exxos blog - random goings on

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exxos
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

Post by exxos »

PeckPeekPoke wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 2:47 pm It's obvious you are very busy. There must be some way to enlist some Atarians eager to help. We are legion, we are global, dispersed through nations with various resources that can be leveraged advantageously.
Its already happening though..

My girlfriend picks and packs and posts the orders for me..

The regular members here already helping build and test new items.. @Icky Is pretty much taken over all the PCB design work, and pretty much developing add-ons himself single-handedly.. Though it is not through the lack of people willing to help, I just don't have the brainpower to multitask between 20 different projects at once continuously. I have been trying to do this and that is why silly mistakes start to happen I just need to stop doing that even though I am probably working on 10 different projects at once currently anyway.

A guy I used to work with have been busy soldering stuff up for me as well...

I stopped doing repairs and upgrades installations and passed them all over to @Steve now mostly..

Not to mention the amount of people that have been with me since the start creating the new motherboards..

The moderator team here help out people with various issues which I don't have much time for these days.. They also help maintain the forum..

So while I have considerable help people all the way round the world, sadly I still cannot keep up with things.

For things like the power supplies, they just have to be for the most part, built in China. It increases the price of things, but the final assembly and testing is still done in the UK. But again because of my poorly hands, I just cannot assemble these myself anymore, and nobody else is going to build these for me. The company in the UK built a batch previously but they are no longer really trading I think. But also it was going from several days to several months in them building my stuff, I just could not wait that time. It is also a nightmare sorting out every part I need to ship and send instructions for assembly etc

It is pretty much running my store where all my time goes. I don't have much time to develop new things any more. I pretty much say the same thing all the time that it is good people are buying stuff from my store and I have been increasing the number of items produced on every batch to keep up. The problem was items sold out around five times faster than I was expecting. So larger batches need to be done this increase the workload considerably. Not to mention I can easily spend thousands in one go like the motherboards or find parts for the power supplies, my credit card can only take so many hits at once also. So whichever angle you look at it, there is just this "brick wall" which really has no way past.
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
People should find solutions to problems, not find problems with solutions.
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sporniket
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

Post by sporniket »

exxos wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 2:03 pm My new template seems to work well with the only problem it is actually difficult to lift it off without knocking the chips :roll:
maybe 3d print the negative of your template with a height of around 2-3cm at least on the top on a supporting slate, that would be put upside down (the flat surface on the top) on the chips to maintain them while you lift the template.

Of course, to not block the template when lifting, the negative is in fact eroded (I mean, the surface maintaining the chips smaller than the chips).

I wonder if I am clear enough ?
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

Post by PeckPeekPoke »

As a creative person, you must have gotten into this for the love of electronics, music and engineering science. Yet it sounds like the aspect of business administration has been gobbling up your time, and resources.
You've got a great team, recruited from technical enthusiasts, rather than business administration-enthusiasts. Compliments to your girlfriend on her perfume; when I received my orders I had thought you were just a really good-smelling dude.
Now you need to delegate management of the store and capital, (separated from your personal finances) to free up your time and resources so you can focus on the aspects of this business that drew you in initially. Give yourself the job you want, configure and delegate the rest, the way you'd design a machine: turn it on and let run itself, then enjoy what you've built. You built it, they came, and now you need some order so as not to be overwealmed, better than being underwealmed.
Thank you for all you've done, saving the lives of countless computers. Hear hear! and best of luck!
FOR GREAT JUSTICE. TAKE OUT EVERY ZIG
800xl+U1mb, STfm, STe, 030
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

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sporniket wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 3:38 pm maybe 3d print the negative of your template with a height of around 2-3cm at least on the top on a supporting slate, that would be put upside down (the flat surface on the top) on the chips to maintain them while you lift the template.

Of course, to not block the template when lifting, the negative is in fact eroded (I mean, the surface maintaining the chips smaller than the chips).

I wonder if I am clear enough ?
No, not sure I follow, though I'm about to pass out due to the heat here anyway :roll:

I think if I lift the template up off the PCB a couple of millimetres, so it only touches on the top of the chip, I think this may help.
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
People should find solutions to problems, not find problems with solutions.
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

Post by sporniket »

exxos wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 5:34 pm
sporniket wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 3:38 pm maybe 3d print the negative of your template with a height of around 2-3cm at least on the top on a supporting slate, that would be put upside down (the flat surface on the top) on the chips to maintain them while you lift the template.

Of course, to not block the template when lifting, the negative is in fact eroded (I mean, the surface maintaining the chips smaller than the chips).

I wonder if I am clear enough ?
No, not sure I follow.
A picture is better than thousand words... I mean to print something like this :
chip-press.jpg
chip-press.jpg (17.89 KiB) Viewed 2667 times
That would press each chip to maintain them at their position on the pcb while lifting the template.
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

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sporniket wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 7:21 pm A picture is better than thousand words... I mean to print something like this :

That would press each chip to maintain them at their position on the pcb while lifting the template.
ohh get'ya now.. It may work if I had a more elaborate assembly rig.. The problem is when the current template is lifted up, I would be holding that one, and your template, and the chances are they would still get knocked anyway ..I will have a thing about it over the weekend though :thumbup:
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
People should find solutions to problems, not find problems with solutions.
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

Post by exxos »

Today's soldering epic

:dizzy:

IMG_6650.JPG
IMG_6650.JPG (443.27 KiB) Viewed 2634 times
IMG_6652.JPG
IMG_6652.JPG (442.84 KiB) Viewed 2634 times
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
People should find solutions to problems, not find problems with solutions.
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

Post by Tbs123456 »

So I'm new here and have been trying to catch up on a lot of reading( getting a TT and falcon with a ct60 upgrade so this site as been amazing to read!) and have been wondering about all the upgrades and stf remakes you have going, what haven't you built a pcb with integrated tf536 that would also fit into and ATX style case? I'm not an engineer by any means, just wondering why only doing an stf remake and not improving on it more with all of the upgrades you offer?
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

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Tbs123456 wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 10:59 pm So I'm new here and have been trying to catch up on a lot of reading( getting a TT and falcon with a ct60 upgrade so this site as been amazing to read!) and have been wondering about all the upgrades and stf remakes you have going, what haven't you built a pcb with integrated tf536 that would also fit into and ATX style case? I'm not an engineer by any means, just wondering why only doing an stf remake and not improving on it more with all of the upgrades you offer?
Because creating the current motherboard took over 3 years of work so far and cost several thousand to produce the current batch of boards alone. I would like to do many things but as said a few posts back, my store soaks up all my time and I am only one person and not such a young man anymore. The TF536 I adapted better for ST but there's no interest in it like many things. Its a alpha test board and no where near ready to base a motherboard around it. But always the same, why not ATX, why not 030 why not 060 why not STE, why not falcon, why not falcon with 060.. The list is endless. I'm not interested in such projects, even if I was, I don't have time for it .

I'm not sure why you think we are not improving the motherboard. We have done nothing but improve on it. There are many upgrades appearing for it and a lot of older upgrades are built onto the new motherboard already.. So I think you have missed a epic load of posts about it all..

See here for starters https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/last/REMAKE_INTRO/
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/ All my hardware guides - mods - games - STOS
https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/store2/ - All my hardware mods for sale - Please help support by making a purchase.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1585 Have you done the Mandatory Fixes ?
Just because a lot of people agree on something, doesn't make it a fact. ~exxos ~
People should find solutions to problems, not find problems with solutions.
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Re: exxos blog - random goings on

Post by Tbs123456 »

Sorry, I didn't mean any disrespect or to imply that you hadn't improved it. It appears to be a huge upgrade over the factory board. Guess I meant more along the lines of integrating all of your upgrades than having them be separate add-ons. Like I said, I'm no engineer, just was curious is all. I get why not doing the STe or TT or falcon since they weren't as popular or plentiful. ATX I'd figured would would allow more room for upgrades and better airflow. Again, just curious.
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