This is not a good quality turn table. I carved up a NES and shoved the components of a Crosley portable suitcase player into it to promote the kickstarter for my new album and this is the result. It looks cool and it functions but serious vinyl collectors are likely to cry themselves to sleep just thinking about it tearing up their records. I would not recommend using this player for regular listening.Here's a picture of the finished project (Corgi as well).https://ift.tt/2tV9bHy also uploaded a video of it in action to YouTube but I used up my one link limit already so you'll have to find it on your own (if you search "rp2a", it should come up first).Here is what you'll need:Front loading NESCrosley CruiserPhillips head screwdriverSmall flat head screwdriverDremel or other rotary tool & bits for drilling, cutting & sandingPen(cil)White pencilPliersHot glue gun & sticksOptional:Soldering iron & solderWireLarge button cell battery (for testing LED's)STEP ONE: Disassemble the NESThere's no need to go into detail here as others have provided documentation - here's a good one that is straight forward. That tutorial also shows how to remove everything inside, plus the front load lid and black panels. Follow that tutorial to remove everything using the Phillips head screwdriver, as well as the black panels and front load lid with the small flat head. Below is what parts of the Nintendo we'll use for the project:Top shellBottom shell (and six screws holding it to the top)All three black panels (and two screws for the bottom-front panel only)Front load lidPower/Reset button board they're on (optional: and the LED)Controller portsSTEP TWO: Disassemble the Record PlayerConveniently, all of the separate components are wired together using different sized headings - headings are the plastic containers that hold groups of wire together so they can be easily attached/detached from ports. Each one is a different size so none can be confused with any of the others.Start by opening the lid of the suitcase player and removing the four main screws on the top of the black panel. I've already removed them in this photo but you can see the holes at the four corners.https://ift.tt/2EEdig8, carefully lift the entire black panel out of the bottom half of the case. Don't lift it too far as the player's main board is attached to the bottom side (located just under the power/volume control knob) and is wired to every other component inside. Carefully disconnect all of the headings attached to the main board, as well as the one that is connected to the motor board (located just above the motor itself in the image below) and is also attached to the main board. Don't remove the other wire attached to the motor board - it is hard wired elsewhere on the same platter assembly so there's no need to remove it.Remove the panel entirely and set the outer case aside for now.Flip the panel over and remove the four screws that hold the platter assembly in place. There is also hot glue holding the platter assembly to the panel on the underside. Carefully scrape away all of that hot glue, being careful not to damage surrounding areas.I've also already removed the main board in this photo. It was hot glued to the underside and held on by the power/volume control knob. To remove that, scrape away the hot glue holding it to the underside and pull the knob away from the panel (on the top side) until it comes off of the potentiometer protruding through the panel. The last thing you'll need to do is use your pliers to loosen and remove the nut and washer that hold the potentiometer to the panel. Now you can remove the main board all together. Put that nut and washer in a safe place for later!https://ift.tt/2TjVcKm should have freed the platter assembly and main board from the black panel. We're going to use this panel to trace a pattern onto the top of the NES but for now, set all of these parts aside.Removing the rest of the components from the case is straight forward but I'll walk you through it. I don't have pictures of this process, unfortunately, but it really is just a matter of removing a few screws and maybe scraping off some glue.The plastic housing that contains the audio/power ports on the back of the case is held in by two screws on the inside (don't remove the single screw that can be seen from the outside). Also, don't scrape off the hot glue around the aux in where it holds that port in place, only glue that holds the plastic housing to the case, if there is any. The two internal speakers are held in by three or four screws each. Remove these.Be very careful when handling the speakers. While there is a heading to connect the wires to the main board, the connections to the speakers themselves aren't strong. I accidentally pulled out the joints on one of them and had to solder them back into place. If you are comfortable using a soldering iron, you may actually want to reinforce the joints to decrease the risk of them breaking from here on out.STEP THREE: Tracing/Cutting the Platter Assembly PatternThe next step is to trace a few things from the player onto the top and bottom shells of the NES.First, grab the large black panel. Put the platter assembly back into place on the panel temporarily and put the panel onto the case so the platter assembly can rest all the way down into it. We're going to trace an outline around the edge of the platter assembly onto the black surface of the panel with the white pencil.Once you've done this, grab the top shell of the Nintendo. Also, grab the top-rear black panel and front load lid and put them in place where they originally were. The black panel will be secured by the posts on the bottom of it but the lid will be a bit loose. Don't worry, we're just drawing on it with a pen(cil).Now we have to use the distance between the white line and the inner cutout of the black panel to figure out where the platter assembly will be located - we want the back and right side edges of this assembly to line up with the sides of the NES so the best way to do this is measure the distance between the edge of the cutout and white line, then add a mm or two to play it safe. Using these distances, add reference lines on the NES - these lines are parallel to the back and right sides of the NES. In the image below, you can sort of see my reference lines along the edges. Here my distances if you want to just use them instead of measuring yourself:Right reference line is 7mm from the right edgeTop reference line is 12mm from the top edgePlace the panel on top so that the right and top edges line up with the two marks you just made. Don't mind the holes I have already drilled into the NES top shell in this photo. I took it after this step.https://ift.tt/2EHIWcl the shape of the cut-out with your pen(cil), as well as three of the large holes where the screws/posts of the platter assembly were, onto the top of the Nintendo. Also, be sure to trace as close to the edge as possible for ideal accuracy. Use the white pencil to trace onto the black panel near the rear, or you can just span the gap between marks when it comes time to cut - it's a straight line after all. Once you've traced the full cut-out, you can set the front load lid aside. We'll cut that on its own since we know where the cut needs to be now.https://ift.tt/2Tkz16F that you have the pattern traced, you're going to grab the Dremel and prepare to annoy the neighbors!Start with a smaller drill bit and work your way up to larger ones when drilling the holes. Do your best to center the hole inside of the traced circle. The eventual size of each of these holes are 5/16", or a little over 8mm in diameter, but you can measure the holes in the black panel yourself to be sure. You'll notice that the bottom right hole goes through the grill that runs between the black panels. Take a little extra care when drilling this hole and take it slow. You can see that my hole is a bit messy so don't fret too much about appearances. They'll all be hidden.Next up - the cutting bit! Dremel has a few kinds of cutting bits, but you'll want one that resembles a drill. These cut with the Dremel perpendicular to the surface you're cutting and are easier to manage for this than the ones that look like small saw blades. The one I used was actually meant for cutting much harder materials but it did the trick (although, maybe that's why it was so loud).Referring back to the additional holes in the top case seen in the two previous photos, I pre-drilled these to give myself 'check points' between spurts of cutting, as well as a place to start the cuts. These kinds of cutting bits don't cut at the front of the bit, only along the outside perimeter. I recommend this because if the bit slips out of the current cutting path, it's difficult to get it back in. With the pre-drilled holes, you have a point to start at close to the last path you were carving. Don't cut too close to the outline - we'll be sanding it down after cutting it.https://ift.tt/2EEdjRe is the top shell after cutting and sanding. You can see that the back black panel is gone - this is because the posts holding it into the top shell were within the outline so once I cut that area away, it shot off. Take it slow there because there are screws and posts below that black panel. If your outline is where mine is, the bit should completely clear the screws and barely cut into the posts, if at all.In fact, there are two other locations along this path that can be a bit tricky, so I'll go into a bit more detail for those.First, is the opening in front where the front load lid goes. You can see in the picture above that a few inches to the left of the black panel, the cutting path goes directly into that opening. That's not complicated, just worth noting. However, where the path continues on the left side of the opening, there is a wall that needs to be carved away. When doing this cut, start the bit at the back edge of the 'shelf' (the area that forms a 'floor' just behind where the front load lid would be) and cut to the left, towards the wall, then make a b-line for the edge of the line that was traced from the black panel cut-out earlier. Also, the bit I used turns so fast that it melts the plastic and it bunches up so do an initial test cut from one of the pre-drilled holes that's far from the traced outline to see on which side of the drill the plastic bunches - thn cut in the direction that has this bunching happening on the inside (away from the edge) to avoid more cleanup later.Second is the left side of the system near the wall. Luckily, there is just enough room for the platter assembly to fit down into the NES top shell, but it'll be tight - enough so that the portion of underside of the platter assembly that holds the platter itself, on the far left side, will butt up against the left-side, inside wall of the NES. So when cutting along the path, cut right up against this wall and, as you can see I did in the photo above, you can shave a bevel into it. Just be sure you don't cut the wall itself down at all - the top edge along where that wall meets the opening we're cutting should be flush with the top of the system when you're done.Once you've cut the general shape out, use the sanding bit to clean it up and get closer to the original traced line. Go just far enough so that no pencil/pen marks are left, but not much further, if you can help it. You can cut a bit more away but if you don't cut far enough in some locations, certain parts of the platter assembly might not fit through. However, since there is an overlap between the cut-out area and the outer edges of the platter, cutting a bit extra is fine. And again, as with drilling into the grill section, take extra care when cutting along that grill.https://ift.tt/2TlvtkF, do the cut and sanding on the front load lid. Image above shows where my line was traced originally. The peg on the left side will be removed along with it - that's totally fine.STEP FOUR: Tracing/Cutting the Audio/Power Port Housing PatternWe need to do something similar for the housing that holds the audio and power ports. Of course, we don't have a convenient, removable panel to trace, so we'll need to take a piece of paper (the more rigid, the better) and place it on the inside of the player case, behind the rear opening. Then, from the outside, trace the shape of the opening onto the paper. Don't forget to be sure to include the slight rounded areas on the right and left ends. Once you've traced this pattern onto the paper - again, be sure to trace as close to the edges as possible - cut out the shape from the paper so you can trace it onto the NES once more. The location for this will be on the right side of the bottom shell of the system, along the angled portion. The area we will be removing will also entirely remove the existing inset and openings at that location, where the NES' video and audio out ports originally were.There isn't an exact positioning for this but I used the top edge of the existing inset as a guide for where the top edge of the cut out pattern should be, then more or less centered the overall shape of the cut-out pattern between the groove on the bottom of the system (to the left) and the screw post on the inside (to the right). You can see I placed it a bit closer to the right side, though. Below is an image showing the opening created from the inside so you can see where mine ended up. Be careful not to cut too close to the slits below. Leave at least 3 or 4 mm between the bottom edge of the opening and them - although, if you line up the top edge of the cut out where I did, there will naturally be a good distance there so it's not a pressing concern.https://ift.tt/2EHIYRv notice that in the image above, two screw posts have been ground down. Do the same as I have on this side of the system and on the left side as well, trying to have the result as flush with the bottom as possible. I don't have any images of the left side posts before or after grinding but it's pretty much a mirror image of this right side, except that there is only one set of slits on the bottom of the left side. The reason for this is to a) make room for the audio/power housing and the board behind it and because the internal speakers will eventually sit above these slits on either side. The first image in the next step below shows where those speakers will eventually go (however, the speaker on the left has been moved back slightly so you can see the slits below where it should go).STEP FIVE: Installing the Audio/Power Port Housinghttps://i.redd.it/d17wpa4mfjk21.jpgAs you may notice in the image above, there are two pieces of wood, one on each end of the audio/power port housing. This is because the main case for the original player is much thicker than the NES shell, so some extra thickness had to be added. I used two 3/8" wide by 3/16" deep strips of basswood that I cut to about the same length as the height of the housing, but you can use anything about the same size and shape. The width of the material isn't as important as the depth but on the left side, that post might get in the way if it's too thick. I had to shave the piece on that side down a bit so it would fit between the audio/power port housing and that post. I also had to add a bit of additional thickness (using a few rubber washers) between the wood and the shell to ensure the screws would hold the housing in place at the proper depth. You'll also need to cut a small curve out of the middle of the side of these pieces facing the housing to make room for the screw posts molded into the housing plastic. Here's a photo of the housing from the outside - so clean and professional looking!https://ift.tt/2TiBLSh overlaps the vertical portion of the side a bit but that's preferable to cutting too close to the slits on the bottom. At this point, you can also put the controller ports back in and replace the bottom black panel that holds them in place (and replacing the two screws that were removed from the bottom). Cut the wires attached to the back of the ports as we don't need them and they'll only get in the way from here on out.If you don't plan on rewiring the LED then you can put the power/reset button board back in place now as well with the two associated screws.STEP SIX: Where to Place the Power/Volume Knob & Headphone Jack?Admittedly, this was one of the trickier parts of this mod but this all has to do with where I decided to put the power/volume knob of the player. Because of how it's mounted to the record player's main board, wherever it is installed on the NES requires a bit of room behind it. Also, consider that once you install the platter assembly into the top shell and put the two halves together, there are locations that this board would intersect with the platter assembly and therefore cannot be placed at those locations. You can jump ahead to step eight if you want to install the platter first so you can better gauge what locations work best but installing the platter first will complicate this step, plus you'd have to remove it temporarily before breaking out the Dremel and carving up this area so it's up to you but doing it this way will work fine since I know it works. Where I decided to put it is arguably the best location, both functionally and aesthetically speaking.The first thing to note is that you don't want to grind down any of the main six posts where the six main screws go, on either the bottom or top shells. At least, not enough to weaken the post or cut into the hole where the screws need to go. So keep that in mind moving forward.The second thing worth mentioning is that both the headphone jack and player LED are mounted to the same board as the power/volume knob, so wherever the knob goes, both the LED (if you're not rewiring or choose not to have it visible) and headphone jack need to go near it.Here is a photo showing the result, with the top-front black panel removed for the time being. You can see the board sticking out on the left side, into the opening behind where the front load lid would be. I'll cover that soon.https://ift.tt/2EEdlsk chose to do this with the black panel removed first because I knew I could always put the black panel on after the fact and match the hole I drilled in the top shell. Also, if you goof up and drill in the wrong location, you can always correct that mistake without it showing as the black panel will cover up any mistakes.What makes this location tricky is what's behind it. The board is large enough that if it sits right up against the screw post in that front-right corner of the top shell, it protrudes into the area behind the front load lid, which has a big 'ol wall in the way. So we'll need to cut that down, as well as grind down a number of other areas.First, grab our trusty black panel from the original record player and a piece of paper to trace the two holes where the power/volume knob and headphone jack would be. Do this the same way that you traced the rear opening for the audio/power port housing, by putting a piece of paper under the black panel and tracing as close to the edges of the holes as possible onto that paper. With the top shell sitting upright and facing forward, cut out a rectangular shape around the holes and tape this paper to the front, with the black panel absent as I did, so that the hole representing the headphone jack is to the right and the power/volume knob hole is dead center from left to right and slightly above center from top to bottom. You can see where I placed it in the image above. Once this is taped into place, you can drill holes for these two components right through the paper. Just be sure it's taped on well enough not to pull off when the drill is running. Measure the diameter of the holes on the black panel as well for the proper drill bit size.Now, we need to remove some extra material inside to make room for the board. I found an image of this top shell online (since I didn't take pictures without the board installed and I don't want to open up the finished unit lest I break something) and marked up the areas that require attention in red.https://ift.tt/2TmEeLe the area on the left where the post is, the material we'll be removing is located near the top inside surface and needs to be ground down a few mm into the post - as I mentioned before, don't grind too much out (for structural reasons) but since it's near the bottom, it won't interfere with the screw later on when we reassemble the whole NES player. In the image a few paragraphs below, you can see where it is and about how much I ground away.Now, grind down the two short posts where the screws are shown in the image above (top right and top middle red circles). That image above shows the screws in place but you'll want these removed and wont need them again since the posts will need to be ground down to the point where the smaller holes for the screws will no longer exist but the underside of the larger holes (into which the posts on the underside of the top-front black panel will go) will still have a bit of material remaining. Try to grind them down so the tops of what remain of them are parallel to, and about 3mm of height are remaining from, the top-inside surface.Next, we'll address the two long vertical extrusions. These extrusions on the inside are there as a result of the two vertical slits on the outside, which act as a track for the two thin vertical strips on the back of the black panel. Fortunately, we only need to grind down to the surface around these extrusions so we won't intersect the space where those strips on the black panel need to go. In the image below, these areas are represented by the two red squares. The location of these areas should be level with the tops of the two posts that were just ground down since the board needs to fit into the empty space we create on the extrusions and sit pretty much level on top of the ground down posts. You can tell that my board is at a slight angle - this is so the headphone jack lines up with the hole I drilled for it earlier, which is level with the hole for the power/volume knob. The board was placed to sit at a slight angle in the insert on the bottom of the black panel as well so this is expected.https://ift.tt/2EGyZMx last thing we need to do with the top shell in this step is to carve out an opening in the wall between this open area we're currently working in and the area on the other side of the wall, behind where the front load lid opening. Above is the shape of this cutout represented by a red outline. The left edge of the board, once installed, will sit just about right up against the blue outlined wall depending on where exactly the holes for the power/volume knob and headphone jack were drilled. The area cut out will continue this blue wall forwards into the space behind the front load lid opening and the area of the wall between that and the area housing the board itself will extend all the way to the front face of the top shell. Just make sure there is enough room for the capacitors on top of the board when it's installed. You may need to insert it at an angle so that the capacitors clear the bottom edge of what was just cut away. If in doubt, grind too little and test fit the board (attempting to get both the power/volume knob and headphone jack into the holes in front), then grind more and repeat until the fit is good and nothing is forced into place with too much effort.We also need to grind down the posts on the underside of the black panel just enough so that it sits flush on top of the shell when inserted into place but the posts don't extend any further into the shell than where we ground the posts on the top shell. We have to do this because we previously shortened the depth of the larger holes where those posts go. Once it fits nicely back in place, drill from the back side to match the hole you made for the power/volume knob.OPTIONAL STEP: Rewire the NES LED to the Player Main BoardIf you want the LED that came with the NES to light up when you power up the player, follow this step. If not, skip ahead to step seven.Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this process (I was too focused on not overheating the circuits or burning myself with the iron), nor am I qualified to instruct anyone on how to properly and safely solder joints. However, there are plenty of tutorials on soldering out there (this one should be helpful for our particular needs) for those who are unacquainted with the procedure. I also don't know how to properly de-solder joints (nor do I have the tools for it) so I heated up the necessary joints enough to remove the components, leaving the old solder behind, and in any instance I needed to solder a different component to the same location, I heated up that remaining solder enough to allow me to push the ends of the wire through the board, then added more fresh solder to strengthen the joint.So what we'll be doing here is (and in this order):Removing the LED from the NES power/reset button boardRemoving the LED from the player main boardSoldering two wires to the NES LEDSoldering those wires to the player main board where the old LED used to beIf you think you can manage that, read on. If not, I would recommend skipping ahead to step seven.First, we have to remove the LED's from both the NES power/reset button board and the player main board. Removing the NES LED is simple since all we have to do is pull it out from the clear plastic housing around it enough to straighten the leads, then clip the leads as close as possible to where they meet the board. This will leave more than enough length to solder wires later.Removing the LED from the player main board, however, involves de-soldering the joints (or, my amateur solution, heating up the joint from the opposite side of the board enough to melt the old solder and pull the LED out). But before you do, straighten the leads of this LED and pull them apart a tiny bit. We're going to use our button cell battery to find out which is the positive lead and which is the negative. You can usually figure it out by looking inside the LED as there is an indication of which is which, but my player (and likely yours) has a 3mm LED and the NES has a defused LED, so both are either difficult or impossible to see. Place the battery between the leads of the LED on the player main board and squeeze the leads together so they both make contact with opposite sides of the battery. If the LED doesn't light up, flip the battery around and repeat. Once it lights up, note which side of the battery itself is the positive side (usually, if not always, the flat side) and then mark on the circuit board next to each joint which is positive and which is negative so you know for later.Now that you know which through-hole on the player main board is which, you can remove that LED. Next, solder two wires (10" or more in length) to the two leads on the NES LED. Use the same test battery trick as before on the free ends of the wires once they're soldered to the LED to find out which is the positive lead. This wire will need to be soldered to the matching hole on the board so if you marked a '+' next to the hole on the positive side of the battery, solder the wire making contact with the positive battery side that hole, and vice-versa. Since you marked this on the board, you should be good. If you have any doubts, consult a tutorial on LED's to clear things up. Again, I don't know enough to educate you on this, I just sort of figured it out as I went along (and I suppose, got lucky)!If you properly de-soldered those through-hole joints, you'll be cleared to connect the wired to the player main board now - if not, and you did it the improper way like me (but hey, it works) then you'll need to do it like I did. With the first wire ready and knowing which hole it belongs to, heat up the solder around the joint until it melts, then quickly poke the end of the wire through while it's still liquid. Remove the iron from the joint to let it cool for a second, then bend the wire back to hold it in place because we're going to be heating that joint again to add more solder and if the wire end is still straight, it could fall out. Do the same with the other wire and hole, clip the excess wire and you're done! Be sure the wires are inserted up to the rubber coating so a minimal length of wire is exposed on the underside as well.STEP SEVEN: Install the Player Main BoardBefore you install the board, make sure all of the header ports on the top of the board are cleared to reconnect the wires later, especially the one on the far left in the image below - if not, remove a bit more material above that port so it can be easily accessed. Put the board in place, with the power/volume knob an headphone jack through their respective holes and grab the nut and washer. Place the washer down first, then screw the nut into place around the base of the potentiometer, tightening it with the pliers. Make sure it's tight enough that the board doesn't budge but don't over-tighten or you'll risk cracking the plastic. Be sure that you also had the black panel in place before doing this! You also need to pay attention to the wires connected to the board. There are the ones that were there previously and, if you re-wired the NES LED, those two wires. Be sure these wires clear the side wall near the board as they're very close to it. Here's that previous image again, which shows the board fully installed.https://ift.tt/2ToaBth EIGHT: Install the Platter AssemblyIf you look at the last image in step seven, you might notice a brass ring beneath a black screw, just below the board. If you recall how we needed to add material between the audio/power port housing, it's a similar thing here. Because the black panel that housed the platter assembly in the original record player is thicker than the NES shell, we need something between the shell and the screw to make up that extra thickness. I used some brass grommets left over from a costume I made a few years ago but any ring-shaped object should work. A stack of washers is probably ideal, as long as the center hole is wide enough to fit around the posts on the underside of the platter assembly and the outside of them doesn't extend too far out (so as to not interfere with other parts).Also, remember how only four of the posts underneath the platter assembly actually protrude through the NES top shell? We need to grind down that extra fourth one on the far left down until it's flush with the underside of that area of the platter. This is mainly for aesthetic purposes (so we don't see it hanging down from the outside of the finished unit) but also because it would rub up against the left side of the top shell, on the left side, if we didn't remove it.So now that we have our washers (or other found objects) for the three remaining posts under the platter assembly, we can insert it from the top. If you didn't try test fitting it before, you may need to grind a bit more plastic away to make it fit just right. The red outlined areas in the image below show where the fit might be the tightest and the most likely location you'll need to revisit.Once it fits like a treat, add your washers/other things and fasten the three black screws into the three posts. Keep in mind, these are the shorter of the black screws from the old player - the longer screws were what held the black panel to the bottom case. The platter assembly should be nice and securely fastened now.https://ift.tt/2EHfhQM that hot glue gun out, because it's time to reinforce some components and place the speakers. We've already seen where the speakers go, but I'll provide a bit more instruction since I didn't photograph them (or any of the internals for that matter) after this particular step.STEP NINE: Hot Glue!Generally speaking, anywhere that a component meets up against the top or bottom shell is a candidate for hot glue. Where the player main board meets the inside of the front of the top shell is a good place to start, especially around the headphone jack, but NOT around the potentiometer - you don't want to risk glue seeping around the front and hardening around the knob since it's a moving part!Also, if you haven't done so yet, place the knob back on the potentiometer. It should go down far enough to sit almost flush with the front of the black panel behind it.Two images down from this paragraph shows how I positioned the top and bottom shells during this step and the next. One more thing to do, if you haven't already, is reinstall the NES power reset button board - but first, insert the LED back into the clear plastic housing it was in originally, making sure the LED is oriented so that the leads and wires are off to the sides. With the top and bottom shells positioned like below, you will have enough length of wire on that LED to get the board in with the LED installed. The second image below shows the LED in place with the wires on either side of the nearby post. It's important to have this post there since it prevents any chance of the leads touching each other (which would prevent the LED from lighting up).LED and wires highlighted green, post highlighted blue. Put a bit of hot glue near the front end of the LED bulb so it contacts both the clear plastic part and the LED itself. Don't overdo it, just enough to keep it in place.https://ift.tt/2TpzJ2D, add hot glue to the areas highlighted blue below - I've included the area around the player main board as well, even though I already covered it. When it comes to the speakers, be careful not to use too much glue near the slits on the bottom or it may leak out through those slits. Put a bit extra on the corners further from the slits of these speakers, where the holes are, for extra reinforcement. Also, on the platter assembly, the areas for glue are right above the grill on top of the system, so go easy there as well - and stay away from unmarked areas around the platter as any glue leaking down to the moving parts will potentially interfere with operation.https://ift.tt/2EDTiu2 TEN: Reconnecting Wires and Closing it UpIt's the home stretch, folks! At this point, we're ready to reconnect all of the wires/headings, except for those that are connected to the speakers - the set connecting to the right speaker (the upper of the two in the image below) is too short to reach the main board with the system in it's current position. We'll reconnect that one as we're closing up. Also, note that the below photo was taken before hot gluing so even though I have the speakers connected in the image, it's only because I connected everything before hot gluing (not recommended, hence I'm doing it in reverse for this guide). With the speakers hot glued as we've done in the guide, the wires are not long enough to reach the port on the main board.Since all of the wire headings are unique, it's time to match them up and plug them in where they all go. You should be able to figure this out on your own but below is an image showing everything connected (except the speaker for now). Check out the larger version of that image to see the details better.https://ift.tt/2Tkz1nb should have connected two of the headings to the audio/power port board, three of the headings to the main board and one of them to the motor board. There will be one empty slot on the main board for the speakers (the one closest to the 'wall' we carved out earlier). Also, there's the one heading that attaches to the motor board that's attached elsewhere on the same platter assembly so we never needed to remove it, but if you did, plug that back in!Now, let's make moves to get this closed up. Start by tilting the top half towards the bottom half as you lift it up and move it over the bottom half. When the top half is at about 90 degrees, with the front of the top half facing down towards the bottom half, the halves should be close enough together for the speaker wire to reach the main board and we can plug that in. You can rest the top half on top of the bottom half, closer to the front of the unit, while you plug in this last heading, then put the top half in place. Make sure the halves fit together as they should, with the lip and groove of opposing sides inset. Now, let's test it! Turn the power/volume knob clockwise and it should click on and the LED should light up. Turn the volume up and tap the needle on the tonearm with your finger to see if it makes sound (or put a record on, if you want). If all is good, put the screws back in to secure the two halves together.FINAL STEP: Finishing touchesThe last step is to put the front load lid and rear black panel back into place.The black panel will slide into place from the rear - remember, all of the pegs on the bottom were removed when we carved the top of the NES so after a quick test fit, apply some hot glue to the inset behind it and put it where it belongs.The front loader lid will need to be inserted peg first (the remaining peg on the right side) into the small opening it originally sat in, then you can position the entire thing into place. The peg will fit between the player main board and the top-inside of the shell. You may choose to use hot glue to keep it in place, or you can leave it as is so you can remove it at any time to view the internals. It's up to you, just know that it will fall out pretty easily if the system is bumped.And we're done!The only downside (aside from being a pretty cruddy player, but that's not the point of this project) is that the NES power button doesn't actually switch the player on but, due to the way the power function is incorporated into the volume adjustment, I didn't see any simple way to do this - but you can push it in when it's on and it LOOKS like it does!https://i.redd.it/qv1vhke03lk21.jpgI hope this tutorial/guide was informative and I would love to see others try this - post results in the comments if you do! I searched all over the Internet and could not find anyone that had done a NES record player mod yet (probably because it's flippin' ridiculous) so I had to try it myself.Thanks for reading!!! via /r/DIY https://ift.tt/2VGLoH4
