SkydivinGirl Posted March 21, 2018 Share Posted March 21, 2018 (edited) e5frog and SkydivinGirl are happy to present the VIC-20 Final Expansion 3 Rev 11. This revision of the Final Expansion 3 is functionally equivalent to both the Rev 9 and Rev 10 versions that have been sold in the past. It features the following: Built-In Menu System. A Built-in SD2IEC drive capable of running the latest SD2IEC firmware. SD2IEC EEPROM File System (Beta). Allows you to store some files in the SD2IEC without using an SD card. See SD2IEC documentation for usage. Diskloader to access files on the SD2IEC from the menu system. Battery Backed Real Time Clock (RTC) for accurate Time/Date stamps on SD2IEC. 512KB configurable memory expansion. 512KB Programmable ROM. Flash your programs to ROM directly from your VIC-20. FE3 DOS Wedge with SJLoad (JiffyDOS Compatible Load/Save). Dual Reset Buttons Resets current running configuration or back to menu. Final Expansion WIKI: http://sleepingelephant.com/denial/wiki/index.php?title=Final_Expansion Final Expansion Manual: http://koti.kapsi.fi/~jvaltane/vic20/fe/VIC-20%20Final%20Expansion%20User%20Manual.pdf The Final Expansion 3 Rev 11 has the following changes: Dual IEC Headers allow you to use standard IEC cables as well as connect other IEC devices to your VIC-20 at the same time. IEC cables can still be soldered directly to the PCB in place of the IEC headers if you prefer. Strain relief holes are provided on the PCB to allow for this type of assembly. Component changes to allow for easier sourcing of parts and assembly of the kit. Tactile switches allow for easier case mounting and removal of the case when replacing the Battery. Downloadable 3D case designed by COREi64. (See Below) One of three labels to match the case mounting option of your choice: Standard VIC-20 case without IEC Headers (cable directly wired), Standard VIC-20 case with IEC headers (top case cut to accommodate IEC Headers), or COREi64 designed case. EEPROM pre-programmed with games by Jeffrey Daniels of the VIC-20 DENIAL Website. COREi64 has a case for the Final Expansion 3 Rev 11. The case is not included with a kit or assembled device. You can purchase it from me (see below) or COREi64's web store, Shapeways, or download the files to print yourself! COREi64 Store: http://corei64.com/store/products.php?65&cPath=15_1 Shapeways: http://www.shapeways.com/product/FK5UXFQJ3/vic-20-final-expansion-3-rev-11-cartridge-case Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1928304 These units are available in either Kit form to assemble yourself or fully assembled devices. There are some surface mount components. I will mount these components free for people who want kits but are unable to mount these parts themselves. One label is included with each kit/device. There are three different labels to choose from. Standard Shell: Standard Shell with DIN and Switch Cutouts: COREi64 Case: Pricing: $65.00 + PayPal Fees - Kit + Label ** $110.00 + PayPal Fees - Fully Assembled & Tested + Label Cases: $25 -Standard resolution 3D printed case. I only have one of these cases in Black. $35 - High resolution 3D printed case. Available in Black, White, and Dark Brown. $1 - Each Additional Label ** Kits are guaranteed to have all the parts and they will be shipped in a new box with adequate packing material to protect the parts. I cannot be responsible if a device you assemble does not work. I will work with you to perform troubleshooting and help in any way I can. Kit Assembly: http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=767044 *NOTE* There have been some small changes to the PCB in this batch to make assembly easier and to remove the extra PCB trace that needed to be cut in previous batches. Assembly is identical but some parts have been slightly shifted. Shipping Notice: Please send me your mailing address via PM along with the number of kits/devices you want so I can get you an accurate shipping quote. When paying with standard PayPal: I have to ship to your PayPal Verified address. International buyers must use Priority Mail International shipping when paying with PayPal. Shipping one device, with or without a case, within the USA is $7.15. Shipping multiple devices within the USA is slightly more. For International buyers, Priority Mail International shipping with insurance costs around $35. When paying with PayPal Gift: This is only available to International buyers. Each device is about 6 Ounces. Shipping one device without a case to most countries outside the USA will cost around $13.50. Shipping more than one device, or a single device with a case, will cost around $22.50. Please send me your mailing address via PM along with the number of kits you want so I can get you an accurate shipping quote. Shipping to Canada is less expensive than other International destinations. Please read the following before contacting me to buy: Please be courteous of my time. If you do not contact me after I take the time to get a shipping quote and send it to you then I will not sell anything to you in the future. All I ask is that you respond, even if the shipping quote is too high or something comes up and you can't afford it. A huge thanks to Diddl and everyone who has worked on the Final Expansion 3. I also could not have offered this project without the tireless efforts of e5frog. He does amazing PCB design and Im happy to have partnered with him to bring another amazing kit to the community. Heather Edited April 19, 2018 by SkydivinGirl 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted March 22, 2018 Share Posted March 22, 2018 PM sent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 Thanks! I've sent you payment information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 I purchase one of these. Great quality, communication, and fast delivery. I had the SMC parts installed for me, but the rest was pretty easy. Took less than two hours. Though at first it didn't work, blew the fuse in my VIC. I contacted SkydivinGirl and she asked me to remove the ICs and take pictures, well when I started pulling out the chips I noticed that I shifted the chip by one pin. Put the chip in so all pins were in the socket and it worked perfectly! thanks for a great transaction! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted April 1, 2018 Author Share Posted April 1, 2018 I'm so glad the kit assembly was easy for you and that we were able to quickly fix the issue you had. I'm always available if you have any questions about your FE3. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gundel Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 I'm about to start my Final Expansion 3 build, and I'm blogging about it, and I may make some videos also. For this project I decided to set aside my old and tired soldering iron and I bought an inexpensive temperature controlled soldering station. For those interested, here is a link to my blog. http://microcomputing.blogspot.com I'm very excited about this build! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted August 23, 2018 Author Share Posted August 23, 2018 That's great news! I'll definitely follow your progress on your blog. I have 3D printed cases arriving soon from COREi64 that will be for sale when purchasing a Final Expansion 3. The case will cost an additional $35. If you buy a fully assembled unit, I will put it in the case and apply the label. The case does add some weight for shipping, which increases the shipping cost an additional $9.50 for International buyers. The shipping cost in the USA is the same with or without a case. Thanks! Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gundel Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 That's great news! I'll definitely follow your progress on your blog. I have 3D printed cases arriving soon from COREi64 that will be for sale when purchasing a Final Expansion 3. The case will cost an additional $35. If you buy a fully assembled unit, I will put it in the case and apply the label. The case does add some weight for shipping, which increases the shipping cost an additional $9.50 for International buyers. The shipping cost in the USA is the same with or without a case. Thanks! Heather Thanks. I already have a case I am reusing from on old game cart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted August 23, 2018 Author Share Posted August 23, 2018 Yep, I should have mentioned that part is a general announcement for anyone interested in buying one. I look forward to seeing your assembly posts. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gundel Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Yep, I should have mentioned that part is a general announcement for anyone interested in buying one. I look forward to seeing your assembly posts. Heather Here is a start on my blogging about my FE3 project. http://microcomputing.blogspot.com/2018/08/prelude-to-kit-final-expansion-3.html Enjoy. :-) -Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 (edited) Looks good! I make sure everything is well protected for shipping. The small flat rate boxes are quite strong and I put the packing peanuts between the fragile components and the outside of the box. I also replace any damaged parts if they are damaged during shipping. If anyone wants more protection then I'm always happy to put it all in a bigger box, but it might increase the shipping costs. If you look in the top post, there's a link for the assembly directions. None of the kits I order from others come with printed directions anymore. Heather Edited August 27, 2018 by SkydivinGirl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+evg2000 Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Also, SkydivinGirl is great at answering questions. I screwed up installing the microcontroller (off by one pin). She replaced at her cost plus shipping. Great experience working with her!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gundel Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Looks good! I make sure everything is well protected for shipping. The small flat rate boxes are quite strong and I put the packing peanuts between the fragile components and the outside of the box. I also replace any damaged parts if they are damaged during shipping. If anyone wants more protection then I'm always happy to put it all in a bigger box, but it might increase the shipping costs. If you look in the top post, there's a link for the assembly directions. None of the kits I order from others come with printed directions anymore. Heather Oh, make no mistake, I have no issue with the packaging at all. Nicely done. :-) -Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted August 27, 2018 Author Share Posted August 27, 2018 Thanks Carl. I've received kits that are shipped in bubble envelopes and chips that have had half their pins mangled. Please be sure to let me know if you have any questions. The directions are for the first revision of the PCB but they are notated where there are any big differences between the old PCB and new one. Most of the changes on the PCB you received were just to make assembly easier. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iddod Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 hi all, i'm here on atariage cos i saw Carl's post on the vic20 facebook group about his blog on blogspot... i'm been given a Vic by my friend Victor in the near future so i've been doing a bit of homework about the various modern upgrades, which means i'm posting here to keep myself in the loop... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 Congratulations on the VIC-20. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy mine. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gundel Posted September 1, 2018 Share Posted September 1, 2018 Looks good! I make sure everything is well protected for shipping. The small flat rate boxes are quite strong and I put the packing peanuts between the fragile components and the outside of the box. I also replace any damaged parts if they are damaged during shipping. If anyone wants more protection then I'm always happy to put it all in a bigger box, but it might increase the shipping costs. If you look in the top post, there's a link for the assembly directions. None of the kits I order from others come with printed directions anymore. Heather Hey Heather, I just posted a video about the FE3 as I get ready to begin soldering things, and I will post a video about that too. Please feel free to post to share the video link. Enjoy. https://youtu.be/IqTMnEfSlXA -Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted September 1, 2018 Author Share Posted September 1, 2018 Hey Carl, Nice video! I do sell the 3D printed cases but the design is freely downloadable for anyone to print their own. It was very important to me that people have an option to do that if they have the equipment to do so. The link to download the files is in the first post. The surface mount capacitors are very tiny. I always offer to solder the surface mount components for free for anyone who buys a kit and does not feel comfortable doing it themselves. Whenever I put together kits, I check the parts three or four times to make sure they are all there. So far, I've only missed one part out of hundreds of shipments. As always, please feel free to contact me any time during your build if you have any questions or problems. Can't wait to see the next video! Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gundel Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Hey Carl, Nice video! I do sell the 3D printed cases but the design is freely downloadable for anyone to print their own. It was very important to me that people have an option to do that if they have the equipment to do so. The link to download the files is in the first post. The surface mount capacitors are very tiny. I always offer to solder the surface mount components for free for anyone who buys a kit and does not feel comfortable doing it themselves. Whenever I put together kits, I check the parts three or four times to make sure they are all there. So far, I've only missed one part out of hundreds of shipments. As always, please feel free to contact me any time during your build if you have any questions or problems. Can't wait to see the next video! Heather Here is a new blog entry. The next video will probably be out next weekend. :-) https://microcomputing.blogspot.com/2018/09/ -Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gundel Posted September 10, 2018 Share Posted September 10, 2018 Here is a new blog entry. The next video will probably be out next weekend. :-) https://microcomputing.blogspot.com/2018/09/ -Carl Here is another blog post. I'm new to surface mount work so I wrote something about it. :-) https://microcomputing.blogspot.com/2018/09/ The video is still in progress. -Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted September 10, 2018 Author Share Posted September 10, 2018 That was a great description of soldering surface mount components for the first time! My first surface mount component was an SD card slot on a Final Expansion 3 Rev 9! I've come a long way since then. What I've found easiest for these components is to use a flux pen to apply flux to the pads and the components. From there, I can hold the part with my tweezers and put a bit of solder on the tip of my iron. Just apply the solder to the fluxed pins/pads and it should give you a nice solder joint. You can always apply a little more flux to smooth it out if needed. As you found out, applying solder to the pads first makes it very difficult to get the components flush. Great job for your first time! I look at some of the first SMD capacitors I attached on other projects and I cringe at how crooked they all are. If you get into a lot of SMD soldering then you should invest in a nice lighted microscope. It makes it so much easier. Can't wait to see the video! Heather P.S. I've had one of these capacitors go flying out of my tweezers as I was trying to attach it. It was never seen again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Gundel Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 Hey Carl, Nice video! I do sell the 3D printed cases but the design is freely downloadable for anyone to print their own. It was very important to me that people have an option to do that if they have the equipment to do so. The link to download the files is in the first post. The surface mount capacitors are very tiny. I always offer to solder the surface mount components for free for anyone who buys a kit and does not feel comfortable doing it themselves. Whenever I put together kits, I check the parts three or four times to make sure they are all there. So far, I've only missed one part out of hundreds of shipments. As always, please feel free to contact me any time during your build if you have any questions or problems. Can't wait to see the next video! Heather Hey Heather, I can't find any documentation on the various optional pin headers. What are they for? Thanks, -Carl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted September 13, 2018 Author Share Posted September 13, 2018 Hey Carl, The optional pin headers are for disk swap buttons that use the Autoswap.lst function of the SD2IEC, the Interrupt line on the clock chip, and access to 5VDC and a few of the 1284P's pins for expansion. There is nothing that takes advantage the the interrupt line or 1284P connections but you could add buttons to your case to let you easily swap between different D64 images in the SD2IEC. Here's the layout of the pins: JP2Pin 1 - PCF8583 Clock Chip Interrupt OutputPin 2 - GroundJP3Pin 1 - +5VDCPin 2 - ATMEGA 1284P PC7Pin 3 - ATMEGA 1284P PC6Pin 4 - ATMEGA 1284P PC5Pin 5 - GroundJP4 + JP5 - Disk Change Forward + Back Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrobleem Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkydivinGirl Posted September 30, 2018 Author Share Posted September 30, 2018 Very nice! I'm excited to see someone use a standard VIC-20 cartridge shell. Not many people have taken that option. You did a great job! Thank you for sharing the photos! Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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