Trying to solder the ribbon cable on the display ended up breaking the ribbon cable. The cable looks like it’s a bit corroded inside anyway. Is there any reason I can’t just solder 30 tiny wires of appropriate length to the display pins and also to the pins on the ribbon cable slot? It won’t be pretty, but is there any good reason why it wouldn’t work?

Biscuit wrote:
The tape sounds like a good idea, and I wouldn’t mind the added cost. Although I’m only in for a couple, and could see how it might be a problem if anyone’s buying in bulk.

I’m not sure about your single layer cable idea. While it sounds good, it seems like pressing from the back while soldering could easily squeeze out some solder to short neighboring pads. I’ve never tried that before, but I’d assume you can’t really clean up individual shorts without removing the cable and trying again, unless you can massage them apart through the back of the cable.

Hopefully the castellated holes work out with the current design.

The idea behind the single-sided version would be that the pads would be pre-tinned and pre-fluxed. Only a thin layer of solder would be on the pads, far too little to ‘squeeze out’, but rather just enough to solidly bond.

So far, no one individual buyer has asked to purchase more than 10 sets. I keep hoping that some fanatical stockpiler of VBs wishes to have all 1000 units of his pride and joy receive VirtualCables, with an equal amount extra for backups, but so far, nuthin’.

Excellent news! I have just received written correspondence from my fab house confirming that adding castellated holes on the edge of the VirtualCable adds NO COST to the cables! Turns out that the extra dollar base increase covers new tooling capabilities that allow for castellation without a price bump!

That’s awesome, it would have been easy for them to add a small cost bump, knowing you would have paid it. Good fab house.

I have added a poll on my NintendoAge Thread to determine whether or not I should add 3M tape to each cable for $1 per pair more, bringing the final total up to $12 per pair.

Please vote and let me know!

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=186222

I was on a little vacation, but $12 would really be my max price, though if it adds to making sure it will be installed easier, I am for it.

It actually works out to $0.63 per cable in cost. Now, alternatively, I have a roll of 3M that I could just use to do it myself for less, but I’m currently looking at about 250 cables. That’s a lot of work and time, and it wouldn’t be as neat and orderly as a factory install.

But those are exactly the sort of opinions I want to hear, Force. That’s why I set up the nintendoage poll.

[RetroDan]

I have successfully talked my fab house down to $0.25 per pair increase for tape, mostly due to the large number of prospective buyers. At present, I have 42 unique buyers wanting a total of 125 pairs.

At that rate, I’m perfectly fine with eating that out of the profit margin, so the upshot is that I have all the features I want at an acceptable price.

At this stage, I’m just waiting for the end of May to shove my order in. If you know anyone who wants to get on board, point them my way!

Thanks to all for making this project successful!

EDIT: Below are pictures of the final design:

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by RetroDan.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by RetroDan.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by RetroDan.

Only 11 days left to get in on this before I shoot the VirtualCable order in!

I’m going to attempt fixing an original ribbon this evening, if things go south I may have to add myself to the list for a pair or two.

Three days left. It’s actually kind of fascinating – I’m still getting new buyers, to the point that I’ve increased my overstock supply for latecomers by 50%.

With just about 24 hours left, I should like to make an unusual request:

Production of the VirtualCables is an expensive prospect, and one that I will make very little profit from. I would like to encourage some of you, ideally those who have indicated that they want 10 sets or so, to pay in advance. I am aware of the frowned-upon nature of this request, and to be honest, it leaves a foul taste in my mouth. Truthfully, I don’t absolutely NEED prepayment, but with rent, a new car, an upcoming wedding in August, and all the payments that life tends to accrue, I am stretched a bit thin, and I would humbly request that some of you help ease the burden. To those who may choose to help, I would strongly advise against sending via PayPal gift – this is simply prepayment for a product, and I will return any payments made with gift.

For those who may decide so to do, please include your username on these forums in a note on your payment. My PayPal address is doubledangaming@gmail.com.

Thank you for your consideration.

I don’t mind pre-paying, but just to be clear with the changes that were made, could you post the updated/final prices per set and shipping?

Biscuit wrote:
I don’t mind pre-paying, but just to be clear with the changes that were made, could you post the updated/final prices per set and shipping?

Of course:

Final cost is $11/pair.
Shipping in the US is $7.90.
Shipping to most overseas locations is $14.25.

For those who intend to do so, please PM me for your total.

Wow. Got quite a few people jumping aboard at the eleventh hour. An additional 9 buyers adding a combined total of 22 more pairs of cables. Impressive stuff!

[RetroDan]

As of this moment, the fab order is placed! A grace period is extended for 11.5 hours after this post for latecomers who would like to grab VirtualCables at the price of $11/pair +s/h. At noon EDT on June 1st, the price for unallocated cables becomes $15/pair +s/h. Emails have been sent out to all buyers as of right now. Thanks for all your support!

EDIT: I’ve received a few emails asking whether to send via Friends and Family or using the Pay for Item or Service. Always, always, ALWAYS[/i] send via Pay for Item or Service. Apart from just being the plain truth, it protects the buyer in case the seller takes their money and ghosts them.

If you send money by Friends and Family, I will return your payment immediately!

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by RetroDan.

Hello,
New member here.
How does the virtual cable actually work?
Do you have an installation video?

Sway wrote:
Hello,
New member here.
How does the virtual cable actually work?
Do you have an installation video?

Whoo. Being sick sucks. Like HARDCORE.

To answer your questions, Sway:

1 – The old cables had a design flaw, namely that they were only held in place by pressure from an adhesive. Over the past twenty-odd years, that glue has weakened, causing the pins to separate, making ‘dead’ displays more and more common.

Now, a common solution is to solder the side that has the glue in place, creating a solid and ostensibly permanent connection that will not weaken over time. However, the cables themselves are starting to become brittle and the copper in them is beginning to corrode. My cables are pin-compatible, all-new production cables that will replace the original cables, allow a solid soldered connection, and be much easier to solder into place, thanks to design features like an adhesive strip that will stabilize the cable during soldering, and castellated holes to allow much easier connection between the board and the cable.

2 – I don’t currently have an installation video. My cables, according to my fab house, are 90% through the production process, so I’d like to hope I’ll have them on-hand in a week, give or take a few days. After that, I’ll be collecting from those member who haven’t prepaid and shipping the cables out. Once that’s done, I will probably make an install video.

Flex cables are on their way!

FLEX CABLES ARE HERE!!!!

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Just wanted to leave a comment to say my cables arrived today. When do you plan on getting installation instructions up?