Dreamcast: SD card adapter from a floppy drive

Hi everyone!
I'm a DC newbie, just got my first ever Dreamcast 2 days ago and I started experimenting. Initially it wasn't working at all, after some prodding around I found out the problem was a faulty lid switch and fixed it.
Then I decided to make an SD adapter but I was trying to avoid soldering wires directly to the board if possible. I couldn't find any reasonably priced accessories with a DC serial plug on eBay (maybe I didn't look hard enough? the cheapest one was $30 (US))
so I started looking at various connectors I had, HDMI looked just about right but I didn't want to destroy an HDMI cable, so I opened a dead floppy drive I had (TEAC FD-235HF) and found an FFC ZIF connector which had 10 pins with the exact spacing as the DC serial plug. I didn't take a picture of it before I destroyed it but it looked a bit like this (not my picture):



I used a utility knife to cut both sides and then I just pulled it up from the PCB by force, no need to desolder it, the leads are stronger than the solder. At that stage it looked like this(click the image to enlarge):

It fitted into the contact area snugly but it lacked pressure from the top.
I superglued two stripes of thick carton and superglued the connector to them but not before I soldered the wires to the connector:

And here's a look from the front:

Anyway, to make a long story short, I soldered the rest of the circuit (I didn't have an SD card reader - I bought a 50 cent one from eBay but couldn't wait for it to get here so I used a MicroSD/TF adapter):


Yes, it looks really ugly but it works surprisingly well... The plug feels just like a real DC plug and I've just ran an ISO using SDISO - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - loading is a bit slow but gameplay is fine.

Well, just thought I'd share my experience with you, maybe it'll help someone...

I think I saw something about removing some caps from the DC motherboard to increase speed, gonna look it up now.

Edit: Sorry for posting in the wrong forum :/

 

Good work, never thought of trying something like that.

I'm off to raid my box of junk PCB's .

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

 

Nice!

 

straight up macguyver work

 

Thanks guys! Glad you liked it

bobzee: If you can't find any good FFC connectors and you don't mind destroying an HDMI cable, I think it should also work, albeit a bit more work demanding: You'll have to remove the rubber, use a needlenose pliers to remove the metal case and then cut both sides of the plastic to leave an 11.5 millimeter of the 10 pin part (and then glue something above it for pressure).

I want to post about how I fixed my lid switch problem, what would be the correct forum for it?

 

Haha, this is a lovely idea

 

Good work Mr. Og

I also made my SD adaptor some time ago

Tutorial
http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-1539.html

Another SD adaptor by myx


Tutorial
http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-72-post-19803.html#pid19803

 

sweet i like the idea of using the agp slot part. i think ill gte a usb adpater and build me one now

 

I've been salvaging SD connectors from old laptops and printers. Get a busted "all-in-one" printer, tear it apart and you've got a ton of spare components, wires and connectors.

 

i actually hav a broken hdmi cable. ill rip it apart tomorro and get it wired upp to an sd port i hav laying around. thnx for sharing this!

 

Thanks Alex. Your plug looks MUCH better (and the tutorial is very well written), but it's a lot of work, plus, you have to have the tools to form the metal.

Myx's adapter (the one from the post that was made two days after this thread) is actually not as hard to make and looks quite nice... I too thought of testing AGP slots but never got to it since I found the floppy and was satisfied by the connector. I did look at PCI slots, thought - they aren't spaced correctly for this plug.

Actually, I already did post the model in the first post. It's a TEAC FD-235HF, however, I have more FD-235HFs but none of them have this ZIF connector, you can see the connector without opening the drive:

These are both the same model (FD-235HF), the one on the left is the drive that I took the connector from (you can see it missing), the one on the right looks like it also has a connector but if you'll remove the 4 screws you'll see the other end of the FFC cable is soldered to the PCB

Anyway, I think it's pretty simple and no FAQ is necessary, but still, I'll explain how I did it on a different FFC ZIF connector.
Here is a picture of two CD-ROM PCBs:

Each has has a ZIF connector (circled in red) and the right one also has a LIF connector (circled in yellow), here is the easiest way to remove the ZIF connector:

1. The connector.
2. Remove the fastener.
3. Cut both sides with a utility knife (if it's a good knife it'll go through it like butter)
4. Lift upwards. If you'll bend and pull it backwards you could break the leads (they'll still be usable, only shorter and therefore harder to solder to).

If you could take a picture or two it'll be awesome


I actually think there are many common connectors and plugs that can be easily modded to form this plug. The FFC ZIF connector from the CD-ROM PCB that I just showed also has the correct spacing of the pins, but it's too flimsy, it feels like it'll break if you cut it and mess with it.
When I'll get my SD Card reader from Hong Kong I'll make another adapter, I'll use the same technique but for the leads I'll use the FFC cable itself. I think it'll work because the copper leads of the serial connector are protruding a bit:

If it'll work it'll be the most accessible solution I can think of because I believe every CD-ROM should have that FFC cable.

If anyone can think, or knows about another way to create this plug I'll be happy to hear about it!

 

Wow, kudos Mr. Og. It is nice to see so many people have different methods of making the same kind of device, goes to show you the determination of hardcore modders. ^^

 

nice mod

 

Short of a full tutorial on this, could you elaborate on the parts you used for that circuit board, and wires, in the center of the device?

I'm not technically proficient with this stuff. I have 3 of the mentioned floppy models, and I want to try giving this a shot. This by far looks like the simplest homemade SD adapter device. I don't even care about having a casing... only functionality.

 

Awesome work on this , I have been meaning to buy one of these but hell I mine as well try and make one first Thanks!