New Project: WPC MPU well on the way

[goodolddays]

Your a powerhouse Mike !

Keep up the fantastic work . 

[Pinballer]

Thanks great news Mike. Getting rid of the batteries altogether is fantastic. Your boards will be the best available. All just depends on what the final price will be.

[Homepin]

Thanks great news Mike. Getting rid of the batteries altogether is fantastic. Your boards will be the best available. All just depends on what the final price will be.

With most projects like this one it is nearly impossible to do any sort of costing as there are just too many variables. At the end of the day the actual cost to me really isn't relevant as I have to price to "meet the market". In most cases I have to order 1000pcs of a particular part so I need to outlay many hundreds of dollars to be able to buy one part that Jaycar might have for a couple of dollars. I do this to ensure that I have the parts that will fit into the boards that I have made. Homepin is a long term project.

The PCB's for the breakout board were delivered to my office this morning and look very nice:






 

[Homepin]

Even better - the chips actually fit on the board........

[Steevsee]

That's always a good start.

Damn SMD.

Yet I find myself drawn to its simple elegance. 

Looking good Mike.

[Homepin]

The first 10 sample boards arrived today so I can pack them and bring them back with me to assemble a few for testing - if all goes well I will order a larger batch.

[beaky]

looks great 

[Homepin]

looks great 

Looks even better in the fibreglass - 

[Homepin]

I'm finally back after two months in my China office. Had a chance to assemble one of these boards yesterday and today including the RAM board. Apart from a few tiny initial issues the board runs well. A few small changes to the artwork and I can order the final revision of the blank boards.

Here is my first assembled board running (with non-volitile RAM) in my BSD:

[delarge]

I thought the T2 was WPC89. I suspect more of a bug on the RD board for that game

OK - thanks, I'm not surprised.......

Would love a WPC89 replacement board for my T2.

Cheers!
Adam.

[Homepin]

We will get to it but as you can see form this project - these larger boards require a HUGE amount of time, effort and MONEY to see through to the end.

It takes between 6 months and a year for a board like this one to get to the finished stage and I dare not add up the actual cost as my wife would kill me......

I thought the T2 was WPC89. I suspect more of a bug on the RD board for that game

OK - thanks, I'm not surprised.......

Would love a WPC89 replacement board for my T2.

Cheers!
Adam.

[Homepin]

oh - this IS an '89 - there are so many variants I lose track sometimes - this will be ready for sale in about 2 months.....

[delarge]

oh - this IS an '89 - there are so many variants I lose track sometimes - this will be ready for sale in about 2 months.....

Ahhh excellent. If it fits T2, I might have to save my pennies and have the money by the time they are ready for production.

Yes, understand how much time and money would go into something like this. Really appreciate your big contribution to the pinball hobby!

Thanks,
Adam.

[beaky]

here is one all ready to go.
all tested and clear lacquered.
 

[Homepin]

The first short run of fully finished boards have been built and tested perfectly. I ran one in my HSII for several hours without a hitch - the others bench tested perfectly.





We have socketed the input chips which are really the only ones that can be damaged by problems on the playfield. The rest practically never give any trouble apart from battery damage.



We also laid the small clock crystal on its side and pinned it to the board to prevent damage and found a low case height 8mhz crystal for the other one.





All these boards were sold before we started assembling them but I hope to schedule a short run in the next week or so for those who are interested.