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DavidMil

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Posts posted by DavidMil

  1. Posted

     

        I tried using my cheap little USB camera to get close enough to see the .7mm wide legs with .5mm spacing on a ULN2003A surface mount

    IC.  I had to get the lens of the camera so close to the IC that there was no room for my soldering iron!  Anyway I've ordered one of those

    $50 USB digital microscopes.  Should be here by Sunday.  I'll get a good video after that!

     

       About the flux...  You need a liquid flux that is made specifically for electronics or communications.  I myself prefer an alcohol based flux.

    NEVER use a rosin based flux unless you are sure you can get it all off, or in a few weeks to a few months strange things will start happening

    to your electrical pulses.  It's best to avoid rosin flux all together for electronic repairs!  And lastly, I've never worked with water based fluxes,

    but some people swear by them.  What ever you get, don't try to use a brush on your board.  I'm a diabetic and after they went to the new flex

    pens, I had about 200 .5cc syringes left over that I now use to draw flux from the 4oz bottle and drip onto the circuit board.  You will see that

    in the video.

     

    One more thing...  I have seen in several soldering videos, the person doing the video will use the soldering iron to smear the flux or solder

    around the pad.  PLEASE DON"T DO THIS!!!  That is the best way to lift a pad that I know of ( well, besides pressing down on the pad to

    transfer heat to the pad from the soldering iron).  Don't be afraid to cover the pad in flux, but it's best to do that after the IC has been placed

    on the board.  Again, you'll see this in the video.           

     

    DavidMil 

  3. Posted

    On 5/22/2021 at 12:34 PM, BillC said:

    When I took an electronics course I connected a 3906 transistor with the circuit wired for a 3904, the "crack" as it failed was heard by the entire class.

    Had a similar experience in my second semester of electronics class.  Working on a 12V breadboard I accidently plugged a 470uF radial electrolytic cap in

    backwards.  When I hit the on switch I heard the sound of sizzling bacon for a second.  About the time I realized what I had done and was reaching for the

    power switch, the top of the cap blew open and it's super hot guts flew into the air including on the bottom of my forearm.  To this day I'm not sure if I was

    madder because of doing something so dumb and getting laughed at by my fellow classmates, or the little scars it left on my arm.

     

    DavidMil          

  4. Posted

    9 hours ago, Mathy said:

    Hello Andreas, MausR

     

    If you want to order from Simius, he prefers it if you do so via a private message.

     

    BTW MausR, have a look at my Atari 8 bit meetings page.

     

    Sincerely

     

    Mathy

     

    Mathy,

        When I click on the link you provided, McAfee say that the link has been compromised and someone is monitoring that link.

    Then McAfee say it is not safe and won't let me continue to the site.  You're not trying to steal all my super high level Atari A8

    secrets are you?

     

    David 

  6. Posted

    I should make a video about soldering surface mount components.  A trick I picked up while working for Compaq in 

    one of the manufacturing buildings (CCM4).  I NEVER have any solder bridges when soldering multi legged components.

    It involves a LOT of liquid flux and a lot of 99% Isopropyl Alcohol.  If anyone is interested I'll explain it here (or in another

    thread if anyone wants).

     

    DavidMil

    • Like 3

  7. Posted

    Many years ago (my wife is looking over my should and asked if this was going to be one of my caveman stories).  No Dear,

    not that many years...  I wanted to build a 6502 processor using through-hole components.  I gave that up when a little research

    pointed out that I would need approximately 4478 additional transistors to go with the 50 that I had, and 1019 resistors.  What

    brought all this on was when I came across this interesting site:

     

    www.monster6502.com

     

    And it reminded me of that old idea I had.  (My wife is laughing now, but she's asking how come I can remember something

    from 35 years ago, and can't remember what she asked me to do yesterday!  I'm now playing confused...).  Reading down

    in the article, I noticed that to use through-hole components I would need a surface area of over a square meter.  Anyway

    this is an interesting article.

     

    DavidMil

     

        

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    I know this has been kicked around before but:  Is it worth swapping out a C012399B for a fast chip in an old 800.  And does anyone have a

    program that allows the two chips to run a stress test one after the other (I know that a power down and a physical swap of the two chips

    would be needed between tests) so someone could compare the results?

     

    Thank you,

    DavidMil  

  11. Posted

    I've come across a couple of Odyssey 2 games that are in perfect condition (including the boxes).  "Conquest Of The World", and "The Great Wall Street

    Fortune Hunt".  The latter is still in plastic wrap with the price tag on it (it started out as $42.?5, was then reduced to $23.99 and finally to $11.99.  It

    looks like the price tag says JOSKE'S.  Conquest of the world has all the pieces including red and blue markers that say 500 and 1000 on them, 6 different

    colored squares of 44 little magnetic squares. The Cartridge, rules and the gameboard is in the box.  I can post some pictures if anyone is interested.

    I'm wondering if it would be worth my time to put them out on EBAY.

     

    DavidMil   

  13. Posted

    21 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

    Glad you are finding more stuff and sharing it with the community, hopefully those last two boxes will yield some treasures..

    Hello Paul!

        I need to get them before it gets much hotter.  When it's 90F degrees outside (about 32C)  the attic is around 120F (50C).  There was

     time when that didn't bother me that much, but not now!  I always enjoy hearing from you!

    Stay well!

    David

  16. Posted

    14 hours ago, mimo said:

    I'd be interested in one hitec copper contact if you would be willing to let one go. I've an 800 keyboard with a non working space bar 

     

    It's easier to send a set then just one because Hi-Tek had different contactors for each key.  One was a solid piece of copper with a

    square end and the other one had a end that looked like little fingers.  I understand that this was to allow better contact between

    the ends when the key was depressed.  PM me an address and I get a set in the mail to you.  You are sure that the keyboard is

    Hi-Tek and not Stackpole?

     

    DavidMil

     

     

  18. Posted

    In a box of old Sci Fi books I found a perfectly good 800XL motherboard without anything soldered into it.  I think it was a rev D.

    I also found a complete set of keycaps for a CX85 keypad which I don't need or want so if someone is willing to reimburse me for

    the postage, I'd be willing to mail them off.  I also found a plastic bag with 10 sets of copper contacts and springs that are used in

    Hi-Tek keyboards for Atari 800 computers.  Behind that box I found another slightly crushed and roach eaten cardboard box that

    that had a compete torn down Atari 400 along with another 400 MB and power board as well as two 800 mother boards with all

    the chips in them.  After running all the pieces through the dish washer (which turned the aluminum castings dark gray), I discovered

    that neither of the 400's had the cartridge guide in them.  So if someone has one and is willing trade it for a PIA and/or Pokey chip, give

    me a shout.  After shining a flashlight around I can see two more boxes pushed back in a corner.  But the roof is so low over there I'll

    have to squirm over there on my belly, and I'd hate to get stuck up there.  It seems that to counter balance all the lost hair on my

    head, my stomach has gotten a lot bigger! (sigh)...

     

    DavidMil     

    • Like 3

  19. Posted

    6 hours ago, damanloox said:

    ok, thanks guys. Could somebody scan PAL 600XL label for me? I have a picture so will be able to "recover" serial number but my label (or what's left) is not really "suitable" for scanning...

     

    @DavidMil: labelway.com don't seem to ship outside CA/US... Any chance you could send me a few sheets (I'm in Dublin/Ireland)? We can discuss the price via PM...?

    I can send you a few sheets, if you'll pay for the shipping.

     

    David

  21. Posted

    I always put a piece of plastic taped to the bottom of any Atari device that I run through the dish washer to clean.  Sometimes the tape doesn't

    stay attached and the label is either washed off or faded to the point of useless.  So after that happened the first time, I now scan the bottom

    plastic on my color scanner before washing it.  I have since lost two other labels this way and had to replace them.  I found an exact match to

    the size and shape of the Atari labels at LABELWAY.com.  The part number for this box of labels is LW3115.  They are 2-3/4" x 1-7/8" with rounded

    corners (remember that almost all Atari labels have rounded corners).

     

    DavidMil

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2

  25. Posted

    On 5/7/2021 at 11:01 PM, Nezgar said:

    @DavidMil Right! Wow look at that. I think I may remember you mentioning this now prior to your hiatus - and welcome back by the way!

     

    I would very much like to get that dumped. I'll PM you.

    I sent the dumps for both chips to Nezgar.  He is currently evaluating both of them.

     

    David

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