A question on attaching stuff securely in A1200 tower

[Eco]

I have an A1200 in a Micronik steel tower. It is accompanied by a Z4 busboard, BPPC+BVision, internal scandoubler+flickerfixer, lyra keyboard adapter, IDE adapter, and drives. X-surf will be joining the fray when I get a replacement (was broken, aww :-()

Anyway, I have a problem with the physical attachment of the scandoubler+flickerfixer (it's the kind that sits on the two chips).   It does stay in place when the tower is not moving, but it is exceedingly easy to disturb the proper placement of the clip-on-chip thingies. I'm sure there are various ways to attach them so they won't move by accident; what have you used? Tape seems to be the obvious solution?

Also, the BPPC+Bvision combo is not very tightly in place in the A1200 expansion slot (actually the pass-through of the Z4). In fact, is always feels loose. Even though I have not detected any problems in use, I'm thinking of attaching something to it to hold it down more securely. Any ideas?

I'd just like to think about my towered miggy and feel that it's solidly built, not a fragile artifact that should not be disturbed  :-)

[Eco]

A1200 a toy? It's the PPC powered frankenstein of the Amiga world  :-D

Back to the topic at hand: Since I already bought the internal scandoubler, and it works and gives me a great VGA output, I will use it.

I'm actually going to order the VGA switcher thing from www.revanchellc.com and lick the problem with the two video outputs. Should be on sale in a week or two I hear.

So.. any practical ideas on how to bolt the sd/ff down?

[Eco]

Thank you, Argo.

I'm actually asking a serious questions here. I'm sure some of you have solved these issues for yourself; share the knowledge!

As for using standoffs on the BPPC: I would not know where to put them on the card (quite crowded), and the motherboard tray does not have any metal where the BPPC is.

[Eco]

We seem to be reclaiming the thread :-D

I'm actually quite satisfied with my A1200 tower right now, but as you know there are always things to improve. The attachement of the sd/ff and BPPC are just two details to attend to.

Any other ideas on attachment methods, particularly for the BPPC? So far the tally is:

-Tape down the sd/ff using non-conductive tape (mentioned in another thread)
-Build a support frame (using a bolt, etc) that secures the sd/ff in place
-Attach BPPC with standoffs (not possible in my case)

[Eco]

Only the second part of my internal scandoubler is a loose fit; the simple part where the two wires come from. Looking at it, it seems like a simple enough job to just use a bit of hot glue or two-sided tape to hold it to the chip.

I'll look into holding the BPPC down with some sort of clamp. I really feel it should not be moving from side to side .  :-o

[Eco]

I don't have a picture of the thing. Maybe I could swivel my webcam and take some shots when I get home from work.

The problem is basically that the BPPC can tilt from side to side from the non-connected end, even when tilting the tower slightly for maintenance operations, etc.  This is basically not very good for the connection, and with the BVision attached, it moves as well.

The BPPC cannot separate from the connector, but this is a legitimate "build quality" issue for my tower.

[Eco]

Ok, here's a shot of the the card when I hold it straight with a finger:



Here is how it tilts when released (always tilts toward the inside of the case):



I noticed there is a very small hole at the top of the card which could be used for mounting . Here is a nice location for a holding clamp:



Edit: Free image hosting my 4ss.

[Eco]

The metal behind the board is the psu, as you can see from this shot from behind the case:



The distance between the card and the psu surface is approximately 4 cm when the card is straight:



There are actually two metal clips with a hole, sticking out from the psu (the top one is visible in this picture):



Now that I'm thinking about it, the optimum solution would be to use these two clips and build some sort of support against which the card could lean. Remember that the card always leans toward the inside of the case. The one place where the card can safely lean on something is the black plastic strip between the memory connectors.

This would appear to be a good solution, since the card could still be removed without having to remove the support. Maybe I could even make it so that a fan can be pointed downward along the card, instead of the 80mm can you see in the pics being pointed "kind of toward the card". Observe the professional use of zip ties to hold the fan  :-D