IRQ with the 65c22S instead of the 65c22N (with 2692A)

[GARTHWILSON]

Quote:

But the way they had it, it sure looked good didn't it?

"They"? I made it myself, from scratch, and yes, I thought I looked nice when I had it all tied up neatly. Looking back on it now after having learned so much more, I find that many of the things I made back then happened to worked much better than I deserved. I guess it was a blessing from above to encourage me and get me going in electronics, because in some ways, I must say I really didn't know what I was doing, and certainly didn't know as much as I thought I did. After untying the wires to get rid of the crosstalk, the sound on this was quite clean, in spite of even designing it with discrete transistors in a way that had no PSRR (power supply rejection ratio) and doing the regulator with discrete components instead of a regulator IC!

[clockpulse]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

Quote:

But the way they had it, it sure looked good didn't it?

"They"? I made it myself, from scratch, and yes, I thought I looked nice when I had it all tied up neatly.

Nice work, looks store bought!

I do remember a few things I've done trying to improve the looks only to wreck the operation.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

Quote:

(I saw one where all the wiring was neatly tie-wrapped together—naturally, it didn't work very well)

I found that out even in audio equipment I made as a teenager in the 1970's, before I got into digital:

Mix1.jpg

The wires were initially all bundled, but that gave a lot of crosstalk which was relieved as soon as I removed the zip ties. I left the wires in position; but they were no longer pressed together.

Nice neat wiring job. BTW, how did you silk-screen the control panel? Looks professional.

[GARTHWILSON]

Quote:

BTW, how did you silk-screen the control panel? Looks professional.

I used dry transfer lettering, then I put Varathane (similar to varnish) over it to keep it from flaking off. It has yellowed over the years. It was whiter when it was new. This is the left end of the front panel:

On the next piece of equipment I made to go in the same home-made rack, I ran out of patience, and the lettering was not nearly as neat.

[BigDumbDinosaur]

GARTHWILSON wrote:

Quote:

BTW, how did you silk-screen the control panel? Looks professional.

I used dry transfer lettering, then I put Varathane (similar to varnish) over it to keep it from flaking off. It has yellowed over the years. It was whiter when it was new. This is the left end of the front panel:

TransLetering.jpg

On the next piece of equipment I made to go in the same home-made rack, I ran out of patience, and the lettering was not nearly as neat.

I don't think my hands would be steady enough anymore to get the dry transfers to line up. When I have to label things I use clear adhesive labels in the laser printer. The tricky part is getting the lettering to contrast with the background.

[whartung]

BigDumbDinosaur wrote:

The tricky part is getting the lettering to contrast with the background.

Yea, try as I might, I can never get that white ink to work...

[GARTHWILSON]

This is awfully off-topic, but since there's interest:
You can see and read a little about dry transfers at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_transfer. Craft stores always have it in black and sometimes white, in different fonts and sizes. Other colors are available but less common. You can microadjust the position of the letter over the desired surface before beginning to burnish it from the transparent backing onto the desired surface. The backing goes down against the surface and of course has static friction, so shaky hands make it harder but not impossible. There's no liquid involved, and the letters are not adhesive. They don't stick to the other surface until you burnish them down; so touching the letter surface before it is positioned correctly will not make it stick where you don't want it.