Projects Archives - Page 2 of 4

PC Engine Duo full service and modifications

8bitplus 25/05/2017 0 Comments

Finished with my latest commission work. A PC Engine Duo was sent in for a full service, board re-cap, RGB Amp and dual region mod. Take a look how it turned out.

Click the image or here.

PC Engine Duo (first version) can suffer from bad caps after so many years resulting in audio and CD problems. I always recommend changing them. RGB modification is also a must. Its hard to believe NEC didn’t include RGB output on most PC Engine consoles

If you have any console that needs repairs, capacitor replacement or upgrades, please get in contact here.

Console, Projects

A1200 Motherboard Repairs (part 4)

8bitplus 16/03/2017 0 Comments

Still looking at the 1.D.1 board with the bad capacitors and missing IDE connection.

I managed to clean up the IDE connector as you can see below. A little flux and the solder pump did the job. I also removed and replaced all the original capacitors and replaced with new ones. The board cleaned up very well.

I sourced the replacement IDE connector from AmigaKit. Installation was very easy on a clean board. Just slot it in and apply a little liquid flux to the solder point. Then its just a matter of making sure not to apply too much solder. Results look good to me.

When I finished cleaning up the board, I connected a 4Gb CF hard drive and boot it up. Loaded Workbench first time.

Another board fully restored. So that only leaves the one with the video color problem…..

Amiga, Projects

A1200 Motherboard Repairs (part 3)

8bitplus 13/03/2017 0 Comments

Finally got chance to take a look at another couple of A1200 boards.

Firstly a version 1.D.4 that looked to be in good cosmetic condition. This board booted up and passed all my tests so far. No work needed. Happy days!

Next was an older 1.D.1 and it wasn’t in such good shape.
I hooked it up and couldn’t get it to boot. After hunting round the board I found it was missing a smd resistor (R591C) next to the CPU. It looked like it had been knocked off at some point. Replaced the resistor and it Boots!

That’s it for the easy part of this particular board. It was clear to see it was missing its IDE connector. I do seem to remember when I got this board (10 years) ago, that someone had soldered an IDE cable directly to the board, and I quickly removed it. After that it went to storage and I didn’t look at it again. The connector area was a mess, most of the caps in that area also look very bad. I can hardly believe it still works. C239 is even starting to split.

So I plan to replace ALL the Caps, and fully unsolder and clean the IDE area. Then replace with a new IDE header. I may have to repair some of the motherboard tracks that look heat damaged.

Amiga, Projects

Naomi Universal Cabinet Arcade Restoration + modifications

8bitplus 08/02/2017 0 Comments

Just to break up the Amiga related projects I’ve been working on lately, here’s a write-up of my Sega Naomi Cabinet restoration.

Click here for the project page

Arcade, Projects

Amiga 600 Preparing for Vampire

8bitplus 22/12/2016 0 Comments

I’ve just created a page detailing some of the changes I made to my stock Amiga 600 to get it ready for the Vampire 600.

When the card arrives, I’ll cover the installation and setup in more detail.
Exciting times for Amiga owners!

Click the image above to link to the project page.

Projects

Amiga 600 Vampire project

8bitplus 18/08/2016 0 Comments

I’ve started work on my Amiga 600 in preparation for the arrival of my Vampire 600 accelerator board.
This little board will upgrade the modest A600 to around 100x its original speed and performance. It also adds GFX modes with HDMI and AGA game support to the A600. Can’t wait for this one!

In the meantime I’ve installed Kickstart 3.1 rom and a CF HDD to the stock A600.

If you want to know more about this card then checkout the developers site or Apollo Accelerators
Just a matter of waiting for it now.

Amiga, Projects

PC Engine RGB Mod complete

8bitplus 04/08/2016 0 Comments

Just finished modding my PC Engine CD system to RGB video output

The results are great, click the image above for more info on this project.

Projects

Famicom AV Mod

8bitplus 28/07/2016 0 Comments

I can now play my Nintendo Famicom console on my TV with this modification.

Click the image for more information.

Projects

PC Engine CD system

8bitplus 18/07/2016 0 Comments

Just got another system that was on my wanted list for some time. The PC Engine, Interface Unit and CD-Rom2.

I’ve had a Duo console for a while but nothing beats the original pair, like the Megadrive and MegaCD; just looks so cool.

Its very hard to find one of these CD drives that works, and I’m lucky that this one does although the audio playback is skipping a bit. Still not bad when you think that its heading to 30 years old!
I’m planning to give this system a full servicing, new laser unit, capacitor kit and RGB video mod.

Projects

Help with your projects

8bitplus 17/06/2016 0 Comments

New section added to the site.

I’m now offering to help people with their own projects.

Your Consoles

If you’d like to get in contact about any projects on this site, or to discuss any retro console, arcade or computer modifications, repairs or upgraded – please use the contact form above.

8bitplus

Admin, Projects