Worklog N64-AIO

Gman

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I can see I've logged back into Bit Built for my annual winter N64 tinkering at the perfect time!!

How many monies would you like for one of these once they're ready? (I don't actually care how much, I just need to know how much to tuck away! Haha)
I'm not sure yet. But a consider it's an N64PMS and a Uamp that's sort of a baseline.
 

Quakers

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Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Gman on this one. Goose over here is looking kinda sus

Quakers has voted
 
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Gman

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New AIO PCB in, I just fixed the minor mistake I outlined in the first one.

I wanted to get full experience if someone were to receive a partially assembled AIO pcb and then transplanted the N64 chipset themselves so that's what I did. I used amtech "sticky flux", it's more effective although needs to be cleaned well afterwards. With the other boards I soldered with kester951 flux I had trouble and ended with some lifted pads that needed rework. Not this time. It all seems to be working great.

20201108_202252.jpg

20201108_220344.jpg
 
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Funny, I was thinking no way in hell Kester951 would hold up considering it would evap before the solder even melted. Amtech NC-559-V2 TF Tacky flux is amazing too! Arent those black color pcb's more expensive to manufacture?
 

Gman

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Funny, I was thinking no way in hell Kester951 would hold up considering it would evap before the solder even melted. Amtech NC-559-V2 TF Tacky flux is amazing too! Arent those black color pcb's more expensive to manufacture?
The color is the same price, JLC will just take 1-2 days longer to create it than the default green. It's nice to change it up. The black is stunning however it is really hard to keep it looking clean!
 

Shank

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I have also transitioned away from Kester-951, but I have switched to Kester-186. Each behaves differently and I feel like each has its own place. I feel 186 is a lot messier, and needs cleaning (even though it says no-clean), while the 951 basically disappears on its own. I still use the 951 from time to time depending on the application, but I feel the 186 performs better. Hope to try the famous Amtech eventually
 
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This is stunning Gman! You make these things look so easy but I know how much time and money goes into these things...
 
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Very nice Gman :) I'm going to be trying this myself at some point, me using SprintLayout should make this painless.

Quick question Gman, does the traces's path need to be perfectly recreated, or does the impedance just matter?
 

Gman

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Very nice Gman :) I'm going to be trying this myself at some point, me using SprintLayout should make this painless.

Quick question Gman, does the traces's path need to be perfectly recreated, or does the impedance just matter?
No the paths don't need to be "perfectly recreated" however certain circuits need to follow good electrical design in order to function, especially the RDRAM routing. There are guidelines online you can read about this to ensure reliability.
 
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Idk, I never saw much point in a pif replacement unless you're stuck with a PAL console. That's assuming it's 100% bug free which is not likely, as some games still need to talk with the CIC (Banjo Tooie decrypts its level descriptors with response keys from the 6105)
Even so, if you swap out the video crystal and pin strapping to get 48.68mhz vclk, you are in good shape to use a flashcart to softboot any game into NTSC with perfect timing.

All of the unique PAL titles have ntsc patches available, and most of the PAL ports are inferior to their NTSC versions. And when you're already sacrificing a donor console, it's just a chip to swap over..
 
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Unfortunately as I an Australian I am in this exact situation. If I remember correctly you worked on a universal PIF replacement a couple of years ago, how did that go?
 
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New AIO PCB in, I just fixed the minor mistake I outlined in the first one.

I wanted to get full experience if someone were to receive a partially assembled AIO pcb and then transplanted the N64 chipset themselves so that's what I did. I used amtech "sticky flux", it's more effective although needs to be cleaned well afterwards. With the other boards I soldered with kester951 flux I had trouble and ended with some lifted pads that needed rework. Not this time. It all seems to be working great.

View attachment 14946
View attachment 14945
how do i get an ultra Vga?

---MERGE POSTS---

do you have plates for sale ?
 
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