Spring Comes New Things

New Mods

The NES front loader USB-C AV mod is nearing completion!!

Components arrived and boards are on their way. Once the boards arrive, I'll be testing out the mods for the NES front loader and the PS2. If these revisions are successful, then I'll open up limited pre-orders for the quantities I can produce, and release them on a monthly or quarterly schedule depending on how well they do to manage costs.

PS2 USB-C Mod

It's been about a year or so since I've started working on this project. There have been MANY board revisions and ideas tested. I consider this mod to be the most important one I've been working on due to the many things I've learned and honing best practices for PCB design. Not only that, but it also serves as a foundational piece to designing USB-C mods for the PS1, Sega Dreamcast, and Sega Saturn.

The USB-C half has been completed and a new design made and the buck converter half is pending it's completion with the next board revision. The last revision of the buck converter resulted in a failure from a design mix up so, and the next one fixes that to then do a proper test.

NES USB-C Mod

If you've seen on Discord or Youtube, I've started working on the USB-C mod for the Front loader NES. It'll be using the same trigger design as the one for the PS2 mod, but the rest of the design will have my own takes on what's been done before for the Front loader power mods. Other bits will include pending updates I've done for the FMC mod; which will also get updates from this one.

Merlin Shaws' base design has served well, but the only portion that will actually be used is the resettable fuse with it's LED indicator and additional power filtering though that portion is more than likely not needed pending future testing. The voltage clamp has been removed as it was extraneous.

It'll feature the default RCA AV output with mono sound. Onboard solder jumpers will allow to select between the default composite video or video from the HDMI Luma code mod. Another feature will be an onboard Multi-AV port that's featured from the SNES up to the GC. It's set up to work with Tim Worthingtons' RGB mod with vias labeled per pin. With solder jumpers, you can select whether to use the systems audio as dual mono or ext audio from the RGB mod; likewise composite from the USB-C mod or the RGB mod.

The goal of this version is made in mind to give the most flexibility with other mods available that I'm aware of.

New Services

Aluminum shield repair will now be offered up!

In the survey, the two competing services were split and I announced that the NanoFlowX would come Q2 - Q3 (I forgot which lol) as the shield option was geared towards electroplating. I've opted to do a heavy cut polish and conductive paint process to get rid of oxidation and other nasties while also protect the metal from further oxidation with a waterproof conductive paint. The conductive paint keeps the ability for ground conductivity on top of protecting the goods. I believe this is a good compromise to electroplating as its cheaper and chemically safer to do without sacrificing quality. Another addition that will be added to it in time to the process is better restoration process to use nickel sheeting to repair shields that have simply rusted away.

NanoFlowX will still be a thing provided the budget allows.

Assisted shipping is also now available for things you want to get serviced. If people choose to want assisted shipping, I will contact them to get the necessary shipping details; destination, complete package dimensions, and total package weight. If pricing is acceptable afterwards, then an invoice will be provided and 4" x 6" shipping PDF be provided via email.

Thinking about HDMI mods

The ask has been slowly creeping up. While it's not in my current expertise and the likes of PixelFx pretty much dominate the scene with the Retro Gem, it's a little difficult to jump in. If you haven't tried out it out - it's an incredible piece of hardware and I love the gems I currently have. Then there's the likes of the RetroTink and OSSC as fantastic scales, plus the derrived cables from the maker of the the RetroTink lineup.

I've put together Torapus' video mod for the SNES and I really liked the result. I would like to have compared it to Voultars' Edge Enhancer, but over a year of waiting and I've lost most of my interest. Then there's the 3BP for the Genesis line with it's scattered documentation.

So where am I leading up to exactly? Well a few things.

I have a few boards and components for both Torapus' mod for the SNES and the 3BP v2. I can start putting these togther and make them available to purchase. No ETAs because there isn't a budget, but easily in my wheelhouse.

As far as HDMI goes, I think I should be able to leverage the OSSC project to make specific HDMI mods for the NES, SNES, and Genesis. I saw another open source project that turns composite into component which may be something to look into for the NES specifically unless it'd be more of an extra step that's not needed with the OSSC.

This is something I will probably make the focus for 2027 because it would need much greater time and financing.

Custom Casted Buttons

My latest molds have been going very well with GameCube buttons results with resin are pretty good, but the results are still soft regardless of the instructions. I'll need to raise a budget for different resin before releasing anything as I want to make sure products are properly hardened before shipping out.

I'll keep making molds and mold boxes that way current resin limitations don't hold the back progress

Terms and Conditions Warranty Updates

In the Terms and Conditions I've updated the Warranty I provide described in Section 4. As I develop mods with custom PCBs, I cannot cover them with a free replacement excluding shipping costs. Instead, custom PCB mods will be up for send in repair excluding return shipping costs. I do my best to write them in very clear speech. There are changed aspects overall so take your time to read through it. Some language in Section 6 has been updated as well as language in the Refund policy.

While it stinks for you as my clients, I cannot afford to fully cover these costs as the current model has proven to become break-even. I'll eventually expect to change up the way I supply warranties further down the road. What that will look like is not yet known nor decisions made beyond the current version as of posting this blog post. I'll also need to move away from breaking even as well in order to keep the shop afloat as I'm sure people may be a little tired of 'budget this or that' when there are delayed, but that's a different topic for another day.

Seriously, take a couple minutes to read through it and don't blindly check any boxes.

International Shipping

After A LOT of reviewing and things, I've finally gotten to posting things on eBay. that said, don't get too excited yet as now I'm dealing with AI stopgaps that are automatically taking flagging and restricting my listings.

This exact issue is part majority of why I stopped listing anything on Etsy. Having a brainless chatbot review a posting and then make a decision as to what's allowed and what's not allowed without adequate human review and without sufficient (ANY articulated evidence) is a huge problem, and it's becoming more common place across sales platforms. It doesn't help sellers or consumers. Replacing the human element is problem and mistake. An AI should not be allowed to take down things and then hand out repercussions. It's fine if it raises a concern for then a human to do a review and then act upon that, but then also have human-to-human interaction to come to resolution; you know - real customer support.

I will not employ AI to service you at point. You will always be dealing with me directly as a one-man operation.

Etsy had eliminated the human-to-human element and does not provide the tools to their service reps for sellers to resolve issues. When I raised my issue, there was no manager, no ticketing, no due process to escalate things to come to proper resolution. That's a failure on Etsy's behalf to properly serve it's own employees and sellers. If there's one more issue, then I'm barred from Etsy which is a risk I'm not willing to take and decided to walk away from it. My brand will not be tarnished due to the failings of others. If it's to be tarnished, then it's because of my own actions alone.

I'm not about to start beef on eBay. In-turn, there won't be links to my youtube videos to do mod installations when someone buys it nor links to to my Terms and Conditions. I'm working on a compromise to there isn't a giant wall of text, but still things covering as they do.

To everyone abroad that support and want to support me, Thank You. It's not a situation I'm happy about and I want to provide things to you and I'm trying navigate things. I didn't I'd have this additional hurdle, but here we are.

Another Business on the Horizon

As though I'm not busy enough, I'm working towards setting my second business as the need for the hustle is real. There are some things I'm waiting for to happen - should they actually happen. From my experience with setting up this one, I know I can set up the next one for better success. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out what it is, if you seen a couple of my prior posts around lol

Later gaters!