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Reverse Engineering the Macintosh SE PCB & Custom Chips for 1:1 reproduction
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2020-07-14 06:52:16 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.
Posted by: Bolle on 2020-07-14 16:59:13 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.
Posted by: Kai Robinson on 2020-07-14 18:08:27 Ohhhh yeaaaaahhhhh - Scan them in and i can get started 😉
Posted by: Bolle on 2020-07-14 18:58:01 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 🙂
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2020-07-14 23:35:23 [🙂] 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?
Posted by: Kai Robinson on 2020-07-15 00:02:16 Boards arrive from JLCPCB on Monday - looking forward to seeing the end result.
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2020-07-15 03:20:31 What color? :huh: Good on ya!
Posted by: techknight on 2020-07-15 04:38:49 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.
Posted by: Bolle on 2020-07-15 05:23:46 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.
Posted by: archer174 on 2020-07-15 05:59:34 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!
Posted by: LightBulbFun on 2020-07-15 06:12:33 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!
Posted by: Kai Robinson on 2020-07-15 06:42:26 @archer174 you can have one, just beware it’s a prototype! There’s missing grounds for the I/O that need bodge wiring in...
Posted by: Kai Robinson on 2020-07-15 06:49:02 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;
Posted by: rplacd on 2020-07-15 12:27:41 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.
Posted by: archer174 on 2020-07-15 15:30:59 @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.
Posted by: Kai Robinson on 2020-07-16 04:27:41 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.
Posted by: paws on 2020-07-16 06:56:14 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.
Posted by: Kai Robinson on 2020-07-16 22:52:09 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.
Posted by: landoGriffin on 2020-07-16 22:55:29 This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2020-07-16 22:57:55 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!
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