Amiga 1000 Rejuvenator Recreation Project: The Finale

[fastrobplus]

What's the advantage of surface mounting Agnes?

[luvwagn]

? They go in a socket just like others...

The 8375 is just more available

[luvwagn]

@intric8 and others, I see all of the Rejuvenators with the Molex connectors on the TOP of the board - is that so that the board sits a bit lower onto the stand-offs, due to height restrictions or desire to refit the RF shielding?

It would seem that if the connectors were on the *bottom* of the board, it would make for easier fitment and insertion - would that mean that the pin headers for the Denise+Agnus+Paula chips end up being longer though, which just adds its own problem?

I'm thinking the original was done this way to have room for the video slot connector. If you don't populate or need the video slot, it would seem you can flip these to the bottom of the board...

[m0c]

Mounting the Molex connectors upside down will make joining the boards together even more difficult. The connectors are designed for pins to be inserted from the bottom up. The holes in the plastic harness are "funnel" shaped to make insertion as easy as possible.

I finished my Rejuvenator a few weeks ago, with 318069-18 Agnus and four 514400 ramchips on SOJ-to-DIP adapters. Everything worked first time! Distance between the boards is 12 millimetres.

[A1-X1000]

@ m0c

looks great thanks for posting the pics

[luvwagn]

Mounting the Molex connectors upside down will make joining the boards together even more difficult. The connectors are designed for pins to be inserted from the bottom up. The holes in the plastic harness are "funnel" shaped to make insertion as easy as possible.

Well, I seem to have ordered the wrong connectors then? My funnel part is facing AWAY from the pins, which means they should be bottom mount for best fitment... with funnels facing down. Just like originals?

See attached pic. Got a p/n for kind you ordered?

[m0c]

Well, I seem to have ordered the wrong connectors then?

I guess your are fine. Have you checked the solder side of your connectors? That's where the funnel shaped holes are. Just examine my photos. Doesn't your PCB have holes where all the piggyback pins go? Those holes are slightly bigger and add to the "funnel" effect.

I got my connectors from Mouser. The Molex refs in the BOM on github match the Mouser refs below. The part in bold refers to the number of pins.

538-22-14-2024
538-22-14-2044
538-22-14-2064
538-22-14-2084
538-22-14-2104

Ignore the photos on the Mouser website; they are for reference only.

[m0c]

I see all of the Rejuvenators with the Molex connectors on the TOP of the board - is that so that the board sits a bit lower onto the stand-offs, due to height restrictions or desire to refit the RF shielding?

The connectors used on the Rejuvenator and on the original Kickstart piggyback board are different. By design, if you like it or not, the Rejuvenator sits much closer to the mainboard. Therefore, the 3 original nylon standoffs (20 mm length) have to be removed altogether.

[luvwagn]

I guess your are fine. Have you checked the solder side of your connectors? That's where the funnel shaped holes are. Just examine my photos. Doesn't your PCB have holes where all the piggyback pins go? Those holes are slightly bigger and add to the "funnel" effect.

I got my connectors from Mouser. The Molex refs in the BOM on github match the Mouser refs below. The part in bold refers to the number of pins.

538-22-14-2024
538-22-14-2044
538-22-14-2064
538-22-14-2084
538-22-14-2104

These are the exact p/n I ordered from Mouser. On the solder side of these connectors, there's really no funnel shape to speak of - they are pretty small square holes? The top side is where the funnel shape seems to be, which is why I assumed these should actually be mounted on the bottom of the board (as per original). Perhaps could still be done while removing the nylon stand-offs / spacers that are on all of the pin towers?

I really don't want to solder all these buggers on and then enjoy the pain afterwards. And I will need this to sit low in order to accommodate an 8375 agnus adapter board.

Speaking of which, has anyone ever used an 8375 agnus adapter board before, and if so where do you fetch the A20 line from? Typically it would be off of Gary chip when using those adapters in an A500 or A2000, but obviously I have no Gary chip in my A1000 + rejuvenator combo.

Going to start soldering this weekend. Daunting.

[m0c]

On the solder side of these connectors, there's really no funnel shape to speak of - they are pretty small square holes?

Precisely. Look closely and you will see that the holes - as small as they may seem - are shaped like an inverted pyramid. And the holes in the PCB make joining the boards together even more easy. I did several practice fits and I found lining up the pins for the 3 copro sockets to be the most difficult. Not the Molex connectors.

I really don't want to solder all these buggers on and then enjoy the pain afterwards.

Soldering the Molex connectors upside down to the bottom of the PCB will definitely give you much more pain. Also, things won't look as nice. And besides, don't you think any Rejuvenator deserves to be built the Greg Tibbs way?

Speaking of which, has anyone ever used an 8375 agnus adapter board before, and if so where do you fetch the A20 line from?

Considering that a standard Rejuvenator can be used with either a 1MB or 2MB Agnus (selectable by jumper J103), my guess is that all the required signal lines are already present at the Agnus socket. The adapter shown elsewhere in this thread (the one for use with 2MB Agnus 390544-01) doesn't seem to be needing any extra wires either.

Going to start soldering this weekend. Daunting.

It sounds like you are lacking confidence, my friend... Anyone with average soldering skills should be fine. It's all ancient through hole technology anyway. Now that mine is working first time, I am feeling extra confident. I'm actually about to get started on a second one for a good friend of mine.