Tinker Mods News
- Modded Xbox 360 HDDs!121/24/2024
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Very excited to finally have this project finished and available now! I now have modded Xbox 360 hard drives and case mod
kits for the Xbox 360 fat console! In addition I have a full new tutorial up on the YouTube page showing how to make and use
these yourself! You can see the new tutorial on how to build a modded Xbox 360 hard drive here!
The new Xbox 360 HDD Case mod kit can be found here and the new Modded Xbox 360 hard drives are found here! Hopefully everyone is having a nice holiday this year! Enjoy the new tutorial and kits!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Down time, SSL issues11/7/2024
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Hello all, the site has been down for nearly a week now. At first I thought I had some kind of issue on my end and was trying to find
the issue in code until realizing it was an issue with the SSL certificate not reinstalling/updating correctly. Once I realized that
was the issue I was able to start it from scratch and reistall. Most of you would have seen a connection issue error screen while
some of you saw a really unorganized version of the site without any CSS (Styles) loading in. Regardless everything is fixed back
up and good to go again! Sorry for the inconveniences!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- PS2 parts out now!!9/20/2024
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Well the next big addition to the site is now live! I now offer replacement parts for the PS2 console! For now this will only be
for the Fat version of the console, but I do plan to add parts for the slim in the future! This also means I will be adding
informational sections for the PS2 in the FAQ, tutorials, etc. This will also open it up for me to make some video tutorials for
YouTube on the Playstation 2!
There really isn't much more to say about this update, you can check out the new PS2 parts section by going here!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Xbox 360 Slim mod kits out!6/26/2024
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Been a good while since I added any news here, so here's a fun one for you! Xbox 360 slim Mod kits are now available in
the store! I also have a few website updates I wanted to go over as well, one of which defintetly effects everyone who uses
this site regularly, so read on!
First off, It is awesome to finally design, build, and offer mod kits for the Xbox 360 slim console! This is something I have wanted to offer forever but never fully had the time to do so. You can Check out the new 360 slim mod kits here! These are also FULLY STOCKED and ready to ship out in 2-3 business days as I have pre-built a ton of them for the launch!
Moving on, it came to my attention that the new contact form I built last year has been malfunctioning. At first I was not even sure what the issue was so this has been sort of stuck that way for a while. I was still getting a few of your messages in but the VAST majority of them were lost in space. I finally discovered that the way the anti-spam captcha program was initializing during the form submission instead of before so. This caused an endless loop that was just leaving all the messages in limbo. I am also assuming that had something to do with spam bots that were attempting to get spam through the form as well. I have now worked it where this is done first and then ends which should prevent those endless loop issues from happening. I have sent over 100 test messages and every one of them got through just fine, so everything should be okay again. I apologize for anyone trying to get a hold of me, this was the first time I built a contact form like that one and there have been some bugs. If you tried to message me the last couple months and never got a response please feel free to message me again as it works fine now. Also, if you place an order you can find contact info inside your order page in PayPal, this also gives direct communication info you can use!.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- BRAND NEW OG kits soon!!12/4/2023
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I teased this a little earlier in the news articles but I am nearly done with everything and ready to bring it LIVE on the
website, so here I will give a full breakdown on what to expect and what is coming in the next few weeks!
First of all I am insanely excited about these new kits because they have all been ideas I've had on the "to-do" list for quite some time. There will be five new kits coming, all for the original Xbox. These kits will be part of the new "Upgrades" section in the replacement parts area. Even better, none of these kits are more than 25 dollars!
I also have three brand new video tutorials, these will coincide with a few of the new kits. These will go live right around the time the new kits do and will show you how to use them! So... What are these new kits?
A few of them are simple, for instance, I will now offer a capacitor or ReCap kit that includes all the caps you need for an original Xbox motherboard, This will include an upgraded Clock cap and 10 caps that can replace the main 3-5 caps that tend to go bad on the motherboard. These will work for ALL motherboard versions as I will include the two different types of caps that go bad, and the clock cap has the correct stats to also work on any of the motherboard versions
The second kit will be a 128MB Ram upgrade kit. These will be OEM and authentic RAM chips for the original Xbox that you can use to perform the 128MB mod!
Next I will have Clear Jewels for the Original Xbox case! These are also OEM Jewels that I have sanded and polished by hand. You can paint them to have a different color jewel, or you can leave them clear and combine with LED mods!
Next I will offer an all-in-one Thermal paste/compound replacement kit This includes a tool to help, the thermal paste, and a very handy cleaner to make the job extremely easy and painless.
Last but certainly not least I will have a new kit I am dubbing the Ultimate cooling upgrade kit for your original Xbox console. This includes all the items from the thermal paste kit, as well as thermal pads, and special heatsinks. This one is a little harder to explain without showing you the tutorial for it, but essentially this is a very easy to do add on kit that add heatsinks to several chips on the console for extra cooling management, thermal pads for the RAM chips, and of course the thermal compound items as well, and again, all for under 25 bucks!
I would say these kits will be up within the next week or so. If I have no issues they may even start going live THIS week!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Xbox One parts live!10/24/2023
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Well they are finally finished! The Xbox One replacement parts section is now live and running! For now this will only include
parts for the Xbox One fat console. Next, for a little upcoming news!
I am super excited to have the Xbox One parts done because it means I can move on to a cool new project I have wanted to do for a LONGGGGG time now. I will soon introduce original Xbox UPGRADE kits! These fun kits will have great tools and items to improve the way your Original Xbox runs and prolong the lifespan of your console! In fact, these will also mean I finally get to make some new YouTube tutorials!! (Been a long time since I've done that!!) I have everything in place to start working on them and will start working on the new store section for the kits, as well as start the YouTube videos! See you then!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Just a quick Blip9/4/2023
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Just wanted to add a few small updates while I'm in between projects as well as let you know what will be coming next!
To start off I finally hired someone to make some new logos for the site, social media, etc. It was about time I replaced those old logos I was using that I made myself hahahaha, they were awful. So if you notice the new logo here, YouTube, eBay, etc, that's why. As you can see below I think it is much improved. I had three mock ups made and this was the one I liked the best, I may put it up for a vote and see if you guys like the others better!
Currently, I am working on adding Xbox One repair parts. The Xbox One product pages have been a little more difficult just because of how they are classified. They don't have version numbers like the OG and 360 do. So, I've had to go through a few re-dos but think I will be done with them in the next few weeks. After that I will start going through the FAQ again as I have a ton waiting to be added for the Xbox 360 and eventually the Xbox One. I also have several projects I want to do for the original Xbox. I would like to start hosting files here like softmod files, dashboard skins, etc. It would be nice to have one place everyone could find that kind of thing since so many of the old sources are gone and scattered everywhere. I also would like to add a Hard drive compatibility and USB drive compatibility tool to the site. There are still several good ones out there but they are getting old and outdated, some of them are so old it is impossible to even find them now a days and there are newer ones that are not listed because those sources are no longer maintained. Sooooooooooo, definitely still have quite a few projects in the works and wanted everyone to know what they could look forward to as time goes on!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Xbox 360 S parts out!7/13/2023
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Big site update today! Xbox 360 Slim parts are now available in the store. As discussed in previous news updates, I have also
adjusted multiple prices for the Xbox 360 fat! So let's break it down further.
I decided to add Xbox 36 slim parts to the same pages as the Fat parts instead of creating their own category. I figured putting them together would keep it simple with how I have things categorized. The promised price changes for the Xbox 360 fat are also in place. Most of the prices were decreases with one or two exceptions. You can check out the new prices and parts Here in the Xbox 360 replacement parts section
My next goal is to catch up on a bunch of FAQ questions that I have built up and will be writing several articles for those soon. That will start right away and shouldn't take more than a week. Most of them are for the original Xbox.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- BIG OG restock!6/1/2023
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I don't normally do this but there were a lot of out of stock items for the original Xbox so I wanted to put a quick news blip out there, ALL
parts and kits are restocked. This includes the soft mod kits that I apparently didn't realize were sold out even though I had plenty for them
as well as all disc drives, motherboards, power supplies, etc. Granted there are a few things that I only have a handful of each but for the
time being everything has at least several in stock currently. Of course with the disc drives that will probably not be the case by the start of
next week since they sell so quickly.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Some mid-year updates!5/26/2023
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Hello everyone! Got quite a few updates and things to talk about, nothing I would call "major" but still some new things going up,
order status updates and more, So, time to dig in!
To start with I just wanted to tout a new blog article I finally got finished up and posted today. A complete guide to the original Xbox leaking clock cap. This is something I have wanted to do for a while now as there is so much information that has been lost from the old days and so many rumors and things people think about the issue that just are not true. So check that out as it has a TON of info in it and covers the issue from top to bottom! I also have another one I want to start on ASAP about the original Xbox not powering on issue. Tons of lost info on this in the modern age as well and something I would love to add as a free resource to all! So expect that soon.
In other news, as of today I will phase out some of my selling on eBay. Ebay fees and forced advertising or "sponsered" listings are killing me as far as cost and just all around B.S. that is eBay. Right away I will ONLY offer OG disc drives on this website! This starts right now. I know some of you check my stocks on ebay and on here so just know all my stock on those will only be sold here from now on. I will also slowly start to phase out most of the parts for the original Xbox as time goes along and will only have them for sale on eBay when I have a ton of overstock on certain items. This is actually a good thing for all of you because I typically sell parts cheaper here on the website than I do on eBay. So you will be able to get the lowest possible price on them. I will still sell some parts for the OG for a while but eventually that will be phased out.
International shipping is now cut off and I will no longer ship outside the U.S. with the exception of my northern neighbors in Canada. There are a bunch of new regulations using harmanization codes and to be honest it is just annoying and frustrating and not worth my time anymore. It takes me forever to get all that situated and I just don't have the time to deal with it anymore. I am sorry about this as I love helping out everyone across the world with their projects but I gotta do what I gotta do. Also, due to all these inflation issues here in the U.S. Canada shipping rates of increased by about 35-40 percent. The last few orders I've had for Canada have actually lost me a ton of money because the cost has gone up so much, So my regulars will notice an increase in those shipping costs. U.S. shipping is still free across the board.
Next, There are some parts for sale here that are not current as far as their market value, most of these instances are actually going to mean some lowered prices. This will especially affect Xbox 360 fat parts as there are quite a few that just don't sell for what they use to, so sometime soon you will see some of those price changes. As I said these are ALL prices that will be LOWERED, so no worries on increases with this one, just adjusting to better reflect the actual values currently.
Lastly, Custom orders are finally starting to return to the normal amounts which means I am getting less behind on them, custom case kits and modding items should only take me about 7-10 business days to finish up and ship out!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Product changes, and news!3/7/2023
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A couple of changes here to the website, I have some prices changes (Some up, and some down) Stock updates, and more! Make sure you
read this news update to see what affects you!
Just wanted to give a small update nothing major here, I don't usually post news when I re-stock on parts but I have had an unusually high email count asking about when drives and motherboards will be back in stock for the original Xbox. So I wanted to put it in this news update. All original Xbox parts are back in stock, this does include disc drives. On the same subject I have also decided a price increase on those original Xbox disc drives was needed. My yield (Number of drives I can repair and sell versus how many I have to buy) is getting lower and lower, not to mention other price increases. It is only a $5.00 increase for each drive type, but figured I would let everyone know "officially".
In other price news, a few prices have come down on hard drives and I have sourced a new supplier for 2TB HDDs for these modded original Xbox consoles for sale so I can now offer the 2TB HDD upgrade at 149.99 instead of 189.99. Granted that isn't a huge drop but 30 bucks is 30 bucks right?!
Lastly it looks like I am dealing with tax return orders right now and have had a big influx in orders, please add a few days to my response times to emails as well as handling time for orders for the next month or two. Expect a week or more for custom orders like case mod kits and custom consoles. Repair parts will still ship out at the usual times (every 2-3 business days)
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Xbox 360 Repair parts now up!12/16/2022
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Another massive addition to the site! I am very excited that we have have Xbox 360 repair parts available at Tinker Mods!
To start off we have only added Xbox 360 fat parts, but Slim is also on the way! Go here to check out the new Xbox 360 repair parts! All major categories have been added. I may still add more stock case replacements but I use too many of them for the case mod kits to offer them. I will update later on if I do decide to start offering more case and shell parts. If you'd like to see those parts for sale, Contact me and let me know!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Another content update!12/6/2022
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Another addition to the site today. This is another one I've wanted to do for years so I'm very excited to finally have it done!
The new additions are inside the Learning & how to section. I have completed the Original Xbox error guide That deals with all the major errors you can come across on the original Xbox console. There is both a section on the Original Xbox error codes as well as one on the Original Xbox flashing light errors which deal with the major hardware failures that only manifest as a dead console and some flashing lights on the front. Once again there is no cost, all free to anyone who needs it! So enjoy!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Mod kits back in stock!12/1/2022
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I've had enough time to make up case kits and led kits! So all mod kits for the Xbox 360 and Original Xbox can be purchased again!
This excludes a couple of discontinued kits.
Xbox one kits are not quite ready yet, Those will be back soon as well. Not much else to update other than mod kits on this one!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Original Xbox back in stock!11/23/2022
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Great news! I have original Xbox replacement parts back in stock! Some other things coming soon as well. As well as a few website
updates and content info. Let's dig in!
First and foremost, all original Xbox repair parts are back in stock, this includes disc drives and motherboards! Mod kits will not be ready until the end of the year. I am still making up case kits and led kits, etc. So expect that back soon too!
I finished up the Xbox 360 red ring of death guide. You can now see all error codes broken down in full as well as repair tactics! Free of charge to all! Next up on the list will be a similar error code guide for the original Xbox. I will also work on a hard drive compatibility chart and a few other small projects. So keep a look out!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Content update & News!10/25/2022
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Been a while since I've added a news update, and you're in luck, it's a big one! Tons of new content added, new tutorials and
guides, and some big news for 2023! Let's get right into the updates!
For starters, Many of you will notice a few changes to the website. I've talked about it for two years or more, but I've finally built a new Contact page. This has recaptcha to prevent spam. This also means I can finally start monitoring messages again. For new visitors, this was plagued with spam emails and advertisments, nearly 5,000 a day. It made it impossible to keep up with customer e-mails and questions. SOOOOO.....feel free to send any messages or questions you have, as this is now live and ready to go!! Let's talk about all the other updates as well...
New learning and How to section
The learn to mod or "modding tutorials" page is now a part of the learning and how to section. I have done this because I have quite a few guides and new learning resources in the works that will also be a part of this section. The first is the RROD (Red ring of death) guide for the Xbox 360 I have this about 50% complete and will be working on finishing this over the next couple weeks. However part of this is already live and you can check it out right now! Lastly I also had multiple FAQ questions I have added to that section. Many more to come there as well.
Orders returning in 2023
That's right, orders will be returning in 2023. The exact time and date will depend on how soon I can get the work done, but the goal is the beginning of the year in 2023. This includes ALL mod kits (besides discontinued ones) and repair/replacement parts. I will also start working on Xbox 360 parts once all that is done. I closed off sales for 2022 due to new tax laws affecting my ability to offer kits and parts at reasonable prices. I've been working with an accounting team the last few months to work out how I can offer this again and have a plan devised. Just keep in mind, due to higher tax regulations here in the United States as well as the inflation issues, parts and kits will be slightly more expensive. Luckily, I've been able to keep those price hikes lower than the kinds of prices increases we've all seen this year on other goods. So, it won't be too bad!
Much more to come soon!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Final orders + info...2/9/2022
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As I announced a few months ago All orders have ended, I have a few updates on those orders as well as a little bit of general info too.
Let's get into it...
Here is the current status of all open orders. I had at least 10 times as many orders come in as I thought I would when I announced the store would no longer offer products, well over 750. This led to many problems, the first being the fact that I have just now completed the final orders and they all went out yesterday. So, if you did not receive your order yet you should get it in the next few weeks (If it is coming) Keep reading to find out why you might not get it.Out of materials
Due to the huge amount of orders, I had no where near enough materials to complete them all by the end of it. This means some people will need to request refunds through PayPal. If you do not receive your order by the end of this month (February), log into PayPal, OR find the original email receipt for your purchase and open an item not received case! I have found multiple orders and refunded them already. If you are here wondering why they were refunded, it's because I did not have the materials to complete it. However, I am very confident that there are going to be a dozen or so orders I have missed, especially older ones (Early-mid November) IF you don't have a package by March, file that case so I know I missed you and can get a refund to you ASAP. I know that sucks for some of you, and I know it's flat out lame I over sold items. However, as I said, I had zero expectations for such a huge amount of orders. I was expecting around 100 additional orders over the normal amount, and got over 750 instead. I did purchase some additional materials to fill a good amount of those orders, but with prices increasing so fast and limited supplies, I just couldn't get enough for them all. This is still a very small portion, I have sent out about 20 refunds and as I said I estimate maybe a dozen or so that I missed.
PLEASE KEEP IN MIND; There are nearly 40 orders I shipped out yesterday, several are international orders outside the U.S. If you open an item not received case and my info shows I have added tracking info, I will NOT automatically refund you. If you file one and there was no tracking info added to the order, I will refund you as soon as the request comes in.A few bits of news
As I said a few months ago, The store is closed but the website is not. Now that orders are finished I am temporarily NOT actively monitoring emails submitted via the Contact page. This is due to the fact that this current form to contact allows thousands of spam emails to come in every day. I will be working on a new version to limit the spam so I can actually see and find legitimate ones.
Besides the few people who need refunds I will be taking a bit of a break from the website before I start working on all the new content. I've been working non stop on these orders and a break sounds wonderful.
For future content, I am super excited to finally have enough free time to make this happen. The FAQ page, Blog, and Tutorials pages are all going to start seeing tons of items added. I have hundreds of amazing questions you guys ask me regularly for the FAQ, tons of informational pieces to write in the blog, and a good many tutorials I can't wait to create! So, stay tuned and can't wait to share!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Bad news for 2022...10/19/2021
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This will be sudden for some of you, especially since I just started offering replacement/repair parts for the original Xbox. However, a
few things have been brought to my attention in the last month or so, along with some other issues, that have led me to make a tough decision. Starting
in 2022, I will no longer offer mod kits or replacement parts for ANY gaming consoles. Here's what's going on.....
Shortly after I spent months working on adding replacement parts for the original Xbox console, I found out a brand new tax law was added to the U.S. American rescue bill passed earlier this year. This new bill will unfortunately increase my tax burden significantly for sales on this website. I didn't automatically decide to "close my doors" (So to speak). I've seen and dealt with similar things over the many years running this business. However, after spending some time running the numbers, my current tax liability combined with the new ones from website sales will place me in a much higher tax bracket. To make a long story short, my normal career combined with this side business will now force me into a situation where some months (or years) I would have to spend my own money to offer kits and parts. Which makes no sense at all, The amount of time it takes to do this would be totally impractical. So, My only options were as follows:
- Leave the career I started many years ago and go back to running this business full time (Not going to happen)
- Increase prices dramatically to make up the difference (Also not going to happen)
- Shut down the sales side of Tinker Mods
So, as you can see, I really only had one choice. Moving passed the talking point of myself, what does this mean going forward from today?What about the rest of 2021?
So what about the remainder of this year? Here is the part where I REALLY need All of your help. I hate wasting things, I love video game conservation. This was the entire purpose and reason I started doing this so many years ago. I want to get as many of these parts and kits into YOUR HANDS as possible. I have already closed off sales to a few items that I am now sold out of. However, I have tons of parts available, especially for Xbox one, Xbox 360, and original Xbox mod kits. If I can't use them up and get them to people who are passionate about modding and gaming by 2022, I will have to recycle/discard them. I want to recycle as little as possible, I want you to use them, I want you to make memories with your friends and family through gaming. So, if you've been following for a while waiting to get something you really want, if you have friends or family who love gaming or modding. Then now is the time! Share this website with the people you know. Once things sell out they will be gone for good, once late December hits I will begin closing all sales and everything will be gone for good, no matter what I have left. I hate how cringy it is to say "Get them before they are gone", and "Limited time left" like I'm a cheesy used car salesman. But, I really do what to get as much out as I can to people who will enjoy and appreciate them. For this reason I have lowered prices on multiple kits. Some items will now be sold at the price I sold them at 3-4 years ago. So I'm not kidding, Get them while you can!Anddddd.....what about 2022??
As I said above, gaming preservation and free information was always my top priority. I will not close/shut down this website, or the YouTube page! In fact, I realized there could be some good to come out of this. Those long time viewers and followers know I kept talking about new tutorials and projects I had planned. I have quite a few modding ideas and tutorials I would love to make, but couldn't because my spare time was filled with personal things and filling orders. Now I can actually make them! Even though I will not be able to offer DIY kits and parts anymore, I will still actively contribute to the modding community with free tutorials and information. My goal is to continue teaching people how to improve their gaming through modding.
In that regard, what will I do with this website and my YouTube page? Going forward I will finally start adding new tutorials and some fun ideas I've had over the years. I will also expand the blog and FAQ page with the hundreds of questions I've received. I have massive lists of questions I wanted to answer. All of these came from you directly! I'm pretty excited to do this, I can host a website with tons of information to help all of you, and your own modding projects! To keep this going, I would like to host and preserve this information without spending a ton of my own money. Due to this, I will be adding ads to this website, specifically the informational and tutorial sections. Between ad revenue from the YouTube page and this website, I should be pretty close to breaking even on costs. even if I don't break even, I don't mind spending a little of my own money here or there. Again, preservation of free information is most important to me. I will do so as long as possible.
In closing, I'd be lying if I didn't mention everyone who've visited this site and taught me just as much as I have taught them. It's been an awesome ride and I look forward to sharing more of the years and years of knowledge I've gained over all this time!
For one FINAL thing, a quick note to all my business/bulk customers. I have spoke to the majority of you already, but for anyone/any companies I forgot, please reach out to me. I will still offer bulk orders but at a "While supplies last" kind of situation. I will be setting aside a certain amount of cases and LEDs for individuals to give everyone a chance to get what they want. I highly suggest putting an order together as soon as you can as by the end of the year I expect my supplies to be very, very limited.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Replacement parts are here!7/2/2021
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You saw it right! I am finally offering replacement and repair parts again! You can now buy stock/OEM parts to fix or replace issues
on your console.
I mentioned this about as month ago and everything is ready to go! Currently live are Original Xbox replacement parts I do have supplies and consoles incoming to begin work on adding parts for the Xbox 360, but more than likely that will take several months.
Just for a quick note, Original Xbox replacement parts will ship more often than modding kits. I prepare and organize the parts before they are added to my PayPal inventory. This will allow me to ship parts multiple times a week depending on whats going on or how busy I am. Lastly OEM parts work a bit differently than modding kits. In most cases I can just order anything I need for mod kits if I start to get low. With replacement parts, I never know what I'm going to end up with until I thoroughly test everything I have coming in. This means my inventory will fluctuate regularly. So keep in mind I may have different versions of parts that will work just as well for you than the exact one you were looking for. So look around the section and see what else I have in stock!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Inventory news + more6/2/2021
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Time for an update. (Finally) A few changes to website inventory as well as orders and how they work down below!
I know I kind of abandoned this news area for over a year. It has been a busy time. Orders have increased nearly 200%. I guess this would be a good problem for most businesses but this is only a part time gig for me. This means a lot of the promises I made about new kits and tutorials have fallen behind. Essentially over this last year I am only filling orders. I've mentioned this before but want to add it here as well. Shipping time for orders is 3-5 weeks minimum. This applies to modding kits only (More on that later). I have been and still will refund orders to people who create PayPal cases because their item did not arrive in a week or two. I hate to lose your business and support but there is just simply no way I can meet fast shipping demands anymore.
Now for some bad news. I have also spent this week ordering supplies and parts for kits. To my shock prices on virtually all items I use for kits have doubled. Cables that use to cost $1.50 each now cost $4.00 or more. Even the LCD screens I use for the Original Xbox LCD faceplates that were $2-$3 have increased to $9-$10. Even more startling is how much fewer of these items are available. A year ago I could find thousands of these parts while now I can barely buy more than 10-20 at a time. In some cases that's barely enough for a month supply.
This has forced me to increase prices on many kits (Again). I have only increased prices 5-10 percent but keep in mind I am paying 40-50 percent more on the parts I need. This means for the time being I am making virtually nothing for my time building them. If these price hikes continue, I may have to increase prices again. I hope things go back to normal, but this is fair warning, it may get even higher.
For those who visit often, the original Xbox WiFi kits are officially gone. I am leaving the product and page up in the hopes I find another source to make them, but for the foreseeable future this will no longer be available for sale as a kit or as an option for the original Xbox consoles for sale.
Lastly, I am working on something I have promised for a long time. I still have a good amount of work to do but with-in the next month or two I will be adding replacement parts! These are unmodified OEM parts you can buy to repair your console. Since the original Xbox is the most popular on the site, those parts will be first. I do plan on adding Xbox 360 after that. This is what I referenced above. Mod kits will take longer to ship than repair parts. The parts I sell are organized and ready to ship. I will ship them one or two times a week. Just keep in mind, that does not apply to modding kits which take time to make. I am not sure if I will add Xbox One parts or not. The Xbox one can be tricky and kind of a pain to sell parts for, so for now we will say this is TBD.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Shipping status and prices4/17/2020
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I have several updates for you all, first and formost comes order status for current open orders, I also have some news for
certain products in the store. Please make sure all customers read through this!
First off, I hope everyone is healthly and safe with our Covid-19 situation. For obvious reasons this has also affected this business. Luckily I have found some solutions for my current problems. My area put in a closure of non-essential business, travel, etc. I know most of us are dealing with this as well but from the business stand point it has made shipping tricky. I have found another local business that works directly with USPS who will be able to ship your items out. Unfortunately my local area charges a high fee for pick ups and all walk-in USPS stores are closed, which is why I have been struggling to get items shipped. This new deal will allow me to get your orders out! So, the plan is over the next week or so orders WILL start going out. Expect emails in the next week or so with tracking info!
Now for some bad news. I have also spent this week ordering supplies and parts for kits. To my shock prices on virtually all items I use for kits have doubled. Cables that use to cost $1.50 each now cost $4.00 or more. Even the LCD screens I use for the Original Xbox LCD faceplates have went from $4-$5 dollars to $9-$10. Even more startling is how much fewer of these items are available. A year ago I could find thousands of these parts while now I can barely buy more than 30-40 at a time. In some cases thats barely enough for a month supply.
This has forced me to increase prices on many kits. I have only increased prices 15-20 percent but keep in mind I am paying 150-200 percent more on the parts I need. This means for the time being I am making virtually nothing for my time building them. If these price hikes continue, I may have to increase prices again. I hope things go back to normal, but this is fair warning, it may get even higher.
As a final note, this has caused me to delay shipments for Original Xbox WiFi kits. I am still keeping orders open, but limited supply of parts is forcing me to delay shipments of these for 30 days at a minimum.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Flash sale! MUST READ!3/5/2020
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A few things I want to go over today, some being good news and a bit of it bad. One of the most popular products on this
website is going to change soon, so make sure you read this news update and know what's going on!
First off, FLASH SALE! I have put the Original Xbox Internal WiFi kits on sale for three days! I moved them down from $31.99 to $27.99. So get one a bit cheaper while you can! The main reason I am putting these on sale is to give me an opportunity to let everyone know how these very same kits are going to change.
I recently finished a deal with the supplier I use to get the WiFi adapters for these kits. I bought a MUCH larger quantity than I usually do. This also allowed me to get them for $2 dollars lower than I usually pay. This is why I can offer them on sale. However, striking this deal was due to a notification from this supplier, letting me know their stock was getting low. This leads me to the bad news part.
My supplier is not only running out of stock, this will also be it. As in, no more of these will be available after they are gone. (These Adapters have not been manufactured for some time.) This is why I decided to buy everything they had left, to make sure I could keep getting you guys these kits as long as possible. However, eventually this means the internal WiFi kits will have to be discontinued. I am looking into other sources as I could find something else to use in place of these adapters. Unfortunately I do not have high hopes for this as all modern devices come equipped with WiFi and therefore no one makes adapters like these.
I have bought enough that missing this three day sale will not mean you miss out all together. Based on how often these kits sell, I estimate they will last 6-8 months. This is a median number, meaning sometimes sales are high enough that these will all be gone in 4 months, and sometimes sales are slow enough that it could last over a year. Regardless, if you have an interest in your original Xbox having internal WiFi, please do not wait or put it off!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- New HDD options for original Xbox1/25/2020
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Short(ish) update today. I keep getting requests for larger hard drives for custom OG xbox consoles. I've been weary of this up
to this point due to the increasing rarity of compatible HDDs, which has made the price go up. However, quite a few of you have
expressed understanding on this and still want to see it, so here it is.
I've added 320GB as well as the elusive 2TB. Just for educational purposes, anything 750GB and above can not be done without additional work/adapters. I have to spend time partitioning the drives which can sometimes fail and ruin the HDD itself which is a big chunk of cash out of my own pocket. In addition to that I also need an adapter as 2TB HDD's can not run in the original Xbox without it.
With that in mind it is now available to you but I have to price it accordingly.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Holiday 2019 updates and news11/5/2019
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Hello all, been a while since some fresh news has went up so I thought I would give a run down for this holiday season and some
other site updates as well, so let's dig right in!
Let me start off by giving a quick update on the status of Tinker Mods. I've had some new opportunies pop up in the last 6 months and have went down to part time work here on the site, hence no new videos on YouTube or new products. Basically the 1-2 times a month I have some good free time I prepare orders and ship items. Essentially this means I am now only shipping out once per month sometimes a little longer then that even. PLEASE keep that in mind when you order, I have seen a couple PayPal cases being opened with-in 1-2 weeks of the order. If you do order and decide you can't wait a month before it ships just let me know in your PayPal case or simply e-mail me asking for a refund, whichever way you prefer or request it is fine. I know a month is a long time but some of my new career opportunies obviously take priority on my time. That being said if you don't mind waiting I am absolutely still making kits for people, just be patient on the time it takes me to get it to you.
With that out of the way I'll touch on how this will effect the holday season this year. If you want to buy a kit for the purpose of Christmas and the holidays you would absolutely need to order it before the start of December. My plan is to have on more ship out day this month (I just did a big order ship out today) and then one more ship out in Decemeber, more than likely the first week of the month. So, if you have a large order or don't place an order before Decemeber 1st it will be extremely unlikely for you to get it by Christmas day. I have a busy holiday season coming up this year and defintely won't be shipping anything out after that week one ship out. At least not until after the holidays.
Lastly USPS has made some changes to international shipping. The majority of shipping options no longer offer Tracking outside the U.S. with the exception of the very expensive priority and express mails. Because of this I can no longer guarantee the arrival of international orders by tracking info unless you would be willing to pay the extra cost to have it shipped out express mail. In addition some countries won't provide tracking even if it is shipped express or priority mail, so keep that in mind.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- The OG IS BACKKK4/2/2019
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Well it only took two months longer than I originally said, but it's finally time! All OG kits are back in full force, but
there is a catch or two, read on to see what I mean.
I ran into a few problems getting new parts in this time around. This is only speculation but it is a fair assumption that the higher prices I've been seeing might be part of the Tariffs that are now in place since there are several that could easily effect the work of electronics. None the less, I would say that easily most parts I use for these original Xbox kits run about double what they did a year or two ago.
So, fair warning, the prices WILL go up. This time around I decided to keep the price the same as they were before, but I will not be able to keep them there forever, especially if the prices increase even more next time around. So in other words, if you are looking for original Xbox modding kits, get them quickly, they will be more expensive next time around.
Lastly, I currently have enough to make about 30 of the original Xbox LCD faceplate kits but it is getting MUCH harder to find faceplates I can use. In fact, if any of you have or know where to find stockpiles of them, please Get in touch with me!
A small snippet on orders, I currently only have 4 orders left to get done before I am all caught up, it's a bear trying to keep the open orders less than 20 but with how much volume comes in, it can be impossible. Luckily the sold out kits have given me the chance to play some major catch up before they were back in stock, so if you have an order placed right now, it WILL go out this week! This does not include any orders for the kits that just came back in stock, if I get tons of orders in for those I'll be right back where I started and will have trouble getting orders out as fast, fair warning!
One last thing, While I have worked years to keep this site ad free, I have decided to start running a single ad in the right column area. With the amount of orders I now get I left my day job well over a year ago but it can still be difficult to keep up and pay the bills, so hopefully the single ad will help supplement a bit and make it easier to get by. I am sorry as I don't really care for ads, but it had to be done.
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- Holiday Rush12/28/2018
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The Holiday rush is finally over and I have quite a few mass updates and items I wanted to go over with everyone, so let's dig
right into it, shall we?
First off this holiday was amazing. Website activity and orders were 200% higher than last years and needless to say, I couldn't quite believe it when it started to ramp up in November. I've been averaging about 2,500 unique visitors a day and that is a number I never thought I would get to. So a big thumbs up and thank you to everyone who shares my content and their stories about Tinker Mods and what I do here, as that is the only way so many people have gained so much interest in my little online home.
Along with that, as I am sure everyone who placed an order the last 45 days can attest to, this also made it nearly impossible to keep up. Delays of well over two weeks and I'm sure plenty of people who barely got their order on time for Christmas or those of you who didn't, made this one of the most difficult times I've had in many many years. However, it's been amazing none the less as the people who come here have been more understanding than I could have been if I was waiting for an order. That really kept me motivated during the 16-20 hour work days needed to get as much done and out the door as possible. So once again, a huge thank you to everyone who had to wait and is still waiting. You all have been super understanding and patient and that is amazing!
As of right now, which is Friday morning the 28th, ALL current orders are finished. A big group went out the day after christmas and the remainder are going out tomorrow. That isn't to say an order won't come in 5 seconds before I get this posted but as of now, everything is caught up and going out tomorrow if it didn't go out Wednesday. That includes orders that came in yesterday as well.
Next, I haven't had an 8 hour work day since the middle of Novemeber and to put it plainly, I am exhausted. So, after all the orders are picked up tomorrow I'm taking a good week off so I can sit back and relax. That means ANY orders placed over the next 7-10 days will not be worked on, or even looked at until I come back. So... please keep that in mind.
You guys CLEANED ME OUT of multiple items. In fact the two best selling items this holiday were the Original Xbox LCD faceplate and the Original Xbox WiFi kit. I thought I had stocked up enough to make it through the holidays but I was so so so very wrong. I am updating the items as SOLD OUT right now. With my little vacation coming as well, let's plan on everything I'm out of not being back in stock and ready to order until the end of January, especially since certain parts and supplies I use come from out of the country.
Lastly, I spent a little time yesterday going through e-mails and inquires and realized there were quite a few that I wasn't sure if I answered or not. It looks like many peoples messages got lost in the sea of messages I've been getting the last two months and if you were one of them, I am very sorry about that. It wasn't that I didn't want to help you guys out and help you solve problems you're having with repair jobs or modding projects, I've just been so busy that by the time I came back there were 50 more e-mails and it just got to be too much to keep up with it like I normally do. Especially while I'm also trying to get all these holiday orders out the door. So, if you still had questions or were still having issues with broken gaming consoles you are trying to repair, or trying to find certain repair parts, or whatever the question might have been, feel free to e-mail me again. Now that I have all the holiday orders caught up it will be much easier to reply to them all.
Anyways, that is all I have for now. I will see everyone when I get back in a little over a week! Thanks again for all the patience and understanding during such a busy season!
Sam - Tinker Mods Admin
- So Much Color!7/22/2018
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Years ago when I first started Tinker Mods, It seemed like the only led colors worth offering were blue, red, and green.
They were the only ones that sold and it seemed silly to try and offer anything else. Fast forward about... 8 years... and
it seemed like I was getting 20 e-mails a week asking for more LED kit colors.
So... IT IS DONE. I am proud to finally offer LED kits in 7 color choices instead of just three! As you will see you can now pick between; red,blue,green,yellow,white,pink,and purple/UV led kits. This is also available for ALL consoles, not just one! In addition, all other accessories such as power buttons and controller kits have been updated with matching colors.
So, find the console you want and pick from all the new colors!
- Tinker Mods Admin
- All caught up!4/9/2018
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Just wanted to put a quick update in the news area regarding the previous post. I've got all orders completed, packaged, and
shipped out as of this morning. So, everyone should see their orders before the end of te week! (Excluding international orders
which will take longer to arrive of course.) It seems my new method of getting orders done during heavy ordering times worked
alot better this go around, so hopefully there will be much less wait for everyone when that sort of thing happens!
- Tinker Mods Admin
- Quick shipping update4/4/2018
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Hey everyone! Wanted to give a quick little mass notice to everyone. As of right this second I have an order backlog (You guys
were really placing those orders over the Easter weekend!! holy crap!!) of about 30 orders, 20 of them are all case kits. This
means I am currently neglecting everything else in my life to work on your custom cases! hahaha not really, what that really
means is I have a lot of work ahead of me to get them all finished up. So, what I am going to do instead is finish EVERYONES
order instead of finishing a few then shipping then taking to the post office then going back and repeating. This will give me
extra time during the day to make the cases so I can catch back up quicker. I am estimating that I Should have everything done
by Friday or Saturday. If I can get everything done by then all the orders from 3/30/18 up until today will go out saturday. If
not they will all go out first thing Monday. That means some of the orders will be going out a little later than I Would like
them to, but also means no one will have to wait two weeks before it even goes out. That is what happened before when I had mass
increases in orders in short periods of time and I want to prevent people from having to wait 3 weeks for the order to get there.
Soooo, please bare with me while I get caught up from the holiday orders and once again thank you guys for the support!!
- Tinker Mods Admin
- More original Xbox love3/2/2018
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Here comes the Original Xbox love! I've added new products and tutorials! Luckily, I still have several more to add so the love
isn't going to end here! Let's dig right in.
I've created two new tutorials, both go hand in hand. First I show you How to install an original Xbox internal Wifi kit. Gotta say, pretty cool feature to have especially since this is older technology and getting harder and harder to keep it compatible with the modern age. Secondly there is a tutorial on how to configure your original Xbox wifi. This tutorial is mandatory, otherwise the Wifi will not connect with your network.
In conjunction with the tutorials, I've also added the Original Xbox internal wifi kit in the supply store. This kit has everything you need so you don't have to search around eBay and the internet trying to find all the parts. I have also done all the soldering too, so if you get this kit, no soldering is necessary!
Lastly I have FINALLY got the modded original Xbox consoles for sale here on the site. This is a pretty cool new product as you can essentially choose any type of mod and feature you want, and I will build it for you! I know this has been asked for a lot so just keep in mind the next couple of weeks might be slow as far as getting that out into the mail. I will probably have quite a few orders placed and these are made to order. That means I build them after an order is placed and takes a little longer to ship for that reason.
Keep your eye out! I still have several more tutorials and products I will be working on over the next few weeks/month. I also still have multiple new products and tutorials I will be working on for the Xbox one!
- Tinker Mods Admin
- More tut's and more stuff!2/6/2018
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Hey there! I know the news hasn't been updated lately but I have been a busy little bee! As you can see the webstore relaunched
in the begining or January! We now have international shipping options. I didn't find a good way for people to submit their own
case mod projects as I had hoped. Uploading pictures via web forms needs to be very secure and I want to make sure I have a system
set up that has no vulnerabilities before I launch it. So, hopefully that can come through soon...ish.
On to the next news... I have quite a few new mod kits and products coming (Original Xbox will be getting the most love) and will also start offering button mod kits for controllers too! However, One new tutorial and product has been added already! Check out the Original Xbox LCD screen mod kit as well as the tutorial to go with it, the How to install an LCD screen in an original Xbox console. I am super excited about this little idea as the Xecuter chips and custom faceplates that go with them are getting harder and harder to find (Not to mention expensive!) So this little tutorial gives you an extra screen that lets you monitor your consoles temperature at ALL times, that's in a game, watching a video, or anything at all! Very helpful tutorial to prolong the life on your original Xbox console and a very cool kit to go along with it!!
***PLEASE NOTE: THE VIDEO TUTORIAL IS STILL PROCESSING AT THE TIME I WRITE THIS NEWS UPDATE, WILL BE UPDATED AGAIN ONCE PROCESSING HAS FINISHED!!!!***
- Tinker Mods Admin
- News and upgrades10/29/2017
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Several things I want to go over today so let's not waste time and dig right in!
To start off, this year has been amazing! So much new support and a bunch of great people joining this little community and it would not have happened without my loyal viewers and people sharing what I do here. So, thanks so much to everyone who has been been here through the year, I could not be more appreciative of it!
Because of how well things are going and how many people have shown interest, I have decided it is time for some upgrades! This is going to be a good news, bad news part. I have serveal ideas for new features here on the site which I will go into in more detail below and what effects this will have on how the website works, etc.
I will start with the online store. I like how everything works there and the current PayPal integration, but there are also some issues. Some of you know that big influxs in orders have caused back logs and longer shipping times which isn't really ideal. Especially if people have to wait 2.5 - 3 weeks to get their order because I have 40 other orders ahead of them. So, I have decided to take the store part of the site offline (Kind of). In the mean time I will be working on making an inventory system so the back logs of orders can not get as bad as they did at times (Like earlier in the year). This will limit the amount of orders that can be "open" at a time and I will also add a system where you can sign up to be notified when ordering has been re-opened again too. This will help prevent the longer wait times, I know it makes people nervous having a PayPal order open for three weeks so, this will help by making sure that won't happen anymore. Additionally I will be looking into offering international shipping. I currently have not offered sipping outside the U.S., but as the userbase grew this year, so did the requests for international shipping.
I also have several site features I want to add. I think it would be cool if people could submit their own case mod projects that could be displayed in the gallery pages and give people full credit for their creations, links to their own sites, etc. So, while orders are closed I will be working on adding that as well!
While the store is "offline" I will use the time to pre-make a bunch of cases, I also have several new products I want to offer like clear Xbox Jewels, new case designs, etc. all of which will be launched when the upgraded store is brought back online too! I might even consider offering LED kits in new colors too! I am sure there are plenty of you that hoped to order a custom case kit or LED kit soon but I need to get these store issues worked out and new features online before the website traffic and viewer base gets so large that I CAN'T do anything about it. I am hoping to have all of these new features finished as well as updating the way the webstore works by the beginning of 2018 (So basically two months) I could be done sooner but I also want to make sure I give myself enough time to really get all these features right!
- Tinker Mods Admin
- MUST READ... Many updates!10/3/2017
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This is going to be a long one here so hang in there with me. I have many updates to inform you about! So let's dig right in.
For starters, I want to let everyone know that I am no longer back-logged and back-ordered! I have everyones orders up to date and shipped out. I have decided to change our shipping policy though so here are the new changes. As I mentioned a few weeks ago in the last news update, I have been getting a lot more visitors and viewers which drastically increased the amount of orders I was getting as well. While I am caught up on all of those orders, I am still getting more orders than I use to. For this reason, I will no longer be able to ship items out in 1 business day. There are just too many orders for me to pre-make these kits like I had been doing. This means that for just about any and all orders, expect 2-3 (Sometimes as high as 4) days before your order will be prepared and shipped. I am sorry as I know the current norm for online ordering is for an item to go out the same or next business day. However I am just one guy and that is not possible for me to do. In the future I may see about hiring some part time help to lower that shipping time, but for now this is the way it has to be.
Now with that out of the way.... On to some site updates! Now that I am caught up I spent some time finally adding the Original Xbox Case Mods gallery with pictures, info, and resources for my viewers. In addition I am currently working on a totally new style for an original Xbox case mod kit. So keep your eye out for that. (No, I do not have an official date for when that will be done, it might be a few weeks oe maybe even more)
Next, I am going to be adding a new seperate blog section on the site. I am going to use this to write articles related to case modding issues. Some will be informative and instructive, some will just be random problems and issues in the case modding world. Honestly it will just be another way to get you guys more info and resources for your projects!! So look for that with-in the next few days!
- Tinker Mods Admin
- Back Orders and back logs9/13/2017
- Hello everyone! Just wanted to put out an official update today. I have been getting a lot of
attention and new visitors which has also resulted in alot more emails, questions, and orders! This means it has been hard
to get back with everyone right away and has also resulted in back orders. I am now mostly caught up with all orders but please
be patient with me as sometimes it is taking me 24-48 hours (or even longer in some cases) to respond to e-mails and questions.
This also means that my typical ship time of 1-2 business days is now more like 4-8 business days (And was even longer than that
when the heavy amounts of orders first started about 2 months ago) as I am having to make alot
more cases and LED kits to fill the orders, and I can only make so many in a day. (It takes 3-6 hours per case kit) Lastly, I know
I have several customers and followers that are waiting for some new products that have been frequently asked for, but because
of the back logs of emails and orders I am putting a temporariy halt on designing and adding new products to the webstore. For
those of you who have e-mailed and talked with me about said new products, they ARE coming, I just need to get ahead of the current
customer orders before I can do that. This is also because I am trying to find the time to continue the development of the Tinker
Mods sister site, FixYourConsole which will be all about repair tutorials and repair parts for your gaming consoles!
In closing, I am super excited to see my little modding community grow and even more thankful for all the support and orders, just please be patient with me on current orders and keep in mind for those of you that are soon going to place orders that I am currently working against a back log and will be preparing and shipping your orders ASAP! I am also strictly using 2-3 day priority mail now to try and compensate for the longer handling/ship-out dates.
Also, if you have any questions about your orders or placing new orders feel free to head to the contact page and I will get back with you as quickly as I can!
- Tinker Mods Admin
- Xbox One... LIFTOFF5/12/2017
- Long promised, we have finally updated our website with Xbox One. Yes I did word that in a
strange way. We didn't JUST add Xbox One kits and supplies, we also made a 5 part tutorial series that will show you everything
you need to know about building an Xbox One custom console from the ground up. (Those tutorials are completely free by the
way) Though we are no where near done with the Xbox One content, this is quite the large update for our viewers! In the next few
weeks we will also start up an Xbox One FAQ as well as console gallery! So keep checking back! So... make sure and check out all
of our Xbox One Mod Parts as well as all of the new
Xbox One Modding tutorials!
Also, if you see any issues or broken stuff on the site please visit the contact page and let us know.
- Tinker Mods Admin
- ... More original Xbox???4/25/2017
- Well, we got quite a big response from adding original Xbox kits last month. Quite a few people
got in touch and asked if we could also do some tutorials on how to make them yourselves or how to install some of the kits we
offer. So... WE DID! Introducing the latest tutorials from Tinker Mods. A Four part series on
how to case mod your original Xbox console! Check them out, they are completely free!
Also, if you see any issues or broken stuff please visit the contact page and let us know.
- Tinker Mods Admin
- Original Xbox Supplies3/26/2017
- We have added Original Xbox case modding supplies to the online store! We are still working
on a gallery and possibily even looking into some modding tutorials, but that is coming in the future! We will also finally
update the Xbox 360 product pictures sometime this week or next.
Click here to see the new original Xbox modding supplies!
Also, if you see any issues or broken stuff please visit the contact page and let us know.
- Tinker Mods Admin
- PS1 content2/16/2017
- More updates! This time we added all the Playstation 1 content. We are still working on
adding the full PS1 product line-up. However you can see some FAQ's as well as a few gallery pages! We are doing multiple
things at once here, we are also getting Xbox One stuff updated as well as the original Xbox too! Keep checking back!
Also, if you see any issues or broken links please visit the contact page and let us know.
- Tinker Mods Admin
- Xbox 360 content2/2/2017
- Hey guys! We now have all of our Xbox 360 content up and running with our new website. All of
the gallery, tutorials, and store content is available to our viewers!
Make sure to tell us how we did with the new site layout! Also, if you see any issues or broken links please visit the contact page and let us know.
Lastly, we decided to make some new product photos for several of our Xbox 360 store items. For the time being some of these will not have pictures available, however the items are still available to purchase!
- Tinker Mods Admin
