Hankin Pinball MPU project started

[Homepin]

At Pinfest 2012 I was asked by several people about the possibility of re-making Hankin pinball boards. I had given some thought to this previously but dismissed the idea as I didn't think there would be enough interest or need for them. Seems I was wrong (how surprising  ) so we have started with the MPU and will continue with both the driver and sound boards after we have the MPU running.

I have to say after meeting David Hankin and basically receiving his blessing to make these boards it would be un-Australian for me NOT to make them 

A reminder pic of David and myself discussing this very idea:





and a teaser screenshot of the basic board layout that we have started. We have decided to ditch the 5101 RAM mainly because the sockets are VERY hard to come by and a 6116 RAM is easy to get, cheap to buy and uses a standard 24 pin socket.






This is going to be a VERY limited run there is no doubt, so anyone interested might want to keep a close watch on this project and perhaps even express their interest? If you have any ideas for improvement to this board please speak up now while we are in the early stages.

[Strangeways]

No mucking around, Mike - Great to see this opportunity arise 

[Marty Machine]

C'mon....jam it all inside an FPGA chip  ;-)

MM

[Homepin]

A little 'parts placement' progress

[swinks]

Niño said it, no mucking around, great work mate

[goodolddays]

Onya Mike 

[Homepin]

A little progress - header pins added and some IC pads changed to oval shape to add more copper to the finished pads for additional strength. Still a very long way to go but at least it starts to actually 'look' like something when all the parts are placed.

[Homepin]

I have decided to 'go the whole hog' on this project and today I designed up a new heatsink for the 7805 regulator used on this and the driver board. I ordered it in gold anodised the same as the Bally rectifier board heatsinks - should look pretty flash IMO.

First picture is a scan of the supplier factories catalog - it is one of their many stock profiles:





This is my drawing to them specifying details and tapped holes - minimum order is 1000pcs so expect to see these pop up in other projects of mine 
As you can see there is an awful lot more work to re-creating these boards than many might realise......

[Caveoftreasures]

Is there enough demand for these Hankin boards Mike to justify all your hard work and time, or is it a matter of developing a working proto-type and a few brand new boards to start off with, then produce on demand ? Is tht the way you are approaching it ?

P.S - I take my hat off to you because you are extremely talented to be able to design and engineer all these boards, not to mention find and locate all the hardware, do the CAD drawings and then work out all the nuts n bolts. That takes patience and talent which you have in spades. Well done mate.

[Homepin]

Is there enough demand for these Hankin boards Mike to justify all your hard work and time, or is it a matter of developing a working proto-type and a few brand new boards to start off with, then produce on demand ? Is tht the way you are approaching it ?

P.S - I take my hat off to you because you are extremely talented to be able to design and engineer all these boards, not to mention find and locate all the hardware, do the CAD drawings and then work out all the nuts n bolts. That takes patience and talent which you have in spades. Well done mate.

I intend to get them working them make an initial batch of - - - maybe 10 finished boards. After that I will probably assemble them in small runs of 5 boards at a time as required. There are quantity issues, no matter which way I crunch the numbers it just isn't worth ordering less than 100 blank PCBs from the factory as the price goes through the roof for, say, 20 boards.

Same applies to practically everything else like the heatsinks etc etc. I actually know someone in Cairns with a Hankin and they asked me to repair it about 12 years ago - MPU was stuffed so I said "can't help you" - I am guessing there are a lot of Hankins sitting in garage corners with no love.

Might be a good time to snap them up at a good price - 

[Homepin]

Almost all the parts are placed now. You can see the newly created 'footprint' for the new heatsink on the bottom left and the input conditioning resistors in place along the right edge - just some caps to go here and we are almost there and ready to start laying tracks. For those who may not have seen an original Hankin MPU I have included a pic for comparison.

[Homepin]

OK - I love it when the tracks start going down, it starts to actually 'look' like something not just a bunch of bits.

The layout and re-design of this (and some other) Homepin boards is the result of the collective efforts of more than just me. We are a close team and some of the team like to remain in the background. These projects could never be made if it were all down to one person - there simply isn't enough hours in the day. I have been very fortunate to pull together a group of very talented electronic professionals who also happen to like pinball 

Here you can see the crystal in place (top left) - the CR2032 battery holder (bottom middle) - input conditioning caps down the right hand side and numerous (mainly power) tracks (thicker than signal lines). We will probably add a spot for a supercap later as there is plenty of space and it is very little extra work.

Green signifies copper on the top (parts) side of the board and red is the bottom copper.

[GORGAR 1]

What a talent you have just awesome there must be some Hankin owners out there dribbling? Also Mike what else did D Hankin say at pinfest about the pinball making days where they easy to sell? and so on I'd love to hear some storys.

Peter

[Homepin]

What a talent you have just awesome there must be some Hankin owners out there dribbling? Also Mike what else did D Hankin say at pinfest about the pinball making days where they easy to sell? and so on I'd love to hear some storys.

Peter

I only had about 5 mins with David and we spoke mainly about the boards I was re-creating (across the range) and that I would likely be re-making Hankin boards "if that was OK with him" - to which he replied "that would be great".

Then Bruce (AMD) dragged him away to the bar....

I'm pretty confident I will have a couple of the Hankin boards finished in time for Pinfest next year and I hope David pops in again. I will get more time with him then I am sure after I have proven that I can do the job. If he doesn't drop in I will try and have a private meeting with him.

[ktm450]

Nice work again Mike