Afterburner DLX motor drive boards

[Jetski]

Just an update on this. I had a week between jobs and they're now 2/3 made.
Painful, I'm never, ever, ever hand soldering these again.
Annoyingly the heatsink clips I specced are now unobtainable, so I'll have to drill and tap 40 holes for Triacs .

So getting there (really!), just taking a while.
After all the pain I would prefer to spread the 10 around as much as possible and if anyone needs multiples, maybe I could do another batch next year where I'll try to get clued-up on getting them pre-built by a PCB supplier (just the IC sockets, resistors and capacitors are 75% of the pain)

Great job , please keep one for me!

 

[tiff_lee]

I only need one set but i'm sure i'm not alone in wanting a spare given how rare these are.
I assume you don't offer this in a kit form is because of the aggro if someone DIYs it and then comes asking for endless tech support?

 

[John Bennett]

To be honest, I’d not considered it as no one’s really asked for this or Outrun.

I assumed people saw the pain and thought for the small amount I’d included in the cost for labour, it was worth it.
Someone did make up a couple of these from the last batch themselves actually, so it could work.
My only fears with kits was me forgetting to put everything in there, plus the chore of packaging all the little bits properly.

 

[tiff_lee]

Yeah fair enough, well if you ever decide to do that it i'd happily buy a completed one and a kit one as spare.

 

[John Bennett]

The truth is I'll always do more, one way or another, can't have machines out there not working and people resorting to scalpers etc.
Just trying to balance how much stuff is in my cupboard . Got loads of Outrun Motor/Audio/Lamp boards sat there.
I'll propose a kit next time around too.

At least with the repros, it's all available, so they can always be repaired (unless you incinerate one, somehow).

 

[Ravodude]

Hi John, late comer to the discussion, but would be interested in a motor board for afterburner dlx if they aren’t all spoken for.

 

[John Bennett]

Hi, I am sorry, they are all spoken for, when I last checked.

Also sorry I've gone a bit quiet. All 10 are built now, I just need to program the GALs and then make up my test rig to see if they work on the bench. Life's gone a bit hectic lately, so it's hard to find much time (ill parents, selling houses, working evenings), but it won't be long.

I'm going to look at a strategy for making more - I'm starting to get into having things automated on other projects, so even if I could get the resistors, capacitors and sockets soldered, it would knock 3/4 off the (painful) build time.

 

[Ravodude]

Hi John, thanks for your reply and your awesome project. This sort of thing will keep these old arcades going for many years yet.
If anyone decides not to go ahead with purchasing, please keep me in mind.
Thanks

 

[Phils Arcade]

I've got an AfterBurner DLX heading my way as well. No idea what the drive boards are like, but would probably like something a bit more reliable as well, if when you decide to build a few more

 

[John Bennett]

Oh I will do more, I'm just never going to 100% handmake them again. Looks like the majority of bits can be wave soldered. The only issue I've got is the cloud-based circuitmaker PCB project looks corrupt, so regenerating it with pick-and-place co-ordinates will require me to recover it...somehow.

GALs programmed tonight, so onto testing soon.

 

[John Bennett]

It is funny, when I first did 5 of these there was minimal interest. It's definitely picked up now .
I so also need to move on a few more of the 15+ Outrun/Space Harrier drive boards in my cupboard (got Outrun audio amps too).

 

[Ravodude]

Oh I will do more, I'm just never going to 100% handmake them again. Looks like the majority of bits can be wave soldered. The only issue I've got is the cloud-based circuitmaker PCB project looks corrupt, so regenerating it with pick-and-place co-ordinates will require me to recover it...somehow.

GALs programmed tonight, so onto testing soon.

Fantastic work, I’m now awaiting delivery of a refurbished Sega X board, once that arrives I’ll be able to test my motor boards. The crt chassis and X board had severe track rot, the motor boards look better, but I’m not optimistic. A replacement will be needed at some stage.
Cheers

 

[Phils Arcade]

I may need 2 Space Harrier drive boards as well, yet another project, just not sure yet.

 

[stuarth]

just checking in John, all looking good! sorry its been one of those kind of jobs populating the PCB's!

 

[Ravodude]

Hi John, I have now confirmed my motor board is no good, and not a great candidate for repair. Just want to make sure my name is down in case anyone changes their mind.
Cheers

 

[John Bennett]

Well all done and tested (via a halogen lamp anyway). I’ll start thinking about getting them out the door soon.

 

[stuarth]

well thats a test rig. awsome John.

 

[John Bennett]

Making a PCB to stimulate the inputs helped a lot, but it still involves slogging a huge 2:1 transformer around (the grey box off shot on the right).
I blew a couple of 13A fuses too as I'd wired it wrong. A reminder that there's quite a lot of current and voltage in these things!

 

[tiff_lee]

Impressive setup, is that a custom made PCB on the left to simulate axial inputs for testing?

 

[John Bennett]

Yeah. It’s a binary switch and dip switches, mainly. They don’t need anything clever to make them work, it’s just a 4-bit speed code for each motor.

I’m just doing a little bit more testing before they go out the door. Might be wise to hang on until after the Christmas post chaos.