Do we have room for another N64P? (t64 WIP)

[hackmodford]

Georgeous!

[BENFTW]

It looks fantastic! Great Job!

[stuntpenguin007]

Is it exactly clear what causes and n64 to sometimes work whenever it feels like it? It would be kinda funny if you got it etched and everything soldered in and then it didn't work but then a week later it did.

jk. I hope it works the first time
Great Work.

but my n64 was just sitting for a month or two and now it doesn't work

[thewise1]

Maybe it's just finicky etching nintendo did themselves or unnecessary parts that nintendo used. It's possible that this board will be as sturdy and work as well as most other portable boards. I'd love to be able to turn on a couple of my n64 boards and have them work twice in a row. Maybe you could throw kibbles at a wall and it still worked. But I don't think he's willing to test that.

[Skyone]

Man...I hope you get all of the parts on there right.

[kibble]

Bad news.....again! I went to etch the board and I used the sponge method. Well, I learned that it's not a very good idea for boards with very fine traces. The sponge is a bit too rough on the really fine traces and it wears out the resist to the point where some traces disappear. Now I can't get another board until next week.

[Skyone]

Maybe it's because hair is thicker than those traces.

[marshallh]

Are you a student? Get a board from advancedcircuits.com. They do a great job and you will save a lot of headache.

[Pkmnjunky7]

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

Good luck on the next one.. 3rd time's the charm!!

[kibble]

Maybe it's because hair is thicker than those traces.

They were thicker in the beginning, that's how thin they got AFTER I used the sponge. LOL, I didn't make them THAT thin.

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

Good luck on the next one.. 3rd time's the charm!!

Well, I'm certainly not giving up yet! This is the only board I've made that's given me this much headache, partly because I've been trying out new methods, maybe I should stick with what I already know! Darn you guys and giving me new ideas!! *shakes fist* LOL, JK. I thank you all for your input.

I'm determined to make at LEAST the first board by hand as I've never made one this complex. On the plus side of double failing, it turns out that I managed to line up both the top and bottom layers up really well. I drilled out some of the vias on the crap board just to see how well they were lined up and the holes were pretty spot on.

Are you a student? Get a board from advancedcircuits.com. They do a great job and you will save a lot of headache.

Yeah, I'm a student, I guess. I'll be taking some classes again next semester. I'm gonna have to check them out for other variations of this board that I want to make, what do they charge? Well, I guess I could find this information if I look on their page...

[kibble]

Got me another blank board today, will be giving it another shot here soon.

[argelfraster]

We want pictures NAO!!!!!
Looks great by the way

[Mario]

Aw, man, now I feel all bad. Sorry about that. I'm sure you'll get it on the third try! That method is good for PCBs with bigger traces, I suppose.

[kibble]

Oh, no worries. It's a learning process.

Anyway, I finally got something I can work with. It's not exactly what I wanted it to be, partly because I can't get the transparencies dark enough to only use one and some of the traces turned out thinner than they should have been but, I'm hoping they'll work. It's a start.

I kinda had the opposite of what happened last time happen this time where the resist didn't come off enough in some areas so I have copper bridging some traces together. I'll have to go through and manually scrape it off. It's not that bad though, it's better than having too much copper gone.

[eagle5953]

Sweet! Glad this is coming together so nicely...