exxos blog - random goings on

[exxos]

Soldering up the STM 4MB upgrade..These things are extremely annoying because of the lining of the pins up

For initial testing it does not need any jumper wires. It would just act as a generic 512K.

IMG_0019.JPG (338.05 KiB) Viewed 2767 times

IMG_0020.JPG (306.52 KiB) Viewed 2767 times

The MMU wires are soldered on the back of the MMU.

IMG_0021.JPG (460.09 KiB) Viewed 2767 times

Wires on top are not soldered in because this machine will be my test machine.

IMG_0022.JPG (326.1 KiB) Viewed 2767 times

So just have to put some pressure on the wires to ensure they connect..

IMG_0023.JPG (339.39 KiB) Viewed 2767 times

Now to leave it on for a little bit

IMG_0024.JPG (301.76 KiB) Viewed 2767 times

[exxos]

Finally got back to the 4MB MMU RAM upgrade boards.

IMG_0037.JPG (347.83 KiB) Viewed 2721 times

IMG_0040.JPG (275.85 KiB) Viewed 2721 times

New crash screen

IMG_0036.JPG (227.39 KiB) Viewed 2721 times

EDIT:

The (hopefully fixed) new Falcon VGA adapters just arrived..

IMG_0041.JPG (331.45 KiB) Viewed 2717 times

EDIT2:

IMG_0042.JPG (429.22 KiB) Viewed 2709 times

[exxos]

New "miniature" ultrasonic cleaner came today

IMG_0048.JPG (343.86 KiB) Viewed 2676 times

IMG_0049.JPG (286.63 KiB) Viewed 2676 times

IMG_0050.JPG (317.51 KiB) Viewed 2676 times

IMG_0051.JPG (335.77 KiB) Viewed 2676 times

[derkom]

ADMONITION!!!

[PhilC]

If the tanks to fill the water then who's to fill the tank?

[exxos]

If the tanks to fill the water then who's to fill the tank?

[exxos]

First test run.

Problem 1)
The heater was going for ages and seem to be stuck around 45c. I took the lid off and was very steamy inside. This is not necessarily unusual so I stuck my finger in the water and thought there is no way this is 45c its WAY to hot. Got my thermal probe out and it was measuring 74c!! FFS. So at some point I will need to see where they actually have the thermal probe because that is just madness!

Problem 2)
While I was putting the boards in it sunk awful. It was not until I went back onto the landing and turned around to shut my workshop door and saw there was a smog in there. I opened the window the door and now I can feel it burning my lungs

So I guess if anyone buys one of these things, wipe the whole thing down thoroughly the first switch on at least, used in a ventilated area!! oh and also don't trust the thermal readout!

IMG_0053.JPG (436.94 KiB) Viewed 2633 times

[sporniket]

So I guess if anyone buys one of these things, wipe the whole thing down thoroughly the first switch on at least, used in a ventilated area!!

Could it be that this one use the same kind of tape to maintain the isolation than some of those cheap reflow oven, that one of the first thing to do before turning it on, is to open it, remove said tape, and use real kapton tape ?

like for this one : https://www.instructables.com/T962A-SMD ... n-FixHack/

Upon its first run, it produced something that I have never smelled before. It was so toxic, that it gave me a bad headache. And the smell did not go away even after a few runs.
So I decided to open it up and see what's causing the odor.

Opening the hood was quite simple, just pull the drawer out, and remove a few screws. Then the top is open.
Then there was the source of the problem - masking tape! Masking tape is used to prevent electrical shorts between the aluminum foil used to cover the insulation material and the controller PCBs. Even though there's heat insulation material beneath it, the tape gets hot enough to produce that nasty odor. So I removed all of the masking tape, and replaced it with Kapton tape, which is heat resistant.

[exxos]

Could it be that this one use the same kind of tape to maintain the isolation than some of those cheap reflow oven, that one of the first thing to do before turning it on, is to open it, remove said tape, and use real kepton tape ?

I will open it up when I get a moment.

But that oven, I have the same one https://exxosforum.co.uk/atari/pcb-oven/

I read reports of them burning, but mine wasn't like that.

[sporniket]

It's also true that the front IR lamp had trouble getting hot anyway, so maybe you got "lucky" that it could not burn it.