Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Path: brunix!cat.cis.Brown.EDU!agate!tcsi.tcs.com!uunet!hobbes!earth.armory.com!rstevew
From: rstevew@armory.com (Richard Steven Walz)
Subject: Re: STEPPER DRIVER INFO NEEDE
Organization: The Armory
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 08:52:45 GMT
Message-ID: <CuD4nz.Ezt@armory.com>
References: <328nsb$h6c@handler.Eng.Sun.COM> <32aurf$7sm@lastactionhero.rs.itd.umich.edu>
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In article <32aurf$7sm@lastactionhero.rs.itd.umich.edu>,
John Roldan <ocg@cw-u02.umd.umich.edu> wrote:
>you guys wrote :
>
>: : Also, side note, a few weeks back, someone began serious "Flaming" about
>: : CP/M machines..  
>................
>: CP/M machines are fine, I've got 3 of them. My most reliable is the Ampro
>: LittleBoard system. The fastest CP/M machine I have is my 486 laptop
>...............
>: : ... the 'Now!' generation has been severely MSDOS-Poisoned!
>...............
>: They of course see it as you being stuck in your ways :-)
>
>I could be considered a member of the now generation in this context I
>guess, i'm 29.  And funny thing, I'm trying to build a z80 based system from
>parts in my junk box.  I'm not sure exactly why . . I've collected tons 
>of stuff from the trash here at work . .  many z80 based modems and
>peripheral cards from  early 80's vintage wang pcs.
>  I guess my main motive is to point to the thing and say "look what  I 
>built out of trash!".  The truth is, I cant figure out a practical way to 
>desolder glue logic, so I've already invested more in 74LS gates, 
>connectors and perfboard thatn the resurrected z80 chipset costs retail.
>I tried solder wick, solder sucker, oil bath and pliers, ans saws.
>It was the principle of resurrecting a "frankenputer" from discarded 
>logic . .
>
>I am using leds, ribbon cable, switches, ram and rom and complete 
>z80 chipset pulled out of trash.
>Yes, I'm utterly mad . .  just thought you might like to know . . .
-----------------------------
Oooooooooooh! You mean you're one of us! How intriguing! You simply haven't
learned the trick of pulling glue logic chips with a hand puller and a
propane torch on the back porch and dropping them into a bowl of water.
Later you dry them off with a heatgun/hairdryer, and clean the leads inside
and out with an iron and solderwick. Then you use flat jawed lead
straightening pliers. You can pull hundreds of dollars retail worth of
chips in an evening!!! And they ALL work!!! I have even done 3000 pieces of
256Kbit DRAMs this way, and only *1* of them failed!!! We suspect it WAS
dead already! The rest tested fine and we sold most of them. My computer
now runs on them as I speak. That was 6 years ago during the RAM crisis!
You use a panavise or other small vise and stand the board vertically so
you can see both sides at once. Then you just grab a chip and heat the
solder side and pull and drop it in the bowl of water. There is a cute
antistat black plastic lead straightening tool for 300 and 600 mil chips
at Rat Shack for a couple bucks that really kicks butt for a cheap and good
working lead straightener! There's a trick to the solder wick too, mostly
use a regulated 700 degree Weller iron. Run the iron and the wick together
without slipping on each other but slipping on the leads right down the
inside and outside of the chip right to the shoulders! The leads look brand
new!!! I can't tell the difference. Comes off down to the tin, or nickel,
whichever! No solder left! Also get interested in dead bug construction!!!
That's where you bend the little "bug's" leads over and glue him to a sheet
of anything, or to the top of another chip in a board, and then you
solder the connections YOU want with kynar waire wrap wire!! The glue can
be hot glue or cement or cyanoacrylate. And you can cut the leads on the
board beneath and wire the chips in situ to do your bidding too! Don't
worry about the board ever unless you want the board more than the chips!!
THEN, kill the chips by cutting their pins off at the shoulders and pulling
each pin individually with forceps/hemostat whatever and a solder sucker
and iron on the solder side. Be crazy! Be creative! Start writing your life
story on ancient EPROMs and wire them in one huge board on your wall with a
clocked counter system and bank switching to read them into your
computer!!! Mount your dead-bug computer on your wall in pieces too! Strip
the plastic off your monitor and live DANGEROUSLY!!!!! Paint your keyboard
keys all different colors!!! Testor's hobby enamel works perfectly and
NEVER comes off or even chalks!!!!! Always shiney! Great for monitors and
cases too!! Why does all that plastic have to be grey-white!!!??
Zooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwmmmmmmmmmmm!
-Steve  rstevew@armory.com

