Soldering Hacks for the Nintendo GameCube
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- PURCHASE (AFFILIATE) KunaiGC
International Orders:
► consoles4you.c...
U.S.A. Orders:
► castlemaniagam...
PURCHASE (AFFILIATE) SD2SP2 Adapter
► amzn.to/41Ymt3H
SD2SP2 Cover Bezel
► www.printables...
PURCHASE Gamecube Blue Retro
► www.laserbear....
RockerGaming Etsy:
► www.etsy.com/s...
PURCHASE (AFFILIATE) links
► Buy my console mods, here! voultar.com
► Soldering Station I use: bit.ly/2DtoywS
► Soldering Tips I use: bit.ly/2Dvbln5
► All other equipment (solder, flux, wiring, etc): www.amazon.com...
FOLLOW MY SOCIAL MEDIA!
► Twitter / voultar
SUBSCRIBE TO MY LIVE-STREAM CHANNEL!
► / @voultarslivestreamcha...
#gamecube #mods
Had the same exact issue with the ribbon and i though I was doing something wrong. I bought high temp silicone wire from amazon and redid all the soldering worked great. I even bough an HDMI tester that plugs inline and it showed missing signal. I almost reprogrammed the FPGA board using the Pluto programming windows application. Again all was solved with replacing with individual wires!
"...prettiest system Nintendo has ever built." Preach brother!!!
The Super Famicom comes second.
The Pluto board was my very first mod back in 2016. That was an absolute nightmare to get installed without any soldering experience, and as a college student without access to 3D printing. It’s permanently hot glued inside my GameCube and I’m deeply, deeply ashamed.
Everyone has to start somewhere
@@AshtonCoolman thanks for the encouraging words! Now I have lots of practice!
I fried a 1.6 Xbox trying to do an Xecuter with that horrible solderless adapter. We all make mistakes....
you can always go back and redo it
@@amak1131my friend tried to install an Xbox modchip and had never soldered anything before and basically used the solder like glue and all of the connections were soldered together so they were all electrically connected and wondered why it didn't work. Luckily he didn't fry it though. So to everyone who is ashamed of their past work or scared to start cuz they don't know what they're doing, just try it! You have to start somewhere! I still make ugly looking solder joints but it mostly works lol
35:44 I was just saying in another thread--this is very similar to what I consider a major downside of silicone wire insulation. Most kinds of wire insulation deform *plastically,* meaning that you can bend them and they will roughly stay bent. You can reflow your solder joints with the wire in its final position to make sure that there is no stress being applied to them by the wire trying to return to its original shape.
Silicone insulation, although it bends more easily than some other types, deforms *elastically.* It will almost always try to spring back to its original shape. This can put strain on solder joints for sure.
That mic is fire.
Reminds me kinda like huggbees
I love that he has another mic behind it xD
I agree with you about not using ChipQuik but you said you weren't going to use any expensive soldering system and then you broke out a $200 plus de-soldering gun. Made me chuckle.
It's not the same as doing it with a pump-action solder sucker lol. The gun is way more comfortable
Voultar is the Bob Ross of soldering
Blob Ross
I got a Pinecil soldiering iron for Christmas, and I think it'll be real fitting that my first mod would be for my first console. Before, the most modwork I could do with those soldering irons you plug into the mains was nil, all I ever managed to do was to solder a wire so my AGS-101 screen had an extra step of brightness in an OG GBA (I now want to install a new screen and an audio mod.)
Now there's this world that's opened up and I can take it on with confidence thanks to your help! Thank you!
The flex cable for the Pluto board. Wouldn't it be better to make a sharp fold where it is marked with dashed lines? Leaving it rounded bent instead of sharp folded, will always stress both the flex cable and the GC circuit board.
This video is perfect. I've learned about every mod from Macho Nacho's videos, and this video ties everything I plan to put into a gamecube I recently bought on ebay into a beautiful bow.
Great video! I appreciate how in depth you go when explaining things and show all your work (when the camera allows, understanable ha) instead of cutting to the end. It really helps teach good habits and technique.
I really think these ribbon cables can only take the smallest about of heat before they break, and they definitely can't take 2 or 3 reworks. Like a 2 second tap and done kinda deal.
The Kunai interface board looks like it was fabricated at JLCPCB without the "castellated holes" option selected. Likely to reduce costs as this option can sometimes triple the production costs of these boards. I've done this myself multiple times when you just can't justify the astronomical price increase.
Finally, somone addressing the issue of how to desolder through hole components properly. Too many times i see dodgy ways of through hole compnents being removed. Not that i am an expert but i have done a electronics course with lots of soldering involved and that was one thing they taught us never to do
this felt like a bob ross painting episode. loved it.
I like the kunaiGC because the picoboot needs to be mounted externally away from the IPL outside of the shielding (which stresses the flex/wires leading out) and this is hidden inside next to the IPL, as well as the built in on-board storage. But perhaps someone could just create a qsb with SD support for the 2040. The reason 2040 boards are superior are not from function, rather, availability, updates and price. The fact that they will be available and have updates way after people who make things like the Kunai GC and other modchips decide to stop production and updates. I know you as well as myself and many others have had issues sourcing things like the GCdual. 2040s have so many applications that they will always be plentiful and available.
Not to mention the high quality documentation and dev resources! Huge timesaver as a hobbyist.
In every video Lord Voultar is working so precise that soldering become fun to watch.
Came here for the Game Cube mods that I'll probably never fit, stayed for the Bob Ross style soldering tutorial. Nice!
You're the Bob Ross of the soldering world. "Just make some happy little trees - of solder".
LoL "Our Lord Voultar" , LoL I spat out my home made strawberry wine. LoL
i love how this dude just mops the floor with everyones solders skills and spits flux in our faces but god damn he aint wrong
Gotta say, watching tito put that pluto in had me cringing as well. Spend the coin and just get the hakko 301.
Tito has a 301 as well. He was operating on bad information that he might damage the traces in the digital port mounting area on the board by using the desoldering gun. But even Helder, the designer of that ribbon, used a desoldering iron in his installation video. There was a qsb like mount developed for the pluto before the ribbon by another designer, but it was short-lived and seemed to have issues of its own.
@@brianchambers7070 That's what made it even harder to watch. I was literally screaming at the video saying "Use the hakko!" lol
I saw Tito do that and immediately knew he was a guy in over his head who is decent at making RUclips videos. Filled with mistakes.
I've used Helder's flex cable for a couple of these, I personally think it works well, but it is extremely sensitive. I've had the little edges detach on the GC side a couple of times as I was reworking the GC side destroying the cable. It's cleaner, but I'm not sure if it's better. I would recommend screwing the pluto down with at least one screw to the mount, I've had the pluto pop out before.
I'm not sure if you mentioned this in the long video but a common consequence of being too rough with the heatsink is knocking off the diode arrays that protect the serial ports--they're little SC-70 packages with refdes like DA15. For anyone that has a board where these are missing, I found some replacement parts: Rohm part numbers UMP1N and UMN1N. Which one you use depends on whether the footprint connects to ground or 3.3V.
I believe these are original parts used by Nintendo because the markings match some photos of boards I've seen. I verified these parts are correct based on a GC mainboard schematic a kind fellow slipped me.
It’s like Nintendo hates fun. Also I miss Iwata. That guy was awesome.
Love my Spice Orange Gamecube. Got the exact mods you just did.
Saw the capton tape and knew it was macho nacho
Voultar’s soft and calming voice needs two mics to gather all the beauty of it. Great job with your new clip!
Nice video. I'm personally more a fan of the pico boot, but I also have over a dozen of the various Pi versions I use for loads of projects and tasks. I've been meaning to get around to modifying the HD port to HDMI, but haven't been in much a rush since getting the steamdeck and having my whole console Library on it with saves backed up to my NAS. I'm looking forward to the coming M.2 adapter for use on the gamecube too.
As a former video game system repair person of 5 years, I have to say your video is highly informative, offering several techniques I don't see often (I often see more hacky solutions like hot air, and prying). That said, please don't take this next bit as anything other than slight constructive criticism, but I notice you seemingly get caught in looping (like you spent a few minutes reiterating how others tend to remove the digital out port, before you show how to properly do it. Makes it harder to follow along for me personally, but either way, entertaining and informative video! I really like the step by step instuctions, and while you're showing your work you explain why it is useful.
I've seen someone add a resistor to a noctua fan to use its silent function without the use of the third wire, not sure how much I can recommend it but it's a neat thing to point out for a quiet solution
Huh, I've been using quickchip for tricky joints on older vintage boards that I didn't feel could handle too much heat. I just use a tiny bit on each contact, certainly not flooding and using hot air though. A little bit goes a long way.
25:30
I got an idea for helping to align things here. Put component legs in the 2 ground/mount points, or really just about any 2 holes. Give you something to rest the notches of the cable against.
I've been following your progress and frustrations on Twitter for these mods, so it's nice to see a complete video to have everything come together. I've already done the PicoBoot mod to my GameCube, but some of the other mods here are on my radar now.
I recognize that chip quick video. Its macho nacho's pluto board video. I admit he did not have a good day with that one since he also put in the cable backwards at first. Usually his mods look pretty good and clean. At the end he did his pluto board right and it was looking good.
Am I hearing "Full Force" at 12:23? That's a serious blast from the past for me. Freaking awesome.
Glad you're back brother. Let's do this.
I cannot explain how much I love these videos. You're also an absolute wizard with a soldering iron haha!
So, the Pluto board should be forgotten, just like the planet Pluto!
I'm amazed between this and the 360 RGH3. I never would have thought old consoles would get mod "updates" after a base standard was set.
I wanted to do rgh3 on my 360 E corona but was told the post fix adapter is a pain in the ass
@@joshkelly4682post fix is the easy part imo. Pads are easy to grab only issue is if you don’t have captains or electrical tape
After I did this installation about a month ago I thought the same about the flex cable, I didn't like at all how it was going upward (it even touches the shielding, so you have to insulate the two pads on the top otherwise you'll ground everything), still I didn't have any issues and kept the cable. What convinced me the most was that the flex cable should technically avoid any interferences, so no video distorcions or whatsoever. How did you fix that using wires? Maybe magnetic wires should avoid any interferences...?
Also great video as always, I too didn't like the idea of having a debug board inside the GC, but I really wanted to spend some money for a GCVideo option which is also practical and good looking and this is the only option available
Update: the ribbon cable broke and I used your 30 AWG wires technique :) Came out very nicely, I think I learned something from it (other than never trust weird ribbon cables)
Lovely video. I had no idea there were so many handy GC mods. Also, the toy microphone is just *chef's kiss*.
For the castelated holes they choose not to pay the extra fee for castelated holes. Then you see this issue. If you pay the extra fee then the production will plate these spots after milling and not before...
Thanks for the SNES 2Chip EE Mod, Kudos from Poland 🍻
I just watched the video containing the hot air/ChipQuik example the other day... Maybe a good idea to look up multiple such instruction videos when trying something like this.
I had problems with the flex cable aswell. So now I ordered a Adaptor Board from OSH Park for the Pluto Installation that uses Pin heads. It is called EZPluto
Do you have any experience with that? Would you reccomend that?
OR Would you recommend wirering it up by hand? If so what wires are you using? Those in the video look very thin.
I Ended up wirering it by Hand and Not using the EZ Pluto Board.
Glad to have you back.
I am hoping for a GCDigital from PixelFX. I got an Orange GC waiting for that :)
@Voultar I'm curious, what is your website for your equipment?
Also I have a retron 3 av hyper beach I want to mod myself to HDMI... Think you could make an HDMI board for it?
I've been getting more into soldering and recently got a Hakko desoldering gun and it makes life so much easier. Much better than the previous one I had. The better quality tools are worth their weight in gold.
Thank you for gracing us with another great video Lord Voultar.
The FR-301 is the best ~$250 I spent on desoldering equipment. No more ripped-up traces and no more pumping insufficient thermal energy into massive ground planes! I bought the slot-type tip that lets me use it with those wide connections. Way better than wick for the big jobs (which is "anything more than about 3 connections")
That's the same one I got. 👍🏻
Works amazingly.
Is your issue with the pluto just that it's not a clean install, or is there another technical reason for it?
Primarily the lack of "polish" when used with either the GC or Wii.
So apologies if I missed something but the main downside Voultar gives to using ChipQuik or another low melt removal alloy is the cost, I think? I wanted to give another downside that I don't hear people talk about much:
Because it stays molten for so long it is *so* easy to get it all over the place, and then you have to worry if you've accidentally contaminated other solder joints on the board with low melt. There've been times that I wicked and resoldered like 2 dozen joints in the general area of where I used ChipQuik because I was so paranoid that they might have gotten contaminated.
esse estilo de soldar, fico perfeito, simples e limpo,otimo trabalho !!!!!!
Voultar which solder suction pump do you use? It sounds like it is electronic? The manual ones are very tedious to use.
I really like the power screwdriver at 8:13. It has a lever to engage it, rather than a surface button. Would you be willing to share what model this is or where to find a similar one?
Can you explain why it is important to introduce new solder to the digital output before removing it?
Just came here to ask where are you Voultar? Your audience needs you. I hope you're in good health buddy.
I have no issue with the pluto mod. It retains the stock look and works as good as a carby. Also doesn't require a 3rd party remote to change settings, which is another plus for me.
Bob Ross of electronic soldering!!
would making the hdmi bracket taller and cutting a custom hole for the hdmi make the ribbon cable have less tension?
Hey just wondering where you would get the soldering iron handle from as they only sell it with the new handle which I don’t like every much.
You do a really good job with your videos . I think I watched your xstation walkthrough when I first started doing these
I appreciate that Macho Nacho leaves the mistakes in his videos (the Chip Quik incident) because it at least shows people what NOT to do. I'm sure it makes you cringe, though 😣
Dood, you’re cool! I’m impressed. Am trying to unlock my gcube for multi-region use
It looks as though they initially designed the KunaiGC to where you had to remove the chip and the board would be soldered into the main board with the chip being placed on top. Because the measurements are so bad if not.
Hey Voultar. Controller Port 1 on my childhood GC is broken. Anyway to fix it or would I have to swap out all the ports?
Cheers
Yes, this is extremely common. You simply need to take the PCB out and reflow the pins for the controller port with fresh solder and you'll be as good as new.
Correction: Nintendo hates everything that isn't literal cash money.
Jesus Voultar, i could just close my eyes and just listen to you solder boards all night long 😂
Any idea where to get one of those sd2sp2 bezels made? Laser Bear didn't respond to my request and I'm not sure who is reputable in the 3D printing world.
I hadnt heard of the gc dual, and ended up buying the pluto with the ribbon cable and mounting bracket. Would you recommend selling them off to get the gc dual imstead? I dont have a desoldering station yet, so i would need to buy one, but im reasonably sure i could install the pluto without too much trouble.
don't understand using pluto on anything but gamecube's that are missing the digital port.
You are so encouraging; I appreciate you for helping me learn to solder and mod.
Lord Voultar are those muscles? And what's with that PS2 Slim in the background?
.. removing the through hole port - can you use wick instead of a solder sucker/puller? Agree that you don't need a heat gun though - yuk!
Sure. But you're not going to have a fun time.
I've done quite a few of these and using a wick will cause you to question your humanity as you scream in frustration. I hate doing this mod, removing the digital port is the worst.
@@Voultartry one of those plastic pumps for fun.
@@Voultar i'm waiting on parts for my first GC mod and i'm counting on a combination of braid and hand pump. I remember it working well on my OG xbox mods which were through hole connections when i wanted to take them out. Not fun but doable
@@Voultar I managed to do it using wick and everything came out ok but it was indeed not fun at all. if i ever do this again i'm going to buy that little solder remover gun.
37:02 why not just take the red wire off the mound and run it directly to the via?
Lord Voultar, because oF YOU i started my journey ind mods. Firsr one was the Picoboot today. No experience, no good tools, but i think its all okay, i not tested yet. Thanks for inspiring me
Thank you for the very kind comment!
@Voultar when are you gonna be posting more videos?
Awesome vid as always. Do you think it'd be possible, at some point (maybe a later revision by the creator) for the QSB on the Kunai to switch from using its pads to interface with the modchip's castellated edges to using headers, and the modchip's through-holes? I realize that gravity is probably not all that much of an issue, but I'm not sure how I personally feel about the way this interfaces... seems unnecessarily clumsy. Would it be inconvenient for the person installing it, given its small footprint?
i always enjoy your sensual soldering
Will this mod work with the GameCubes that don't have the digital video port? Cause that port was removed in 2004 and the AV port was moved to it's place.
Do u recommend the pico mod for the GC?
I just want to let you know I share this video with a few people just randomly in my snap stories and stuff.
I will say that my particular friend group loves the way you described at each step and even though they don't know anything about soldering? Truly appreciate you.
I'm still practicing my soldering skills on an old 90s Nissan instrument panel, but after hitting that Game Gear again
I appreciate it! Thanks!
@voultar can you put up a wiring digram for the pluto, yours is rhe cleanest. I always see ppl pull the wires from the bottom of the board
Where did you find the cover for the 90° sd2sp2 adapter?.
Why is there interest for internal GCvideo mods? There are a number of GCvideo devices that plug into the digital port. Is there some advantage that I am not considering? It's not analog, so there is no improvement when using an external adapter. Why do this? I also agree. Preserve those ports. But I question the point in removing them.
What is that cool automatic screwdriver you're using
Come for the tips, stay for the rant! I love a good Voultar rant.
Glad to see you back, awesome vid. I love my laserBear bluetooth GC controller mod. it is truly a work of art
I hope Lord Voultar will offer installation services for the Game Cube again on his site. I was one of the novices who botched my Picoboot install and need some serious help getting that repaired and upgraded.
I love watching the master mod. Lord Voultar at his finest once again!
Hey mates, does anybody knows the song that plays at 7:45
That was an hour of sensual action well spent, lord Voultar delivers his wisdom (and fluids) once more. 🤓
So, I really have no experience at all with soldering/desoldering, so this may be a very dumb question, but can I ask why nobody in any of these gamecube mod videos seems to be using solder wick for the removal process? Is there a reason why that wouldn't work? Sorry if I'm dumb and there's a super obvious answer here.
Not a modder, but I repair alot of ps5 hdmis: Solder wick tends to do more harm than good....would rather use a sucker than risk accidentally ruining a pad again.
I’m loving all the new mods that work alongside the existing hardware in the console like the kunai and disc drive. I had to get a gc loader since my drive was dead but still great to see.
Gotta say you are the most entertaining modder I follow! And what a vocabulary!! ❤
I desoldered the Digital port with my TS-80 soldering iron and desoldering braid/wick. it's still intact in a box somewhere.
a good quick solder ribbon would be nice for the pluto board, but ideally pixelfx would come up with a new modern solution that can handle more resolutions/settings and most importantly HDMI CIC for the settings, instead of IR controller or controller shortcuts.
I keep forgetting them lol.
Great video like always. Do you have a link to that uv resin you used, seems like a much better alternative to using kapton tape for holding wires in place.
I looked through your links and I can't find that powered screwdriver. Do you mind telling me the make and model?
ive always wonder if you tend the vias then use a hot air station is that a bad idea? (Pluto)
what sort of de soldering thing do you use? i couldnt find it in your links
Thanks again for all the explanations and it was fun to watch!
I suppose you can take your time and use a manual pump and solder wick for the port if you don't have a de-soldering gun/tool?
Is there a reason for cutting and joining the fan loom instead of crimping on a new connector? I bought some crimps to do that when replacing fans on vintage graphics cards as it meant I could keep the wiring runs shorter / more like stock and feel it's cleaner than having to cut up and solder.
Depends on the connector type. Some of them you can easily get good crimping tools, others are a pain even with the $600 tool sold to work with them. I often would rather splice than crimp even if it's a little uglier.
@@rfmerrill it’s just a “JST” type connector though, a $30 tool from Amazon will do a good enough job. Does take a bit of practice to get it right, I burned through a few connectors before I was happy!