Reverse Engineering the Macintosh SE PCB & Custom Chips for 1:1 reproduction

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Sure i'd take that method - as long as i get scans of the layers, i don't care how they were obtained - if someone else wants to do the disassembly and scan the layers at 1200dpi, i'll do the work in sprint. 

What's really nice about using the epoxy embedment/milling machine approach is that you don't need to desolder anything but the proprietary logic and anything else you might want. The first couple of passes will remove all the solder cones/pins and raze the metal bits off at each layer. [}]

Also be fore-warned: the official SE/30 schematics are missing a couple pages, and they contain all the test points, and resistor networks. So DONT forget those! 

Don't we have all that on the Bomarc schematic? Gotta get that one to see if it has the info missing from Apple's.

 

[Bolle]

For that, there's a schematic. Also, AN ORBITAL SANDER!

Those might come in handy then I guess?



Both boards suffered a battery explosion but I'd say all traces are still visible at least.

 

[Kai Robinson]

Ohhhh yeaaaaahhhhh - Scan them in and i can get started

 

[Bolle]

I'll see what I can do. Also might try to sand one of them down to take a peek at the inner layers... oh this is going to be a mess

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

[] Me loves messes! Make sure to wear a good mask and have airflow outside whilst sanding, there's lead in them thar hills

Was thinking about the notion of bfanching off to a dedicated thread. This one shows the methodology, the way it builds, segues into the next project, while the first one goes into the testing phase. Maybe a title modification and a link to the fourth or 5th page, the dawn of the SE/30 project would suffice?

 

[Kai Robinson]

Boards arrive from JLCPCB on Monday - looking forward to seeing the end result. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

What color? :huh: Good on ya!

 

[techknight]

Those might come in handy then I guess?

View attachment 35548

Both boards suffered a battery explosion but I'd say all traces are still visible at least.

Wow! I bet you wore your vacuum desoldering gun out with this. haha. 

 

[Bolle]

I actually put them on a infrared preheater and hot-aired the shit out of the board. If you’re careful and got everything dialed in correctly with the temperature settings you can just pick up everything from the board - even the through hole components - without burning anything.

Plastic connectors and sockets don’t like that treatment though, but those are easily replaceable.

 

[archer174]

I have a few SE boards and wouldn't mind assembling one of these repros for testing. Sounds like fun. If there's a spare let me know. Definitely +1 for the SE/30 board!

 

[LightBulbFun]

Just popping in to say via tip off from @Daniël Oosterhuis

this is really awesome stuff! 

keep up the Awesome work ,im very interested to see how it all turns out  

I have a (fortunately working) SE, but really want to get an SE/30 or upgrade my SE with an SE/30 motherboard!

 

[Kai Robinson]

@archer174 you can have one, just beware it’s a prototype! There’s missing grounds for the I/O that need bodge wiring in...

 

[Kai Robinson]

What color? :huh: Good on ya!

Just plain green, can bugger about with the extra cost of colours later, finished product I’m aiming for matte black with a clear solder mask, like this; 

 

[rplacd]

Hot damn, times like this I wish 68kmla had its own little Kickstarter clone... it'd allow us folk without the technical chops to somehow chip in.

 

[archer174]

@archer174 you can have one, just beware it’s a prototype! There’s missing grounds for the I/O that need bodge wiring in...

That's what makes it fun. 

 

[Kai Robinson]

I mean if people wanna throw some beer tokens my way eventually, i won't say no, but that's not why i'm doing it - it's ultimately for the preservation effort. 

 

[paws]

My impression is that the custom chips in anything after the SE get a lot more complex, but that reimplementing the GLU chip seems fairly easy... The video system in the SE is a variant of the original's, as far as I can tell, very simple stuff. Not saying the later ones are impossible to recreate, of course, but that's when they start keeping separate video RAM etc. If you want to do a faithful clone of a 68k Mac, I think the SE is a good choice.

 

[Kai Robinson]

Well, here they are...

So - hands up who's still in? There's a few things i've noticed such as tight holes on the PDS side of things...and the SIMM SLOTS, but other than that sockets fit fine! All holes seem to line up 1:1 as well. 

 

[landoGriffin]

This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!

 

[cheesestraws]

So - hands up who's still in? There's a few things i've noticed such as tight holes on the PDS side of things...and the SIMM SLOTS, but other than that sockets fit fine! All holes seem to line up 1:1 as well.  

Definitely!