Pressing Charges
This project has benefits for me in electronics, soldering, product production, and common procedures. Through the assembling of electrical components onto a printed circuit board (PCB), I gained exposure to more electronics and electric circuitry and valubale experience in identifying electrical components. Through the electrical work, I was able to further develop and test my pre-existing soldering techniques and skills. Additionally, the experience of troubleshooting common problems that occured and following saftey protocols allowed me to become a better engineer and create a unique and functional electronic device.
Materials List
Checking the Kit Contents
Before begining the assembly of the Pixel Game Boy Kit, I first ensured that I had all required parts of the Game Boy kit. Pictured to the left is a bag of plastic pieces that will be the case to the Game Boy, two LED dot matrix, a LED display, a chip, a chip holder, a blue PCB board, an instructions manuel, a USB cord, a small bag of various electronic pieces and double-sided tape, and a battery holder.
Checking the Electronical Contents
Next, I ensured all of the pieces of the kit were included. In the small plastic bag should be a piece of double-sided tape, five buttons, five large keycaps, a self-locking switch, one smaller keycap, a USB socket, a 5V speaker, a 10uF electric capacitor, a triode, a cermanic capacitor, and a 1K Ohm resistor.
Pictured below the small bag components is the two LED dot matrixs, LED display, chip, and chip holder also included in the kit.
Soldering the Electronics
Before beginning to solder, I first put on safety glasses, removed dangly bracelets, and ensured sweatshirt drawstrings were tucked into my sweatshirt.
Step 1
To start the assembly process, I got a marble slab, placed a helping hand on it, adjusted the helping hand to hold my PCB board, and retrieved and turned on my soldering iron to 750 degrees. I then put the self-locking switch, 5V speaker, triode, ceramic, non-polar capacitor, and resistor in their respective places on the board and used solder to secure them to the board. I did the same with the 10uF capacitor, however, I put the long lead in the positive hole and the short lead in the negative hole. I then cut the access wire off all of the components.
Step 2
I then took the five buttons and put them in their holes and soldered them onto the PCB board. Buttons
Step 3
Next, I put the LED display in its slot, ensuring the three dots aligned with the three dots on the PCB board. I also put the USB socket in its place and soldered and trimmed the wires on the board.
Step 4
Now, I bent the two capacitors down so they would be out of the way of the chip holder. I then put the chip holder in its place, checking that the divot on the chip matched the one on the PCB board, and soldered it onto the board.
Step 5
I then soldered the two LED dot matrixes on the board with the numbers on the side of the matrixes aligned with the ones on the board and facing the controller buttons.
Final Board
Step 6
Next, I lined up the chip and chip holder divots and carefully inserted the chip prongs into the holder. I then soldered the battery holder wires onto the board, the red wire on the positive pad and the black wire on the negative pad.
Final Product Fully Assembled
To finish assembling the Pixel Game Boy Kit, I retrieved the plastic case of the board, the screws, four AA batteries, a screwdriver, and double-sided tape. I first peeled off the plastic coverings from the LED dot matrixes and LED display. Then, I peeled the protective paper covering off the plastic Game Boy case panels, slid the battery pack through the hole in the back panel's cover, aligned the pieces, put three screws through the back plastic cover piece into three thick bolts as to properly space the board from the plastic cover, and then secured the screws on the other side of the PCB board with three smaller, silver bolts. I aligned the other case pieces, took four long screws, inserted the four screws in the screw slots on all four corners of the Game Boy case, and secured them with four more silver bolts. Next, I used double-sided tape to stick the battery to the back of the board and inserted the four AA batteries into the battery pack.
Video of the Working Pixel Game Boy
IMG_9787.MOVProblems Encountered
Throughout this project, I encountered several problems, such as trouble peeling off the protective paper covering from the case panels. I asked my teacher, Mrs. Morrow, for advice to solve this issue. She suggested using electrical tweezers to separate the paper and panel, which ended up working brilliantly and greatly expedited the paper removal process.
Additionally, I struggled to get the battery pack through the back panel, so, I slid the pack through the slot diagonally.