Worklog FBD008-Ultra Slim

[FatBaldDad]

The FBD008-Ultra — Defining the Build​

This build started when I had the opportunity to put together an Ultra Slim PS2 for someone and realized it would be the perfect excuse to finally attempt a fully internal SD2PSX build. The project began modestly enough: I sold a prepped SCPH-79001 board on eBay and stayed in contact with the buyer as the build progressed. Life got busy on his end — and understandably so. He serves my country (USA) in the armed forces, and when time ran short, he shipped the board back to me so I could help finish what we started. I figured this was a good opportunity to share the details of the build here.

I like to do my best when someone puts that level of trust in me, so this became the FBD008-Ultra. (I serialize my PS2 builds; the number itself doesn’t carry any special meaning beyond that.)

Once we talked through what the system should ultimately be, things got interesting. The original board already had a ModBo 5.0 installed, but I had been wanting to do an internal SD2PSX build ever since they became available. I ended up talking him into letting me replace the ModBo 5.0 with an internal SD2PSX instead — it didn’t take much convincing, lol. With MMCE being as mature as it is now, a ModBo chip really only offers a benefit if the user plans to run discs, and of course the Ultra doesn’t have an optical drive. (Plans for optical drive docking stations for the Ultra are in the future… lol.)

The system also had a very compact internal BlueRetro setup, with wires soldered directly to the ESP32 module. I’ve always disliked installs done that way. It works, but it’s fragile, and troubleshooting becomes a nightmare unless you completely tear the system apart — especially if you need to reflash the ESP32 (or forget to). I wanted something more robust, more serviceable, and just better. Yes, I know the Methylene board exists, but availability here in the US is an issue. That limitation pushed me toward a different approach, one I actually prefer from both a soldering and long-term serviceability standpoint. More on that later.

On the mechanical side, I was limited to using the original Ultra Slim shell design, simply because that’s what I had on hand at the time. I know some of you have made revisions to the design that would have benefited this build and made things easier. Around the same time, I had printed several Ultra Slim shells from PCBWay. Some newer revisions would’ve been perfect for this build, but I worked with what I had. That constraint ended up shaping several decisions along the way — not a bad thing, just part of the story.

Final Configuration​

• Model: SCPH-79001
• Motherboard: GH-061-12
• Internal Bluetooth audio transmitter with external pairing button, status LED, and ON/OFF slide switch
• Internal PSX MemCard Gen2 with a 512 GB microSD card, paired with an external OLED and menu/navigation buttons
• Internal BlueRetro HW2 install (enhanced) running Gusse’s Methylene firmware, with added P1 (blue) and P2 (red) LEDs
• Internal ElectronAnalog HDMI adapter
• The cut-off section of the original board repurposed to power both the internal USB drive and the ElectronAnalog
• A 4 GB USB drive, de-shelled and mounted internally
• Modified ElectronAnalog mount to get the connector flush with the rear shell wall
• An originally all-black build request… with a little bit of my own stank added in — and thankfully, he was cool with it, lol
• PS emblem from a Slim — it does not spin (sigh)
• Standby / Power ON status LED integrated into the face of the power button plunger; lid switch replaced with a tactile pushbutton

From here on out, I’ll break down each subsystem in more detail and walk through the design decisions, challenges, and lessons learned along the way.

I’m sharing this mostly for fun, and admittedly as a bit of a personal victory lap, but hopefully there’s something useful or interesting here for others as well.

Attached are pictures of the original prepped motherboard. At the time, I was building several Ultra Slims and figured I’d offer prepped motherboards in case someone wanted to build one but didn’t want to do that part of the work themselves. I sold a couple of them, but since then I’ve ended up using the remaining boards for my own builds.

 

[FatBaldDad]

The Trim - GASP!!​

This post isn’t really part of the worklog — it’s more of a public service announcement, and maybe a little bit of me tooting my own “I’m so awesome, this is what I do” horn… lol.

Besides the fact that this build removes the optical drive, it also trims off a USB port. That alone tends to put people into one of two camps with this build: they either love it or hate it — and for those who hate it, it’s usually based on those two reasons alone. Not really sure where I was going with that, since we’re all about slicing and dicing here in our own little plastic-chef kind of way. Jokes… just jokes.

If the trim is done correctly, nothing of real value is lost. With how old these consoles are now, lasers are failing left and right, and the cost to replace them continues to rise. Most people in this community aren’t afraid to chop up a board for the greater good of a project — and even though this is a small piece of the motherboard, you can actually save it and reuse it elsewhere. That trimmed section conveniently contains a 9 V input, 5 V output voltage regulator, along with a 100 µF capacitor, which makes it genuinely useful.

For the cut itself, I used a band saw. I know not everyone has access to one, but it works well for me. This is also where a critical step often gets missed: the bevel.

Yes, we want the cut edge to be smooth — but the important part is adding a bevel to increase the distance between the internal layers. This is a four-layer board, and simply sanding it flat isn’t enough. The bevel helps reduce the risk of shorts between layers and is just as important as smoothing the edge.

It’s also very important to use FINE sandpaper. More specifically, use wet/dry sandpaper, 500 grit or higher. These copper layers are delicate, and the sanding process should be as well. Some may think 120 grit is fine, but that would do more harm than good.

Note: For the 79k motherboards, there are different revisions, some look like the ones shown above, and some do not. Check the GH-06X revision first. I’ve seen people remove far more material than necessary and damage the board because they were following a picture instead of verifying their specific revision and taking some measurements.

Trim Notes:
As far as I know the GH-062-xx motherboards do not have the lid switches and also the board is shaped different in that corner.

Just came across this diagram of a GH-061-51 board that has a more involved cut. (Note the location of the reset pad.)

 

[FatBaldDad]

Power / Reset Button​

The mushy lid switch had to go and was replaced with a tactile push button. When using the lid switch, the unit would sometimes reset if you simply bumped the console — very annoying. This particular board still had the lid switch present, so I was able to simply remove it and replace it with a tactile push button.

I found these push buttons on AliExpress and ordered a few different sizes. I sized it to be about the same height as the original lid switch off the motherboard. The size that worked out best was a copper SMD 4 × 4 × 3.5 mm switch.

Here is the link:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255800859820067.html

The footprint of the replacement switch was slightly larger, so I had to make sure it stayed relatively centered where the previous lid switch was located. This ensures the plunger mates properly with the switch and activates it without sliding off or binding. I also did not need to cut the trace on the motherboard for the lid switch input to the console.

One unique feature of this build is that the standby and power-on LEDs illuminate through the face of the push button plunger itself, giving a clean, integrated look without needing extra LED windows.

To make this work, I used the original plunger from Wesk’s design and modified it by drilling a 3 mm hole through the center so light could pass through. To avoid cracking the plunger, I started with a small drill bit and gradually stepped up to 3 mm instead of drilling full size right away.


Getting the hole centered and straight takes patience, especially without a lathe. I don’t have one, so alignment was done carefully by hand, and I did destroy one plunger when the hole wandered off-center and came out crooked.


Once the hole was drilled through the center, I assembled the motherboard into the top shell with the tactile push button and plunger installed. I then slid a 3 mm clear rod into the plunger until it contacted the face of the tactile push button. I marked the correct length, removed it, and cut the rod to size.

Since I wanted the LED light from the diode to illuminate the plunger face, I also needed to remove the material just below the plunger’s retention ring. I simply sanded it down until it was flush.

After cutting, I added a small amount of glue and slid the rod back into place to dry. Later, I chucked the plunger into my drill and lightly spun it to clean up and smooth the end for a better finish.

Going forward, a redesigned plunger would make this process much easier. Ideally, it would be printed with a small pilot hole (around 2.6 mm) and then finished with a drill bit for accuracy. That would greatly reduce the risk of cracking and make alignment much easier for future builders.

​

STATUS LEDS​

For the LEDs, I followed the traces from the PCB section that was trimmed and soldered the /RED and /GREEN signals from the console to a chopped-up non-OEM switch board from AliExpress. When I find the picture/diagram, I’ll post it here as well for reference.

I used some 28 AWG solid wire to hold the board in place by soldering it to both the board and the motherboard. I’ll more than likely design a board to make this part much simpler in the future. Since I plan on building more of these, it’s more efficient to design a board and install everything at once.

With the SW_Board connector removed we need to pickup /RED_ON and /GREEN_ON from a different place on the board. Below is the nearest solder points to pickup these signals.

NOTE: These are sinking signals as they provide a path to ground. So you will aslo need to pick up EVER_+3.3V for the LEDs on the trimmed switchboard.



Here is where we can get EVER_+3.3V for the LEDs. The switch board uses EVER_+8.5V but the LEDs are kind of bright. Using the 3.3V drops the current and make this a nice glow on the plunger face.

Here the schematic for the switch board. I you keep the switch board intact you can refernt the pic numbers and solder to them directly.

NOTES / COMMENTS:​

Regarding boards that do not have the rear lid switch, this is another area that often discourages builders when reading about other builds or starting their own. They realize they don’t have the lid switch in the back corner like Tito’s board does in his video (Video Link), and you’ll often see comments from people devastated that they bought the “wrong” 79K model.

As far as I know, this difference shows up on GH-062-xx boards. But don’t panic, this isn’t a showstopper. It simply means a little more work is required to achieve the same result.

If you ended up with one of these 79K boards you’ll just need to add your own tactile push button solution. It adds a step, but nothing that prevents the build from moving forward.

To help simplify this in future builds, I’m working on a small PCB that will host a tactile push button along with status LEDs, as well as a redesigned plunger to clean up this part of the install. Once the design is finished and tested, I plan to release the Gerbers so others can drop it into their builds and avoid this headache entirely.

I got the "FBD Ultra Slim PB" boards in today and installed one. Pretty happy with it. This particular design has the lights at the base by the plunger. The intent is for the the Acrylic Rod to expose the LED light at the button face. I plan to make a version for the GH-062-xx boards.

*Update -05/14/26
I got the boards in for the GH-062-xx mobos. Same concept but they are longer so it has more surface area to solder onto the the corner of the mobo. I'll install one later and post pics.

I will come back to this and share more detail on soldering the SW_Board for the sginals - /RED_ON and /GREEN_ON

 

[FatBaldDad]

RESERVED - Inernal USB

 

[FatBaldDad]

RESERVED - ElectronAnalog HDMI Adapter

 

[FatBaldDad]

RESERVED - Internal BlueTooth Audio

 

[FatBaldDad]

RESERVED - Internal BlueRetro HW2 Install

 

[FatBaldDad]

RESERVED - Internal PSX MemCard Gen2

 

[FatBaldDad]

RESERVED - Shell Aesthetics

 

[FatBaldDad]

RESERVED - mSD Setup/Config for MMCE

 

[FatBaldDad]

RESERVED - Final Thoughts and Conclusion

 

[FatBaldDad]

I will keep filling in the above worklog but for now here are some pics. I have it finished. Here is pictures of the final build!!

 

[Stitches]

This is excellent!

 

[Strnadik]

Heya! Please please may I know the ideal places for red/green LED pinouts? I am trying to hook up the original power board up to the mobo and the button works but the LED doesnt come on :/

 

[FatBaldDad]

This was next to the cover on my work log, lol! Oops, I forgot to add this part, lol!

I can’t take credit for this diagram and I did not create it; however, this is what I referenced. Whomever made it — thank you!!

You need to provide EVER_+8.5V to the SW board for the common on the resistors and for /RED_ON (1) and /GREEN_ON (7). These are sinking outputs from the console (they provide a ground).

NOTE: If you dont want the LEDs to be really bright, you could try EVER_+3.3V. Sometimes those third party, AliExpress replacemnt sw boards, the LEDs can be really bright.

 

[Strnadik]

Oooh I see! I am happy to see that I wasn't far from the truth by nailing the closest vias! Thank you so so much! My plan is to trim the original shell and keep the original power button, because after the cutoff, the "drive eject" space is still there, so I'd shove a power button plastic there and do an ugly job of securing the power button PCB back.

 

[FatBaldDad]

Oooh I see! I am happy to see that I wasn't far from the truth by nailing the closest vias! Thank you so so much! My plan is to trim the original shell and keep the original power button, because after the cutoff, the "drive eject" space is still there, so I'd shove a power button plastic there and do an ugly job of securing the power button PCB back.

yeah, the "Super Slims" or "Mini Slims", I like those. I'm in the process of building one now myself too. I plan on documenting the shell cuts and maybe create another work log here on Bituilt.

 

[R3Z3N]

RESERVED - mSD Setup/Config for MMCE

Well...you know where to get that ;-)

 

[FatBaldDad]

Well...you know where to get that ;-)

lol, yep! I plan to layout the whole process on how to setup a card using the Homebrew Store

PS2 Homebrew Store

ps2homebrewstore.com

 

[Strnadik]

Hah, I might be wired badly or something but, whenever I touch, well, pretty much any pin OR ground with Green LED (7), the console just shuts down. And I cant get the green light to turn on, only the red one. Weird.