jamatar
New Member
Hello!
Well, I've been down a rabbit hole tonight! It started when I was looking at my Slothfurnace v2 PCB... So some background, I have a veeeery basic knowledge of electronics and PCBs but I've been watching some videos on repairing PCBS and there are things called 'PCB vias' and what they do is make electrical contact from the front of the PCB to the back of the PCB. The PCB has a hole drilled in it and then when it's plated, the hole gets plated right the way through.
info here: PCB Vias: An In-Depth Guide
However, this is a fairly advanced technique and PCB design has come a long way through the 70s, 80s and 90s. Also in the 70s, PCBs were still hand drawn. Late 70s you could do computer but your lines were very straight, no diagonals. After that, PCBs started looking very advanced. I watched this video:
So the Luke V2 clamp card has vias in it. But they're filled with solder! They aren't plated! So that dates the board somewhere around the start of vias but also still at the point that they needed to fill them with solder. Also the spacing of the contacts is interesting. I've seen info about it being a '44 HP pin standard'... It was used by the MOS Technologies Kim-1 for expansion connection. It's about a .156" pin spacing... which is also what the JAMMA arcade wiring standard is! JAMMA was established in 1981 which is a year before filming began for ROTJ. I've got a slothfurnace card here and the spacing matches up to the .156" pin spacing.
So it got me thinking... JAMMA started because arcade machines started using the same standard and they wanted to make it official across the board. So i looked and I looked at many, many, MANY arcade PCBS... and I found this one. Quantum by Atari, dated 1982 so we know this is not the board. But look how close it is :O
I really want to know if the pad spacing is correct. But it's got the soldered vias. It's got veeeeeery similar straight computer drawn PCB lines. It's got the full uncoated PCB.
I think if the pad spacing is correct, it could be another ATARI board from earlier. They would have been pulled from machines and tossed after the big arcade boom from 1978 when Space Invaders came out.
This is the page where I saw it looked similar: Arcade PCB Fever
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Well, I've been down a rabbit hole tonight! It started when I was looking at my Slothfurnace v2 PCB... So some background, I have a veeeery basic knowledge of electronics and PCBs but I've been watching some videos on repairing PCBS and there are things called 'PCB vias' and what they do is make electrical contact from the front of the PCB to the back of the PCB. The PCB has a hole drilled in it and then when it's plated, the hole gets plated right the way through.
info here: PCB Vias: An In-Depth Guide
However, this is a fairly advanced technique and PCB design has come a long way through the 70s, 80s and 90s. Also in the 70s, PCBs were still hand drawn. Late 70s you could do computer but your lines were very straight, no diagonals. After that, PCBs started looking very advanced. I watched this video:
So the Luke V2 clamp card has vias in it. But they're filled with solder! They aren't plated! So that dates the board somewhere around the start of vias but also still at the point that they needed to fill them with solder. Also the spacing of the contacts is interesting. I've seen info about it being a '44 HP pin standard'... It was used by the MOS Technologies Kim-1 for expansion connection. It's about a .156" pin spacing... which is also what the JAMMA arcade wiring standard is! JAMMA was established in 1981 which is a year before filming began for ROTJ. I've got a slothfurnace card here and the spacing matches up to the .156" pin spacing.
So it got me thinking... JAMMA started because arcade machines started using the same standard and they wanted to make it official across the board. So i looked and I looked at many, many, MANY arcade PCBS... and I found this one. Quantum by Atari, dated 1982 so we know this is not the board. But look how close it is :O
I really want to know if the pad spacing is correct. But it's got the soldered vias. It's got veeeeeery similar straight computer drawn PCB lines. It's got the full uncoated PCB.
I think if the pad spacing is correct, it could be another ATARI board from earlier. They would have been pulled from machines and tossed after the big arcade boom from 1978 when Space Invaders came out.
This is the page where I saw it looked similar: Arcade PCB Fever
Would love to hear your thoughts!
