Special thanks to;
Steve Lancett for letting me crawl all over his machine like a
maggot.
Wizard for sorting the ROMS for me
Launton for letting me use his legit Photoshop
and code
Magik for his support and mentoring
Paul Gee for coming back to me so quickly
whenever I had a question (and helping get a cab for GA which RD used)
and everyone
else who offered support along the way.
Just finished off tying the looms up last night, so it's as neat as I can get it.
It obviously not as good as an original loom, but my labels are still in place as
I expected to have to fault find.
The front door is now closed and the back door is
on. I've play tested it for a few hours and I can't find any issues.
Looking at the
cost of the project, I think it's important to evaluate the amount spent to complete
a project. Although I would never sell this machine, I like to know what something
cost me.
The cabinet was £120 (since the donor cab was complete MPU/PSU/reel deck/lamp
holders are included in this)
The glass was £80
Fuel to collect glass was £120
Wire
£15
Connectors £20
Crimpers (decent) £18
Strippers (decent) £15
Reel bands (no actual
cost to me)
ROMS and ROM card (swapped for another card with earlier ROMS)
Total cost
£388 + 6 weeks time (working on weekends and evenings)
The technical skill need to
complete this project, [out of 10], I would say is 10. My skill level is not 10,
which is why I needed help from others on this forum. But that's no bad thing really,
some times you just need some help when you need it and it does actually add to the
level of achievement because other people interacted along the way which is nice.
Simple things like locating pin 1 on the MPU is crucial to the correct implementation
of the wiring. Understanding the circuit diagram (and I did have my moments) especially
where circuits are combined, for me, was not easy.
The three critical components are
the glass, ROMS and the circuit diagram without which, the build project is a non
starter. Keeping up the momentum is also key as once the project stagnates, I know
I would never finish it.
I need to get the spacing 100% correct for the reel bands
and I will look at re-doing the RD bands when I come to do CU, but for now the ones
in the machine are more than adequate and it's only a minor gripe.
And that's about
it.