snes 50/60Hz mod, where do the tracks run?

Going to do this mod here:
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/nintendo/snes-switches-1.htm

But I'm not a fan of lifting pins if I can avoid it.

I'm wondering if anyone knows if the track to PPU1 runs back under the IC, or if I can just cut the track running to the pin? (pic stolen from mmmonkey)


PPU2 doesn't look like I can cut the track, but one less lifted pin is a good thing...

For the region free mod, I removed the IC (U8) and cut the track under it, then fitted a pull up resistor (10k pictured, but I swapped it for a 1k)
Basically, this means that pin 4 is at 5volts normally, and you "short" it to ground to pull it low, it also means you only need a single pole, single thrown switch, and 2 wires to switch between the two states.

 

The pins of the PPUs are connected to +5V in PAL-consoles. An luckely to you - the trace right in front of S-PPU1 pin24 is the only one, i.e. there is no trace is the back right under the IC At S-PPU2 pin 30 there is a single trace coming aside of the IC (from pin 31 direction). Could be hard to cut this trace... Here is a pic to verify: click me

Just to node: I don't know if this is possible with NTSC consoles as I don't have a scan yet.

 

Thats fantastic, thankyou very much!

I'd realised that pin 30 on the PPU2 only seemed to run to one place, after I made the first post, but didn't have time to edit it.

Are these your scans? thanks for the link, it should be an excellent resource for future mods too

EDIT: There should be no problem cutting the track to pin 30 on PPU2, I don't know why people lift the pins instead of just cutting the tracks...

 

I understand that you don't like to lift pins, nobody does
But it just might be your only option, here is how I do it.
Take a small sized needle, put it under the pin you want to lift, and use the top of the chip pressing it down over it (carefully).
Take your soldering iron, and heat it up while pressing, the leg will lift itself free from the board.
I have used this method on Gameboys, Playstation 2 etc, and it have worked everytime

 

I'd definitely recommend lifting the pins, but if you're going to do it, make sure you've got a good soldering iron. There are too many things that can go wrong with such small parts if you have a rubbish one.

There are a few reasons people do it. It's arguably easier to solder directly to the legs (I say "arguably" because your mileage may vary), it allows you to revert it to stock later on (you don't have to cut traces), and for some people like me, it's easier (I go cross-eyed trying to see the tracks when they're so small, so it's much easier to count pins with the white dots on the board as a reference, since they mark every five legs).

As for actually lifting the legs, I just used a fairly fine blade in my hobby knife to lift the legs up, but you have to be careful if you don't want to lift traces (especially when removing the CIC). Desoldering wick is always a good idea (something that I'm currently out of). The number one thing (and this applies to traces, too) is not to heat it up for too long.

But then again, I'm sure you knew all or most of this. I am interested to know, though, why you chose to do a switch mod over a switchless mod.

 

I'd much rather cut tracks than lift pins, and there's no way I'd try bending a pin back down to a pad to put it back to original, as you're just as likely to snap the pin off, leaving the console dead!

I have no problem with having a jumper wire or two if I ever want the motherboard back to "original"

Why not switchless? because I like switches...

 

These scans are made from a friend of mine: in this forum it is user Arcade

 

Works!
Pull the IC end of the resistor to ground, and its in NTSC, leave it pulled up to 5volts (through the 1k resistor) and its in PAL mode.

I'll add the switches some time, thanks for the link Borti!