A small part of my project I thought I would share with you...

Had to come up with a way to make a bank of switches for the TurboGrafx project that would allow 8 wires on the cart slot to alternate between two sets of wiring. This will allow playing US games and also Japanese games too.

Came up with this idea:

Cut hole in a piece of perspex big enough for eight switches (single throw, single throw). Use some general purpose glue to loosely stick the sides of the switches together. Hot glue the holes in place to keep the switches secure. I put the switches in the middle of two foam pads to elevate them.





Need a slide to operate all the switches at the same time - cut up a square sided disposable plastic pen.



And dremelled out the inside channel to take the tops of the switches.



Then filled the pen piece with hot glue through the channel, put it over the switch tops and let it set.



Doesn't need a great deal of pressure to move the switch across, which is ideal.



Unfinished at the moment, I want to secure a piece of plastic over the bottom of the slide and integrate it through the case, so when you slide the switches one way it says "American" and the other way it says "Japanese" - in waterslide decals. Nice!!

That's pretty nifty! Although it looks a bit bulky for my taste...

Although someone like you bacteria I'm sure you could just use two n64 power switches. But a nice quide for someone who doesn't have loads of extra parts.

That's pretty cool. Not the best solution, but better than several of my ideas. (hey, Ben used tinfoil!)

These switches are small, much smaller than the normal double pole double throw ones.

The "slide" is the same total width as an HUcard, 54mm. I could have used four double throw double pole switches but they need more pull to make them all work together. The slide will be situated above the cart slot, so will look quite integrated by the time I have finished.

I looked at the N64 power switch firstly as I have some, but they aren't suitable. They have two independent pairs of contacts and two others with a common connection. Would need more than two of them to make this work.

I think the third contacts are just cut off, right? I beleive I used one for this specific purpose. I think.

SS

A little switch IC would have done it with 1 switch.

Do you have pics and name of one please so I can search for it on e-bay? Also, do they have larger capacity ones, like 60 or 70 pins for example?

looking for a cart-slot switcher?

They don't make them that big but you can easily run 4-8 in parallel. I have a pcb designed using 9 of them. Can you say Duo with one cart slot?

Hey have you seen something like this? That's the same place I got my 4PDT switch.
http://www.opamp-electronics.com/catalo ... -1154.html
You could conceal most of it within your case.

I don't know where to get square pens. you use the most random things sometimes, bacteria. "well, just use some spare plutonium lying around, and now you have your own spoon."

exactly. it would certainly make for an awesome portable. Though do we know if there would be any issues if you turned the wrong system on for the cart that's in it?

grossaffe - Good point when making an interchangeable cart.

collinE - That was funny! Yes, I do use random things sometimes; I looked in my box of pens (some work, some don't) looking for one that wasn't too big, circular or square - found an old square one and thought "ah ha - that will be easier to adhere a flat surface onto".

Erlex - Thanks for the link but it won't work - needs 8 common pins and 8 connector pins / alternative 8 connector pins (ie 8 pole double throw).

Rekarp - I was trying to be cryptic! - I was thinking a method for a NES / SNES single cart for a RetroDuo too! - I have two ideas to do this, although my methods have to be mechanical rather than electrical.

You mention "A little switch IC would have done it with 1 switch" - any chance of a link or pics? I will stay with what I have made for my project as it works nicely and easily, but I am curious!

Sorry, O didn't even notice these had 3 prongs on them, I though they were just cut off switches. my bad