I worked in a PCB factory for about 2 years in the late 1990s, and did a lot of manual surface-mount soldering like you did starting at 13:11. It looks like you're using a Metcal, which is what we used as well (I have one at home too). I suggest the STTC-126 tip cartridge. It is a bent conical tip similar to the one you're using, but it is much smaller, which makes soldering small SMDs a lot easier. And being a Metcal, small tips can also do big jobs. I can easily solder in a flyback transformer with that tip, for example. I use the STTC-126 for pretty much everything. It was also the most popular tip at the PCB factory I worked at, for both surface-mount and through-hole soldering.
Totally understandable for being busy. John from John's arcade mentioned about you and seen you on his channel. You definitely know your stuff in regards to fixing the PCB for the arcade games. I'm trying to get my feet wet into that as well with some beginner's projects and Arduino along side to get up to where you and John are.
Whew I build circuit boards like this hats off to you. hand placing, I couldn’t do it I have to have a pick and place machine and stencil printer especially with bga
i just found you n i just got a pole position 2 sit down unit ..look forward to seeing a video soon even if its a short one..wow i shake 2 much fer board assembly like that small .a pick n place machine would have 2 be in my lab or through hole parts ;}...i need one of them boards asap .oh'- hi frum east TN
Dont feel bad last time I posted a video was a year ago :) great job on the board i did some silk screening work when I was at IBM but they had multi million dollar machines... it made it easier. Oh and I love the music used, its the kind of music I used to make back in the 90's.
Wow that`s a lot of work Adam :) getting all the right parts and Placing each one on the board and putting it in its right position in its right location never mind the hard work you did engineering and designing the PCB Brovo, i guess getting the boards mass production not to hard on the wallet .; but finding a place to put the components on the PCB and bake it a little more costly pure unit and trusting them not to copy your work (depending on where you go to have it done) a risk :) thanks for the video and keep up the good work sir . if i could give you two thumb up on RUclips i would :)
I *think* I had that setup for expecting a 75Ω termination load to get to 0-0.7V P-P. Take a peek with a oscilloscope and see if the analog video outputs are actually more like 0-1.4V P-P or something-- could be I put the wrong size termination on the board...
Adam -- I am thinking of getting a dental digital xray rig for $2500-3500 for my PCB inspection, mostly BGAs, especially MICRO BGAs -- nasty little guys to place. What Xray are you using?
Edd Ray Or selling it as a loose kit? but with through hole components, this would be easier for Adam and no production needed or just small amounts of assembled PCB's
Okay, well, if that ever happens and you need someone to play-test it, let me know. I know the gameplay of both PO and SPO like the back of my hand, and have played both of them to past 1.5 million points. If anything were off with the gameplay, I'd notice it.
It's a luxury in this case. Rather than use the original hardware comprised of many separate chips which uses a ton of power and is expensive you can use a single, cheap, low power device.
I used Kester R500 solderpaste. (Yep, water soluble.) I didn't shoot any video of it for Adam to include, but there was a wash and dry step in there. ;-)
The Pole Position board has a hell of a lot of processors and discrete logic chips that are duplicated in this FPGA. Unless you're suggesting emulation. This board is being made specifically as an alternative to emulation.
John sweda Completely different method of operation. A traditional CPU is fixed-function, and executes specific instructions, mainly sequentially. With an FPGA, you are literally putting the very low-level gates and registers together, so you can re-create things like arcade boards at the logic level. It also allows you to run lots of digital logic in parallel, just like a lot of original arcade boards and retro computers / consoles. It's quite challenging to perfectly recreate some arcade boards using software emulation. There are similar challenges that face both software emulation and FPGA retro cores though - the original machines often used custom ICs, and CPUs which the manufacturers rarely released chip-level schematics or netlists for. Adam had to spend a LOT of time and effort to reverse engineer the custom chips on the Pole Position board, as well as figuring out exactly how the custom protection chips worked. Granted, that same info can (and might) be used to write a very good software emulator too, but once you've reversed the chips at that low level, the FPGA core will essentially be an exact clone of the original hardware, just using a modern device. ;)
Super exciting! Thanks for taking the time to create the video-updates Adam.
I worked in a PCB factory for about 2 years in the late 1990s, and did a lot of manual surface-mount soldering like you did starting at 13:11. It looks like you're using a Metcal, which is what we used as well (I have one at home too). I suggest the STTC-126 tip cartridge. It is a bent conical tip similar to the one you're using, but it is much smaller, which makes soldering small SMDs a lot easier. And being a Metcal, small tips can also do big jobs. I can easily solder in a flyback transformer with that tip, for example. I use the STTC-126 for pretty much everything. It was also the most popular tip at the PCB factory I worked at, for both surface-mount and through-hole soldering.
Cool video, I've never seen a surface mount board assembled by hand before. Good luck with your endeavor.
I love that you have a Lab in your basement.
Please share again with us some repair tech stuff! I realy liked and started do with your videos
You're doing a great job on that board!
Totally understandable for being busy. John from John's arcade mentioned about you and seen you on his channel. You definitely know your stuff in regards to fixing the PCB for the arcade games. I'm trying to get my feet wet into that as well with some beginner's projects and Arduino along side to get up to where you and John are.
I've wondered if he is continuing his quest or if Jason's Pi Position took his motivation...I'd like him to make it happen.
Welcome back and Merry Christmas Adam.
Great effort, appreciate your hard work and time.
Thanks. Merry Christmas!
I love how you have the Ultimate Guide to the NES Library!
what a project man thanks for sharing and giving us an update also its is really cool to see 2 great minds collaborate together
good to see you back, Adam
Rare sighting of Adam. I almost feel like I’m seeing Sasquatch
Good job Adam! Welcome Back and Merry christmas!
Awesome. Can’t wait till they’re done
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!! Adam returns!
Welcome back Adam
Nice work!!!! Congratulations!
Looks great Adam. Best of luck with the progress! Merry Christmas!
Whew I build circuit boards like this hats off to you. hand placing, I couldn’t do it I have to have a pick and place machine and stencil printer especially with bga
Wow Adam, thanks for sharing
I can't believe this stuff can be done by a few people........Amazing....
i just found you n i just got a pole position 2 sit down unit ..look forward to seeing a video soon even if its a short one..wow i shake 2 much fer board assembly like that small .a pick n place machine would have 2 be in my lab or through hole parts ;}...i need one of them boards asap .oh'- hi frum east TN
Dont feel bad last time I posted a video was a year ago :) great job on the board i did some silk screening work when I was at IBM but they had multi million dollar machines... it made it easier. Oh and I love the music used, its the kind of music I used to make back in the 90's.
Can't wait! Once your done with this take a break and work on your games and your game room, you deserve it!
Thanks for the update
Good to see you back!
Cool update Adam. A request for Gorf to be on your list of projects.
Any updates on this project coming to market?????
Awesome stuff, dude! Keep up the good work
I was going to ask for an update... after seeing all the work into that board I gave up. Lol
Is there an update on the update? Some just gave me a Pole Position Arcade game the boards not working this would be great.
Wow that`s a lot of work Adam :) getting all the right parts and Placing each one on the board and putting it in its right position in its right location never mind the hard work you did engineering and designing the PCB Brovo, i guess getting the boards mass production not to hard on the wallet .; but finding a place to put the components on the PCB and bake it a little more costly pure unit and trusting them not to copy your work (depending on where you go to have it done) a risk :) thanks for the video and keep up the good work sir . if i could give you two thumb up on RUclips i would :)
this is just pure awesome
I *think* I had that setup for expecting a 75Ω termination load to get to 0-0.7V P-P. Take a peek with a oscilloscope and see if the analog video outputs are actually more like 0-1.4V P-P or something-- could be I put the wrong size termination on the board...
+Clay Cowgill I think it's a color pallette selection issue. That would also explain the missing chars in pp2.
This video is awesome
Do you remember the airspeed and temp on the hot air?
Adam -- I am thinking of getting a dental digital xray rig for $2500-3500 for my PCB inspection, mostly BGAs, especially MICRO BGAs -- nasty little guys to place. What Xray are you using?
A brilliant project! Is there a chance this can be used for TTL logic arcade games?
Is Pole Position not TTL?
Only two correction wires, nice job 🤓
keep on going, it is so cool!
Wow!How are you going to mass produce these?Take as much time as you need the wait will be worth it.Hows the Popeye fgpa going?
Edd Ray Or selling it as a loose kit? but with through hole components, this would be easier for Adam and no production needed or just small amounts of assembled PCB's
Having another hiatus?
Anything that is logical? So you can make a vulcan in a FPGA, but not a human? :)
Is a Punch-Out / Super Punch-Out possible on that board?
MaximRecoil No comment ;)
Okay, well, if that ever happens and you need someone to play-test it, let me know. I know the gameplay of both PO and SPO like the back of my hand, and have played both of them to past 1.5 million points. If anything were off with the gameplay, I'd notice it.
I understand the need for very small smd in small devices, but for this large board why use them?
It's a luxury in this case. Rather than use the original hardware comprised of many separate chips which uses a ton of power and is expensive you can use a single, cheap, low power device.
Great vid
Atari System 1 FPGA FTW
Thanks for the update Adam!
Have a Merry Christmas!
What kind of paste no clean? Water soluble
I used Kester R500 solderpaste. (Yep, water soluble.) I didn't shoot any video of it for Adam to include, but there was a wash and dry step in there. ;-)
Adam, is it open source? Hard and firmware?
Couldn't that PCB all be done on a single cpu with storage and a buck converter is this not cheaper than buying all the other components?
What about putting wide Dynamics software generated surround sound, into the sound software as an option.
The Pole Position board has a hell of a lot of processors and discrete logic chips that are duplicated in this FPGA.
Unless you're suggesting emulation. This board is being made specifically as an alternative to emulation.
CODMarioWarfare but a CPU has dedicated processes and logic Gates what's the difference?
John sweda
Completely different method of operation.
A traditional CPU is fixed-function, and executes specific instructions, mainly sequentially.
With an FPGA, you are literally putting the very low-level gates and registers together, so you can re-create things like arcade boards at the logic level.
It also allows you to run lots of digital logic in parallel, just like a lot of original arcade boards and retro computers / consoles.
It's quite challenging to perfectly recreate some arcade boards using software emulation.
There are similar challenges that face both software emulation and FPGA retro cores though - the original machines often used custom ICs, and CPUs which the manufacturers rarely released chip-level schematics or netlists for.
Adam had to spend a LOT of time and effort to reverse engineer the custom chips on the Pole Position board, as well as figuring out exactly how the custom protection chips worked.
Granted, that same info can (and might) be used to write a very good software emulator too, but once you've reversed the chips at that low level, the FPGA core will essentially be an exact clone of the original hardware, just using a modern device. ;)
What's the deal with this thing???
Get another job, man!
First :')