Mega Speedy, the ultimate 1050 upgrade. Intrest assesment.

[Level42]

Yeah well Mathy.....I never lived there....and it's a thing of the past. Let's be happy it's not SS, SA, or NSDAP

 

In fact, If I had used the "official" abbreviations, the first LED would show SD which was the Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS......

 

 

And there will always be only one LED lit so you will never "see" that combo of letters

 

@tep392: Wow, wished I worked at a company with a 3D printing department like that ! They have ALL kinds of 3D printing types available.....crazy ! For sure they will produce some nice printing quality

Edited August 9, 2017 by Level42

[tep392]

The cool part is they encourage us engineers to do personal projects on them so we learn how to use the equipment.

[Level42]

Now I'm even more jealous. Maybe you can also print some XL PBI covers (model is available) and The!Cart cartridge housings ?

 

I went to the printer today and......well ....ahahahah, it's a home-based company and they had one printer at home. Still a pro looking one Their main business is selling the printers.

 

The white ABS version wasn't looking very nice. The thing is that the front of the front is printed first. So this is on the bottom (printing bed). However, this makes it very messy looking.

the backside was looking quite tight actually and so the people told me that they intend on printing it the other way around. This will require more support material but all that (the ruff stuff that will need to be removed) will be on the invisible inside/backside.

 

They also told me that White is the best filament to print in ABS. Sounds like it will need painting...not too font of that because it will surely go off sooner or later....

ABS is the way to go by the way. PLA is nice, but effectively it is made from corn and it will degenerate over the years. Not with ABS. It also feels very strong.

 

They showed me some models and they looked and felt very smooth and tight (one was a full-size skull) even without tricks like acetone vapors.

 

I got the white test-print with me to check the measures on a real 1050...fingers crossed.

[Level42]

Well and this is why I didn't put the files out just yet.....

 

DOn't look at the front...it's really bad. The reason for this is that the original design lets the printer start with the front. So the front is printed as the first layers on the printing bed which results in a very rough surface. There were also some setting-up errors according to the 3D printer.

 

What they will do is print the design upside down so the front will be printed last. This will require more support material to be used but that will be on the insider (backside) so you'll never see that once installed.

 

But the real problem: the shape is not right: the angles are not in the right position and there's more wrong. I am pretty sure this is what Tigerduck already mentioned on the ABBUC form thread and he also mentioned that the 3D printing company he used fixed those errors....soooooo.... I assumed that the files he shared were the corrected files....but it appears to be not so.... (PMed him on ABBUC).

 

Hoping Tigerduck has those corrected files (or can get them ....)....else there's some serious adjusting to do and I'm not sure if I can do that myself....

 

The hole for the drive itself seems to be just a bit too small...maybe the entire print should be enlarged by 1% or so, the printers already told me that they have to account a certain amount of shrinkage.

 

 

[+Stephen]

Good luck with this. It's a black art, voodoo I tell you.

[BillC]

You could try the files available at: http://www.bitsofthepast.com/?product=megaspeedy-1050-front-bezel-3d-file

[Binarygeek]

Hi All

 

I have a few questions I haven't found posted before. Why cut out C56,57,58 and 61? Is this only for Hi speed? Would the MegaSpeedy work correctly if they were not cut? Would this cap cutting be recommended on a 1050 drive with the ICD US Doubler mod? By the way, this is just one very cool mod! The concept is just great.

 

 

Thanks

Rick

Edited April 27, 2018 by Binarygeek

[HiassofT]

I have a few questions I haven't found posted before. Why cut out C56,57,58 and 61? Is this only for Hi speed? Would the MegaSpeedy work correctly if they were not cut? Would this cap cutting be recommended on a 1050 drive with the ICD US Doubler mod? By the way, this is just one very cool mod! The concept is just great.

These caps have negative effect on signal quality which is especially noticable when using hispeed. If you add many peripherals these caps could also cause issues in standard speed, so better clip them off, you won't miss them.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[Binarygeek]

Hello Foft,

 

Hope this rom position is filled correctly. :-)

Here's some more stuff to program into some still empty slots.

Hope it is self explanatory. (I've had no time yet to test if it works... )

 

BR/

Guus

Thanks so much, Guus. You are an absolute stud. Just what I needed, and you came through in the clutch!

[+Nezgar]

These caps have negative effect on signal quality which is especially noticable when using hispeed. If you add many peripherals these caps could also cause issues in standard speed, so better clip them off, you won't miss them.

I had an authentic Happy 1050 that worked fine in use, but when used on some computers it would fail the high speed I/O test in the happy software. After removing these same caps in that drive that problem was gone.

 

So I can also attest it's a good mod 'in general' for any upgrade that increases the I/O speed.

 

there's a similar cap removal mod inside the computers themselves, but I've not seen this as heavily recommended.

[guus.assmann]

Hello,

 

These caps have been put there so the computer would meet the FCC rules.

But that doesn't mean by defintion that they cannot be removed.

However in some cases it might increase the level of interference.

Just see as you go along.

 

BR/

Guus

Edited April 28, 2018 by guus.assmann

[rcamp48]

Hello Guus:

 

I am interested in a Mega Speedy as well, I have an original 1050 disk drive to put it in and lots of software that I can write to disks. Right now I have the entire KWEST library from Kitchener, Waterloo, Ontario , Canada , 150 disks both sides, KWEST stands for Kitchener Waterloo Eight Sixteen Thirtytwo , and is an Atari Users Group that ran in the early 80s to the middle 90s, lots of good stuff. Still archiving them. Russ Campbell

[IndusGT]

Are there any Mega Speedys available? Thanks 

[macsonny]

Can the MegaSpeedy still be purchased?

[Mclaneinc]

Sadly, as you can now guess from the lack of replies is that you can't get one now and even worse, there is a small set of folks who would love one (me included) but world shortages of electronic components mean that even if the creators wanted to do a run of them it would be incredibly hard and probably silly expensive too..

 

Who knows what the future holds... The immediate future isn't too hopeful though..

[Panther]

They really are an awesome upgrade, so hopefully they will be made available again before long.

 

[macsonny]

15 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

Sadly, as you can now guess from the lack of replies is that you can't get one now and even worse, there is a small set of folks who would love one (me included) but world shortages of electronic components mean that even if the creators wanted to do a run of them it would be incredibly hard and probably silly expensive too..

 

Who knows what the future holds... The immediate future isn't too hopeful though..

I have the schematic but if I could get my hands on the PCB files then I'd be happy to look into having these recreated.

 

Anyone know where a PCB file might be?

[Mathy]

Hello macsonny

 

21 hours ago, macsonny said:

Anyone know where a PCB file might be?

 

You could try contacting @guus.assmann, @HiassofT or ABBUC.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

 

[HiassofT]

12 minutes ago, Mathy said:

You could try contacting @guus.assmann, @HiassofT or ABBUC.

@guus.assmann should have the latest PCB files that were used for production.

 

I have some files here but I'm not 100% sure if they are really the final version.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[macsonny]

11 minutes ago, HiassofT said:

@guus.assmann should have the latest PCB files that were used for production.

 

I have some files here but I'm not 100% sure if they are really the final version.

 

so long,

 

Hias

Thanks for the tip. I've been building up my own PCB file based off the schematics that are easily found on the web. Wondering if you'd be willing to share your PCB file?

 

I have messaged @guss.assmann to see if they would be interested in re-starting this project or at least sharing the PCB files so I can look into having these built up. Fingers crossed.

[marcokitt2000]

Hello,

 

I hope there will be a new round of pcb megaspeedy i have 2 drives now and i like it very wel.

 

 

Greetings Marco.

[+bf2k+]

I'd buy one too.

[guus.assmann]

Hello all,

 

It's not so much keeping fingers crossed for the data. I'm happy to share that.

But it's "can I buy the CPLD and CPU?"

The rest of the parts should be less of a problem. And a WDC 65C02 should still be available, though a bit more expensive.

And next, is someone capable of soldering those CPLD's, they'r quite small and have 144 pins.

 

BR/

Guus Assmann

[macsonny]

41 minutes ago, guus.assmann said:

Hello all,

 

It's not so much keeping fingers crossed for the data. I'm happy to share that.

But it's "can I buy the CPLD and CPU?"

The rest of the parts should be less of a problem. And a WDC 65C02 should still be available, though a bit more expensive.

And next, is someone capable of soldering those CPLD's, they'r quite small and have 144 pins.

 

BR/

Guus Assmann

Hi Guus,

 

Thank you for sharing the key information. I've found a supplier for both the CPLD and CPU for a reasonable price. I agree soldering the CPLD will be tricky (100 pins not 144 right)?

 

I guess before I go much further, if I build the Mega Speedy and install in a 1050 am I able to flash the ROM when the Mega Speedy is in the drive or will I need to flash the ROM before I install in the drive?

 

Do you have install instructions? I got some pictures off the 'net but not sure if they are the correct install instructions.

 

Thanks

 

Sonny

Edited April 23, 2022 by macsonny
Fixed spelling

[Mclaneinc]

One's drag soldering skills need to be Jedi quality....Flux, flux, flux....