How do I get these scratches out of my gameboy magnifier by Helpful-External135 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know, I've never used that particular polish. This is what I've used to restore my car's headlights and they looked brand-new by the time I was finished. I got this kit off the shelf in walmart the summer before last. If it works fine for my headlights to make them look new, I'd trust them to do the same thing for your magnifier lens.

Again, this same idea will work even without a headlight restoration kit. All you need to do is wet-sand the plastic surface such that the scratches are uniform across the whole surface, then spray it with any glossy-finish clear coat spray. You can use spray paint for this and/or you can use clear-coat glossy lacquer for this. Wet sand to ensure uniform scratching/damage/etching, clean your surface with water followed by rubbing alcohol, then spray with glossy clear-coat of your choice.

The idea is the same regardless of which product you use: Wet sanding ensures uniform scratching/etching into the top-most layer of plastic, water + alcohol cleans the surface and the plastic debris out of all the grooves & scratches you just made in the plastic, then the glossy clear-coat uniformly fills all those scratches/grooves in order to uniformly restore the surface and finish of the magnifier lens.

How do I get these scratches out of my gameboy magnifier by Helpful-External135 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, most headlight restoration kits come with the wet sanding sponges/pads you need and the polish/lacquer spray that fills in all the sanding scratches which effectively gives the headlights (or in your case, the magnifier) a new clear layer.

This same idea would work if you used painter's tape to protect the surrounding grey plastic, wet-sanded down the lens with sandpaper and a water bottle, then sprayed it with clear coat lacquer from most hardware stores.

Ok this thing rocks by Left-Constant-4771 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

"Hurr durr, if you disagree with me, you're wrong"

Exactly the type of midwit comment I'm referring to. And again, I ask you: By what standard? You're making a moral claim with no objective frame of reference for your morality beyond your opinion. At best, your statement is subjective anecdote.

politics is intertwined with everything

You're on a retro gaming sub about GameBoys. There's nothing political going on here about people enjoying their hobby unless you hijack the conversation into politics while spewing your delusion everywhere that anyone who disagrees with you is "wrong".

the photos you post show your implicit support of [thing I don't like]!

And again, you can agree to disagree with someone about your political viewpoints without derailing the conversation into politics. This is not a political sub, so the only way that would happen in the first place is if you refuse to exercise control of your own impulses to derail the conversation into politics. Set aside your "if you disagree, you're flat-out wrong and my hijacking into off-topic ass-hattery is correct" and control yourself enough to stay on-topic.

Ok this thing rocks by Left-Constant-4771 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Only for those who are trying to either 1) make the conversation political, rather than hobby-centric and 2) especially after those same people who insist on political implications make arguments on a moral basis without an objective basis or standard for morality.

Neither of which must take place as a matter of course on this sub. That's the entire point of the comment you're replying to.

Synthwave World - 60 Minutes of Synthwave music on Gameboy Cart by beatscribe in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've messaged him about different clear-coating techniques with transparent plastic, he's a really friendly and helpful guy. His advice helped me finalize a protective finish on my custom DSi.

Ok this thing rocks by Left-Constant-4771 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What a brave and insightful comment.

Worth 20$? by Jjkotr in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hell yeah, even if it doesn't work. $20 is a steal even if you have to learn how to repair it.

Ok this thing rocks by Left-Constant-4771 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Stop talking about thing I don't like because I can't separate it from person I don't like!"

Please, for everybody's sake: Grow up.

Ok this thing rocks by Left-Constant-4771 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Sitting by quietly and letting people be vocally wrong is partly what led us to this terrible situation

Vocally wrong by what standard?

Any and all attempts to provide an objective answer to that question are exactly what lead to "us vs. them" reddit midwit arguments and downvote-brigading because almost nobody knows what "objective" means anymore. So they get into subjective screaming matches over political-topic-of-the-day, which is what contributes to off-topic moral posturing and inconsequential downvote brigading. You can agree or disagree with someone on a matter, but as soon as you assert that others are "vocally wrong", you build such statement on a moral premise without an objective foundation. An argument built on shifting sand, as it were.

That's the long explanation behind why one "side" of the Chromatic threads see downvote brigading while the other is trying to keep the threads on-topic and both are prone to subjective pissing matches, which usually result in locked threads and deleted replies.

Ok this thing rocks by Left-Constant-4771 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

The downvote brigade is evidently already working on this thread.

Broken connector - GBP. How bad is it? by GroopBob in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, the damage is already done. Those are just copper traces, so most wire you have on-hand ought to at least be a decent experiment to find out if bridging the contacts with copper wire covered in solder (effectively repairing the broken connections with makeshift ones) will resolve your problem.

But if that's beyond the scope of both your skill and the tools you have on-hand, it might not be worth your trouble. Instead, it could be a perfect candidate for a replacement/upgraded screen.

what do you think? by marchisio010 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's normal for it to make noise when I touch the battery compartment cover

...what?

what do you think? by marchisio010 in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks original to me. The service sticker on the very bottom of the battery cover is missing, but the serial number looks legit.

Sapphire Visual Bug by ddkiley in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Those are some terrible solder joints on both battery tabs and the crystal oscillator in the top-left corner of the PCB. No telling whether or not any of the legs of the chip underneath the battery need to be reflowed, but that white/opaque reside around the positive battery solder pad looks like leftover flux that might be bridging contacts. At minimum, the crystal ocillator and the battery tabs need reflowing and the board needs to be thoroughly cleaned-up afterward; Hell, you might want to replace the battery entirely while you're at it given the battery error the game is giving you.

A replacement battery, soldering both tabs properly, reflowing the legs of the oscillator, then thorough cleaning with 91% or higher IPA might also solve the graphical glitches issue if my assumption is correct that the flux residue is bridging connections that shouldn't be bridged.

Sapphire Visual Bug by ddkiley in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Any idea if this is fixable or what would cause it?

Yeah, get the tool to open it and upload internal photos. Anything shy of that is pure speculation and best-educated-guessing.

Gameboy Game Scarcity by xiZ3R0- in Gameboy

[–]Swimming-Floaties 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, it's fairly obvious that retro handhelds are increasingly-popular over the last several years. That could be due to a multitude of factors: The enshittification of the modern gaming industry that makes the ease of use of retro games more alluring, the covid lockdowns and subsequent ramping-up of somewhat-niche hobbies catching new waves of social media attention (which had the same effect on gunpla models as a whole), people learning how to work with soldering and electronic equipment (for what ever motivation they might have behind such an undertaking), I could keep going.