I installed the Triton Labs Afterburner into my Game Boy Advance this weekend.
I installed my Afterburner into my Game Boy Advance this weekend. It took way too long. After getting together all of my materials, which included going to Home Depot to buy some supplies, it took about 2 hours.
After reading the Afterburner message boards, I was very wary of getting dust into the unit. Warnings of getting rid of dust were really my worst fear starting the project. If you're adding an Afterburner to your GBA, I recommend getting a can of air (which I had) and some wet photographic lens cleaners (which iI did not). I used the only thing I had on hand - paper towels and 409. That said, I'm not completely dissatisfied with the dust that is in my unit.
However, I did manage to get a speck of something under my anti-reflective coating that left a "huge" bubble. It covers about 6 pixels, and is a bit boethersome, but it by no means makes the unit unplayable.
I used rubber gloves during application to make sure that I didn't get fingerprints on anything. There are no fingerprints on anything I assembled, however, if I was careful, I probably could have done it sans-gloves and been just as successful.
I think it's probably impossible to get all of the dust out of there, especially if you just used a tool to grind the plastic case away. The Dremel was very handy in getting rid of the extra plastic in the case. Also, it was great for slotting the hole in the top of the GBA for the dimmer wheel.
I did not mount the dimmer as per the instructions. I cut a slot just under the left trigger and hot-glued the dimmer into place. After the glue cooled, it was quite rigid. I think the extra screw posts in that location give the glue a bit more to hold onto, also. I had to clip the extra 4th contact off of the wheel to fit it into the slot properly. Unfortunately, the wheel is the wrong size to have it mount as well as the volume knob. If it was another couple of millimeters bigger, it might fit better. A different wheel that has an off position and is a little bigger might be worthwhile for mounting. Anyway, you don't notice the big slot at all after you clean it up with an X-acto knife.
That was the only problem with the Dremel tool. It melted the plastic if you used it too much. The plastic would turn into little balls and start sticking to things. Just a note.
My light doesn't seem to have the trapezoid problem mentioned on the boards. Maybe I just haven't played a game where its obvious. I don't see it when I play, though.
Oh well, I think that's all for my notes on this project. The outcome with the light is amazing. You can play in the dark, which is cool, but the fact that you can now play in a plainly-lit room is fantastic.
Does anybody else think that the GBA SP is the ugliest Game Boy ever?
