Extending the Gamecube Optical Drive Cables

Moderator:Moderators

Locked
User avatar
hailrazer
Portablizer Extraordinaire
Posts:2764
Joined:Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:57 pm
Location:Georgia Sweet Georgia
Extending the Gamecube Optical Drive Cables

Post by hailrazer » Fri Oct 02, 2009 8:54 pm

OK everyone who has built a Gamecube Portable knows that one of the hardest things to do with it is extend the optical drives ribbon cables so that you can move the optical board away from the dvd board and the Gamecube mainboard. Well here is the easy way.

First you will need to buy 4 parts from http://www.digikey.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; :
1. WM10055-ND - 6" 12 pin 1.0mm ffc cable
2. HFF-20U-06-ND - 6" 10 pin .5mm ffc cable
3. WM7679CT-ND - 12 pin ffc Zif connector
4. OR740CT-ND - 20 pin ffc Zif connector

Total cost will be around $22 shipped with first class mail.
Image

The way this works is by extending the ffc's (Flat Flexible Cables). These will be the two we are extending. The one on the left is a 20 pin .5mm ffc in a slide lock zif socket. The one on the right is a 12 pin 1.0mm ffc in a no lock socket. :
Image


Open the little brown clamp on the zif connector from Digikey. They are pull out slide lock connectors. Be carefull you do want to pull it out to far and break it.
Image

Put the cable you want to extend, and the cable that you bought, face to face so that the silver contacts are touching. Make sure that they are aligned together perfectly, edge to edge , equal length:

Put both cables in the zif and clamp the zif clamp back down. (It may be a little
hard to get them both in there but you can do it. Make sure they are perfectly aligned.)
Image

Plug the newly extended cable into the zif on the circuit board. Mind the orientation of the cable (pins); it should be the same as the original cable. On the 20 pin slide in the ffc and then lock the zif socket tab. On the 12 pin just slide in the ffc snugly.
Image

Now notice how much room you have to move the optical drive around :
Image

Now after once again checking to make sure the ffc's are aligned properly, plug the unit back in and test it. If the ffc's aren't aligned you of course will have problems like the optical drive not starting the game or the Gamecube not starting up. Simply turn off the Gamecube and then realign the ffc's and insert them in the zif sockets again. Mine worked the first time because the way the sockets and ffc's are designed it's nearly impossible to get them in NOT aligned properly. There's just not enough room.

Once you make sure everything is working properly, hot glue the ffc's and zif socket extensions you made to keep them from pulling loose or shorting out. I also electrical tape mine after hot gluing them for added security.

Well that is all, hope this helps all GameCube Portable makers in the future :)
My Portable Systems:
Image
-----Genimini---------Darth64---------Dreamtrooper--------Ncube---------Kamikazi64---N64Boy Advance

Locked