Today I soldered in the shield/bracket that goes on top of the cartridge port. Made a sticker with date of completion and signed my name. Placed the sticker on top of the bracket. Now the build is complete. I can not believe that I build a complete and working Commodore64 from scratch, and I never imagined in 1985, that I would ever be doing this. Last time I soldered a big thing was back in 8'th grade, around 1991, were I did a variable power supply in electronics class. There is a long time between 1991 and 2020 were I started on this machine. This machine have instantly become my favorite Commodore64 to date. Man... It has better video output than an Atari800xl. Something that many people would consider impossible. How the hell I did that I really do not know.

I have not given it a serial number, because this might be the only C64 that I will ever build. Mainly due to taxes and vatt after brexit. The boards are shipped from the UK.

Looking really good, great job.

What are your further plans for the machine, ie. any planned expansions, additional hardware, additional ROMs such as JiffyDOS or the like etc?

What a beauty. Nice work!

PTherapist wrote on 2021-03-20, 10:25:

Looking really good, great job.

What are your further plans for the machine, ie. any planned expansions, additional hardware, additional ROMs such as JiffyDOS or the like etc?

Thanks 😀
I have most of extra hardware, that I am using for my Breadbin. That includes FastLoader cartridge, SD2IEC and a combined FastLoader/PI-1541 cartridge/drive. I also have 3 AV cables that are S-Video, Scart and Composit. And finally a Datasette drive for when I want to go really oldschool.

The plans are not to expand further on the features of this machine, other than to slowly replace stuff with modern replacement chips as far as it is possible. It already have an ARMSID and a modern PLA. The PLA being one of those that have 2 small chips side by side. I will see how far I can take it on that modern replacement deal.

EDIT:
But.... Ehmmmm.... I have a completely different and way more awesomme C64 project. Just boiling in the back of my head. An idea that are kind of taking shape today...

digger wrote on 2021-03-20, 11:46:

What a beauty. Nice work!

Thanks... It took me 1 year and aprox 2 months to get this far. 😀

I've also been toying with the idea of building a C64 from scratch, using only modern components, so without having to cannibalize any original C64s or components. I know the idea isn't new. You just did something close to that, and I believe Jan Beta recently tried something like that on his YouTube channel. Most components are either still being produced, or have modern drop-in replacements these days. The keyboard caps might be the only real remaining challenge there, in terms of sourcing.

Also, I'd really need to get a lot more soldering practice in, before attempting such a feat! 😅

14 months is a lot of dedication, by the way. Kudos!

Retro Recipes did it years ago, I see. Still no key caps that look like the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UX-gqylYgQ

digger wrote on 2021-03-20, 13:27:

I've also been toying with the idea of building a C64 from scratch, using only modern components, so without having to cannibalize any original C64s or components. I know the idea isn't new. You just did something close to that, and I believe Jan Beta recently tried something like that on his YouTube channel. Most components are either still being produced, or have modern drop-in replacements these days. The keyboard caps might be the only real remaining challenge there, in terms of sourcing.

Also, I'd really need to get a lot more soldering practice in, before attempting such a feat! 😅

Yup....
As for now, it is not only the keycaps that are impossible or extremely hard to source. The Mechboard have been out of stock for a couple of years now, and I doubt there will be any more produced. The other things that are not reproduced, are the CPU, CIA's, VIC-II, cartridge shield and a number of the smaller logic chips. Else you can buy or get pretty much everything brand new in modern recreations. I did buy a couple of old defect boards to canibalise parts from. What I reused was: Cartridge bracket/shield, choke coil, heatsink for the 5volt regulator and the two DB9 ports, as none of those that are in production have the correct screw mounting.

I actually recieved my SixtyClone board, about half a month before Jan Beta got his donated. Or something in that line. Might be a bit longer between. I saw it in Januaery of 2020 for sale on Tindie, and instantly bought one. That is why my board is a revision 1.2 of the 250466 SixtyClone.

digger wrote on 2021-03-20, 13:36:

Retro Recipes did it years ago, I see. Still no key caps that look like the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UX-gqylYgQ

Yup...
My board is this one here, instead of the Ultimate64 solution. The picture is from when nearly everything was soldered in. After I took this picture, I recieved the RF Modulator replacement, however that was not as good as adverticed. So I used an NOS modulator that were produced by Commodore. Surprisingly enough, it gives the best picture quality that I have ever seen on a C64 the last 15 to 20 years or something like that. And the regulators were just for testing, as I replaced them with higher rated ones, that can deliver more amps. (1.5 and 2.0 amp regulators).

digger wrote on 2021-03-20, 13:29:

14 months is a lot of dedication, by the way. Kudos!

Thanks.... I did it without any solder mistakes at all. No bridges and so on. Only a couple of the chips were defect. One of the CIA's being bad in a really ugly way. Deadtest did not see any issues, however it brought the system totally down.

I found out what the issue with no colour on CRT television was.....

Just use a 2,4 mm screwdriver that works, when adjusting the trimmer. DUHH' 😁
The one I used first, were turning around inside the handle, and because the spot is located deep in the trimmer, I was not able to catch see it.