My new A4000

[kirk_m]

Let me introduce to you the newest A4000 in the USA...  finished a few weeks ago by me, but, with bugs due to 4 bad solder points (out of over 800 components).  After a few weeks of intermittent troubleshooting as I could (busy busy busy IRL), it is officially alive as of yesterday.  There is still one bug that I haven't figured out yet, though.  I cannot get the IDE to work, but, it will boot fine from floppy.  Acill tells me that IDE is controlled by the GALs at position U901 and U902.   I'll keep plugging away until I find out what the issue is there, I suppose.

I couldn't even solder a year ago, so this is quite the accomplishment for me.

Pics (or it didn't happen):

Alice A4000+

[remotenemesis]

That is amazing! Nice work.

[outlawal2]

I
WANT
ONE

Assembled and ready to go...
NOW

LOL

Nice work by the way..

[kirk_m]

Thank you!  Now I just have to clean all the flux residue off the board.  I cleaned as  I assembled, but, I still have a sticky residue from the flux everywhere.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Noice!  Looks like you still have to do RAM sockets?  Are those RAM chips near the clock battery spot?

[kirk_m]

Yes, I still have to install the FAST RAM sockets.  And, correct, the chip RAM is soldered to the board, near the RTC battery  (which I also still have to install). 

The only thing not working is the IDE, which I have been told is controlled by the GALs at U901 & U902, as well as a few buffer chips nearby.  I'll have to check the soldering there this weekend when I have time, then I'll clean off all the remaining flux residue.

Next project is to build one of John Hertell's 3660 boards, and Arananet's daughterboard (updated format with no ISA slots on it)...then after that, a ReAmiga1200

[gary2000]

Very nice! Also inspiring, as I will start on a similar project soon. You learned very quickly.

Did you use a hot air station or just the soldering iron? Also did you purchase new custom chips or remove them from another board?

[kirk_m]

Thank you!  Acill taught me well, and, having good magnification, light, and steady  hands didn't hurt, either New custom chips were used.  I bought them as a set from iComp (he will not sell you the Alice chip unless you buy the entire set needed).  I used a Hakko temperature controlled soldering iron, liquid flux, and rosin core solder wire (37/63 leaded).  The only thing I used hot air for was removal of an SMD component I had installed by accident (one resistor was to be installed only if you used an onboard CPU versus a CPU card, and I did not solder in an onboard CPU).

Are you about to build a ReAmiga 1200?   Once I build a 3660 card for this, I am going to build the 1200.

[gary2000]

No, I have one of Acill's boards. I was going to try and remove the chips from the old board with chipQuik, as I do not have a hot air station.

[kirk_m]

That stuff looks interesting (the chipquick), but, I've always wondered how you clean it off the IC once you've gotten it removed it, without overheating and killing the IC.  Have you ever used it before?

[mechy]

Nice job,no small feat soldering all that, i still have mine to do now!
As for the IDE gals, are you using the same speed Gals as originals? sometimes it can be picky.

[mechy]

Chipquick is basically bismuth,its got a low melting point so heat is not a issue, also it doesn't like to "cling' to the chip so much so cleaning is not an issue.

[kirk_m]

Thanks, Mechy.  The GALs really aren't GALs...they're equivalent 16V8 EEPLDs, and are 10ns. 
The issue was poor contact of the sockets to the GALs.  I went in and cleaned all the contacts of the ICs and the socket with isopropyl 99% (I think I had some flux residue on the pins of both parts) and also bent out the pins in the sockets themselves to make them more firmly contact the GALs.  It now boots from IDE...hooray!

I just have to clean off all the remaining flux residue from the board...what a pain in the ass.  I cleaned it all as I went along, but, the board is still tacky to the touch.  I have a small ultrasonic cleaner, but, nothing big enough to fit this entire board in.

[kirk_m]

Chipquick is basically bismuth,its got a low melting point so heat is not a issue, also it doesn't like to "cling' to the chip so much so cleaning is not an issue.

What's the best way to clean off afterwards?  Solder wick?

[gary2000]

I have no experience using that, but I did plan on using solder wick.