lastfuture
Offline
Freiburg, Germany

Hi,

I find while the new PCB look of nanoloop 1.6 to be very nice its new form factor is not being kind to me. My main problem is that while sliding the board into the slot it often catches the sides of the slot with one of the sharp corners and jams. Not only would putting it in a cartridge make it easier to handle in that respect, it'll also not scratch up my Game Boy and it would be customizable with a color cartridge and a custom label.

So ... has anyone successfully transferred the nanoloop 1.6 PCB into a game cartridge?

kitsch
Offline
matt's mind

it won't fit into the gameboy's edge connector if you do this, the PCB is way too thick for this along with the game shell as well

Apeshit
Offline

It can't easily be done by modifying a cart case. I've tried with some of my prototypes, which come in thicker PCBs, and I haven't really figured out a good way to do it. It would be much more difficult with a nanoloop cartridge because it's missing the drill holes to fit in a shell.

I'm personally hoping he reverts back to the old design with future releases. I'm not a fan of the independent PCB.

Telerophon
Offline
Austin, Texas

Logistically it makes a lot of sense for Oliver to do it the way he does it, since it takes an entire step out of his production.

That said, I sympathize with people who don't like the design, since it is very different, and it makes it harder to use with something like a Game Boy Advance. I personally really like it, though.

lastfuture
Offline
Freiburg, Germany

Thanks. Yeah I didn't think it was easy. The width is not a problem, there are no electronics there so I could mill them away.
The missing hole is also a solvable thing. I could use a dremel to get rid of the plastic part of the case holding the screw and just glue everything together with Cyanacrylate.
But the thickness... Would it be possible to sand some of the backside away to make it thinner? Does anyone know how deep the electronics sit?



P.S.: Whoa I just realized my Felix the Cat is a counterfeit.

Apeshit
Offline

Still way too thick to fit, no matter how much you sand off.

b4by f4c3
Offline
ohgodno, Indiana

somehow replace back with 1.6 cart??
Other than that I have no clue :\

lastfuture
Offline
Freiburg, Germany

I've been thinking about something like that. Cutting the nanoloop to the smallest size possible, cut out part of the case's back to fit the small nanoloop, fixate and seal with scotch tape, fill up with epoxy resin, remove tape...
not sure if it would work

oliver
Offline

The nanoloop one cart is composed of two PCBs glued together. The one with the parts, wires and pins is 0.5 mm thick, the other is 1.5 mm. The latter is only a piece of FR4 (the PCB material) with no wires or holes, it just covers the parts.
If you carefully push a cutting tool with a thin blade into the side and shift it around, you can lift the thinner part with the nanoloop logo off the cover part. You then have a regular PCB with the pins on top and the parts on the bottom.

One of the parts is in the same place where the shell's screw should go through. To fit it into a shell, you'd not just have to cut the PCB's sides but also to cut away the bulge with the screwhole in the shell's back.
The parts add 1mm in thickness to the PCB, which may be too much. Maybe you can cut holes into the shell and cover them with the tape you use to hold the shell together.


The simplest way to bring a nanoloop one cart to a more cartridge-like shape is probably to get a piece of material in the required size and glue it on top of the cart.

Last edited by oliver (Nov 13, 2012 4:02 pm)

theghostservant
Offline
Chicago

some men just want to watch the whole world burn
that cart is too pretty to mess with, imho
but, if you believe, you can achieve!

lastfuture
Offline
Freiburg, Germany
oliver wrote:

The simplest way to bring a nanoloop one cart to a more cartridge-like shape is probably to get a piece of material in the required size and glue it on top of the cart.

That actually sounds like a wild idea. I'm thinking acrylic here. Have to keep that in mind, thanks

thursdaycustoms
Offline
Cleveland, OH

You could just trim the PCB down, cut out the back of a game cart and hot glue it in place. Done.