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Game Cube Portable 5.6" LCD Screen Mod |
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Last Spring I bought a Game Cube portable game screen from AllElectronics.com but didn't have time to mod it, at USD$54 it was a good deal and they sold out on them quick. The same screen can be had online with a little searching for $50-$95, below shows everything included.
Here is a close up of the modding victim still all in one piece, on the face of the screen there is an on/off switch, power LED and dials for volume and brightness. There are speakers included as well, color those gone. The cables coming out of the left foot are for 12V DC and the other is the AV connector for the Game Cube.
On the right hand side of the screen is the AV in and selector switch that toggle between the game and AV inputs.
On the left hand side of the screen is a headphone jack, which will not be used in this mod.
Time to break this thing open and see what makes it tick, first off there are rubber stoppers over the screws at the bottom of the screen that need to be removed, then remove the screws (as shown below) and flip it over.
There are two screws on each leg that need to be removed...
And two more screws to take out inside one leg, the whole bottom section can now be removed.
To separate the two halves of the plastic housing grab the plastic where it's split at the bottom of the screen and yank it apart, don't be afraid to be forceful because there is no graceful way, it's the only way it comes apart. Below shows where we're at...
The screen itself is just double side taped onto the front of the housing and comes up pretty easily.
The screwdriver below is pointing to one of three screws that hold the PCB onto the housing, remove them all.
Here it is taken apart, I unplugged nearly everything from the PCB to make things easier to work with, the crappy little speakers will not be used in this mod.
Below shows the Game Cube screen broke down into workable bite sized pieces and now that I can see what's involved it's time to formulate a plan. I did a little research and found the pin-out for the Game Cube cable, I don't plan to do it but the cable could be hacked into S-video fairly easily. Doing it would allow you to hook another device to the screen externally and be able to flip between them using the AV switch, but like the speakers it isn't necessary for this mod since I plan to lock the AV input switch in the on position and get the signal via the RCA video input.
"All things lively must be used" - Adam Ant. Pop out the plastic screen cover, it is just double stick taped on so start at a corner and peel it up.
Carefully center the plastic piece over the screen and press it down, the tape residue on the front of the screen combined with what's on the plastic is enough to hold it in place so it can protect the bare LCD screen underneath.
I drew up a couple paper templates for the face of the screen and taped it down so I can figure out the positioning.
As for what material to use for the face of the mod I chose a Steelpad4S aluminum mouse pad that I no longer use, there is enough material to give me two tries at cutting it right.
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