this for the others and cut them in twos instead of single pieces. Up to you.

Before you twist and bend it you have to cut the middle 3 pins of the back side only all the way to middle part.
The ground pin is cut by itself and the 2 pins next to it are a cut together in one piece.


Now twist them and bend it till the exposed pins are back to back


Now hold them together with scotch brand double sided tape in the middle and when you connect the 3 middle pins you reverse them. You can see the arrangement better in this picture as you can see where the number pattern on the ribbon is different:

Only put the tape above the exposed pin line for maximum thinness in that area.

You are done,works as good or better than any other model i have made. Almost zero chance of failure.



Cant get any better than this even if it were to be made commercially by a factory with the sticker that i first envisioned,the ribbon wouldn't get any thinner or the contacts.
So that ends it for me,8 months of working on this and Ive reached the limits on improving it.

If anyone wants one pm me and il make you one for a trade of any single loose cart game(atari thru n64,even handheld carts) or pc engine loosey common i don't have.


 

[agt_dale_cooper]

WTF do you want with old carts? "trade of any single loose cart game(atari thru n64,even handheld carts) or pc engine loosey common i don't have"
I'll send you an assortment of goodies just to be able to gaze upon this delightful bit of creativity...
PM me an address to ship to, I'll get a nice care package out...

[Arkhan]

can you post a picture of the like, schematics?

What gets flipped and all that?

[Duo_R]

Arkhan,

it's the same swapping that a region switch would flip flop. You can see a schematic here:


http://www.geocities.com/duo_r@sbcglobal.net/files/switch.install.txt

can you post a picture of the like, schematics?

What gets flipped and all that?