Repair Log: Sharp Twin Famicom

[Ace]

If you've been keeping an eye out on the Official Sega-16 Haul Thread, you would know I purchased this Twin Famicom:



As this console is in need of some repair work, I figured I'd create a repair log here so you can see how the repair progresses.

First thing's first: this thing was in need of a good cleaning as it was rather dirty. It looks a lot better now, but I will have the clean the controllers again as the dirt is just caked on the faces of each controller.

I've also discovered Player 1's controller needs a new conductive rubber for the D-pad. Up and Down are fine, but the rubber is damaged under Left and Right. I'm gonna try to get a nasty-looking NES brick controller to swap out its conductive rubber.

So I test the system and it plays cartridges flawlessly (as expected), but I was told the Twin Famicom does not play any Disk System games (again, as expected). However, I don't have any Famicom Disk System games to try on the console, so the only other way to see if the Twin Famicom could play Disk System games was to physically inspect the disk drive. Sure enough, the drive belt has turned to mush. It appears to have glued itself to the motor, the spindle that spins the disks and the small PCB in the drive.

Here's what's left of the drive belt (may be hard to see where it glued itself to the spindle and the motor):



It's quite evident before this thing can play Disk System games, it needs a new drive belt, which I'll purchase in the near future. In the meantime, I will build an FDSLoader cable just to see if Disk System games work at all on this Twin Famicom (the cable in question can load Disk System dumps via the expansion port you would typically see on the Disk System's RAM cartridge which is present on the Twin Famicom).

I also found what I presume is a spring rattling around in the console. I have absolutely no idea what this spring is for, so to all Twin Famicom and Famicom Disk System owners on Sega-16, do you have any idea where said spring could come from (I presume it's the disk drive, but I can't say for sure - I don't have the spring with me right now, but when I do, I'll take a picture of it)?

[ApolloBoy]

That spring could have come from either the disk drive caddy or the cart/disk switch from the shell.

[Ace]

Here's a picture of said mystery spring:



It kinda looks like the spring you'd find on the Super NES' eject lever. I found one exactly like this on the Twin Famicom's disk drive, but have no idea if the disk drive should have one or two of those springs.

Also took the time to swap out the conductive rubber on the Player 1 controller with the one inside this TurboCard controller:



The D-pad now works perfectly on the Player 1 controller.

The next step is to build an FDSLoadr cable. Much to my dismay, the port on expansion port B is not the same as the port on the RAM cartridge's cable (and it doesn't seem to be usable with FDSLoadr), but after some retracing of expansion port C, I found out it carries all the signals the RAM cartridge's cable carries, so I'll need a 12-pin plug like what the Twin Famicom uses on expansion port C and wire up a parallel cable to the plug.

(If you're wondering, yes, I was playing Salamander on my Twin Famicom before I took the pictures. )

[KnightWarrior]

Nice,

Have you found any pics of the Master System fix on the Genesis 3 yet??

[Ace]

KnightWarrior, be patient. I haven't had time to go looking for that picture. And please, don't post irrelevant stuff like this in a repair log for a console that has NOTHING to do with Sega.

[KnightWarrior]

No Problem Ace, Just let me know when you do,

[Lastcallhall]

I'd LOVE to see you get this up and running through RGB - good luck!

[Ace]

Not happening, Lastcallhall. I'm not going to RGB mod ANY Famicom (actually, let me rephrase that: I will NEVER RGB mod an NES or Famicom unless someone asks me to do so for them. I will not accept the altered color palette of the RGB PPU unless the one in the Famicom Titler has the exact same color palette as the 2C02 - THIS IS A MUST).

[Lastcallhall]

Aw. Well good luck anyway.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

What about Component Video? Would that be an option at all?

[Ace]

That requires an RGB PPU, so no, Component video is not an option. On a Famicom or NES, it's either Composite or good-quality RF for me (yes, I'm willing to use RF so long as the video quality isn't as horrible as the Top-Loader NES) except if I were to have an original-model Famicom. If I get one, I WILL NOT A/V mod it like I did with my Top-Loader NES (I couldn't stand its crappy RF anymore), and if an A/V mod was done on the system, I would undo it. I'm dead serious when I say this.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

If I remember correctly Japanese RF doesn't work properly on US TVs. You're pretty much forced to AV mod the thing if you want to do anything with it.

[eddiespruce]

If I remember correctly Japanese RF doesn't work properly on US TVs. You're pretty much forced to AV mod the thing if you want to do anything with it.

You sure? I thought I read something about having to put the TV on channel 93 or 94. I could be wrong though.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

I remember reading a while back that it ends up being something odd where it's between two channels.

Still though, even if RF does work it seems rather silly to remove an AV mod that's already in place. I'd never use RF if I didn't have to. It's just too finicky for me.

[Lastcallhall]

I think ACE said he already got the Famicom side working, so it looks like it does work on US televisions.