Lutiana wrote:Thanks for the tip. Allan sent me mine and it arrived today. Quick question, but is there a build guide someone on this thing? I skimmed through this very long thread but could not really find anything that would help me make sure I get the right components in the right places.
There's a PDF version of the schematic in this folder. It's not really a component layout guide, but it should help you pair component values with their respective numbers as printed on the silkscreen.
Awesome! Thanks for the link. I actually used the BOM to work out what goes where. It was pretty easy to solder. One question though, do I need to actually solder the bus connector? Or will simply tightening the screws work? If I do need to solder it, how do I do that below the female connector?
Also, what length bolt is best for the bus connector?
Lutiana wrote:Awesome! Thanks for the link. I actually used the BOM to work out what goes where. It was pretty easy to solder. One question though, do I need to actually solder the bus connector? Or will simply tightening the screws work? If I do need to solder it, how do I do that below the female connector?
Also, what length bolt is best for the bus connector?
The bus connector needs to be smashed together with a vice. Once that's properly done, it should fit so tightly together that screws aren't even necessary.
jmetal88 wrote:The bus connector needs to be smashed together with a vice. Once that's properly done, it should fit so tightly together that screws aren't even necessary.
Can you elaborate on this procedure for me? Won't doing this damage the PCB? Any suggestions on now to do this if one does not have a vice?
jmetal88 wrote:The bus connector needs to be smashed together with a vice. Once that's properly done, it should fit so tightly together that screws aren't even necessary.
Can you elaborate on this procedure for me? Won't doing this damage the PCB? Any suggestions on now to do this if one does not have a vice?
Er, sorry, I just noticed I misspelled 'vise'.
Basically, put the 'pins' piece through the proper side of the board and fit the 'shroud' piece over the pins on the other side. Then clamp the connector in the vise and squeeze it together. My vise is pretty small (I didn't want to spend much more than $10 on it and couldn't get one that had to be bolted down to anything), so for the boards I put together I had to angle them in and clamp them on in various sections until the connectors sat flat. You don't really run a risk of damaging the PCB like this, because the vise only makes contact with the connector.
Alan has suggested that one could use a rubber mallet to hammer the thing together if one doesn't have a vise, but I rather thought a vise was worth the investment so I wouldn't have the possibility of accidentally smashing the boards.
and was able to slowly crush the connectors together. You have to go slowly with these because the pressure applied will be slightly at an angle due to the angle of the jaws of the pliers, but going slowly it did work. I've built three kits.
I used a bench vice on mine and it looks "mostly good", but a few of the pins didn't completely seat and munged the pcjr side of the pins. It doesn't look too bad really, and I've yet to build it up and try it out otherwise. Been too busy with other projects still.
Just a word of warning -- sometimes the screws are necessary. My only assembled jrIDE had the connectors come apart when I was removing it from a system, so the "force fit" doesn't always hold. The connector stick into the machine and I had to take the whole thing apart (jride and pcjr) to work the piece back out of the system. If it happens again, I'll be searching for screws...
You're all insane and trying to steal my magic bag!
Trixter wrote:Just a word of warning -- sometimes the screws are necessary. My only assembled jrIDE had the connectors come apart when I was removing it from a system, so the "force fit" doesn't always hold. The connector stick into the machine and I had to take the whole thing apart (jride and pcjr) to work the piece back out of the system. If it happens again, I'll be searching for screws...
I could see that. The connector I've got is fairly easy to pull apart. The parallel port sidecar I've got has the screws, so I'll probably try and find some for it.
