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3D Printed USB GD-ROM Tray

With my tray the airflow would be similar to the original GD-ROM unit, arguably slightly better since it does a better job at sealing off the lid opening than the GD-ROM does.


I guess my real question is: are people's Dreamcast's overheating with the USB-GDROM? does the change in airflow without a tray really cause them to heat up that much more?
 
I think the biggest heat problem is caused by the 12volts that's no longer used by the gdrom. I can feel the front left top of the dreamcast getting hot after a while playing, there are several variations of fixes for this but I didn't bother as I was interested to see if it would lead to a failure but it hasn't.
I'm having difficulty locating the file you made earlier on thingsverse, can you send me a link please and I will print straight away
Thanks.
 
I guess because PLA has a glass transition temperature of 60C. No other reason for asking.
 
I would be astonished if the metal plate that the tray sits on gets that hot. Even still it would need to go well beyond that to warp the PLA. I print these with a bed temp of 70C which is just hot enough to get it to stick without deforming.

Never the less it's worth investigating. I've got an IR thermometer so I'll run a DC with the USB-GDROM with and without a tray for a few hours and see what I get for temps.
 
Can you check cpu temps aswell?
Here's how it turned out
Many thanks :thumbup:
 

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Is there a piece of software that does that? otherwise I'm not quite sure how I'd be able to check CPU temps

LOVE that Silver Dreamcast By the way :)
 
twistedsymphony said:
I would be astonished if the metal plate that the tray sits on gets that hot. Even still it would need to go well beyond that to warp the PLA. I print these with a bed temp of 70C which is just hot enough to get it to stick without deforming.

Never the less it's worth investigating. I've got an IR thermometer so I'll run a DC with the USB-GDROM with and without a tray for a few hours and see what I get for temps.
Click to expand...
Yeah, just for kicks. :D
Otherwise there's a shedload of other materials to use, but I'm pretty sure PLA works.
 
Thanks, it's my favourite colour combination. The only way I know how to measure the cpu temp would be with a temp gun and lift the usb gdrom off completely and check the steel plate underneath, it wouldn't be the most accurate but might give an idea
 
There's those who change out the stock PSU for a PicoPSU for that reason, seems to help diminish the excess heat generated by the stock PSU, but it's gonna set you back quite some $$$ though.
 
interesting measures!

The main source of heat in a gdemued DC is the PSU, apparently the stock PSU doesn't like to work without 12V load and overheats.

I installed a 300Ohm (I think) resistor between the 12V pins.. I dont have the scientific prove that it helps with removing hear from the PSU thought. Another workaround would be to remove the 12V regulator from the PSU.. But what sure works is to install a picopsu PSU and a beefier (and more silent) fan. :)

Would be nice to have a 3d printed PicoPSU tray and a fan holder :)
 
I personally don't like the Pico PSU option, it kind of takes the DC in the wrong direction by making it less compact.

However, it looks like there's a write up on disabling the 12V line in the PSU:
https://www.reddit.com/r/dreamcast/comments/461ohk/how_to_remove_12v_from_dreamcast_for_gdemu_and/

Some people say you can just remove that resistor, others are claiming you need to remove the resistor and the voltage regulator.

others say you can keep the 12V reg from overheating by installing a resistor on the 12V line.

I wonder if installing a few LEDs on the 12V line would have the same effect, it might be cool to illuminate the tray area.
 
twistedsymphony said:
others say you can keep the 12V reg from overheating by installing a resistor on the 12V line.
Click to expand...
I did this option, which was the least destructive method, and it seems to be working well so far. Though I haven't had it running for more than a couple hours at a time...
 
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