CIP
Newbie
Posts: 20
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Post by CIP on Mar 13, 2005 5:46:22 GMT -5
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Post by NetSamurai on Mar 14, 2005 2:12:14 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I beat you to the "first dead DTV" title in December of last year. : ) The reason was the same as yours: to grind down the cob. I have since developed a smarter strategy to accomplish this without destroying the DTV. (My post to comp.sys.cbm on 12/18/04) "Call me crazy, but I have decided to take another go at exposing the pins on the DTV core. So, I decided to investigate what bits there were for the dremel. I ended up picking up these 2 bits: #971 Alum. Ox. Grinding Stone #537 Brass Brush I used the #971 to grind the cob down to almost board level. I carefully pushed the bit from the outside edge of the cob towards the center, just flattening enough to where the contacts should be. This part is quite risky, at any rate, because the bonding wires to the core itself are attached to the contacts and they are micro (about a hair.) The cob material is normally what holds them in place. After grinding it down as close as I dared, I switched to the brass brush (which is designed for polishing soft metals so I figured it would spare the copper traces. I tested the brush out to be sure it would not eat into the copper traces on the board. It didn't, no matter how hard I pushed or how fast I set the dremel. It does however rip the green enamel off the traces very quickly so I will probably need to get a laquer pen to cover the traces again when I am done. Once I was satisfied that I wouldn't damage the traces with the brush, I began to use that to chip away at the rest of the cob material above the contacts. Again, grinding from the outermost edge towards the center. The logic here is to stop as soon as you can see the edges of the unrouted contacts. This will help to make sure you do not damage the bonding wires. Also, using a can of compressed air helped keep the work area clean so I could see what I was doing better. I have sucessfully cleared almost 1 entire side. It took me about 30-45 minutes, but it worked. I tested the DTV to make sure I didn't damage anything and it works fine! So, I will continue this project as I have time. My hope is to get to the userport, cart port lines (ROMH, ROML, IO1, IO2, etc..), extra joystick lines, and maybe even the paddles. " Though I did not continue on with this (yet), I ended up gaining a ton of information. You can find this in the files section of the DTVTalk yahoo group: games.groups.yahoo.com/group/DTVTalk/As you concluded, it is not going to be an easy task to attach wires to the ASIC pins. So the effort may not be worthwhile, but if you decide to take another shot at it, try following the instructions above. Scott McDonnell
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