New QL backplane.
Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 5:53 am
This is one of the results of the "Random hardware ideas..." thread. I'm splitting it out here so this has its own thread and we can keep having ideas over there!
I got enough interest - eight people contacted me about the mini backplane - that I popped into my favorite PCB designer and freshened up the design a little.
The card fits inside a QL and supports three positions. Two positions face left and one faces right, upside down over the CPU. I don't personally recommend that you use all three positions with old cards that suck juice and spit out heat. However it does make it perfectly reasonable to have a recently redesigned Trump Card and QubIDE with CF slot just above it facing left. Alternatively, you could have the Trump Card face left and the IDE card face right. As long as the total current draw of the cards isn't excessive everything is fine.
The card is TINY, 96.3mm x 20.6mm. I left as much room as possible around it to allow air to circulate in the QL case. It will come with two protective plastic shields so a top card can't short against a bottom card, or an inverted card can't short against the metal keyboard backplate.
I should get the PCBs in a few days and have everything assembled in around two weeks. They have already shipped to me. Then I'll work out my partscosts and sell them at cost price. I'll post photos and so on then. I will only be making 25 of these, and 11 are already reserved. I have parts on hand to make 11 (was 8) until I order more male DIN41612 connectors.
Looks like it'll be somewhere around £20-£25 with three sockets, £17-22 with two and £14-19 if you just have the one doubling back. Plus shipping which looks like it's £10 for international up to two, and £19 three to many. ($13.50 up to 6oz, $22.50 6-32oz). The price variation is just depending on how much it costs to get quality connectors - prices vary from $3.50 for cheap ones up to $7+ for high end gold plated ones with a high number of insertion cycles. I prefer to use quality parts but I don't go crazy.
I'm open to doing custom designed backplanes for people for cost price of the PCBs and components if you have a particular layout in mind or want to use an ATX case and PSU. I could also do a version of this card with taller spacing for the second level of cards, for those of you who already re-cased your computers and don't need to squeeze into the QL case.
Larger backplanes with longer tracks have different design considerations. If you have an idea, hit me up. I do have library schematics and a design for an ATX card with full power control. If there's sufficient demand for an ATX backplane I'll clean up my current design and just make 25.
I got enough interest - eight people contacted me about the mini backplane - that I popped into my favorite PCB designer and freshened up the design a little.
The card fits inside a QL and supports three positions. Two positions face left and one faces right, upside down over the CPU. I don't personally recommend that you use all three positions with old cards that suck juice and spit out heat. However it does make it perfectly reasonable to have a recently redesigned Trump Card and QubIDE with CF slot just above it facing left. Alternatively, you could have the Trump Card face left and the IDE card face right. As long as the total current draw of the cards isn't excessive everything is fine.
The card is TINY, 96.3mm x 20.6mm. I left as much room as possible around it to allow air to circulate in the QL case. It will come with two protective plastic shields so a top card can't short against a bottom card, or an inverted card can't short against the metal keyboard backplate.
I should get the PCBs in a few days and have everything assembled in around two weeks. They have already shipped to me. Then I'll work out my partscosts and sell them at cost price. I'll post photos and so on then. I will only be making 25 of these, and 11 are already reserved. I have parts on hand to make 11 (was 8) until I order more male DIN41612 connectors.
Looks like it'll be somewhere around £20-£25 with three sockets, £17-22 with two and £14-19 if you just have the one doubling back. Plus shipping which looks like it's £10 for international up to two, and £19 three to many. ($13.50 up to 6oz, $22.50 6-32oz). The price variation is just depending on how much it costs to get quality connectors - prices vary from $3.50 for cheap ones up to $7+ for high end gold plated ones with a high number of insertion cycles. I prefer to use quality parts but I don't go crazy.
I'm open to doing custom designed backplanes for people for cost price of the PCBs and components if you have a particular layout in mind or want to use an ATX case and PSU. I could also do a version of this card with taller spacing for the second level of cards, for those of you who already re-cased your computers and don't need to squeeze into the QL case.
Larger backplanes with longer tracks have different design considerations. If you have an idea, hit me up. I do have library schematics and a design for an ATX card with full power control. If there's sufficient demand for an ATX backplane I'll clean up my current design and just make 25.