Just published the latest video in the series, where I am restoring an imperfect Panasonic GameQ to hopefully a fully working one – giving New Hope to bringing it back to its beautiful self.
In Episode III we thankfully discovered that it was fully capable of reading discs and the drive tray functioned, despite being damaged. This damage resulted in the inability in opening and closing without being propped up from the inside. So, it was clear what needed to be done, replace the rails to support the drive on the inside and the actual tray too.
Replacement Rails – Due to the damage of the front of the drive tray itself too, it was obvious I needed to replace all three parts of the drive support; the left and right rails, as well as the drive tray itself. It will be a long time before all three of this genuine OG parts will materialise, so I am using reproduction parts. These 3D printed parts are available from Retro Refurb UK.
Whilst the process itself of getting down to the drive and replacing the rails was nerve racking as it is, I encountered the issue where after replacing, the drive was now no longer able to open and close due to a loss of torgue. I tried many possibilities before coming to the conclusion that it was the torque, so tried replacing the drive band. –
I will be continuing my Panasonic Q series and releasing more videos in the future. I have plans to tackle the GameBoy player (crazy expensive), covering off some of the accessories for this unusual piece and restoring the less perfect parts.