Production for 464 Plus Tape lids and Cartridge Cases!

[Gryzor]

Oh wow. They look *great*. This is great news!!!


Any idea on the cost for all this stuff?


Give Adam our regards, will you?

[BluesBrothers]

I have got an inkling on the price of the carts but don't want to give too much away at the moment as the R&D is not totally completed and therefore we cannot for sure give an absolute final figure per unit. They will be cheaper for anyone wanting bulk though. I will soften him up on supply price as much as I can I promise.

Once we've totally finish the R&D I would like to round up some pre-orders if possible (no monies taken until the stock is ready for despatch) as this will enable us to get a realistic handle on how many to produce. The more we produce per batch, the cheaper production should be, hopefully

Wiki users will of course get a preferential price to that offered in my store

[Bryce]

Very professional looking. I'll definitely take a few.

Bryce.

[BluesBrothers]

Thanks guy's. I will pass your compliments on to Adam, a craftsman always enjoys hearing good things about his workmanship.

[Bryce]

How are the two halves held together? Have you copied the original clips, or have you added a column for a screw?

Bryce.

[BluesBrothers]

We have stuck with the original clips because of a lack of space. Adam is still working on the clips though and there is talk about using a slightly more pliable plastic so that open them doesn't have to be such hard work, or worse,... destructive.

[Bryce]

On an original cartridge there's a plastic pin in the centre that goes through the PCB. If you use this space for a screw / plastic cylinder then you can make them "re-openable". I do this on original cartridges after I've opened them.

Bryce.

[BluesBrothers]

On an original cartridge there's a plastic pin in the centre that goes through the PCB. If you use this space for a screw / plastic cylinder then you can make them "re-openable". I do this on original cartridges after I've opened them.

Bryce.

I must confess I've not actually seen the insides of a cart yet as Adam is about 130 miles away from me but I will put the suggestion to him. I think the thought was that if the clips could be improved upon to the extent that the cart can be opened "more easily" then the lack of a screw is aesthetically better but I totally see your point. What I suppose we don't want is a cart which opens so easily it does it all by itself, though I'm sure that would not be the case

[Munchausen]

The cases look amazing, really professional. Great work!

[arnoldemu]

The cases look amazing, really professional. Great work!

I agree. They are great.

I'll definitely buy some.

[TFM]

They are wonderful!




I need a hundred (and if Blue is no problem, then YEAH!!!)

[arnoldemu]

We now need pcbs with acid replacements, or something that means we can move forwards and get the final carts with game on them done.

[BluesBrothers]

We now need pcbs with acid replacements, or something that means we can move forwards and get the final carts with game on them done.

If you're serious on that score I can certainly look into it. I am, in co-operation with someone else, creating some new mod boards for Atari's so we can source boards if you guys are not able to do so yourselves, but I imagined (I don't know why) that you'd have that side of things all sewn up.

Let me know and I'll ask the right people

[TFM]

Ok, PCBs... there is a PCB on the CPC Wiki, Bryce made it IIRC.


And for ACID replacements, I suggest Octoate's and Nilquader's solution. There is another hack too, but I don't know much about the second one.




Neither PCBs, nor ACIDs seem to be a problem. Of course they need to be produced too. In this case I would like to buy 100 PCBs for the cartridge with the full 512 KB of ROM. (I already got 100 original ACIDs).

[BluesBrothers]

If these are already being made then I don't want to tread on toes, I'm more for getting stuff done that no one else is doing rather than going into competition. However if there is a solution that simple needs taking to production and however created that solution is happy for me to do so then I'm very happy to look at this

[BluesBrothers]

sorry that's whoever not however

[arnoldemu]

I can't do the hardware side, but I can do a game.

Maybe the first to be on the new carts?

Bryce re-created the layout and we have some acid replacements, although a cpld or original would be better than Octoate and Nilquaders solution - because it's not always 100% reliable???

[Bryce]

The PCB Layouts I've done so far aren't suitable for commercial production, the file is for hobbiest who etch their own PCBs. I intend doing commercial layouts in a couple of versions: Original, Multi-Cart, possibly a writeable one? using the CPLD solution for the acid replacement, but the CPLD and EPROM will have to be soldered in, otherwise you'll have to modify the lids or make special lids for them.

Bryce.

[BluesBrothers]

The PCB Layouts I've done so far aren't suitable for commercial production, the file is for hobbiest who etch their own PCBs. I intend doing commercial layouts in a couple of versions: Original, Multi-Cart, possibly a writeable one? using the CPLD solution for the acid replacement, but the CPLD and EPROM will have to be soldered in, otherwise you'll have to modify the lids or make special lids for them.

Bryce.

I think I asked about this earlier in the thread and I queried if the cart should be made exactly as the original or adapted to give greater scope for projects but the consensus was that the original was fine as there was so little demand for adaptation that it was deemed a no goer.
If we do require a redesign can you let us know asap and I can get it looked into. I did actually mention something along these lines to Adam so it is likely he will be prepared for it although it might be really useful for us to have an example board so that we can see how best to work around the bulky/awkward areas.
If a commercial board was to be produced then it could be a good thing to produce both the board layout and the altered casing together to allow for all eventualities.

[TFM]

Sorry for bringing confusion here... thought it was the PCB layout that we could use. 


Maybe somebody can split the thread? Would that make sense? 

[BluesBrothers]

Sorry for bringing confusion here... thought it was the PCB layout that we could use. 


Maybe somebody can split the thread? Would that make sense? 

Oh, please don't apologise, I am not having a go at all and I am sorry if it seemed that way, definitely not my intention.

My real purpose for the whole query was that if we're going to do this why not have a solution which suits as many folk as possible. I realise some of you will want to make a game stick a label on it and that's that, others however will want to evolve things and be able to switch ROMs and who knows what else in the future.

So am I making a cart case (and "possibly" a pcb) in a commercial sense for software developers to put their wares on or,..... am I trying to help the hobbist. If the later has a large stake in this cart then I imagine that paying good money for it only to have to hack it up with a craft blade or Stanley knife is far from ideal. So do we try to find a half way house and create a solution for both eventualities or do we proceed as we are and, if there is demand for it, make another cart specifically for the hobbists.

I'm not sure about splitting the thread whether that will avoid confusion or not. If anything I could probably do with being fed more info to evolve my understanding.

If you mean has this cartridge thing overtaken an original thread then probably yes, my bad, sorry . I have sort of wondered for a while now if maybe this discussion might be better located somewhere else. I'm still very green when it comes to good forum practices I'm afraid

[arnoldemu]

For me a commercial style cart is exactly what I would like because I only really develop games. For me these would be perfect because I can write games and get them published in limited batches.

No need to apologise about alterering the course of the thread, it happens often here. I think the cases are great. I think the work on the acid replacements and the cons is great too.

[Bryce]

Explanation: The layouts I've uploaded so far are just 2 sided sketched drawings for home use. A commercial manufacturer needs a special format from Eagle or OrCAD etc with all the information regarding track thickness, vias, solder screen etc.

If anyone wants to go ahead and create these, then feel free to do so. Although I intend doing these at some stage, I definitely don't have time at the moment, so it will be a while before I could start on them. Also, the pinout of the CPLD will be critical, because it will have to match the pinout assignment of the programmed CPLD, so the compiled CPLD file needs to match the layout exactly. A layout for a standard cart using a real ACID is much easier. I have already published an Eagle library which includes both the original ACID and the cartridge edge connector for use in schematics and layouts.

Bryce.

[steve]

There is a need for someone to sell a case complete with a populated PCB using either a real ACID chip or a CPLD acid replacement, so the buyer can put in their own programmed eprom and stick a label on it.

Alternatively,
If the case is not deep enough to allow a socket and eprom, then a flash chip could be soldered to the board, the board will need a way for the flash to be programmed and then write protected if necessary.

For extended cases, these would need to be custom made for each use, otherwise the user will still need to drill holes to suit the various hardware to be fitted.

[steve]

This thread is in the classified section, it would be better if all the posts relevant to Bluesbrothers work in producing cases and tape lids were given their own thread in the hardware section of the forum.