Famicom World

Today's the day where I become a Famicom Fan. (As you can tell, because I just made this account not too long ago.)

I just won 2 Buyee Auctions, one for a Sharp Twin Famicom, and another for Super Mario Bros 3 on FC.
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I also got another one cooking for Lost Levels on Disk, but that doesn't end until Sunday morning for me (Please no one snipe it.)

I do hope that the system is at least in some working condition, especially the disk part of it, the listing said the it was untested, so I'll probably just have to hope for the best. Worst case scenario is that it'll have to go through some repairs.

I'll provide updates as time goes on, mainly regarding shipping progress, and testing once it's in my hands.

See ya soon. - GB :diskkun:

Best of luck!

Unfortunately, the disk drive is the most likely part of it to be broken, but it could just need a new belt or something, or maybe it will just work ;D

You enter the Famicom world with what is, in my opinion, the best version, the Twin Famicom ! Congratulations

Indeed, the FDS' belt will probably need to be changed, and I also advise you to make a full capkit if you can, all consoles of this age need it.
Also, check audio. Some Twin Famicom, especially the red ones, have sound issue, with a sort of buzzing, but a simple mod can correct this

For image, it's up to you to see if you prefer the original Composite for more authentic sensations, or NESRGB mod for optimal image quality. Personally, I'm a purist, and I wondered for a long time whether I should do RGB mod on it, before finally doing it.
About audio, there is also a stereo mod, but I don't recommend it, because even if it can give an improvement on certain games, the majority will sound worse in my opinion. Or you will have to put a switch to be able to return to original mono sound whenever you want, but I'm not a fan of switchs, because I prefer to leave the console aesthetically intact

Oh, and also, for controller, those of Twin Famicom, like on original Famicom, are very good, but "glued" to the console, with a very short wire, so opt for an officially licensed controller plugging into extension port is a very good thing, as there are only a handful of games that don't support it.
I launched a topic about that with great responses, if you're interested : https://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=15515.0

Well, I couldn't win the exact auction for Lost Levels, but I did find another one that was ending around the same time and won that, so it's all good!
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I probably won't mod anything on the console like RGB, unless if it's something I absolutely have to fix, like the disk drive and its belt. I think I do have the materials needed to clean and fix the disk drive just lying around, aside from the belt.

Things are great so far, just have to wait for everything to arrive at their warehouse.

- GB  :diskkun:

Awesome. We could give you suggestions for it but the volume of suggestions would send you on the path to bankruptcy. But if you want some, we'll be happy to suggest a few dozen games.

checks buyee

Hmmmm, games haven't arrived at their warehouse yet...oh, but the Twin Famicom did!

Wonder if it's basically ready to be shi-

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Oh dear :c

It's been like this for a few days, the Twin Famicom and SMB3 cartridge showed up at their warehouse in like...2 days.

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Famicom Disks are too powerful.

What shipping method are you using? Is Airmail still an option? Last time I used Buyee I had to choose either Lightspeed delivery or Death Stranding.

Quote from: GB256 on March 24, 2024, 09:41:15 pmchecks buyee

Hmmmm, games haven't arrived at their warehouse yet...oh, but the Twin Famicom did!

Wonder if it's basically ready to be shi-

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Yeah that's why I don't like Buyee or any proxy service for that matter. You simply can't know how much they're going to charge you for shipping until they have your package with them and can't return it (if you don't claim in two weeks or so they will destroy it).
The money you're saving in the product you'll spend in shipping (and probably even more than what you would've spent on eBay anyway). It's only worth it for things that are simply too rare to pop up on eBay or stuff that even with a shipping fee twice the price of the product is still a deal. Thank god I had a 50% off shipping coupon when I ordered something there, otherwise I would have told them to destroy my package or whatever.
Check their webpage or their Discord server and see if they're giving away any coupons that might help you out.

Imo in the future, use FromJapan. I used buyee once I hated it.

Package consolidation is being worked on, should get a new shipping fee soon.
Also got some coupons for it.

Nice! I hope you get a better deal on those.  :)

Shipping fee was more reasonable with a good shipping method and coupons.

It begins.

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While I'm waiting, I guess we could chat on any technical details about setting it up and seeing if I have to clean or repair anything.

Is it perfectly ok to plug a power supply from Japan into an outlet from the US?
I do NOT want to fry the thing from lack of knowledge of this kind of stuff.

Yes, it should be fine.

Shipping has really begun now.
It is Famicoming to my house.

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It's here.

Time to test it out!

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Good news, almost everything works!

Except for the disk drive.

When I put the disk in, the drive just makes a really loud hum.

Yep, that's a belt swap for you.

Working on it!

There's 2 screws on the metal sheet on the bottom of the drive itself that are a pain to get off, so I might need some better equipment.

Also, here's the remains of the old bet I found inside!

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While I work on this, are there any recommendations for new belts? Could I use any rubber band or will I have to buy something specific?

There's loads of replacement belts for the FDS on ebay and the like.

The transculent ones are supposed to last longer, but the regular black rubber ones are slightly grippier and don't fall off as easily.

A rubber band... I mean, in a pinch, temporarily, I guess you could do that, but you'd probably have to mess with the drive speed

I'll probably have to use a rubber band with the time and equipment I have and just hope for the best.

Welp replacing the belt on my Famicom drive has been going "well", but I'll probably have to stop today.

I haven't even gotten to the main part of the drive because I accidentally stripped an important screw, so now I gotta get some more equipment, that's fun!

See ya tomorrow...

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How tf do you remove this metal piece, I've been trying forever.

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You have to turn it clockwise while sort of lifting up on it.

https://youtu.be/cEJ_-PThT7M?t=393

HUGE PROGRESS!

Got it in and out and reassembled part of it, the drive is moving! But now we have a new problem: Error 22.

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Well, now you need to calibrate it.

Got a good tutorial I could use to do it?

I'm occasionally getting Error 21, I feel like I'm getting closer to fixing it while at the same time, not getting it fixed.

I'll probably continue work on this tomorrow, in the meantime, send whatever calibration tutorials you have, I'll take anything to help me out here.

https://www.famicomdisksystem.com/tutorials/fds-repair-mod/belt-replacement-adjustment/

See "spindle hub alignment".

Also, send a video of how fast the assembly is moving.

Thanks for the guide, will be handy, and here's the video.
(Have to send it as a drive link since this site doesn't support mp4s.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AwUR0O4czi5f7wcevb8ClQVjPMOf_9Ed/view?usp=sharing

You need to change that link to public, because it asks for access

Woops, my bad!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AwUR0O4czi5f7wcevb8ClQVjPMOf_9Ed/view?usp=sharing

This should work.

That's moving way too slowly. The belt is rubbing on something hard, or maybe it just can't provide enough grip.

And I see the problem.
Bits and pieces of the old belt are still on the gold spindle, I'll have to scrape it off best I can.

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Found a problem.
The band keeps popping out every time the drive spins.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nTpF_xkpr7qFQoldpLcq5f4HgJIf8Qf2/view?usp=sharing

Well, that band's quite thick, and not the right shape (should be flat, not square).
Best get a proper replacement, I guess.

Looks like I have more waiting to do.

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For a pack of rubber bands, that took longer than I was expecting.

Whatever, time to finish this.
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...Well, the belts on, but I still can't calibrate it.
All the Hex Keys I have are too big to fit in the screw, time to get more equipment.
Does anyone know the hex key size that I'll need for it to fit?

Got the tool, it fits!
But the hard part is finding the exact position I have to adjust the spindle at for it to work.
The main outcome I would get is that the drive would move and read the disk for a good while, then stop for a second (with the led light turning off as well) and soon afterward, an error.

The spindle screw is supposed to face the read head in the home position - there's no need to "search" for the exact position.

If after that the disk isn't loading, then it's a matter of speed.

Bene doing that!
The hard part for me is finding the right speed, it's a pain in the neck. :(

Well, post another video of it running, I guess.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19dcY8TkkjERJLsPNzvkUroM3TIh29foY/view?usp=sharing

Worth noting that it seems to be inconsistent on when the drive suddenly stops to error.
I've had attempts where it would spin for a good minute before stopping.

...huh. It's really not supposed to be stopping when the drive is going towards home. That's... very odd.

Similarly, it's shouldn't ever take more than two passes of the disk before erroring :s

The drive is definitely still too slow, but I think there's actually another problem somewhere. Maybe a switch is malfunctioning, or something?

I don't like that possibility of there being another problem somewhere on the drive...
I decided to send some photos of my drive, if there's anything that looks out of the ordinary, let me know.
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That does look fine to me.
Can you show me how you set the spindle screw?

(SORRY FOR VERY LATE REPLY, WAS BUSY)

Pretty much the same as the guides, tighten it with a hex screw.
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(I did take off the black plastic top part to do it, just didn't get any photos of that)

Also the drive is doing this now where the read head is stopping once it's back to the original position.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tzXj7xBsaJpf7BtFEbvsO4cSlbR8M5ai/view?usp=sharing

Ahhh. It's getting stuck on something and never reaches the home switch. Check if there isn't a wire in the way, or something.

Did that, didn't seem like there was anything blocking it.
Even took it apart and reassembled it, still nothing different...

See if the bars the head assembly is moving on aren't dirty.

Something is clearly stopping the head before it can reach that switch.

Quote from: GB256 on March 30, 2024, 06:44:15 pmWhile I'm waiting, I guess we could chat on any technical details about setting it up and seeing if I have to clean or repair anything.

Is it perfectly ok to plug a power supply from Japan into an outlet from the US?
I do NOT want to fry the thing from lack of knowledge of this kind of stuff.

Probably not, since both the Famicom and the standard frequency in the US is 60hz.


edit: didn't see that the post had 4 pages

Regarding that, Japan has 50 Hz in the eastern potion and 60 Hz in the western potion, so Japanese electronics are normally designed to be able to work with both frequencies.
BTW this is about mains frequency which should not be confused for TV refresh rate (which is 60 Hz everywhere in Japan).

Plugging in a Japanese (100 V AC) AC-adapter in a wall socket in North America (110~120 V AC) is not ideal but should probably not fry anything. In Europe it would be fried however.

Yeah, the console (at least the cartridge side of it) has been working fine.
Disk Drive on the other hand...

Speaking of that, the read head is now reaching all the way back again! There was gunk on one of the rails that was stopping it from reaching it.

Unfortunately, we have a new problem, when it DOES reach the switch, it stays there for a second or 2 before moving again.
The light doesn't turn off form this, which is bizarre.

I just cleaned the read head and waiting on it to dry, maybe that could be a problem.

Didn't change a thing, even worse, the read head is now BACK to not reaching its point when reading the disk.
Every time I do anything during this, I feel like I'm getting so close yet so far...

Take off the top disk caddy (i.e the black plastic part) to clean the rails thoroughly, then apply a light lithium grease to them.

To take the caddy off:

1. Put the drive in its "disk inserted" position (there's a little lever you have to manipulate with a screwdriver close to the motor):

(https://i.imgur.com/qktAltK.png)

2. Take off the three springs around the caddy (hold them down on one end to prevent them from pinging off, then use tweezers to unhook the other).

3. While lifting the pressure arm (the thing with the little felt pad that goes above the disk) away, press the disk eject about halfway - at that point you should be able to lift off the caddy.


While the disk caddy is off you can also calibrate the spindle to face the head exactly as it reaches the home position.

Was busy for a while but I did it...
THAT part's fixed, but now the drive keeps trying to read it over and over with no error again...
No read head acting wonky, the light doesn't go dark, it's just...not reading it.

Can you make another video?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UpA51igyBKznvv8uaQLYZgR4sHEWzpMI/view?usp=drivesdk

It's very clearly still not clicking the switch and just nudging it.

(Was busy with finals, but we're back on the grind for this now!)
Applied some extra grease to it and...still nothing.
Maybe it's not a problem with the rails then?

When you push the switch, does it make a clicking sound?

Try to see what the carriage is bumping against. Maybe there's a misrouted wire?

Ok, so it makes the clicking sound and I don't see any wire that looks like it's in the wrong place.
I haven't touched the thing since I made that last forum post BUT, when I tried to today, IT WORKED, and successfully read and loaded the disk.
But then when I did a hard reset, it STOPPED WORKING AGAIN.
There has to be some unreliable part that's causing this.

I just remembered...on the one where it worked, it DID make the clicking sound, but it's not doing that anymore.