PSP Ring of Light

[Psyberjock]

Here's a mod I just finished on my PSP. It was damn hard and took 30 hours over three days. I decided to do this mod because this PSP was bought used and the previous owner pulled up the silver ring on the UMD tray. It was included with the PSP but was scratched to hell and bent. I decided soon after I bought it that I would replace it, but it took a year before I decided what to do with it.

I used Llama's LED instructions and Everett's Push LED Mod instructions to assist me in my main board soldering points. The rest I dreamed up myself.

I mostly made things up as I went so I didn't take any work in progress pictures since I never knew which way I was going to go next.

That being said, I probably won't make a how-to. Considering the difficulty level of this mod, if you can't figure it out yourself, you'll probably just break your PSP or UMD tray. I used to mod my dreamcast and xbox, and this is by far the hardest thing I've done so far. If I get a lot of requests, I'll describe it and maybe make some graphics, but I doubt I'll take the PSP apart again for fear of having to solder some things again.

Bit more about the mod and pictures: UMDs work, the pictures show my PSP with a UMD in the tray and without. You'll notice on the last picture my electric tape peeled a little bit inside my UMD tray. A little light leaks through, but isn't an issue. One problem that I do have is that my UMDs stick a little bit when I want to take them out. I can take them out easily, they just don't kick out like they used to. I hope that will correct itself as things settle into their new shapes and positions. Also, I do have tatami floors. That's what the woven reeds are from. I do live in Japan afterall.

Well, here's the pictures: (note: I watermarked these myself and did so as a tribute to my favorite homebrew site. No one asked me to do so and I request that you leave them intact.)

More Pictures via comments

[dejkirkby]

That's cool. I want one!

[ExcruciationX]

Wow! Nice mod!

[Darksaviour69]

looks cool, thanks for posting

moved to news

[Psyberjock]

Thanks, I always wanted to make the front page! I hope it never falls off. (now there's an impossible dream)

[PSPKOR]

Nice mod, as an electronics engineer I can appreciate how hard that must have been without the wright documentation.
Good work
P.S- how did you get the plastic circle bit the correct size?

[one winged angel]

wow this is awsome

[joesnose]

that truly kick ass.

[mr_nick666]

Looks pretty sweet to me You cant go wrong with blue LEDs (did you use micro LEDs becuause of space restrictions?)

[Psyberjock]

Nice mod, as an electronics engineer I can appreciate how hard that must have been without the wright documentation.
Good work
P.S- how did you get the plastic circle bit the correct size?

Well, about 5 hours were due to my rusty soldering skills. I had to buy a soldering iron here in Japan since mine is in the US. So I guess its been almost 3-4 years since I've done real soldering.

The plastic circle was the easiest part. I took an old CD case and stuck the old metal circle on top of it. Then I traced around it with a marker so I could make sure it didn't move, then I just used an exacto knife and scored both sides of the CD case.

Make sure the scores are good and deep otherwise you'll crack it when you try to pop it out. Also, give yourself some space, you can carve it down more when its out of the surrounding plastic. When you do get it out without cracking it, leave the metal circle on there while you shave the sides down to the metal to make sure its the right shape. Do the same for the inside. In fact, make your preliminary scores for the inner portion and pop it out before you start shaving the outside just incase it breaks.

I got a perfect shape on my second try. The first time I tried I got the outside cut and popped out with no problem, it was the smaller inner circle that was an issue. Luckily I didn't perfect the outside before attempting the inside, so I didn't waste too much time on my failed attempt.

After I got it all trimmed and it fit perfectly, I used a sharpening whet-stone to give it a nice white finish. Just rub it around while running it under a faucet. The original clear case would have just let the light leave the circle without turning it all blue. Very fine grain sandpaper will do the same thing. Then I stuck it to the PSP with some double sided tape. That way I can remove it later if I decide to do something else.

Looks pretty sweet to me You cant go wrong with blue LEDs (did you use micro LEDs becuause of space restrictions?)

Oh yeah. We're talking maybe 1-2 millimeters of available space. I had to do everything as small as possible and then take measures to increase my available space. Plus, they were the only led's I had available to me. Like Everett, I used leds from an old cellphone. Nokia 3650. If I had used leds from radio shack or the Japanese equivilent, it would have been impossible. They have to be surface mount.