EU Tester required: 128k/512k/Plus analogboard recreation

[daanvdl]

Best friends,

Due to aging and battery leakage, we can condemn more and more boards to death, unfortunately. That's why I decided to recreate the INTERNATIONAL analog board (revision 820-0107-D). Especially because this includes 3 models: 128k/512k/Plus, and intermediate models.
I realize that due to the cost of flyback and other specific components that can be difficult to find, this board isn't for everyone, but ultimately it could give new life into a fair number of Macintoshes.

Because my time is limited, I am looking for 1 or 2 seriously interested testers in Europe to help me to test the analog board. Soldering experience is required, electronics knowledge is a plus, and courage is absolutely required.
I am at an advanced stage with the 1-to-1 drawings and I expect to be able to order the first boards around half/end of December this year.

Testing involves 'soldering' the parts from your original board to the new board, including functional testing. I will provide a board for free.
All I'm looking for is some time and perseverance to make this project a success.

I look forward to hearing from interested people in Europe via a private message to keep this threat to a minimum!
(I'm sorry in advance to anyone I have to disappoint. I have to choose for the most practical)

Greeting,
Daan

 

[mg.man]

Interesting project - question - is this a 1:1 reproduction, or have you tweaked design to work around some of the harder to find modern equivalents? I believe Q12 (if memory serves) doesn't really have a modern day direct replacement?

 

[daanvdl]

Initially this will be a 100% 1:1 reproduction.
Apart from 'Q12' (for which there are still alternatives) there will be more parts that are no longer produced, such as transformers, flyback, battery housing, linearity coil, adjuctable width coil, power switch, etc. In many cases, most parts will survive serious board corrosion due to humidity or battery leakage.

 

[cheesestraws]

I'm glad you're doing this, but I'm afraid I absolutely do not have time to join in at the moment :-(. Wish I did.

 

[iJol]

Hi Daan,

I'm interested - I have an analog board with water damage where some of the traces start to corrode away which would be nice to recreate.

Regards,
Julian

 

[daanvdl]

I'm glad you're doing this, but I'm afraid I absolutely do not have time to join in at the moment :-(. Wish I did.

No problem! I currently do have enough testers. Will keep you posted;-)

 

[daanvdl]

Hi Daan,

I'm interested - I have an analog board with water damage where some of the traces start to corrode away which would be nice to recreate.

Regards,
Julian

Hi Julian,

I will keep you informed of the progress here. Drawing the schematics and the tracks took more time than hoped. This was very time consuming. I am currently do the final checks before having the BETA boards etched after which they will be deployed and tested.

Regards,
Daan

 

[daanvdl]

A short update from my side: The first run of the BETA boards just arrived.
And, they look stunning!

The first batch has been send out for deploying and testing. Will keep you posted!

 

[wezm]

They look great! Fantastic work.

 

[t2jd1967]

Seriously impressive work I wish I had the courage to join in, but this is way, way over my head. I have just done a bit of work on a recently acquired Macintosh Plus and that was already at the limit of my skill set.

 

[Dogmander]

Any plans for a Macintosh Classic analog board recreation? Those tend to go bad often due to their poor capacitors and overall cheapness

 

[daanvdl]

@Dogmander
Currently I don’t have the plan of recreating the Classic Analog Board, but never say never Recreating boards is not a “few days” job so I need have (a lot of) time left, which I currently don’t have.

Currently I don’t have a Classic I/II AB. If there is somebody who want to “give up” a (preferable working) board; let me know.

 

[michimartini]

Very cool project. Although I was hoping for a redesigned SMPS design, the old self-oscillating one is rather horrible to troubleshoot. But I get it, it would be way more time consuming (but also more rewarding).