What we want is to distribute the force over as much area as possible, which is what I think reinforcing it with a bit of steel would help to do. I worry that the PCB will flex over time on its own due to the constant pressure of the clip.

Depending on how hot these processors get, thermal tape might also be sufficient. A thermal probe should be used to confirm that it's still a safe temperature though, as they're not rated for high TDP applications.

I can add a thermal sensor header. is that wanted?

Edit: looking at ways to route a sensor I'm not liking any of the options. It's possible but sacrifices will be made in the power plane layout or putting the outer tap somewhere inconvenient. Suggest super small wires through the pins under the LIF. going diagonally looks like there is enough room for a bodge wire

btw, the cheapo buck converter that I am running isn't without issues. I note it dropping from 2.0v into the 1.7x range from time to time. possibly a bad trim pot? I’d say go with calamitylime’s pcb, a higher quality high frequency buck, Or a lab psu. The power supply is a separate part though. User can make as good or as bad of a decision as they want there 😀

as for the clip pressure. using a lightly tensioned socket A clip with three holes on each end and 1.0 thickness pcb should be more than enough to prevent problems. 😀 I have a light tension socket 7 clip on this one test pcb with 0.8 thickness and it doesn't seem to be having any issues.

Btw, I did a strength test on the surface mount spade pads. More than adiquate. Take a look at the way it failed 🤣 it ripped away from the connector not away from the fiberglass 🤣.

Aside from special requests for special power plug holes I don't think much is going to change from here. It seems to be where I think it should be. I can make the holes bigger for non press fit but that means less current path between the holes. because the flood will get thinner.

The major hurdle now is figuring out how to solder the thing.

Btw, if I haven’t posted this:

I’m sure these will eventually run out so please share them. Post if you have some extras.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/121439073829

https://www.ebay.com/itm/123031618774

Hello there

I've been busy but I finally got this done.

I tried to beef up traces where possible, I removed the 12/5 volt jumper switch for thermal purposes.
I made two version of the board with the berg connector, One that runs on 5v and another that runs on 12v. I think the 12v one could be handy for some use cases but keep in mind that it would make the muRata module run hotter and make a bit more noise. Some extra electrolytic caps would be good for filtering on the device being powered.

I also made a version of the board that takes a Molex peripheral connector. I made the footprint myself and it should fit commonly available right angled molex connectors. I noted the lcsc item number for two such connectors on the datasheet.
I hope I got the pin out right, I'm a good 90% sure I did but if you know your molex pin out please give it a check.
Since the board with the molex is wider, I added a screw terminal header for anyone who wants that.

Let me know what you think.
-Lime

Great work! Thanks Lime!

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-08-12, 03:20:

Great work! Thanks Lime!

I thought the 12v one would be good for your pci 3v3 mod or similar. Give the 12v rail something to do on atx psu's and it shouldn't get hot enough to be a problem.
Not to mention that say in my case I ordered 4 of them because of free shipping on orders so large, others would likely be in a similar boat. Good to use the things for something.

Lime

CalamityLime wrote on 2022-08-12, 03:25:

I thought the 12v one would be good for your pci 3v3 mod or similar. Give the 12v rail something to do on atx psu's and it shoul […]
Show full quote

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-08-12, 03:20:

Great work! Thanks Lime!

I thought the 12v one would be good for your pci 3v3 mod or similar. Give the 12v rail something to do on atx psu's and it shouldn't get hot enough to be a problem.
Not to mention that say in my case I ordered 4 of them because of free shipping on orders so large, others would likely be in a similar boat. Good to use the things for something.

Lime

Sweet!

Ya gonna do the 3.3v mod?

One that lets you get edge solder a p4 connector would be cool. If you intend to do 12v

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-08-12, 03:30:

Sweet!

Ya gonna do the 3.3v mod?

One that lets you get edge solder a p4 connector would be cool. If you intend to do 12v

What is the p4 connector? Just the 4 pin cpu power connector?

Edit, I did want to do the pci mod but nah, I already modded the one card I have that needed 3.3v and everything else is just working fine at the moment.

C706976
C492556

Also, these are the LCSC codes for the two molex connectors I mentioned earlier. Last time I looked (which was a while ago) LCSC didn't have any right angled Berg connectors but I think a vertical one will work fine, just take up more space.

CalamityLime wrote on 2022-08-12, 03:35:

Sphere478 wrote on 2022-08-12, 03:30:

Sweet!

Ya gonna do the 3.3v mod?

One that lets you get edge solder a p4 connector would be cool. If you intend to do 12v

What is the p4 connector? Just the 4 pin cpu power connector?

Edit, I did want to do the pci mod but nah, I already modded the one card I have that needed 3.3v and everything else is just working fine at the moment.

Yeah, the four pin connector for pentium 4 computers

Btw, I got some 180c low temp solder paste in the mail and will try to use it soon. The pcb is basically done, it’s just figuring out how to solder it reliably at this point.

Seems like the temp is high enough that it would never stand a chance of melting during use.

Yeah, tbh i can't really say that i want to do a Pentium 4 pin connector revision.

Molex connectors can be so common that an end user could easily butcher one and hook up what they want to it.

Though i don't think it would appreciate the old fashioned 12v pos and 5v neg but whatevs.

I tried the solder paste with hot air. Not having much luck soldering this. Not really seeing anything that I can do to the board to make it easier though. It’s just a problem of soldering equipment it seems.

I'm still waiting on the parts I ordered. I'll see if I can find a safe way to solder them together.

Brush on the paste?

Just get a little brush and apply a small amount of the paste trying to get it into the holes. Then hot air?

Or maybe, tin the male side.

Like you shouldn't solder on a socket while a desoldered chip is inserted because the solder on the legs of the chip will melt and bond with the socket if it guess hot enough
Why not try to do that on purpose?

Also, i imagine leaded solder would work well because it's softer compared to lead free.
Not sure about bismuth solder though

The paste I got beads up and blows around without bonding to the solder on the board/pin even with flux paste. Yeah, I applied some with a pointy object.

I still haven't gotten my parts in the mail yet to see how these fit together.

If the paste is blowing around, then you have way too much air. It should lightly pool and then settle. Imagine setting the air yo something that would work without blowing away a tiny 1mm resistor. That's more than enough to melt solder paste.

It makes little balls and they roll around

It does that it is not heating uniformally. Where did you buy your paste?