Thread by @retr0drift

Here's something different, it's a boxed V-Saturn RG-JX2 for ME! I often don't have the time to work on my own stuff but Oct 6th is my birthday so I can at least give myself this.
Full restoration with new caps, cleaning, CD drive calibration and more! #RetroGaming #SegaSaturn
🥳

The power supply is first, new capacitors and a new fuse. The original fuse is not replaceable without soldering. I install a fuse holder and a ceramic fuse in a very common 20mm size.

Power jack solder joints have also been reinforced.
Before and After

The motherboard - New capacitors, a cleaning, and a AA battery mod. The Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA batteries easily outclass the coin cell. I also install larger, but bent over, caps. They filter power from the PSU. This is my Saturn so I can be as unnecessary as I want :)

Before and after closeups of the motherboard work. Some of the new caps were batter rated, and therefore larger than the originals. It was a tight fit but worked out. A clicky reset button and region free bios is also installed.

Region free bios closeup

Battery mod closeup, never worry about date/time again. If you remove (but save) the useless VCD card holder the AA battery holder will fit snuggly in the Saturn.
The original coin cell capacity is around 200mah. The AA batteries are around 3500mah.

"Do the math" - Atari Jaguar

Redone/reinforced solder connections to the rather small and fragile AV out and cartridge slot. Years of inserting things weakens and cracks these connections.

I also clean all ports with Deoxit D100 contact cleaner to clean the metal contacts in the ports.

Redone solder connections to the 2 controller ports

My motherboard originally had some weird corrosion(?) on various chips. Me being overly cautious, I doused the whole board with Deoxit D100 and gave it a thorough scrub.

I plan on using the CD drive so this gets love too. Before and after the cleaning. Fresh silicone grease is added to everything that needs it.

I use Shin Etsu G501.

Various nasty closeups of how dirty the CD drive was originally. Warning, please enjoy with caution.

Pic #3 shows a clump of hairs stuck to the lens... 😨

I take everything apart and give it a good isopropyl alcohol cleaning. A simple toothbrush can be used to deep clean inside the gear grooves. The lens cover is also cleaned.

Closeups of after the cleaning and fresh grease, doesn't it look better?

I got various repros from @cliffsrepaircor. While I calibrate my Saturn's laser, I'm going to take this opportunity to compare the quality of various discs, taking the reading straight from my oscilloscope. OG game and a Sega soundtrack both read at around 1.1 volts, baseline.

@cliffsrepaircor @cliffsrepaircor uses high quality silver lacquered blank CDs for his repros. Take a look at the oscilloscope, just slightly under 1.1 volts. His discs read almost as good as real Sega discs. If this doesn't show the quality I don't know what does.

@cliffsrepaircor Now here's the spicy one. This is what your generic CD-R reads at, it fell down to about 0.8 volts. It reads about 27% worse than either cliff's repro or an original game.

@cliffsrepaircor Some hidden areas on the lid of the console shell. These need to be cleaned. The button part and metal hinge need to be regreased.

@cliffsrepaircor That's my V-Saturn done, fully restored and ready for action. It originally had some yellowing. I experimented "sun bright" by leaving it out in the sun for a bit and it's a couple of shades less yellow.

I then buffed it with Aerospace 303 for shine and future uv protection.

@cliffsrepaircor Now I just have to find the time to enjoy my fat stack of games. @cliffsrepaircor please make more Saturn repros!!