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5panel.dance
dj505
@5panel.dance
150 followers 900 following 190 posts
Arcade Technician!

Rhythm Games | Programming | PCB, Hardware & Graphic Design | Electronics | Arcade Game Content™ // @dj505_ on the other site

https://5panel.dance

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Pump it Up • Expert Lv. 3
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5panel.dance
Obviously, you look up the sensor datasheet, do some light reverse engineering on the PCB, snip some traces, and pull the "DIR" pin listed in the datasheet high to reverse the output direction!

Shoutouts to the manufacturer for not laser etching the IC part numbers out :)
The PCB from the first photo, but with the magnet sensor chip removed, sitting beside the board. It's an AS5600 IC, which is a programmable hall effect sensor that can communicate over I2C, as well as output an analog or PWM signal. A zoomed in photo of the board with some scribbling on it. I've drawn a blue mark on the pin I want to identify, with a line leading to a circle, representing a trace going to a via, which grounds the pin. There's a red line and a small drawing of some scissors, indicating that I've cut that trace. Another photo of the PCB. The chip has been reattached, and a brown wire has been soldered between two of the pins, pulling it high to positive voltage, instead of low to ground.
October 18, 2025 at 1:39 AM
5panel.dance
We have some games at work with bad steering potentiometeers. The old ones are discontinued, and the output range on the new model is backwards, which means the steering is also backwards.

Turns out, they're not real potentiometers. They're hall effect sensors in disguise. How do you fix this...?
Two potentiometers from a Raw Thrills "Snowboarder" game. The one on the left is new. The one on the right is also new, but has been cracked open, and the parts are laying on the table. There's a small circuit board with a magnet sensing chip, a green insulating plastic piece, and a magnet.
October 18, 2025 at 1:39 AM
5panel.dance
I posted a lil teaser about this PCB last month but didn't really elaborate!

This is the "Meshlet," a LoRa node I designed around the RP2350 that supports some super neat features. It's meant for use with #meshtastic, hence the logo and stuff, but it can be pretty versatile.

Features include...
A screenshot of a 3D render of the top side of a circuit board. This board has a black base, with white silkscreen text, and yellow-gold pads. It's very densely packed with components. A screenshot of a 3D render of the bottom side of a circuit board. This board has a black base, with white silkscreen text, and yellow-gold pads. There aren't any components on this side, and the space is filled with white silkscreen artwork, including a QR code, the "Meshlet" logo, a warning saying "THE BQ24074 IS A 1-CELL SERIES CHARGER ONLY," and a list of jumper functions for the jumpers on the front side.
September 30, 2025 at 7:57 AM
5panel.dance
Pebble Time 2 announcement dropped today and my Pebble Time Round decided its job here was done
A photo of a Pebble Time Round smartwatch sitting on a white table. The watch body is slightly open, separated in half. A photo of the battery inside of the Pebble Time Round watch. The battery is noticeably inflated and looks kind of like an overstuffed pillow. This is very dangerous and an active fire hazard. Rip
August 14, 2025 at 1:07 AM
5panel.dance
workin on a new pcb
August 7, 2025 at 7:31 AM
5panel.dance
Back at it again. Wish me luck
August 1, 2025 at 9:06 PM
5panel.dance
Not sure if this counts, but I own a genuine copy of Pump it Up PRO 2, a great game that sold very poorly and was heavily bootlegged (being built on the open-source StepMania engine). I've been told only ~20 real copies ever sold, and finding one with the button panel and marquee is near impossible!
A poorly lit photo of the entire Pump it Up arcade cabinet. There's a yellow-green underglow from the RGG lights I installed underneath the stages. The arrow panels are all placed with the arrow graphics pointed inwards towards the center, instead of outwards, to reduce and even out years worth of wear on the polycarbonate during play. A close-up photo of the button panel, sporting the Pro 2 logo. The "OPTION" buttons normally have red caps on them, which have since gone missing. This photo was taken outdoors after moving the cabinet out of the U-Haul truck, and a reflection of the sky can be seen in the acrylic. A photo of the HDD containing the game software. It's a Seagate Barracuda 160GB drive, with a large label stuck to it that says "PIU : PUMP PRO2 VER 12 2010.09.28" The September date stamp marks this as a somewhat early copy, at only 3 months after the game's official release, with the typical availability window for Pump it Up games being 1-2 years.
July 7, 2025 at 6:13 PM
5panel.dance
I've released the files for this project at long last! Changes include:
- Fun accents and text on the faceplate and lid
- Upgraded to an 80mm solar panel; shockingly effective and easier to find compared to 70mm
- Fitment/tolerance fixes

Available on Printables!
www.printables.com/model/134312...
Top down shot of the "Minimesh Solar" Meshtastic node. It's printed in dark grey ASA plastic for the main case, with a light blue PLA faceplate. I do not recommend PLA for the faceplate. It's just all I had :( The display shows some basic information about the device and its stats. There is a screw missing from the upper left corner of the keyboard, which I forgot to install before taking the photo. Top down shot of the "Minimesh Solar" with the lid sitting beside it. There is an 80mm square solar panel on the lid, taking up most of the surface area. Along the top is the text "Minimesh Solar." There's a neat detail around the upper right screw that makes it look kind of like a sun. A top down photo of the lid on top of the main unit. Not a lot to see here, to be honest
July 1, 2025 at 8:05 PM
5panel.dance
WIP solar capable #meshtastic messenger I'm working on!

The idea is to let it charge via solar when outside if USB isn't accessible. The magnetic lid also protects the keyboard & the new 1.52" OLED.

There's a CN3791 solar MPPT inside too, at the cost of a smaller 1100mAh battery (prev. 3000mAh)
A Meshtastic node resembling a grey plastic square with screws in 4 corners, and a solar panel in the middle. There's an antenna sticking out of the upper left corner. Surprise, the solar panel is a removable lid! In this photo, the lid is sitting on the table upside down, on the left of the main body. There are magnets in 3 of 4 corners. The main body, on the right side, is half covered with a green faceplate, containing a screen and speaker. There is a small white keyboard PCB on the bottom half. The main body on its own, from another angle. The same parts are visible. A comparison shot between the new node and my previous node. The screen on the newer one is roughly 2x the size of the previous one, and the body is slightly larger. The photo is taken at an odd angle, with the old unit on the left, and the new one on the right. They're both sideways, with the tops touching.
May 25, 2025 at 9:04 PM
5panel.dance
giving the coin pusher tokens a bath
A bin full of noticeably dull tokens that were once shiny A few tokens in my hand, above soapy water. They are noticeably shinier than they were previously
May 18, 2025 at 1:54 AM
5panel.dance
Falling down the #meshtastic rabbit hole has led me to the point where I'm learning Fusion 360 to design my own nodes, lol.

This is the 1st prototype of the Minimesh! A compact portable node with a 3000mAh battery & M5Stack CardKB, running on an nRF52 fakeTec. Battery life is roughly 2 weeks!
A screenshot of a Fusion 360 CAD model of the fully assembled Minimesh node. The entire model is dark grey, save for the keyboard and screen. The keyboard is white with yellow buttons, and the screen is a dark blue. The Meshtastic "M" logo is embossed on the lower left corner, and the "Minimesh" logo is embossed below the screen. To the left of the screen is a cutout for a speaker. A screenshot of a Fusion 360 CAD model of the Minimesh node, with the keyboard and screen cover removes. The entire model is dark grey, save for the microcontroller and screen mockup, which are in full colour. The Meshtastic "M" logo is embossed on the lower left corner. A real-life photo of the assembled Minimesh, being held in my left hand. The case is printed in an olive green. The display shows the Meshtastic logo, and some miscellaneous metadata. There is a long antenna attached to the upper left corner. A real-life photo of the assembled Minimesh sitting on a cutting mat atop a desk. The case is printed in an olive green. The display shows information about a node titled "5panel.dance Home Base". There is a long antenna attached to the upper left corner.
April 20, 2025 at 7:16 PM
5panel.dance
Hello there! I don't have a reliable connection from home, but I do see it pop up on my commute from time to time. I'm 5panel.dance (5p.d)!

As of today I've seen 45 unique nodes around the city - we just need a few more setups with some good height to fill in the gaps for reliable messaging!
A screenshot of a node in the Meshtastic mobile app's node list on Android. The node's short name is displayed as "8088" in a small, pinkish pill on the left. The long name is "LAMBNet T-Deck". It is roughly 8.2km away, and 3 hops away. Last seen 13 hours ago. The battery level displays as 0% 0.00V.
March 20, 2025 at 6:14 AM
5panel.dance
It didn't even take me one month to upgrade to some nicer hardware LOL

I also have 3 other working nodes, with parts for a 5th on the way. Been researching weatherproof cases and solar panels, too. Surprised how many other nodes there are here! Coverage is still poor, but I'm gonna try to fix that!
A fakeTec-based Meshtastic node, printed in matte olive green filament. There is a black dial at the upper right of the unit. The screen displays the text "5panel.dance Home Base 3 minutes ago Signal: 77% ? km" The string "5P.D" is embossed vertically on the lower right side of the unit, which is the 4-character "short name" this node broadcasts to others nearby. The same node from another angle. There is a USB C connector cutout on the bottom, with another cutout beside it for an M5Stack CardKB connector, which is currently unpopulated. The back half of the case is printed in matte grey filament.
February 21, 2025 at 10:15 PM
5panel.dance
Portal 2 co-op
A photo of two "Explosive Danger" arcade games set up side by side. One of them has a narrow, skinny balloon. One of them has a very rotund balloon. The shapes of the balloons are oddly similar to those of the robots playable in the Portal 2 cooperative campaign.
January 31, 2025 at 9:31 PM
5panel.dance
Woah hey that's crazy, still not used to being on a social media site where people actually see my content. Thank u everyone 💙
dj505 @5panel.dance 100 followers
January 30, 2025 at 11:50 PM
5panel.dance
The first run of my TechnoPico PCBs are here!!

For those seeing it for the first time, it's a custom controller for most arcade-style dance games, with a customizable layout via hotswap sockets and way too much RGB. All designed around the brand new @raspberrypi.com #RP2350 microcontroller!
January 25, 2025 at 10:30 PM
5panel.dance
on it boss
A blurry photo of an arcade employee mopping the Pump it Up dance pads.
January 19, 2025 at 9:40 PM
5panel.dance
Screencaps of the layers in KiCAD for the layer enjoyers. Routing is a lil messy and best practices™ are not always followed, as is the way of hobby electronics lol

Really really hope these actually work!! I can only fit a single batch into my budget for the foreseeable future
A screenshot of the KiCAD PCB editor UI, showing the front layer of the board's copper traces, pads, and vias. A screenshot of the KiCAD PCB editor UI, showing the back layer of the board's copper traces, pads, and vias.
January 12, 2025 at 8:46 AM
5panel.dance
Still waiting for @raspberrypi.com to make the RP2354 available to consumers, so for now, I crammed some SPI flash (U5) in what little room I had left on the TechnoPico main board so I could order a test batch. Super nervous about ordering this one, easily the densest PCB I've ever laid out!
A screenshot of the 3D object viewer in KiCAD. Visible is a render of the back side of the TechnoPico main board. The "TechnoPico" logo is etched into the top right of the board, with a caption underneath, saying "18 BUTTON UNIVERSAL DANCE GAME CONTROLLER." The majority of the board is covered in small electronic components, with white text beside each one, denoting its reference designator. There is a neatly arranged column of "spare" components on far right of the board, which are not electrically connected to anything.
January 12, 2025 at 8:46 AM
5panel.dance
Anyone got canned coffee recs? Big fan of these two but it's really hard for me to find the Kirin FIRE coffee (only 1 store in the city that I know of carries it), and the Highlands Vietnamese coffee is only sold in more expensive 6-packs everywhere reasonably close by 😔
A can of Kirin brand FIRE coffee. The can is a gold colour, and has a cool diamond pattern stamped in around the outside. A can of Highlands brand Vietnamese coffee. The can is brown and unusually tall for a canned coffee.
December 29, 2024 at 5:36 PM
5panel.dance
No wonder this Balatro game won so many awards! And you're telling me I can play it on the go, too? Wow!
The Balatro title screen. The game is running on the stereo in my car. The gameplay screen. I am on the ante 1 small blind. I haven't scored any points yet. The game over screen. My best hand was 1,620 points. I was defeated by The Window. This was the "TUTORIAL" seed. Jimbo says, "what a flop!"
December 22, 2024 at 5:23 PM
5panel.dance
How does this mixup even happen, when the switches are under the tiles and covered up?

Players run out of balls but are desperate to hit the last tile for the bonus, so they throw just about anything in there! The tile breaks off, and the switches get bumped on the way down.

Please don't do this!!
Two tiles have broken off of the game. The left one has come unplugged and is off. The right one is hanging by its wires and is on. A football from the game "2 Minute Drill" is sitting at the end of the play area beside a tile that has been knocked out of place by whoever threw it.
December 18, 2024 at 5:43 PM
5panel.dance
Since two tiles currently share an ID of 4, the game gets confused, and can never recognize that all the tiles have been hit because the (now non-existent) third tile was never hit. Thus, no bonus round for you!

Simply switching it back to 000011, denoting a 3, makes it work as intended!
December 18, 2024 at 5:43 PM
5panel.dance
Every tile has a set of DIP switches underneath, with a binary representation of their unique ID, starting from switch 6 and going backwards to switch 1, with "ON" being 0 and "OFF" being 1. Weird way of doing it.

When this one is read as intended, it reads 000100, which is a 4. It should be 3!
A set of switches in a red, 6-switch DIP package. The top position reads "ON" and the bottom lists numbers 1 through 6. This set of switches reads on, on, off, on, on, on, which is interpreted as "000100" in binary when read in the intended order.
December 18, 2024 at 5:43 PM
5panel.dance
If you're ever unfortunate enough to encounter "Let's Bounce" at the arcade & hit every tile, but it doesn't give you the bonus, this is likely why!

See if any tiles stay lit after being hit & only dim when a different tile is hit. It could be any two tiles, these just happened to be adjacent. 🧵
December 18, 2024 at 5:43 PM