Quadra 700/7600/G4/800

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I was lazing about, feeling miserable, nursing a terrible cold when Cosmo got my brain in gear, which got my . . .

. . . whatever, he inspired me to get out of bed/away from the computer with his IIci with Quadra 650 thread. It has been a lot of fun playing with the Japanese pull saws, plexi scribe, files and the aviation snips for a few hours.



Here's a shot of the 7600 MoBo in its new home, I chose the nastiest case from the Q700 Trio to feel the bite of the Ryoba. Blech! Note the badly yellowed plastics and the Thrift Scrawl on the front bezel.



The 7600 MoBo fits into the Quadra 700 fairly easily, it's sitting a bit too high ATM, I'll have to map out the ASICS and Caps on the ersatz solder side of the 7600 MoBo and clear out some ribs where they conflict with the new PCB. The Quadra 700 doesn't have high profile components on its real solder side. for the time being, the 7600 board is sitting on top of the three matching slot/clips on the sides. The 7600's locking bolt hole aligns perfectly with the Q700/IIci Drive support bolt hole. Nice bit of luck that.



Here's a better pic of the MoBo with the @$$BIT$ from the 7600's tuschie, the fit looks pretty good, tho only problem area being the outboard slot and the PCI Flange, but it's lookin' good. Original specs from the dearly departed 7600MetalMiniTower™ are pretty good. I may need to do something about the power connectors, but the ribbon cables should be fine as is.

It feels good to have gotten something done today, but I still feel like CRAP! }

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Feeling a little bit better today, so I rearranged some things to consolidate flat work surfaces, now I've got more room. So, of course, I started playing with the G4_Quadra_700 an messed things up a bit again . . . go figure!

Process report, it's really a bit of progress, but I won't call i that until the 7600 MoBo slides home in the 700 like it was made for it. ;D



I made pencil rubbings of all the protruding components on the "solder side" of the 7600 MoBo . . .



. . . created the clearance boxes to make room for the protruding components with about a 3/8" slide clearance front to back . . .



. . . cut out the spaces to use as a frisket . . .



. . . painted the affected ribs yellow, with orange for the caps (tallest) and High Packages (medium height) . . .



. . . here's the bottom of the Quadra 700 case before I fire up the compressor and grind the suckers right down to the quick . . .

< . . . decides there might be just enough daylight left! [}] ]'> >

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Back again, as I was hoping, I only needed to grind off the orange sections, she slid right in like she was made to be a Quadra 700 upgrade board. The mounting hole for the peripherals tower is in just the right spot, but I'll be needing to do a bit of surgery on the tower to get it to clear all those lovely DIMM Slots! It should be just fine.

An ATX hack, like the one olePigeon just completed will slide right in as well, but with a different power loom in place of the the original MoBo/PSU male/female deal. I may need to nick the corner out of the donor PSU where it will probably conflict with the stacked Serial/Printer connector, but that's no biggie, the VRAM DIMMs have plenty . . . maybe just enough . . . clearance for this to be an easy hack of the standard Quadra 700 PSU Case!

I'll probably grind the yellow areas down a bit when I get the chance, better safe than sorry. The rear end of the hack looks just like the shot above now, but the MoBo sits about 3/16" lower now that it's in the slider side slots rather than sitting atop them.

Sculpting/grafting on, the new tuschie for this hack will be the most fun part of all. )

 

[Cosmo]

Wow! You really take the professional approach to this project! Glad to see this happening!

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Thanks, Cosmo, and thanks for the encouragement now that I've started. It was you who gave me the impetus to get myself out from in front of the computer and away from bed where I'd been watching movies while I was feeling miserable. I'm feeling better now, but I don't need to go to work until 1pm tomorrow, so I can grind the yellow ribs down in the AM!

I've finally figured out what to do with the Right Angle Power Connectors tonight. I'm just going to remove them altogether and solder an ATX Extension Cable's leads to the MoBo, doing the ATX conversion right there at the PCB's connector thru holes. That way I can use an ATX PSU that'll fit nicely into a Modular Mac's PSU sheet metal for the final version and I can test the rig with any ATX PSU I've got on hand . . .

. . . and do so without any further modification whatsoever! }

 

[Cosmo]

Keep those pictures coming!

How far IIci/Quadra 700 case could be taken...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Dunno, it's sort of silly to put a Mac Mini into one, that'd be cheating, Quadras just gots to have SLOTS . . .

. . . this one should at least have a Sonnet G4/400/1MB, I've got one sitting here NIB!

I was just going through the Sonnet Boxen before going to bed and I finally found the extension cable for the 81/110's G3 Card while doing so! [] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

You've just gotta love industrial Pneumatic Die Grinders! It took about half an hour for me to excise all the yellow marked ribs and the 7600 MoBo is even happier in its new home. There's one small hangup somewhere, but that might go away after I clean everything up with the X-ACTO knives, chisels and single edged razor blades, my personal favorite, aside from the Ryoba! [}] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Update time:



Here's a shot I took the last time around, it's out of focus, but it is still a better explanation of what I'm doing than my .TXT attempts.



This shot shows the ribs after I ground the yellow marked ribs down a bit.



This was the original plan, but I didn't have a single can of spray paint and I wasn't about to go out to buy a can. I never use the stuff, but I didn't feel like breaking out the air brush gear, so I used a brush. Now the oblique view should be very clear after I'm done touching up the black ribs manually.



This is what happens when you use a paper frisket that's been warped by slopping latex paint all over it . . .

There wouldn't be near as much underspray if I'd broken out the airbrush and I wouldn't have had to make up the masking parts for the rest of the case . . . oh well . . .



. . . it actually worked out better this way in the long run. If anyone else wants to try this insanity, I'm filing the "paperwork" for future scanning and posting, maybe I should just go ahead and do it for posterity? :lol:



I've retouched the orange sections with a finer brush, X marks the spot where I think I'll find that final snag, but cleaning up the rest of the ribs as well will make for a nice oblique shot at some point.

Carving away at the ribs manually will make for a nice lookin' top view as well as being enjoyable. I love getting into the groove when I'm doing this kind of work, carving signs, furniture parts, whacky gizmos and doing sculpture.

ATX conversion with a new Soft Power Circuit is coming along nicely in a parallel thread, so that's under control as well.

Next on the list is modular tower surgery! [] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I'll edit in commentary when I get the chance, everything is lookin' good though!



_



For the sake of keeping the Q700 Triplets identical form all but their tuschies, I'll be sticking with the standard FDD. I'd thought about going with a ZIP or DVD SuperDrive, either of which would require modifying the floppy slot, but that's going too far over the top, even for me. I'll take another shot, the high profile DIMM in this pic just clears the bottom of the FDD. I think I'll load her up with a matched set of Low Profile DIMMS for airflow's sake however.



_



_



I chiseled out the remnants of the orange sections, there was a Crystal Can hanging up at the spot marked X after all. I cleaned up a few of the black ribs up a bit and now the 7600 board slides right home.

Next step will be the Speaker/MoBo Stabilizer Unit mod. The ATX PSU conversion is coming along very nicely in the parallel thread as well! [] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Well, you win some, you lose some and some of them get flash flooded right down the sewer . . . :-/

While I spent the afternoon snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the Sonnetization of the Radius 81/110. I tackled the programmer's switch assembly for this hack while formatting and reformatting the 17GB Ultra 160 and installing three different OS versions looking for a silver bullet for the upgrade project.

That's what I get for changing the order of battle, using the flamethrower reminded me of the spaghetti western, The Good, the Bad and the UGLY. The plastic switch assembly has been melted and cooled into more droopy, contorted shapes than Dali's timepiece. The "top" button shrank a bit in size , but it can't work anyway, the sound connector is right smack dab in the way. Heck, the entire extra back inch of the 7600 MoBo is in the way of anything Quadra 700 back there . . . which led to the inversion-n-melting plastic conversion diversion.

Shoulda' tackled the Speaker Tower. :-/

The "top" button (with the triangle on it) is now the "bottom" button and the one with the circle on it is slated for the headsman's block, to be replaced by some kind of LED. Maybe I'll install the IDE card and put in two LEDs for a pair of laptop or solid state drives. Then I can convert the great light pipe for the Power Led into a slightly protruding ATX startup button or something . . . dunno, it's rumination time.

Thankfully, it was a 7100 programmer's switch assembly I torched. [] ]'> I may be reckless . . . but I ain't stupid! [)] ]'>

 

[phreakout]

Just out of curiosity, regarding the programmer's switch assembly, have you considered possibly rerouting the switch to another location of convenience? I know it's extra steps and you want to K.I.S.S. it, but you're modding in a board normally not meant for that case anyway. Heck, even for convenience, recreate the assembly with new switches and mount them in the rear or front. Just some ideas. :-/ : When I can think of any more, I'll reply back.

73s de Phreakout. :rambo:

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I have to look at the docs to find where the programmer's switches might be on this 7600 board! ISTR it being a big deal when programmer's switches made their triumphant return to the Mac, was it in the x600 series that they disappeared?

Whatever, ISTR the power switch being just about dead on with the "bottom" programmer's switch on the Q700, so whichever way the wind blows the ATX PSUs outta that thread, that'll tell me what I need to do with the front switches.

The more I think about it, the more I like replacing the things with LEDs, if one happens to be the power switch button, so much the better. I haven't done much on this one for a couple of days. The cold wound up being bronchitis, I feel like heck and I've been beating my brains out on the Radius 81/110's very unforgiving metal case. It could be worse, if it were a real 8100, I'd have spindly shards of plastic causing the blood to flow freely from lacerations instead of contusions from blunt trauma.

I wish I felt well enough t go to work, MacPlaytime is beginning to feel harder than real work . . . this is supposed to be fun! :sadmac:

 

[phreakout]

Ouch. Robitussin (chug that down) won't cure that. Try antibiotics and an inhaler and call me in the morning.

Well, actually I've got a 7500 board which is awfully close to the 7600 and iirc, the programmer's switch doesn't exist. To invoke the mode, you have to press the Command and the reset keys on the keyboard at the same time. I'm not entirely sure if the combination power key and Command will do the job, either.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I feel a lot better today, so I'm going in to work and then I have Sunday and Monday off again, but the grlf will be needing some attention, dunno how much MacPlaytime I'll have this "weekend." I've been way too dopey to do any PSU conversions or connector replacement without magic smoke wafting into the picture.

Did reset buttons return in the B&W or Graphite drop doors? I'm glad they've always been right there on the front of the dearly departed DA and now the QS'02.

 

[LCGuy]

I'm pretty sure the B&W G3 had them as well.

 

[dougg3]

Yeah, the B&W has a reset button and a recessed programmer's button on the front panel.

 

[CC_333]

Hi,

As far as I know, everything between the B&W G3 and QS '02 had the same front panel button configuration dougg3 described (they all have the same basic case design). The MDD, I think, finally did away with at least the programmers switch in favor of a key combination, and rearranged the remaining reset and power buttons, presumably to accommodate the extra 5 1/4" drive bay.

c

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

You'd think that they'd have learned the first time around that dependence on command keys for low level system problems is a bit on the lower end of the intelligence scale in terms of decision making. At least the MDDs still had a reset button. Haven't got one of those yet, need to start looking before the QS'02 blows up before I even finish loading my Apps on it. The DA held up for more than a decade, maybe I'll be that lucky this time around.

Bought the '02 about three years ago, good investment, that. [] ]'>