geekhack
geekhack Community => geekhack Media => Topic started by: Ball-o-tron on Tue, 19 March 2024, 07:09:26
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(https://imgur.com/7YBYO3Q.jpg)
This board had been chilling on the shelf for a while now. I'd been going back and forth on whether I should build it since it's a bit of a shame ruining a kit.
I eventually decided that kit life is not for me, and rather than trying to trade I wanted to get the full build experience.
(https://imgur.com/Xv5x2Uk.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/XSuKF1C.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/1nkgrdY.jpg)
Sealed for 11 years
(https://imgur.com/XiFGSmh.jpg)
All the necessary components that didn't already come with the kit. The switches are 1989 west german vints from a Nixdorf 0942 keyboard.
They've been lightly lubed with 204 and spring-swapped to Gon 51.5 springs with TX films.
(https://imgur.com/qAr8bfw.jpg)
PCB has never been built, I had to flash the controller... somehow
(https://imgur.com/O2ySmY9.jpg)
I asked pr0ximity for information on how to flash the PCB since I saw some posts of his on Geekhack talking about it.
He provided me with some files for 456gt, which should be the same as those used on the 360c,
and said I would need to use an ISP AVR programmer in order to flash the chip.
(https://imgur.com/qcyC9dk.jpg)
I eventually ordered this thing, which is compatible with the atmega16 controller. You can see the controller sitting on top of the device here.
The alternative to this would be to solder the controller to the PCB, and then use some wires to flash it through ISP pads on the PCB.
It seemed a lot easier to flash it before soldering in case anything went wrong (not that I know how to actually test it before soldering)
(https://imgur.com/FKfRiWt.jpg)
The process was fairly easy after that. I had to download avrdude, then I could just run one of the .bat files in the folder,
which contained the necessary avrdude command. Hopefully the sck error isn't a huge deal :^)
(https://imgur.com/XqBYJ8v.jpg)
Behold my top tier soldering setup
(https://imgur.com/Qp1ykwx.jpg)
v2 taught me well
(https://imgur.com/3A9C9Ei.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/u3PsvLT.jpg)
Doneski with the controller. Looks good enough to me
(https://imgur.com/08VcSyi.jpg)
Lots of small SMDs I had no idea what to do with. Again I had to ask for some help with figuring out where to put them.
(https://imgur.com/UXDqqRR.jpg)
Working placement theory (thanks Martin). If anyone is in a similar situation, here is the layout:
- fatty yellow one goes on 10uf. this one is directional, so make sure the little square thing faces "north".
- tiny single unnumbered one goes on 0.1uf
- single 103 goes on 10k
- pair of 331 go on 470R
- pair of unnumbered ones go on 18pf
(https://imgur.com/6iIoYy1.jpg)
Some DIY memes to keep them in place while soldering.
They weigh nothing, so even moving the soldering iron while the solder is melted will move them around.
(https://imgur.com/FR8fLS0.jpg)
Ok could have gone better. Left it like this because re-doing them without hot air would be a huge pain.
(https://imgur.com/euOvP9e.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/Zy46AjO.jpg)
The rest of these went well! I didn't want to overheat them so I went a bit too low on the temperature,
which lead to some solder mounds. Should work just fine though.
(https://imgur.com/Z2vncvE.jpg)
The first time I attached the cable it didn't work. I assumed that either the cable pins were wrong, or I ****ed up the components somehow.
I bought a multimeter and checked the wires on my cable - PS/2 cables apparently don't have a color standard for their internal wires,
so this was a necessary step. It turned out to have been correct the first time, but for some reason didn't work... not sure why.
(https://imgur.com/NX0JF9v.jpg)
I asked Martin how I could troubleshoot this and he said I could test if the controller was getting power by using the multimeter on two of its pins.
I attached the cable again not caring too much how it looked, but this time...
(https://imgur.com/br1lKk7.jpg)
OTD Barcode Reader ready to go! I tweezer tested the pcb and it did indeed work like a keyboard.
Not going to question why it suddenly worked, and not going to touch the cable at this point :^) I will get a beige one eventually, for now this will do.
(https://imgur.com/RuZq1se.jpg)
Time to solder the diodes.
(https://imgur.com/8FnuNRN.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/5rKBsaJ.jpg)
Clipped and ready for switches! I plugged the PCB back in and tweezer tested some switches again to make sure it worked.
(https://imgur.com/fIzjYmO.jpg)
Looking good
(https://imgur.com/GUtcjKQ.jpg)
Notice anything? :^)
(https://imgur.com/gw9YODW.jpg)
Caps lock neutralized
(https://imgur.com/AgjVObN.jpg)
Time for the part that made me not want to build it for way too long
(https://imgur.com/NpEjNLn.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/GhpkoPc.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/Wu8McV.jpgt)
(https://imgur.com/xrDkLuY.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/OihvLf4.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/6dBambq.jpg)
Mandatory nudes
(https://imgur.com/LAllA0l.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/xC0NDlR.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/zqcfJRx.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/GmLxKsr.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/q8bWgwZ.jpg)
GMK Classic Retro Arabic. I wanted this set for it so bad and I can't say I'm disappointed.
This was also about the time I realized I forgot shims - that spacebar lived briefly as a demon.
Luckily it wasn't a big problem attaching them post-build!
(https://imgur.com/esecSB4.jpg)
(https://imgur.com/fB63My1.jpg)
Thanks for reading/watching! Hope it was fun, and hope any aspiring kit destroyers learned something. :)
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Wow what a build, thanks for doing this build log it was a very nice read.
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Great kit build up. Especially enjoyed the portions elaborating on the electronics and programming since these are quite crucial for folks who would perhaps have to do the same in the future and often remains obfuscated. Thanks for sharing.
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Fantastic post. glad you were able to get this build log together
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Nice build, but those SMD could have been soldered way better. Try using tweezers makes it a breeze still takes good amount of time though.
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Awesome build, thanks for sharing!
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excellent.
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Love the build log, thank you for sharing!
Out of curiosity, why did the weight turn you off from building for so long. If anything would have turned me off on building one, it was those SMD components.
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this is so good, we have it easy now with all the prebuild pcb available
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:thumb:
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Lovely read, thanks for walking us through your process!
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These boards have so much more character than the partially-soldered, hotswap modern PCBs. I have a feeling we'll see far fewer build logs of substance going forward now that everything is so streamlined plug-n-play.
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Nice build, but those SMD could have been soldered way better. Try using tweezers makes it a breeze still takes good amount of time though.
For my edification, what do you mean by "using tweezers". I still do what OP did -- pull the legs through, bend them over so they don't fall over, flip the board, and tack them in place.
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Spent a good time reading this thread
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Nice build, but those SMD could have been soldered way better. Try using tweezers makes it a breeze still takes good amount of time though.
For my edification, what do you mean by "using tweezers". I still do what OP did -- pull the legs through, bend them over so they don't fall over, flip the board, and tack them in place.
I am talking about the SMD diodes not the trough hole ones. Not everything is babied for you with old kits or niche kits ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/FR8fLS0.png)
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Nice build, but those SMD could have been soldered way better. Try using tweezers makes it a breeze still takes good amount of time though.
For my edification, what do you mean by "using tweezers". I still do what OP did -- pull the legs through, bend them over so they don't fall over, flip the board, and tack them in place.
I am talking about the SMD diodes not the trough hole ones. Not everything is babied for you with old kits or niche kits ;)
Oh right right, yes. Hot air flow station or bust. But then again, it's totally overkill for a single kit