MGB screen modding

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arfink
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MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Wed Jun 24, 2009 6:28 pm

OK, so I am going to just dive right in with modding my MGB screen. I have it out, and I determined pretty quickly that there are 2 layers on the backside of the screen. I have begun removing the top layer, which is white on one side and silver on the other. It's coming up nicely, if a bit slow, but is leaving residue and I am having some trouble working around the electrical ribbons. Is it possible to safely remove the ribbons? What's a good way to remove the residue once I have the reflective backing off? And is it true that the next layer is a polarized film?
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Wed Jun 24, 2009 7:27 pm

OK, so I'm just working beneath the old ribbons by using an exacto knife and lifting up that way instead of using my fingers. It's coming nicely, but still leaving plenty of adhesive. Yuk. Gonna probably need to clean out with q-tips and alcohol or maybe goo-gone. I have yet to see if it still works, but I assume it will, nothing appears to have gone wrong yet.

Image

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EDIT: the backing is all off, and the screen still works. Now to remove the goop. Also, that's a reflection, not a crack.

Image

EDIT2: It appears that Goo-Gone has no damaging effect on the screen, so I'm going to just saturate the whole works to get the goop off. Should work fine.
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:03 am

NEWS: Although neither rubbing alcohol or goo gone seem to do damage to the screen, scrubbing about underneath that darn ribbon cable does seem to mess things up. During the course of glue removal I probably damaged it while poking about underneath with the q-tip.

HOWEVER, I think I have found a good way to soften the glue to the point where remove via q-tip is trivial. Assuming of course you are careful with that stupid grey ribbon cable thing.

You will need: lots of paper towels, q-tips, rubbing alcohol. The higher the concentration in your alcohol the better.

STEP 1: after removing silver backing, place screen on a bed of paper towels.

Image

STEP 2: fold a paper towel 4 times and carefully insert under the ribbon cable so it covers the screen

Image

STEP 3: soak the top paper towel liberally with rubbing alcohol.
STEP 4: fold another towel 4 times and place on top of the screen assembly (for blotting/ hold down)

Image

STEP 5: allow to soak for a good while. Maybe 10 minutes. Then remove the top paper towel and carefully remove the folded towel that's underneath the ribbons. Flip it over (since one side now has got dissolved glue on it) and put it back in. You may repeat the soaking process if your towel has begun to dry. If your towel becomes sticky to the touch then get a new soaking towel in there.

STEP 6: rub the glue off, gently, using paper towel or q-tips. Be especially careful not to move the gray ribbon part much, as this is where any screen damage will probably come from. If the glue is still too tacky you may wish to soak again, to dissolve the glue more, or drip some rubbing alcohol directly on the screen so you have some extra solvent while rubbing.

A note: higher concentrations of rubbing alcohol will leave less residue. %91 or higher is better, %99 is preferred if you can obtain it. Obviously, don't use the mint scented stuff or anything stupid like that.

EDIT: I'm not to be held responsible if you do this and break your screen. If you're careful it should work. It worked for me, except right at the end I slipped and buggered my ribbon cable. Be careful and you'll be fine.
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by SonyPortableizer » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:37 am

I also just used a sock and windex, its a lot easier, and I was (am) careless and it still works.
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Thu Jun 25, 2009 3:54 pm

Hmm, maybe you just got lucky. Or I got unlucky. At any rate, it's a cheap system, and I'm goin' to the thrift shop this evening to pick another one up. Or two. The pocket I was working on was my own, and has very little wear and is really clean, so I'm going to find a ratty pocket and just yank the screen and probably chuck the rest. Or do a paint job see if someone at 8bc wants it or something.

EDIT: how in heck did you get a sock and your fingers underneath that ribbon? You got frog hands or something? I had a hard time getting a q-tip under there without worrying about damage to the ribbon.
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:43 am

I got a second MGB and gutted its screen out, it was quite ratty on the outside, but the screen was good. Used my method for removing the adhesive described above, but with the addition of a wooden skewer, which was used in conjunction with paper towel for rubbing off the glue under the ribbons. Q-tips weren't working, leaving fuzz everywhere, so I used paper towel and the skewer was for moving it since I couldn't get my fingers underneath everything. On my busted screen I decided to pull off the polarizer for the heck of it, and if I had some polarizing material just sitting here I would have done it with the good screen because the adhesive sticks to the polarizer and not the glass, so it comes up really clean.

I also got a diffuser of sorts put together so I can begin work on the LED positioning and finding a good power spot on the board. :)
I'm really happy the death tole for this project has only been one MGB. (so far...)
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Fri Jun 26, 2009 9:02 am

And since I am going to want to do more of these probably (to improve my technique) I just want to know, are the Japanese pockets much (or any) different inside than the US ones? Because I want to mod one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NINTENDO-GAME-BOY-P ... 1|294%3A50" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:48 am

UPDATE: Success! I have finally done a backlit MGB! However, right now the diffuser I am using is handmade, and therefore crap. And for some reason it's dim when playing with batteries and bright with the power supply plugged in. Needs more tweaking. Perhaps I'll take some pictures soon. Still, It's nice enough in the dark, but not really good.
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by SonyPortableizer » Sat Jun 27, 2009 11:09 am

why would they be any different?
and no, I just moved the ribbon cable to clean off one corner. I can now successfully pull off the backing to any gameboy, leaving only sticky residue in a small tiny part of the starting corner every time.
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by Bibin » Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:12 pm

http://forums.modretro.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=210" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Your guide to help you through your life :D
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by Bibin » Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:24 am

By the way, don't bother selling at 8bitcollective - everyone there makes empty offers but rarely seem to actually pull through!
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:11 pm

Because they're musicians, of course. These artsy types seldom jump quickly. I tend to be a stickler myself, which is why I'm building my own.

EDIT: it could also be because the economy is in the toilet...
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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by dimefan90 » Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:18 pm

Bibin wrote:By the way, don't bother selling at 8bitcollective - everyone there makes empty offers but rarely seem to actually pull through!
most people @ 8bc use DMG's for music. and they either get them backlighted by nonfinite or they buy one of his diy kits.

we tend not to use pockets because they drain the batteries of the flash carts too quickly.

if they want a pocket with a backlight, they just buy a gb light

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Re: MGB screen modding

Post by arfink » Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:52 pm

dimefan90 wrote:
Bibin wrote:By the way, don't bother selling at 8bitcollective - everyone there makes empty offers but rarely seem to actually pull through!
most people @ 8bc use DMG's for music. and they either get them backlighted by nonfinite or they buy one of his diy kits.

we tend not to use pockets because they drain the batteries of the flash carts too quickly.

if they want a pocket with a backlight, they just buy a gb light
ok, a couple things:

1- I know about nofinite, and he's a good guy, but be honest: the MGB isn't a wuss mod project. It's easier to break the screen, and there's less room. That's why he won't sell kits for the MGB.

2- it's a myth that pockets drain the flash cart batteries faster. This has never been properly confirmed, and is probably related to the quality of the flash carts, as newer carts never seem to have issues.

3- the gameboy light's el panel is quite possibly inferior to a properly done MGB backlight mod, not to mention a modded MGB would be cheaper than the expense of hunting down and importing a Gameboy Light. And an el panel puts more drain on the batteries than an LED mod.

No offense, but the 8bit chip music scene is biased towards the DMG's, mostly because they really do have better sound when they're stock. But a pro-sound modded MGB is almost indiscernible in the timbre quality difference from the DMG.
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