RayTari

Oh, that's cool - so you basically buy ribbon cable and then split it up as needed? I like that... it would keep bundles of wire neat as you can just keep them connected. Often times I've noticed that "Dupont" jumper cables come this way and it can be pretty handy.

I've definitely used salvaged phone/ethernet cable for stuff. It is solid core, though. It's a little thin to use as hookup wire, at least on a breadboard (CAT6 is 23 or 24, CAT5 is 24). Phone wire is often the usual 22 gauge solid core that makes good hookup wire. The cheap very flexible telephone wire and the handset wire is stranded and can be very thin... not sure of the gauge. The downside is none of the salvaged wire is pre-tinned. My go-to is a box full of little spools just like what you purchased. I like that I can choose whatever color I want based on what makes sense, rather than what I happen to have on hand.

@-^CrossBow^-'s advice trumps mine, me having done a single mod For what it's worth, I used wire wrap wire (very thin - sold as 30 gauge but it was cheap Chinese stuff so I think it's more like 31 or 32). Very flexible pre-tinned solid core. But that was only for the signal wires. Like @-^CrossBow^-, I mainly use that for fixing traces - but it seemed adequate in this case since it should only bend once (famous last words). For the external connections I just used my standard 22 gauge hookup wire - the stranded variety. To be honest, it's a little thick and only barely passes through the UAV board... but there is a ton of room in the 7800, even with the RF shield back in place, so I wasn't worried about big service loops. I also know all my crimp connectors work well with that gauge, and I wanted to have quick connects on everything. (Didn't I say it would only bend once? Then why did I use quick connects?) The stranded stuff you bought shouldn't snap... I think you'll be fine.

You have had a whole weekend now, how'd it go? 😁

He had me looking too!

My unit must be from once they decided they weren't going to ever ship an expansion. It has no connector mounted on the board, but the board has the empty footprint for the connector. They must have changed the case in a later run to fill the hole. That gave me plenty of room. If I mod my second 7800 I'll have to decide on another method... I had a sentimental attachment to this one because it is the one from when I was a kid. I probably won't shy away from drilling into the second one

That's a great idea. I had some Kapton tape on there, but it was a mess. If I go back in, I'll shrink wrap it and maybe print out slightly larger slots for the mount. The print only takes about an hour.

Yes, that is true! However, it is very easy to snap it in and out of place, and I wired everything such that you can pivot the whole thing toward the front of the console without stressing any wires. In fact, that is how I wired it up - with the top of the bracket laid down on the Maria chip... the little blue hookup wires are all like a "hinge". I also was careful to leave room for the RF shield. My only concern is that the UAV becomes loose, but I must not be too concerned because I didn't add a zip tie

I was lucky enough to have an old console with a hole in the case where the expansion port should be. This let me design a snap-in 3D print where I could mount an S-Video and 4-pole 3.5mm jack for composite plus audio. In case anyone else has this hole, I put the files up on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4819760 I also did not want to remove my original RF module (it still works, after all...) so I made a 3d printed bracket that holds the UAV in place using the little holes on either side of the sheetmetal RF cover: I guess it is hard to see with all the black in the picture, but the UAV board snaps into the bracket, and the bracket snaps onto the RF shield. Here is the Thingiverse project: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4833856 By the way, I want to thank @-^CrossBow^- for his videos and PDFs... This really was a Lego project instead of a mini R&D project thanks to his generous contributions to the community. And of course thank you to @Bryan for the UAV, which really makes an incredible difference. If I ever run into you guys, drinks are on me!