Sega Master System modding...

I've loved my Master System. It was my first 8 bit console. To this day, I still love playing it. 

I had already modded my Master System previously. I added composite, S-Video, and audio out jacks to it, making it amazing to play even now. But there was a few more things that I wanted to do to it before I say it's done. One is get a better RGB mod done to it, the other was modding it to output FM sound.

I finally got around to ordering the FM sound board from etim's FM sound board. There was some shipping issues, but we figured it out and it eventually got to me. 

The FM sound board is the board all the way to the right. I also ordered another NESRGB for my top loading NES. I don't think I need to document the install process for the TL NES since the install is exactly like the AV Fami. I'll post up pics of the final installation, though.

The board comes mostly assembled. I had to solder in the card edge connector to it. Per the instructions, I soldered the connector with a slight tilt. The instructions also said that the top shielding needed to be cut, but since I took the RF modulator out, I figured that I could just eliminate it altogether. That cable to the upper left of the board also comes preinstalled.

I stripped the cables to expose the 2 wires and the shielding. The wires needed to go in where a capacitor is removed. 

The capacitor C37 needs to be removed here. This is where the wires from the cable needs to go. I also had to scrape some of the solder mask to solder the cable's shielding wire to.

Here's all the wires and the shielding soldered in place. I put a small strip of kapton tape over some components near to where I soldered the shielding to, just to protect it from shorting out.

...Yeah, again, previous mod I did in my early days. I'm gonna go back in to clean it up. In the meantime, kapton taped to the bottom shielding. 

I tested the install, using my RetroTINK to my old monitor. Happy to say that it all works! I'll eventually get a video up with the comparison of both of them soon. 

The controller I used to test the Master System was a really old one. Button 2 felt really squishy. I figured since I had the soldering station on, I should try and fix this.

These are the membranes that was in the controller. That PCB is there just to show how worn out the membranes were. It's really bad.

I bought a package of 5mm buttons for another project. I had to flatten out the pins and trim some of the plastic from the bottom of the switch, just so it sits flush against the controller's PCB. I used my flush cutters to trim the plastic. The bottom of the switch in the pic is where it's been trimmed, the top is what was needed to be trimmed.

After figuring out what pin does what, I trimmed 2 legs off the switch and soldered it to the board. I tried to get them centered on the pad. However, even with it being flush against the PCB, the buttons were too tall to be in the controller.

The controller buttons needed to be trimmed. The button on the right was untrimmed. The left one has been trimmed with flush cutters. With that bit of plastic trimmed away, the new switches fit perfect under them. 

The new switches made the buttons nice and clicky. Much more responsive than before. I was thinking about also soldering those switches for the control pad part, but the pad is still functioning fine. That may be another project in the future.

For now, I'm happy with how my old Master System is now. Awesome sound, improved controller. Just gotta get the video even more improved and it's good to go!...then I can work on my Master System 2.