Will Beef Drop and Q*Bert be coming out on cart?

[DracIsBack]

Just curious ... and looking to show my support for new 7800 games.

[Lord Helmet]

IIRC there are no 7800 boards available yet. There is a solution being worked on. You can read about it here:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69710

[MaDDuck]

IIRC there are no 7800 boards available yet. There is a solution being worked on. You can read about it here:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69710

947674[/snapback]

 

 

In all fairness, look at how long it took for 2600 & 5200 boards to come out!!!

At least EVERYBODY knows that there's a demand for them now.

I would buy Frogger, Q*Bert, and see what other homebrews come afterwords.

I already have homebrews for 2600, Vectrex, Coleco and Odyssey 2. My 7800 is now the focus of my attention.

 

I want some homebrews!!!!!!!!!

[Shawn]

With the Hat Trick solution avalible and seeing as Hat Trick is worth less than a new PCB board, Why not just canabalize a shit load of Hat Tricks? I know thats what most people are doing to make there own personal copies of these games.

[jaybird3rd]

With the Hat Trick solution avalible and seeing as Hat Trick is worth less than a new PCB board, Why not just canabalize a shit load of Hat Tricks? I know thats what most people are doing to make there own personal copies of these games.

948981[/snapback]

The only trouble with that is that it's very labor-intensive to carefully desolder those old program ROMs. I've done it myself on a few Jinks carts that I'm going to use as prototypes for my own homebrews, and even if you cut the leads going to the chips, cleaning out the holes and soldering in a socket still takes a while. They'd have to charge more just to cover the labor, and that would probably eat up any cost advantage of using the old cartidges instead of new boards.

[Shawn]

The only trouble with that is that it's very labor-intensive to carefully desolder those old program ROMs.  I've done it myself on a few Jinks carts that I'm going to use as prototypes for my own homebrews, and even if you cut the leads going to the chips, cleaning out the holes and soldering in a socket still takes a while.  They'd have to charge more just to cover the labor, and that would probably eat up any cost advantage of using the old cartidges instead of new boards.

949026[/snapback]

 

 

Ya it is a bit of pain seeing as it takes up to (sometimes more than) a half hour to remove the old chip and soldier in a new one if you taking your time and do it right.

[DracIsBack]

Folks, take the time you need. It was just a question on "if and when". When you are good and ready, my wallet will be.

[Bruce Tomlin]

I haven't gone anywhere on the boards yet because I've had life get in the way.

 

As for desoldering, I've found that the best way can be to stick the board in a grip tool, then blast it with a heat gun set on high (1000F). Just don't let the heat gun get closer than an inch or so, or it'll blast the solder right through the holes and it'll spatter all under the chip. Then keep trying to pry the chip up with a screwdriver or something until it moves. Then you can use a desoldering iron to clean the holes afterward.

 

I haven't done it with a cart board yet, but I've been practicing on other stuff.

[birdie3]

There are machines that can properly remove solder but they cost quite a bit and the average perosn wouldn't ususally own one. I believe I do know a person in the gaming community who does have one and they could likely do this for you if you needed them to. PM me for details.

[Shawn]

When removing EPROM's from boards myself I just use a toe nail clipers to take off one side of the legs, pry the chip up and cut the other side of the legs off and then use a soldiering iron and needlenose pliers or anything similar to remove the legs when the soldier is hot. It really goes alot faster than you would think. I have got pretty good at it the last while making cart port extenders out of pacman's for the 2600 and pole position 2's for the 7800. First time is a pain but it gets to be easy after a while. I even went back and junked my first one I made cause my method and quality of work was so much better after a few trys. And combat and PP2 are a dime a dozen (ok maybe 50 cents a pop..lol..) anyhow..

[jaybird3rd]

Does anyone think that a hotter soldering iron would speed up the process? Mine is a 15W pencil soldering iron, and sometimes it doesn't seem to get hot enough to allow my desoldering braid to soak up the solder. I do have one of those desoldering irons with the vaccuum bulbs, but it doesn't seem to work very well for me.

[supercat]

When removing EPROM's from boards myself I just use a toe nail clipers to take off one side of the legs, pry the chip up and cut the other side of the legs off and then use a soldiering iron and needlenose pliers or anything similar to remove the legs when the soldier is hot. It really goes alot faster than you would think. I have got pretty good at it the last while making cart port extenders out of pacman's for the 2600 and pole position 2's for the 7800. First time is a pain but it gets to be easy after a while. I even went back and junked my first one I made cause my method and quality of work was so much better after a few trys. And combat and PP2 are a dime a dozen (ok maybe 50 cents a pop..lol..) anyhow..

949685[/snapback]

 

Radio Shack sold (probably still does) a solder-removing tool that works very well for DIPs. It has a heated tip and a red squudgy-bulb. Just make sure that whenever you squeeze the bulb the tip isn't over anything important, since it will often squirt out hot solder.

[Shawn]

Does anyone think that a hotter soldering iron would speed up the process?  Mine is a 15W pencil soldering iron, and sometimes it doesn't seem to get hot enough to allow my desoldering braid to soak up the solder.  I do have one of those desoldering irons with the vaccuum bulbs, but it doesn't seem to work very well for me.

950206[/snapback]

 

 

My iron I use is variable temp and when removing chips I'm not gonna use agian I usually set it to 30w. Variable temp irons are pretty cheap too Radio Scraps has them for under $30 bucks and they work great.

[Bruce Tomlin]

Mmmmmmm.... heat gun.

 

It's a bit tricky to use for through-hole chips, and for a small board you'll surely need a "third hand" rig, but it definitely can melt the solder on all pins at once.

[Shawn]

Mmmmmmm.... heat gun.

 

It's a bit tricky to use for through-hole chips, and for a small board you'll surely need a "third hand" rig, but it definitely can melt the solder on all pins at once.

958536[/snapback]

 

 

What kind of heat gun do you use? I used my Paint & Tile remover heat gun and it didn't get hot enough to melt soldier. Only hot enough to warp the PCB cause I held it there for 2 mins straight with direct contact (on purpose just wanted to see if it would melt sollier at all).

[Bruce Tomlin]

You need a heat gun with two settings at 500F/1000F. The 500F setting is just to keep it warm while you're getting ready to desolder the next chip. You also want to set it back to 500F for like five seconds before turning it off, or the thermal protection circuit will kick in and you won't be able to use it again for a minute or two.

 

And don't hold it closer than about an inch to the board or it'll actually blow the solder right through the hole and all over the bottom of the part that you're trying to remove.

 

And don't touch the board with your bare hands until it's cooled down. Pilers are your shiny metal friends that don't burn.