Poikilotherm I am still wrapping my head around the wire wrapping! wild stuff.... I always thought the fake board was just a cover for the obvious components underneath but this is much more complex and intuitive
When we actually do something, it's really hard! Persistence is victory!Poikilotherm I am still wrapping my head around the wire wrapping! wild stuff.... I always thought the fake board was just a cover for the obvious components underneath but this is much more complex and intuitive
Just that;Is there significance to the ruler or was it just used for measuring in the archives?
this is artI can't tell you how exciting it is for this to finally be revealed!! (If you'll mind the pun)
So much has been learned about this prop since my last hero run (which only seems like yesterday!)...
The amount of work that has gone on behind the scenes on this subject is astronomical. MASSIVE props to BRRogers and Poikilotherm for their work on finding the board!
Bryan was kind enough to put me out of my misery! Having successfully whittled my list of possible candidates down to just a handful of Casio's (including the LC-785), he was kind enough to share it's ID in the hope that I might be able to get hold of one and develop an updated replica...
My own journey in discovering it's identity was a process of elimination. Having search through the various online calculator museums for internal images of calculators from the appropriate time period, it became apparent that Casio was the way to go:
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This image (Casio MC34) is the one that had me sold on Casio as the brand to look for.
From here, I drew up a list of ALL possible candidates, and then proceeded to eliminate them one by one, by finding images of the interiors where possible, or buying the ones that did not have images available...
Not only did the LC-785 NOT have a single image online showing it's PCB, it is ridiculously RARE! As you're all now going to discover for yourselves!
Anyway, a big THANK YOU to BRRogers for putting me out of my misery and letting me in on it's identity. It allowed me to find one, and work out the arrangement of the parts for myself:
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Poikilotherm has really gone to town on looking in to the finest of details on the PCB! Incredible work!
My own findings are very similar in regards to the arrangement of the pieces, but the wires that are laid in to the board, and the in-depth work on the soldering is fascinating stuff! And as for the internal, electronics... It just blows my mind what @Poikilothermhas accomplished with such a small space to work with!
Personally, I haven't explored this area in any great depth as it's not my area of expertise (at all!), and wasn't entirely sure it was even possible.
As for my next Hero (2023), and the current state of play on the reveal board... This is all drawn up and ready to order, believe it or not! The work on this was all done some time ago (late 2021), along with modifications to the control box. There is room/time to update the design further of course before it goes ahead, and looking forward to the discussions around what is now public information between now and then!
In order to work out the layout of the various pieces of the board, and before physically cutting up my vintage board, I cup up the board in photoshop and moved/rotated the pieces around to determine which bids were needed:
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These have been arranged in to a single board that will be printed to look something like this:
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This can then be easily broken up and assembled, along with the other components, death star brass, etc...
I'll obviously go in to much more detail closer to the time... This isn't an advertisement/announcement for any future run. My time/attention is still focussed very much on my current Obi project, and will be for the foreseeable future.
Just very excited to share some of the work that's gone on behind the scenes and contribute to this discussion now that it's no longer under wraps!
Exciting times!
Can I just throw in a bone of contention... Or at least an area that I think might need a bit more investigation before outright deciding on the exact model...
I'm just wondering how the A/2 was arrived at, over the A/1 or A/3?
Is it just the solder mask colour? Obviously there is clearly some variation between the examples that have been found so far, but I'm wondering if these variations are typical of the specific boards, or if they could just be variations between individual batches, that could just as easily occur between two boards with the same number?
I'm just concerned that it may be a little early to say for certain which one was definitely used on the prop, and by extension, that the other two are close, but incorrect.
Currently, my newly drawn up replica is based on the LC-785 (A/3).
The traces on the A/3 I found match up to the prop perfectly, so I'm just wondering if the A/2 was chosen based on its colour?
These old reference photos are notoriously unreliable when it comes to determining colours too of course, as is apparent with the neck colour and the endless debate around that.
I have a vested interest obviously, but I am wondering if more examples need to be found before ruling out specific batch numbers?