MiST Mod

[Gryzor]

I always cringe when I have to cut something old, and I realised I cringe when watching others do it, too

Yeah, no problem about the colour, not visible at all really so it doesn't matter...

Thanks for the update

[Bryce]

The plastic on the SF354 case is rather soft, so no chance of the dreaded "crack that goes across the whole case", but you still need to be careful on old plastic and definitely don't do it in a very cold environment. I usually heat the plastic a bit before I start. All finished now anyway, other than the button mod, there's no other cutting needed on the old plastic.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

Heh, reminded me of the time at army camp when we were trying to repurpose a plastic water tank using hacksaws... At minus 10. That was a fun day

[The Last Bandit]

Sorry but that just too neat for a hardware engineer to have done unaided - where's all the hotglue ?   

[Gryzor]

In time, in time

[Bryce]

Although I own a hotglue gun, I use it extremely seldom. A last resort in my opinion.

Bryce.

Gesendet von meinem Motorola DynaTEC 8000X mit Tapatalk 2.

[Gryzor]

Yes, yes, what about the mod? (j/k of course)

[Bryce]

So... Back home, time to take a look at the SD Card extension that arrived in the post. At on end the flat cable goes neatly into a fake SD card. The other end is soldered directly to the PCB, which is unfortunately just big enough for the socket with no mounting holes  .

[attach=2]

[attach=3]

The FFC is 520mm long! I'm pretty sure this would cause issues, especially on high-speed cards, so without thinking any further I cut the FFC in the middle, bringing it down to about 240mm and soldered it back onto the PCB. The FFC is a rubbery type of plastic which was a pain to remove. I won't be getting any awards for neatness, but it works fine.

[attach=4]

[attach=5]


Next up I made a new PCB at the level required for SD Card, the buttons will also be mounted on the lower side of this PCB. It's mounted on 4 posts which makes it solid enough to withstand a lifetime of button presses and card insertion.

[attach=6]

That's it for today. Just some further questions for Gryzor:

- Do you want / need a power switch on the case?
- Do you want / need the RS232 or Midi sockets?

Bryce.

Still no hotglue in sight

[Gryzor]

"which is unfortunately just big enough for the socket with no mounting holes"? You mean "fortunately" or I missed something?

Great touch with that separate "daughterboard" there, looks like you're building a whole new machine

Unfortunately yes, it does need a power button/switch. Normally you could do without it I guess, just pulling the plug off the wall, but if you're doing config testing and you need to reboot several times while making sure memory is completely erased you need the switch... No preference as to its location though (but naturally the front is more practical).

I was thinking of becoming the next Jean Michel Jarre so yes, I'll need the midi socket, plus - ah, no, no need for any of that fancy stuff

What? "That's it for today"? But it's not done yet!

[Bryce]

No, I meant unfortunately. The SD Card slot on the flat cable needs to be secured to the "daughterboard" - with mounting holes it would be a lot easier. But it has neither holes, nor space to make any, so I'm going to have to come up with something else.

Power switch is no problem, but to keep things looking original I'd prefer to put it at the back, but easily accessable (small toggle switch).

There can never be another Jean Michel Jarre, he is one of a kind

No, it's not done yet and I have to order quite a few parts for it this week to continue, so it'll be a few days before I continue.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

I didn't say "JMJ", I said the *next* JMJ!

Ah, I understand now, about the slot mounting. Erm... Superglue?

Yeah, switch at the back would be just as good, you're right in keeping as much as possible out of sight.

You haven't ordered them already? But I see my cheques were cashed weeks ago!

[Bryce]

Maybe hotglue NOT, I always try to make things "service-able", so nothing glued.

What cheques???

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

One cheque actually, the one for 200 euros and a not "for parts"? Ring a bell?

Well, I understand your point of view, but what would be serviceable" in a SD-card slot and a blank pcb?

[Bryce]

One cheque actually, the one for 200 euros and a not "for parts"? Ring a bell?

Well, I understand your point of view, but what would be serviceable" in a SD-card slot and a blank pcb?

€200!!??

Well the solder joints under that card PCB would no longer be accessable if it was glued. Unlikely that they will fail, but I like to be careful.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

It's your mod, head down to the local Sao Tome hardware store and see if they got anything

[Bryce]

Moving swiftly along (NOT). This weekend and today I finally managed to get back to the MiST mod after fixing a massive amount of other retro stuff (sorry repairs always take priority). Anyway, this time I decided to work on the backplane again. First off some serious amount plastic drilling. It's quite a tight fit because there's a lot to fit on there. Starting from left to right we have the VGA port above, below is the power switch and power input. I used the same sized socket and polarity as the CPC so that you can use your CPC PSU to power it. In the middle are the two Joystick ports and on the right are two USB ports.

Drilled:
[attach=2]

Fitted:
[attach=3]

Installed:
[attach=4]

Still some minor finishing to do, but I'm pretty pleased with the result so far. Next up I'll install the SD Card slot and then start on the buttons and lighting.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

Ohh this looks professional and tidy!!!

Just one question, why not use a dual USB port, wouldn't it be easier?

So excited to see it going forward (technically speaking, it's not working as it is now, so shouldn't it count as a repaid?)

[Bryce]

If you can find dual panel mounted USB ports then send me a link. I'll buy a pile of them.

"A repaid"?

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

I can see lots of photos on Google but it's too early to follow them, but what wrong with this one for instance?
1 5ft 50cm Dual USB 2 0 A Female Panel Mount to Motherboard 10 Pin Header Cable


[EDIT] Wait, we already had this conversation, didn't we?

"repaid" - as in "repair", but with a flourish.

[Bryce]

Wow, thanks. I've been looking for these for quite a while. Can't remember having this conversation before, but then again I'm getting old.

Bryce.

Edit: Very strange. The article says "Ships Worldwide" but then says "Doesn't ship to Germany"??

[Gryzor]

Huh, I'm pretty sure we got into a discussion about mounted USB sockets because we were also talking about the various types, but it probably wasn't about dual ones.

You're welcome, it's not always someone can point you to something you were not aware off

If you want I can buy some for you (wow that's a reversal!).

T


PS free shipping for me, too!

[Bryce]

Hmmm, just realised I put the wrong polarity VGA socket on the backplane. The Female one needs to be here

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

Oooh good thing you realised before I fried it

[Bryce]

Highly unlikely. You'd just have two male connectors and not be able to connect a screen.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

...and somehow I missed the "VGA" part in your post, I thought it was about the power plug, go figure.