exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

After a busy few days where I've not been able to do anything retro I finally got some time.

Thankfully the parcel from RS Components arrived, holding all the caps I need to finish the BBC Master power supply, which I should be able to do tomorrow, and a whole load of dual wipe sockets.

Seeing as I now had the sockets to spare this evening I desoldered the MMU and ROM on the 800XL and fitted sockets in case I want to buy a U1MB board. Not too difficult. Just the usual moo gun, hot air and some minor hole cleaning with a 0.8mm drill then resolder. All good and back together.

stephen_usher wrote: 13 Jan 2026 22:00 After a busy few days where I've not been able to do anything retro I finally got some time.

Thankfully the parcel from RS Components arrived, holding all the caps I need to finish the BBC Master power supply, which I should be able to do tomorrow, and a whole load of dual wipe sockets.

Seeing as I now had the sockets to spare this evening I desoldered the MMU and ROM on the 800XL and fitted sockets in case I want to buy a U1MB board. Not too difficult. Just the usual moo gun, hot air and some minor hole cleaning with a 0.8mm drill then resolder. All good and back together.

Splendid, all ready to go :)

rubber_jonnie wrote: 13 Jan 2026 22:02 Splendid, all ready to go :)

Yeah... *IF* I buy one. :-)

Oh, and the BBC Micro rubber feet I ordered nearly a week ago and posted the next day... still not arrived in the post, so the BBC B+ 128K will have to wait for its new shoes.

Well, that's the BBC Master's power supply recap finished. It\s on test at the moment but I don't see why there should be a problem.

I just have to wait for the B+'s feet to arrive and then they can go back into storage.

No Beeb feet today.

stephen_usher wrote: 14 Jan 2026 15:02 No Beeb feet today.

How very annoying 🙁

:(

Really annoying !

I'm also waiting for a small parcel from Germany and have to postpone my project.

Hope to have it today though.

And... the feet have arrived. I can put the two Beebs back into the loft now.

stephen_usher wrote: 15 Jan 2026 13:47 And... the feet have arrived. I can put the two Beebs back into the loft now.

Hurrah!!!

Well, that 800XL rabbit hole went a bit deeper.. I bought a U1MB and it came today...

I didn't want to drill holes in the PCB so found an STL file for a bracket which uses the original RF shield holes. I decided to keep the lower RF shield as that adds rigidity to the PCB and hence protects it.

This is how I originally routed the cables...


You can see the 3D printed bracket...


Although this worked the cables got pinched between the top of the IDC plugs and the keyboard, which wasn't healthy. Removing the strain relief hoops from the tops of the IDC plugs allowed a more natural cable placement and a lower profile at the same time.


Far neater.

It all seems to work, though I've not had much time to test and play with it. Definitely no more time this weekend.