N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Includes but not limited to: SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Gear and I guess the Virtual Boy.

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BuizelRulez
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N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by BuizelRulez » Mon Oct 25, 2010 2:50 pm

Hey all, I'm planning to take apart an old 64, paint it, and change the front LED to a different color. The console is currently the dark gray model. I got it at a consignment shop for only 10 bucks.

Now first off, the paint job. I'm going to paint the console white, and if at all possible, I'll paint the Power/Reset buttons and the cartridge slot doors with black. I'd also like to paint the controller ports- but it looks like they're connected to the motherboard, so I'd like to know if its possible to take them off safely. As for the actual paint itself, I was planning on using Krylon Plastic spray paint. If anyone knows of a better brand that is readily avalible at WalMart, than let me know.

As for the LED, I was going to order a 5mm orange one from the website below. There are two options, though- one is brighter, but has a wider viewing angle, and the other one is vice versa. I'd imagine that the one with the smaller viewing angle would be better because the lens on the front are so small, anyway.

I have also seen mods where there is an LED behind the front logo- I would want to try this, but this would require having to hook up the LED to the board somehow because there is no predestined place to wire or solder it. I'm not at all experienced in this kind of stuff, but if there is a way to do it without potentially frying the board, that would be great.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... m%23fivemm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by Snipeye » Mon Oct 25, 2010 5:06 pm

As for the controller ports: You can use a dremel to detach them, then paint them, then solder them back on and it should work just fine as long as you line it up correctly. As for the LED, I'd go for the brighter one - it goes through a diffuser that wraps around most of the LED anyway, so a wider viewing angle shouldn't really be a problem. As for adding another LED - just solder it to the same contacts as the one you're replacing, wiring it in parallel. Make sure you have the + and - ends right, or else it won't light up.

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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by Hrduncan » Mon Oct 25, 2010 5:06 pm

all you have to do is piggyback off the led thats already on the motherboard. use the wide viewing angle ones the look better and youll be able to use less leds.
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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by BuizelRulez » Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:36 pm

Well, seeing as this is my first N64 mod, I don't want to risk breaking the thing just for the sake of cramming a few hundred LEDs in it. I don't want to go too far, so I think just replacing the original and adding a new one behind the logo is okay for this first one. If I can, I'll post some pics when it's finished.

A few days ago I actually just got the two sized gamebits for opening up the console and the cartridges. I'm probably going to wait until about mid-November before I start modding the console because I'll be busy, but I have taken the time to open up and clean some of the games- they work a hell of a lot better now. :mrgreen:

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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by nevermind1534 » Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:59 pm

BuizelRulez wrote:Well, seeing as this is my first N64 mod, I don't want to risk breaking the thing just for the sake of cramming a few hundred LEDs in it. I don't want to go too far, so I think just replacing the original and adding a new one behind the logo is okay for this first one. If I can, I'll post some pics when it's finished.

A few days ago I actually just got the two sized gamebits for opening up the console and the cartridges. I'm probably going to wait until about mid-November before I start modding the console because I'll be busy, but I have taken the time to open up and clean some of the games- they work a hell of a lot better now. :mrgreen:
It should only take a few bright LEDs to illuminate it; When I did underbody lighting on the robot for my school's robotics team, me and my friend used a bag of 100 super bright blue LEDs from ebay, and they were visible in the daylight. The robot is fairly large, too.
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BuizelRulez
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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by BuizelRulez » Sat Oct 30, 2010 3:09 pm

Well, I was exaggerating when I said a few hundred, but I still don't want to majorly screw anything up and render the console useless. As I said, I have very little prior experience in this kind of stuff. If I finish it successfully and if I feel confident in my own ability, I might illuminate the whole thing later on.

But for now, I'm just proud of myself for using an orange LED at the front instead of blue- I've seen a lot of mods with blue lights.

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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by BuizelRulez » Fri Jul 08, 2011 4:35 pm

Well, I painted it. Took me a while, though. I finally had free time to do it.

The controller ports were actually painted with a brush- I didn't know where to detach them, and I don't have immediate access to a dremel anyway. Needless to say, they are pretty sloppy up close, but look okay from a distance.

Everything else is spray painted. (By the way, new discovery: turns out that newspaper sticks to wet paint. I learned that the hard way and ended up with newspaper bits infused in some pieces, so I had to sand them down and start over. Stupidity on my part. :wtf: )

But the best part is- it's functional. Awesome. 8)

Also, I haven't gotten a LED for it yet. What voltage does the LED need to be? No one mentioned anything about voltages so far for LEDs. Would this one be okay? http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... _specs.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Thanks.

EDIT: Okay, guess the site is refusing to let me upload the pictures. I'll upload them soon.
EDITEDIT: Okay, every time I try to upload it I get this- "Sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached." Does that mean I can't post anymore pictures on this thread?
Last edited by BuizelRulez on Sun Jul 10, 2011 7:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by Haunted360 » Fri Jul 08, 2011 8:50 pm

Snipeye wrote:As for the controller ports: You can use a dremel to detach them,
Whoa whoa whoa! Dremel them off? You can de-solder you know... If you Dremel them, they will be shorter and will not align with the case height.

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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by Cojiro » Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:05 pm

accidentally posted twice
Last edited by Cojiro on Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: N64 Paint Job + LED Swap

Post by Cojiro » Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:14 pm

Haunted360 wrote:
Snipeye wrote:As for the controller ports: You can use a dremel to detach them,
Whoa whoa whoa! Dremel them off? You can de-solder you know... If you Dremel them, they will be shorter and will not align with the case height.
i think that dremeling them off, then rewiring and hotgluing to the inside of the case would be cake compared to trying to desolder, then resolder and have it align as perfectly as it did before.
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