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Any interest in C64 Super Snapshot v5 DIY PCBs?

WimWalther

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2019
Messages
449
Location
St. Paul, MN
I'm considering running a small batch (like 10 PCs) of the C64 Super Snapshot v5 PC board. These would be done with beveled gold contacts & traces. PCB color is open for suggestions.

Cost would be around $6-7 per board, including shipping to the USA. Sorry, no overseas shipping.

Post a comment if you have interest.
 
Quick update. I was looking at the wrong shipping rates, meaning the final end-cost of the boards will be closer to $5 shipped to your door or less. If there is no interest here, I might just do the run anywsy and offer them on ebay.
 
Since the files are online (e.g. https://github.com/Kalidomra/SuperClone-5.0) and everyone can order at PCBway, I don't see the point of your offer. Probably others neither.
Pretty simple, really.

Not everyone knows that or where the files exist (github) or how to extract the necessary files (gerbers) from the file tree. Nor are they necessarily familiar with the specific order requirements for these boards (gold fingers, beveled edge) or how to use the online interface of various board mfrs.

Nor do most people want to buy a batch of 5-10 boards, just to have one to build.. or pay the associated shipping charges if they dont want to wsit a month.

Heck, I'd just as soon give someone else $6-7 for a board shipped to my door than screw around with this stuff! But whatever, man.
 
I suddenly don't feel so bad doing business through Osh Park .

Sure, if you only want one board Osh Park’s “$5 a square inch for three copies” and free shipping can be cheaper than PCBway if your board is smaller than 2x2.5”. (But you will be getting only two extra copies, not nine.)
 
Sure, if you only want one board Osh Park’s “$5 a square inch for three copies” and free shipping can be cheaper than PCBway if your board is smaller than 2x2.5”. (But you will be getting only two extra copies, not nine.)
The Made In USA part helps too.
 
The Made In USA part helps too.

That is definitely a plus, don’t get me wrong. The price just stings a bit hard because my projects usually have big footprints. (I used JLCPCB for my last project, which involved a roughly 4”x6” board, bigger than PCBway’s promo deal, because their price cliff was less steep than PCBway. They ran about $30 shipped for five at that size. Osh Park would be a cool $100 for 3.)
 
That is definitely a plus, don’t get me wrong. The price just stings a bit hard because my projects usually have big footprints. (I used JLCPCB for my last project, which involved a roughly 4”x6” board, bigger than PCBway’s promo deal, because their price cliff was less steep than PCBway. They ran about $30 shipped for five at that size. Osh Park would be a cool $100 for 3.)
If I were prototyping something, I would go with the cheaper option. If it were something I cared about, I would go with the Osh Park for the final product. For example, if I were to get a pcb made for a C64 or similar, I would go with Osh Park.
 
These boards have arrived, looking just great. Price for VCFED members is $7 delivered to the USA - which is about half what they were recently sold for on eBay.

IMG_20220724_022116917_HDR~2.jpg
 
I'll take a couple if you have spares. My rating here is still in the noob category so I don;t think I can PM yet.
 
I did an order of these at OSHPark in April of 2020 (3 PCBs for $44). I built up a board and it did not work. I tested all the chips with a chip tester and by swapping chips with my original SS5 that I own. I could not get it to work. I built a 2nd one and got the same result. The C64 would black screen with these in. I sat on these for a while because I lost interest in trying to diagnose the problem. Then I read something online about checking the PCBs for shorts as a few other C64 users that build PCB kits found that their OSHPark PCBs were shorted. I tested mine and sure enough all 3 had shorted traces even though you could not tell anything by looking at them. It did not occur to me that the PCBs or that all 3 could be bad as I have never run into this in the past.

I put in an order with JLCPCB for 10 for $24, ENIG and beveled card edge and $10 for shipping (with another batch of 10 PCBs for another C64 cart). It only took a little over a week to get. I removed the components from the bad boards and soldered them into the new boards (After testing for shorts) and they worked perfectly.

I think it is reasonable to offer them up for others to have since some of us don't need 10 Super Snapshots or other projects. The only reason I did 10 instead of 5 was because it was the same price so why not have extras in case one of my friends or fellow users online ever wants one but doesn't want to hassle with ordering a batch. Also, someone doesn't have to wait weeks to get one.
 
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