DIY Workbench Playable NES

This instructable aims to guide Makers through building a Workbench playable NES using a cheap NoaC (NES on a Chip) and a PSOne LCD.

Every Maker has experienced anger/frustration/mind-numness or any other nasty feeling due to burning circuits, crooked dremeling, melitng materials or what ever misshap every project holds. What better way to sooth out the stress than with some nice SMB Music? Never has up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A, Start in Contra so satisfiying than with the DIY Workbench playable NES.







Enjoy.

-Miltron B.

Wow! I'm Featured. I feel really flattered.

Echenle un ojo a la version en Espaniol muy pronto!

Edit: Post en Make: en Espa�ol! �Gracias H�ctor!

Post at the Makezine Blog! Thank you Gareth!

HACK-A-DAY Post. Thank you Caleb!

The NES Chip.

Go to any kiosk, fleemarket, e-store or biddingsite and get your hand on a MegaJoy 1780983 games in 1 type of thing. If size is not an issue, get a whole NES console.

1x Nes on a Chip.

The LCD

Do the same for a PSOne LCD.

1x PSOne 5" TTF Screen.

The Controller

For a true 1980 NES experience, you NEED a NES Controller.

The Frame

Get some Plexyglass.

3x 18 cm-13 cm-3 mm
1x 20 cm-15 cm-3 mm

The Power Supply, LEDs and other Electronics

The screen runs off 7.5 V and the NES runs off 5 V. I don't want to be messing about with more than one power supply so I'm going to destribute power from a single adjustable supply. To do so I need to build a tiny Voltage regulator circuits using some ICs.

-For the 7.5 V Power Supply' (Screen)

1x LM350 IC
1x 220 Ohm resistor 5% 1/4 W
1x Stay Set 0-400 Ohm potenciometer
1x 1.2 kilo-Ohm resistor 5% 1/4 W
1x 0.1 uF ceramic capacitor
1x 1.0 uF electrolytic capacitor
-optional-
1x heat dissipator.

"-For the 5.0 V Power Supply (NoaC and LEDs)"

1x 7805 IC
-optional-
1x 1 mF electronytic capacitor.

"Other stuff"

You will need some cable, some 40/60 solder (if you can find leadless better) some screws and a 12 V Power Supply. Off course, you also Need a workbench or workspace to put your stress releasing NES.

You want to have the supply ready for when you tear apart the Noac and the PSOne screen. Just to test them out and make sure they are all working OK.

To do so, I used the best electronics source ever made by mankind. Dr. Bolestad's and Dr. Nahelsky's Book: "Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory". I Hope the capitalist swines at Prentice Hall don't sack me for posting pics of their book, but if so, be it in the name of science and hacking.

Use the LM350 to do the varaible power supply and adjut is 'till you get a nice voltage output using the stayset pot. Follow the diagram (Picture 4)

Use the 7805 for the 5V supply, this is much straigh forward. (Picture)

Once this is ready, test the voltage output with a Multimeter and get set to crack open that beautyfull 5" TTF Screen

A word of advice!

The LM350 gets VERY hot. This is where you migh want to add a heat dissipator.

Yes. I know it's pretty. And those $30 bucks you shelled out for it might seem scary to loose if you fool around with your screen too much, BUT, take my word for it.: these babies can take a LOT of punishment. and I mean A L O T. Just be nice to it and tell it everything is going to be fine before you star chopping and it will be all right.

There are many other sources where you can see how this is done, but these pics might help along the way.

There are many, many, many hackers who have taken upon themselves the task of reverse engineering the NES controller, the NoaC pinout and the PSOne LCD pinout.

But this post at theBen Heck forums, Lady Ada's Game Grrl (Hola Limor!) and this awesome instructableare the best sources outhere.

The rest is all simple!

Since I could never pull off a soldering job on the actual PCB screen, i just used the cables.

After it's all done, Try it out!! I cannot explainthe joy of seeing it turn on and work for the first time.

This is optional, but is does make everything hell of a lot better.

Also, you need a smaller supply since the current draw iss less!

To do so, just crack open the LCD, change the Kitchen-Ligh-like bulb and replace it with LEDs.

There are plenty of sources that detail this step far better than me.

Go and read other the non lazy posters if you can't make out what to do with just the pretty pictures.

Just connect the LEDs to the 5 V supply in series with a 1 W 26 ohm resistor in parallel with the NoaC.

Use the dremmel to hole out the plexyglass and use some screws to set it all together.

This is a long and tiresome, specially if you don't have the specific scrw lengt and diameter you need since you are going to need to cut, and adjust everything for what eveer you have available.

This is the bestest funnest part of it all.

The final test.

Afet you see all is OK. Find a nice spot in your wok bench to place it.

If you are anything like me, it will take you more time to clean up all the mess and clutter you created while creating your workbench NES than actually MAKING the workbench NES.

Ater it's all clean and tidy, give it a go.

You have your very own work bench NES.

If you want to run your own game cartridges, you need to make sure you have the propper wiring for the cartridge slot.

In my case, only Famicom games ran and fitt OK.

But I did such a crappy job setting the plexyglass hole up that it's a hassle. Better if you stick to the built in Contra, Tetris, Mario and Pac-Man.

Before the final step, I might take a minute to thank all of those who willingly uploaded their knowledge and wisdom for everyone to access.

Specially the Ben Heck forums and Limor, with her wonderfull Game Grrl.

Funding for this proyect was provided by my wonderfull Job at Airtec Servicios.

Energy saving and compressed air specialist.

Especialistas en ahorro de energia y aire comprimido.

The fruit of all your efforts!!

A workbench NES!