The "Look What I Did / Made" Thread

[Ziggy]

Image isn't working for me.

[Ziggy]

I was helping my parents out with their AV setup and ran into a small issue. Their soundbar couldn't fit under the TV, the TV had to be just a fraction of an inch higher. The soundbar couldn't go above the TV because that's where mom likes to put decorative things. I was looking for various solutions, such as different TV stands and furniture coasters/sliders, but I wasn't happy with any of them (especially the prices of them).



So, I decided to make my own coasters/sliders for the TV. They were very easy and fast to make, and are very inconspicuous.

I used some scrap pine, so this project was free! I used a hole saw bit and a forstner bit on my drill press (you could also do this with an electric drill). I had some chip out on one of them, but I wasn't about to make another one because of it. I just put that one on a back leg and you'll never see it.





They worked! So I sanded them up a little and sprayed them black. I was thinking black would make them stand out the least, as opposed to staining them. And I was right, they're pretty much invisible. If you didn't know what they were, you'd think they were just part of the TV stand.

[Anapan]

That's very impressive. The quality of the outcome is better than what in my mind was possible (stacking store-bought sticky-coaster clear plastic anti-scratch cupboard bumpers).
Despite my aversion to soundbars, the output of most modern mid-range models are easily better than most store-bought traditional sound systems from the 90s. From my limited investigation, it comes down to the crossover and drivers that were common back in the day. It's great that you're helping upgrade your parent's entertainment center. My parents are begrudgingly letting me replace their components and dispose of their old bits as I drag them into better fidelity.

[Ziggy]

Thanks!

Ugh... The soundbar is OK, it definitely sounds better than the TV's built in speakers. The thing is, this soundbar was actually a downgrade in audio fidelity but an upgrade in ease of use.

[Ziggy]

I made a tree skirt for my mom to match the color scheme that she was doing with the ornaments. Surprisingly, it's hard to find a tree skirt in the aqua family and also tree skirts are too expensive! So like usual, I figure I can make one myself and get exactly what I want and for cheaper. My only sewing machine is an antique, it works but it looks like the belt is about to crumble into dust and I also don't know how to thread it up. So I decided to just sew it by hand, which took about as long as I thought it would. Forever. It wasn't that bad though. My hand stitching is horribly uneven, but you really can't tell unless you examine it way up close. Some nice touches would have been adding Velcro or snap buttons to the back, but it works fine as-is. Maybe I can make an even better one next year. I'd like to get a modern sewing machine, which would take this project from hours down to minutes. And there's some other projects I've been wanting to do that a sewing machine would make easier, like those console dust covers.

Anyway, here it is...

[stickem]

That looks great, good job

[emwearz]

So I finally got around to 50/60Hz modding my NTSC 32X. This is what my PAL copy of Doom looked like on a NTSC Genesis with a 50/60hz switch, running at 50hz with the NTSC 32X running at 60hz, it just couldn't sink, no issue with any of my PAL or NTSC 32X titles.



So I installed the 50/60hz switch into my 32x.



And now it plays perfectly (or as well as it ever did on the system) when both are set to 50hz.



While I was also in the mood, I have had a dead cart of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure on Megadrive, I read about this fix and gave it a crack.

[Ziggy]

Nice work, emwearz!

I'm curious about that fix for the Pitfall cart, do you have a link? It looks like it's jumping a pin low.

[emwearz]

I don't have a link, but the long and short (pun) of it is this.

If a cart is removed when the console is still powered on, it can kill one of the traces on the boards.

If you grab your multi and put one end on ground, which 10th from the left on the bottom row, and check the top row, you will hit point that gives you a big fat 1, bridge the two with a 1K resistor and boom, you are back in business and current can run through again. It is apparently a common enough issue with this board layout.

If you look at the cart you can see the previous owner has taken sand paper or something to the contacts trying to 'clean' it.

EDIT:
Found a video while googling the topic I read.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCT4ZKV20RI

[Anapan]

I saw some glow-in-the-dark material on Aliexpress that showed a teddy-bear made from it. I thought maybe I could go one step further and make it self-illuminating using UV LED strip. I asked my mom to sew up a plush and I just finished soldering the electronics. When the suguru dries and it's put together I'll post a finished picture.