SNES controller + keyboard + flash drive + USB hub = this!

[legoboy]

Ah, it's finally done. See the story (and larger images) at http://legoboy.com/snes/.

[eurddrue]

Now that my friend, is gaming in style

[gumbyx84]

That is amazingly awesome. Would like to try it myself, but being unexperienced makes me want to buy a SNES-to-USB adapter rather then destroy a keyboard,USB HUB, and SNES controller.

[legoboy]

Thanks. I was actually surprised I was able to fit everything once I fit the buttons in. It wouldn't be too hard if you were to just use a keyboard inside. I made this with the flash drive so I could store emulators and ROMs right on it. More convenient that way being able to use any computer with my settings and saved games.

[gumbyx84]

Thanks. I was actually surprised I was able to fit everything once I fit the buttons in. It wouldn't be too hard if you were to just use a keyboard inside. I made this with the flash drive so I could store emulators and ROMs right on it. More convenient that way being able to use any computer with my settings and saved games.

I wanted to ask if it would be possible to find out how you did this. Also, how hard it was to do this, soldering-wise?. I'm trying to find a weekend project I can wet my newbi-modder teeth on. I was planning on getting a pre-made board for USB-to-SNES conversion (http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.ph ... ucts_id=44" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) but I have access to a keyboard or two with built in USB Hub that I could use. Would end up being cheaper, but don't have an idea of where to start exactly. Just need some kinda of idea (or guide) to follow so I don't totally fuge it up.

[legoboy]

It wasn't too bad, but fitting some of the stuff was a bit hard. There wasn't too much soldering needed. The hardest part was tracing my keyboard to figure out how to wire the tactile switches. Due to the resistance of the traces on the plastic I had to follow the traces a couple inches at a time with my multimeter. You can just follow them by eye, but I'm paranoid that I'll start following the wrong wire. Soldering onto the keyboard's circuit also wasn't too hard. I just had to very carefully sand off the graphite (I assume that is what it is) off the contacts to reveal the metal below.

The first step was to actually build it is to remove all the electronics. After that I sized a few pieces of circuit board and cut them to fit around the buttons. One for A, B, X, & Y, one for start and select, one for the d-pad, and a small one for each of the shoulder buttons just big enough to fit in the slot. I next appropriately spaced the switches so they are as centered under the buttons as I could get them. Next I soldered each of the four pins to the board to hold them as flat to it as possible. The buttons had to all be filled in with hot glue so they would trigger my tactile switches (I got them from digikey by the way). Appropriately spacing them was a pain. I had to take nylon spacers and sand them down to height so the buttons had the right amount of play. Once sized correctly they were hot-glued in place then the board could be screwed down to them. After this was all done I was really home free and able to solder everything and very carefully fit it all in. Another important thing to do was to cover the ribbon cable ends with hot glue once soldered. They can break really easily and are a pain to fix.

If you just fit a keyboard into the controller that wouldn't be too hard. As I've said, everything just barely fit. And don't forget to use a lot of hot glue, you don't want to go back and have to fix something.

[schmellyfart]

If you just fit a keyboard into the controller that wouldn't be too hard. As I've said, everything just barely fit. And don't forget to use a lot of hot glue, you don't want to go back and have to fix something.

Make sure it works before you throw hot glue on it. You REALLY dont want to go back and have to fix something smothered in hot glue.

[ShockSlayer]

Yeah, don't use too much hot glue, take it from me, its not easy to undo if you apply it right!

SS

[legoboy]

Well yeah. Obviously check that it works before gluing. I did use a lot of glue (about 2 1/2 short sticks). I mainly used it to make sure the boards holding the switches don't come undone under heavy use. But I had to be careful that no glue got on the buttons. That would have been a pain to fix if it went wrong.

[gumbyx84]

I meant to ask this in my first post. Do you use the original magnetic "switches" from the SNES controls for your buttons? It looks like you used you did, but I can't really tell. I'm going to use the Retro-USB SNES-to-USB pre-fabbed board and not entirely sure how how to connect the orignal switches to the board. (I'm an extra cautious person so I am trying to learn everything I can about this mod before I actually do it)

Also, would I have to re-enforce the button contacts with the boards? I understand doing so keeps the switches from moving during use, but curious if it has to be done or not.

[legoboy]

All I used is the plastic from the original buttons. I used new tactile switches on my own circuit boards. So, my controller has none of the original electronics. It's only a USB device. If you go for that SNES-to-USB board you showed, it looks like you solder that board to the same place the SNES cable is soldered to the board. Then you can add a USB port (or cable) to it in addition.

It doesn't look like you'd have to reinforce it anywhere, that is as long as you don't cut any of the support out. I had do do a lot of reinforcing since I had to remove nearly all he supports to fit my electronics in the case.

[runkillerrabbit]

i dont get this one... why would you need to do this?

[Erlex]

Good work. I have actually done this my self (made one for a friend after he gave me a Retro Duo), all be a little differently. What was your method of triggering the keyboard key? I personally divided the number controller keys in half and made one half of the button's "ground" one pin on one side of the keyboard board, and the other half had a different "ground" pin. This eliminated the need for many different connections.

And for those who don't know what I mean, a keyboard controller board doesn't work by shorting a bunch of different pins to ground, it uses a matrix system that combines different pin connections to produce and output (a character).

[legoboy]

I built this as a controller for playing emulated games. At school I would spend a lot of time in the dungeon (the name for the computer lab in the basement). The flash drive allowed me room for emulators, ROMs, and saves as students can not install anything on the machines. Essentially it was a great way to take a break from those homework assignments that would take weeks.

As choosing my wiring layout I took the mesh that was in the keyboard and followed the traces to may the d-pad to the arrows, A to A, B to B, X to X, Y to Y, right shoulder to R, left shoulder to L, select to space, start to enter. That is, all in Dvorak. Each is individually wired in to the correct connections as needed. Thus the mess of wires.