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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

What is this?

It's my project/attempt at recreating the first board used in C64 production. It's based on a schematic by Ruud Baltissen.

How?

I got one of these boards without much components, all chips where gone (almost). I then removed the rest and cleaned out all holes and got it scanned at a local copy shop. Initial I used sprint layout which has a feature to trace on top of an image. But I wanted a more "complete" soloution so I imported the copper layers in to kicad and managed to trace on top of that. But the schematic was not the same as the board and I got help from Fredric QJ Blåholtz adjustning the schematic to the board, it's a bit backwards but I trust the board more.

Why?

I have been asked that a lot. One reason is that I have always liked the C64 and I wanted to get more intimate with it. One thing I have truly learned is that QA and QC was not that much used 37 years ago, anything that worked was ok. So boards could differ even thou they had the same number. So I decided to just stick with making a replica of what I had.

The other reason is that I have a lot of time on my hands so I wanted to make something, that at some point will come in as usefull. These boards will at some point fail. They where not robust made 37 years ago and either a hole will break loose from the board or a track will crack. Having a source for a new board would then come in handy. Simply pick a PCB house that you trust and send them the gerber files. Most have a minimum order so you will never have a problem again.

Status?

I have verified the board by printing out the tracks on paper and used a needle to poke through and see if things match up. It does very close but since paper under the real board can move it will not be precise, but it's as good as I can do it.

I have also added some "eyecandy" in the form of 3d shapes of most things on the board. there are some things I can't find thou and my skills are not up to doing that from scratch, but if anyone wants to chip in I need step/stp files for these parts:

Plan?

At summer 2020 I will order 5 boards as that is the minimum from Elecrow. I will then during fall/winter buy and add components. Since the chips are the most expensive parts, it might be as far as early 2021 before i can power it up

Working on right now?

Trying to locate cad/3d models in step/stp format for the missing bits