Worklog Chunchunmaru - A PS2 Portable

AFE123

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Hi,

This is my worklog for my PlayStation 2 portable. I haven’t come up with a case design, but I’ll think about it when I finally decide on what I'm putting in the portable

Goals

-Having a handheld PS2 is awesome, but my intention isn’t to build a perfect unit. I just want to learn and improve my skills in electronics. I want to improve my soldering skills, 3D printing skills, etc. I also want to use my creativity and problem solving skills to build this.
*Because of this, I’m not going to rely on custom boards from 4layertech (Great stuff, but won’t fulfill my goal).
*I might buy a U-amp for the convenience of switching headphones, and to support their excellent work.
*This might make you cringe, but I’m probably going to use AV out (composite) instead of VGA.
*This is for two reasons: I don’t really care about a fancy screen, I just want to learn. Also, I have a tight budget.
*By tight budget, I mean that I’m not going to spend on “premium” things. I’m definitely not going to cheap out on important things like regulators.

-implementing USB charging. According to the ps2 trimming guide, It'll consume a total of 4.65 watts of power, so I'll need, on paper, a 0.93A 5V power source. This isn't accurate, but I do have a 2.4A power bank, so I have some margin.

In my opinion, now is a great time to do this since my university has an entire makerspace with soldering stuff, wire, 3d printers and a woodworking station (if needed)

-I definitely know that I'll need the option for playing multiplayer, so I'll implement the controller and memory card slots on the portable. I believe in a saying by ben heck, "Make things you can take apart" or something like that. If my free Mcboot card doesn't work, I don't want to deal with the trouble of opening the unit up, and replacing an internal card. I also can't rely on the VMC feature with OPL, because games I enjoyed as a kid, like sonic riders - zero gravity, lacks VMC support. I also want to implement an external video port. I'll probably use 3 female connectors, and attach them to the back of the unit. That way, I can use a regular rca cable.

-Knowing that Ginger hates CD drives, I'll use Free Mcboot (I might do the SD card mod wesk came up with).

Research Notes (From an idiot)

PS2 requires the following to power up:

1.25V - 3.1A
1.75V - 0.1A
2.50V - 0.1A
3.50V - 0.1A

2.5V and 3.5V power line

I’ll be using PTH08080W regulators with 100 microfarad caps and the following resistance:
2.5V - 3.75 kΩ
3.5V - 1.61 kΩ

1.25V requirement

Due to the 3.1A, I’ll be using the PTR08060 with the same cap. For resistance, I used the equation on the datasheet. The equation has KΩ in parenthesis. Not sure if it’s a variable or unit (probably the later)


1.75V

Unlike the other regulators, I need a linear regulator. After watching a lot of YouTube videos and annoying the discord community, I’ve decided to use this regulator

It outputs 1.8 volts and a max of 500 mA (or 0.5A). It should work on paper.
*The datasheet recommends putting a 10 microfarad cap on both ends, so I did that.

With voltage regulators out of the way, the next focus is the controller.


I’m not going to use the PS2+ (Although it'd make things easier, I want to utilize the old fashioned technique of cutting a controller up, and wiring it all together. I’m trying to stay away from the official PlayStation controllers.
*This is because Sony was being quirky and HAD to use this ribbon board:


I’m looking at 3rd party controllers with regular pads

Worst case, I’ll use this guide to relocate the controller.

3D printing

-I was quite intimidated with the aspect of 3d printing, but it doesn’t seem too bad. I got comfortable with Fusion 360 in no time and discovered image referencing (Hot stuff )

Now, I await for my 79001 PS2 I got from eBay for 39 bucks to arrive to my house.

I'll provide an update once I get the PS2, but until then

Auf Wiedersehen.

Update:

I ordered some of the parts needed to start. I want to practice soldering the screen to the ps2 soon.
 
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AFE123

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I have a new update today (sorry for double posting, but there's a significant update).

I've acquired the PlayStation, and I'm surprised at it's size. When I got it, I noticed that the box was small, so I got concerned. I used to have an older version of the ps2 slim (I was stupid and destroyed it with a hammer.) and I think it was bigger than the 790001 variant. I'm planning on disassembling it soon, but I want to wait for a power cable I ordered off amazon to ensure that the unit powers on. I believe still have the video cable someone in my house, but if not, I can disassemble and hook up composite video and ground to the screen I ordered.
*The PS2 has a faulty disk drive, so I don't feel too bad about using it for my portable.

-I also wonder how sustainable it is to only use 79000x series consoles. I'm pretty sure it was developed towards the end of the PS2's life and sales weren't outstanding. I wonder if there'll be the possibility of trimming older versions of the slim console (except for the 90000000000 series since it can't run free Mcboot).

Here are some photos of the unit:

1652802116923.png

1652802203512.png


The free Mcboot card, screen and power cable are arriving tomorrow.

I'm still thinking about what kind of power bank I'm going to use, but I have a massive Blackweb Powerbank with two ports that outputs 2.4A per port (4.8A in total). It gives me some wiggle room, but I'm not 100 percent sure if it's pass through charging system is safe (I'll record a video elaborating on it).

For the controller, I've decided on a Madcatz Dual force controller. It doesn't seem to have the ribbon according to this ifixit guide.
*I'll also use the joysticks from the controller on this, so I can practice some image referencing in fusion.

I also have a question from the PS2 trimming guide (might be a really stupid question. Sorry in advanced)

In the 1.75V area marked, are you supposed to scratch the mask off then solder the 1.75V line to the scratched area? I was looking through a couple amazing worklogs, but wouldn't see where the lines to soldered to. Maybe soldering the 1.75V line to the component at the bottom right might work? kindly confirm.
1652803437686.png

Thanks in advanced.
 
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Nold

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In the 1.75V area marked, are you supposed to scratch the mask off then solder the 1.75V line to the scratched area? I was looking through a couple amazing worklogs, but wouldn't see where the lines to soldered to.
Maybe soldering the 1.75V line to the component at the bottom right might work? kindly confirm.
You can either scratch the soldermask, which exposes the copper of the upper layer and solder to that or to any components pin that is connected to that trace. I like scratching the mask if possible. it allows you to create a solder point of any desired size & reduces the risk of shoring something out.

You can also use your multimeter in diode mode to find alternate points to solder to.

Auf Wiedersehen.
 

AFE123

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You can either scratch the soldermask, which exposes the copper of the upper layer and solder to that or to any components pin that is connected to that trace. I like scratching the mask if possible. it allows you to create a solder point of any desired size & reduces the risk of shoring something out.

You can also use your multimeter in diode mode to find alternate points to solder to.
1652817870916.png

These are the component pins, right? Also, do you have any tips on not over-scrapping the mask? The ps2 board seems to be a four layer, so I'll have to be careful.
 

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AFE123

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New Update 5/20/22

Today feels like Christmas day, because I got a ton of stuff. I went to harbor freight and got a nice rotary tool for 22 dollars. It might sound sketchy AF, but harbor freight has a pretty good reputation for their tools. Besides this rotary tool, I’ve been using their Pittsburgh 3 ton floor jack, Daytona Jack Stands ½ inch socket set and torque wrench. They’re very high quality and I’m certain that this rotary tool is no different. The resistors and regulators also arrived. The linear regulator I’m using is smaller than I anticipated, so I’ll have to get myself some perf board (Pretty sure my university’s makerspace has perf board). I also got a Walmart soldering iron (I can hear other members screaming). I bought it on a whim to work on my soldering skills, but I kinda regret it. The school has a station, but the tip seems dirty (Someone had the temperature set at 700 degrees). I bought flux, 34 gauge wire and a 5V voltage regulator off Amazon. I just need to buy a switch of some sort, but I’m sure the university has a large amount of them.



Why am I not trimming the board yet?

I’ve been trying to delay this process, but I can’t do that anymore. Next week, I’m planning on heading to my school to use their hot air station to remove the components mentioned prior to trimming. Afterwards, I’ll focus on relocating power then testing the screen I got. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but I’m using a 5 inch car screen I got from amazon. I’ve seen it being used in raspberry pi builds, but it seems like the BB community frowns upon these screens. I have different expectations for a screen, so I’d rather look at it myself, then determine if it’s for me. As a kid, I've played games on my old PS2 slim (I was stupid enough to smash it for my "YouTube Channel" when I was 14) and my Nintendo Wii (I attempted to make a Wii portable, and accidentally shorted the board) with composite video. I didn't complain about it. I wouldn't mind play SHREKKKK on composite, since SHREKKKK is a real banger of a game (and the only PS2 game I could find. I don't know where I placed my collection of games).

Other Updates

I’ve decided not to use the madcatz controller. It’s too nice of a controller for me to cut up. Instead, I’ve decided to cut a 10 dollar PS2 controller from Amazon.

-Using the power bank might not be possible anymore. For one, I can’t open the damn case of the Powerbank I was planning on using. I might use the rotary tool for opening it, but I’m not sure if it’s a smart idea to cut a metal enclosure. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this subject. Also, I just don’t feel like using a power bank. This might be a temporary feeling, but as of now, no power bank.

-For the dock I've been talking about, I think I'm going to implement female component video and audio cable connectors, so I can plug in any RCA cable and get component video. It'll be a lot easier than relocating the entire port.
*I've been thinking about a connector to connect the dock. Maybe VGA connectors, or HDMI. Not sure.

Questions

When trimming, what safety precautions should I take? I'll definitely trim outside to ensure that I don't inhale things I shouldn't inhale. Is a fan necessary?
 
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As far as safety precautions go make sure to do it outside to limit mess, wear a decent mask, and be careful of the rotary blade bouncing. Good luck on your trim.
 

Stitches

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Also wear safety glasses. Fibreglass dust and eyeballs don't mix
 

AFE123

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Update 5/24/22

Objectives:

-Remove components with school’s hot air gun
-Wire up all of the regulators
-TRIM TRIM TRIM
-Test new screen

What has been accomplished? Nothing.

It’s funny, you see a YouTube video, then you think to yourself, “I can do that.” When you try to do it, you fail greatly. This kinda summed up my work today. While this was the case, I got some things done. I won’t bash myself too much since this was my first day of truly doing work, and I’m new to this hobby. So, what did I do?

My original plan was to use the hot air station to remove the components on the ps2 board, but it failed greatly. Looking back, I should’ve checked the units the station was using. Fahrenheit? Celsius? I don’t remember. In the end, I used a cool contraption called a solder sucker to suck in the solder and plier to pull the damn port out. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to use it for testing. I guess I can find something else to use (If only I started this project when I was a technician. I literally had piles of laptops I could salvage parts off of). I also used the sucker to suck solder from the network port. Didn’t come off, but it’s better than nothing.

Question: Once sucking out as much solder out as possible, how do I remove the components besides using a hot air station?


Out of the 4 regulators, I only wired two, but not so well.


I feel so stupid for order only one of each resistor. I watched Darshaz’s amazing Wii portable build, and thought to myself “Pff, I could do that.” Also, I thought flux could fix everything, even relationships. Unbeknownst to me, soldering a regulator up is nothing like fixing a Wii u gamepad charger your dog bit up. I was smart enough to buy 10 capacitors, so I have some room for error for that, but I can’t say the same for resistors. Once finances loosen up, I’ll probably buy a resistor kit off amazon (Open to specific recommendations).

Regulator Question:

Should this cause any concern? I probably suck it and retry, but is this bad? Also, How can I make it easier to solder the resistor to the capacitor? I put flux on, but that didn’t seem to help.

Also, How do I remove these things?


3D printing stuff

I’ve received the part I created today from my school, free of charge (win)

The print came out nicely. Whenever time permits, I’ll sand the button down one millimeter, then I’ll hot glue the mount on. After that, my frustrations, and concerns about a rotating triangle button will diminish

Final notes:
I ordered a soldering set off amazon with a temperature adjustment feature for 20 bucks. I don’t have super high expectations for it, but ratings seem good, and should be exponentially better than the Walmart soldering iron I purchased on a whim. Also, it’s not worth driving 40 minutes just to solder, and I intend to make the trip once a week.
*Warum? Weil habe ich kleine freizeit. lmao.
 
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Stitches

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You can remove the pins by applying heat to the top pads, melting the solder for a bit, and gently pulling on the pins until they come out. You'll want something to hold the regulator in place while you do that. A small PCB vise or third hand station would do. You can make it easier by adding leaded solder to the pads, it'll mix in with the existing lead free solder and lower the melting temp. Just helps speed the process up a bit.

As for the resistors, I used to do it like this
20180113_122430.jpg

There are better ways to do it, but I ran the resistor over the top of the ceramic cap with a bit of electrical tape and soldered the capacitors to the underside of the pads. That way I didn't have to compete with anything to get the wires soldered on. Also it's not really shown in the photo, but I used pliers to create a little right angle at the end of the capacitor legs and pressed the legs up into the pad for a bit of extra hold.
 

AFE123

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You can remove the pins by applying heat to the top pads, melting the solder for a bit, and gently pulling on the pins until they come out. You'll want something to hold the regulator in place while you do that. A small PCB vise or third hand station would do. You can make it easier by adding leaded solder to the pads, it'll mix in with the existing lead free solder and lower the melting temp. Just helps speed the process up a bit.

As for the resistors, I used to do it like this
View attachment 22690
There are better ways to do it, but I ran the resistor over the top of the ceramic cap with a bit of electrical tape and soldered the capacitors to the underside of the pads. That way I didn't have to compete with anything to get the wires soldered on. Also it's not really shown in the photo, but I used pliers to create a little right angle at the end of the capacitor legs and pressed the legs up into the pad for a bit of extra hold.
Hope you don't mind me asking, but why do you have two capacitors? Any benefit to having it?
 

Stitches

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Hope you don't mind me asking, but why do you have two capacitors? Any benefit to having it?
Yeah, having an output filtering cap protects the system from any voltage ripple coming from the regulators. Ginger could tell you stories about all the GC+ boards he killed by not using an output cap and getting unlucky. Technically you don't need an output cap, but you should use them, and they're cheap anyway.
 

AFE123

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Yeah, having an output filtering cap protects the system from any voltage ripple coming from the regulators. Ginger could tell you stories about all the GC+ boards he killed by not using an output cap and getting unlucky. Technically you don't need an output cap, but you should use them, and they're cheap anyway.
Excellent, thanks for the advice.

Update:
Adjustable soldering iron kit has been acquired. Can't wait to get to work tomorrow.
 

AFE123

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5/26/22

Exciting news. I've acquired an excellent soldering iron off amazon for $20. While soldering, I was very impressed with the quality and ease of use. It also came with a complementary soldering book, which went over taking care of your iron and how to solder. I could also adjust the temperature on it, which was awesome.


I’ve also acquired helping hands and a diamond cutting disk from harbor freight for the excellent price of 13 bucks. Can’t complain, although the helping hands tend to tip over. I’ll probably 3D print a new base for it.


Regulators progress

Progress has indeed occurred with the regulators. I took @Stitches advice and hooked up two capacitors on the TI regulators, and they now quiver my fancy (ho ho ho ho).


In regards to the PTR regulator, I’ve been struggling with taking the pins off.

Should I put solder on both sides?

Also, is this normal? NGL, it looks pretty sus to me.


Another question: For the PTR regulator, is this sketch right?


I also did some practice with trimming the board


I would go for it, but I have to get rid of the ports, and some other components. I was trying to spend some time today removing them, but they wouldn’t budge. From a safety standpoint, a KN95 mask seemed sus. After trimming, I could still smell dust. Hopefully, particles didn’t get into my respiratory system, since I don’t want to suffer from some terminal illness. Most likely, I’ll place a fan next to the board so the dust will travel through the fan instead of through me.

I might’ve asked this before, but How do I remove these ports? I’ve tried using a solder sucker, trying to pry it out with pliers, but nothing’s working. I can wait until next week to hit the hot air station, but the sooner I can remove the components, the better.

Thanks in advance.
 
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To remove those ports I’ve used side cutters they work but just go easy on it to not damage anything. Start on the top side and first remove the metal shield then start cutting away the pins.
 
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