The Apple II Gods were smiling this afternoon when I went up to eBay.
I went to my usual Saved Searches and when I reached the Apple II saved search I could not believe my eyes. A Mountain 8 Slot Expansion Chassis, with the Controller Card, Cables, and THE MANUAL. Buy It Now $499.00.
I bought it. Who wouldn't? I did not know how long it had been listed, but it could not have been for very long.
The good news? When it arrives, I plan on scanning in the manual and taking lots of photographs.
There has been some discussion in some other threads about the circuitry, and the possibility of having enough information to maybe get an expasion chassis project off the ground. This is that opportunity.
Speedy: This aught to get the juices flowing. 
Steven (gsmcten)
With Manuals!!!! A True Find!!!
Thanks for buying it.... And Sharing the Info.....
Maybe we can still get one Reverse Engineered...
MarkO
Hello Steven,
this is in fact a homerun for all boys out there on the bases..... i will do the reverse engineering in case that i get enough stuff... the most important question is: is that bunch with the interfacecard included ?
As explained on that card is the decoding of the slots.... if you have seen the alternate project from Elcomp which i published... there the entire decoding was located at the external board for 4 slots as repeaters....
please just give me a pm when the stuff arrives.... and i´ll immediatly get back to you....
in the meantime i´ll continue with with testing of the apple 1 expansioncards and the sound- speechcard....
sincerely speedyG
Yeah, I saw that and my mouth watered, but, too much for me. Congrads on getting it. Glad someone from the site got it.
Speedy and All,
YES! Absolutely!The Interface Card and cabling is included!
No one was more surprized to see it sitting there than me.
This is one of the Holy Grails of third party hardware.
With all the parts and Manual, it is a gold mine.
I was smiling all day today at work. Folks must have thought I was up to something. lol
With this and the Applied Engineering PC Transporter System (With Card, Disk Drives, All the Cables, and Manual) I am a very happy Apple II person.
Hello Steven,
i agree and can side with that feeling....
it must have been similar to the feeling i had, when i recieved an Apple II with ZIP8000 chip and besides a complete PC-Transporter system for IIGS or when i achieved in 1986 a entire speech input system for the IIe.
Some wives won´t understand that to a true collector such days keep more in mind than the yearly anniversaries....
Even waiting the days before arrivel fill up with sunshine of the pleasure knowing that a long awaited item
will soon be unpacked and sitting on the table upfront of you in few days....
sinderely speedyG
How about posting few pictures of it?
Well, perhaps you should give him some time to actually receive the parcel and unpack it? He has already said that he will take photos and scan the manual, but these things do take time - not to mention the shipping. I am as pleased as the next person that someone on the 'Fritter has actually managed to get their hands on a Mountain Expansion Chassis, but we do need to remember to give Steven some space.
Cosmo,
Swinsor is right. lol
The package is not here yet.
Believe me, there are a LOT of folks who want to see pictures and I am more than happy to take/post them.
You could look at the auction pic for now....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271142175591
I had one of these. The problem back then, and what will be the problem today is that nothing/no one supported the MHEC's way of switching. IIRC, there will also be necessary patching of DOS and ProDOS (which I don't recall ever being supported.
Anyway, let the fun begin!
Well....
The Expansion Chissis arrived today...inoperable.
To say the least, I am a bit miffed.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe both.
I opened up the package and heard a noise of something rolling around inside the box.
When I opened the top of the chassis there were two long cylindrical items laying inside.
I pulled out the manual and started reading about the motherboard. The first thing it mentions is the "Two Long Cylindical Capacitors" sitting next to the 1 1/2 AMP Fuse. The board will not operate without these capacitors.
I see no way of re-attaching them myself. They seem to be sheared off right at the motherboard. I'm going to have to find an electronics repair guru to see what (if anything) can be done to repair it.
I have to contact Lance (the Seller) to see what he wants to do.
I hate to think that I spent the amount of money I did on this thing just to turn around and send it back.
That's what I should do.
Anyway, I'm still going to scan the book and take pictures of everything. That is not going to change.
Just sitting here thinking about the situation.
Would it be possible to solder wires to the two Capacitor terminals, then solder them to the motherboard connections? I think I would have to build some sort of cradle to hold the capacitors up and away from the motherboard. Can they be laid horizontally in a cradle?
Opinions and suggestions pleas.
Hello Steven,
please calm down, although bad packing and other disadvantages normally also get me rageing up too.....
please first start taking pictures .... not only for me but also for ebay - to document the status !
take also pictures of the packing for ebay.....
take closeup pictures and scan of the related pages of the manual and mail to me and i might be able to judge the situation and come up with detailed information if the damage is simple to solve or not...
i´ll immediatly come back with reply within several hours with detailed feedback.....
sincerely speedyG
Speedy and all,
Not so miffed right now.
Ordered two new Capacitors (PN VPR332U040N3L).
A bit expensive ($30.00 @), but worth it.
These are "Thru Hole" mount. I think I can either fix this myself, or take it to a repair shop once the parts get here.
I cannot blame Lance (the seller) for this as the Chassis was double-boxed and had sufficient packing material.
My personnal opinion is that the pins were old, corroded, and about to break anyway.
This way I'll have two brand new capacitors with good pins.
From the Size and Potential Weight, I could see them getting Broken in shipping.. Newark has them at $25.47, if you need more.
With a heat controlled Soldering Iron, these are an easy fix...
OK.
George just let me know that I need a Solder Pensil, 25-40 Watts, with Rosin Core solder.
Where is the best place to get one?
Suggestions?
Hello Steven,
you can get that kind of supplies in any larger electronic shop, at ebay or even also amazon offer such a device....
if you take the very simple ones ( for very rare use ) without temperature-regulation - such cost less than 20 Dollars....
http://www.amazon.com/Soldering-Station-Features-Continuously-Variable/dp/B0029N70WM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359332135&sr=8-1&keywords=soldering+iron
for better ones with regulation ( for more lasting and more often use ) there will be about up to 90 Dollers needed.
http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WES51-Analog-Soldering-Station/dp/B000BRC2XU/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1359332135&sr=8-8&keywords=soldering+iron
.... are just examples
sincerely speedyG
I know a Guy that used the WLC100, before he got the FX888.
I use a Radio-Shack 64-053, but got it back when they were $79.99..
Because all of these units have adjustable temperature, they can be use on small components as well as larger items..
Also, Radio-Shack has some real nice Silver Bearing 62/36/2 Rosin-Core Solder.. # 64-013. It melts real nicely....
For your "little project", an Unregulated Temperature Iron should be fine, but the Regulated One is much nicer....
Thanks everyone!
Parts/Tools on order.
Just have to wait for arrival.
It might be interesting to take pictures of the repair as I'm going through the steps.
Hmmm.
Cool! This is a different version aside from my 2 chassis, and you have a different interface card!
There's another one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-II-Mountain-Computer-Expansion-Chassis-/111007129324
The latest MCEC is missing the power supply and is a rev A motherboard.
The caps are slightly corroded.
I have asked for more and better images of the interior and cards as well as details on condition and extras.
No response yet.
Not as nice or complete as Steven's, no interface card or manual.
Anyone know if the original engineers are still around and if they have technical docs?
I would be interested in getting a copy of the manual and images too.
I will buy a reverse engineered EC or two if it ever becomes available!
DC
This is mid-range serial number. And uses the #2 interface. There were 3 different revisions. One without jumpers/dips, one with replaceable jumpers, and one with dips.
Evening All,
The manual is sitting here next to me ready to scan. It's 30 pages with graphics. A nice shot of the motherboard and Adapter Card. I have batteries in the camera and I'm about ready to shoot. The scan will probably be finished first. When I'm finished scanning, I'm going to place the JPEGs into a Word Doc.
I will let everyone know when it is ready, then you can e-mail me at gsmcten@aol.com and I will send a copy to anyone who wants one.
I'm not going to take pics until the parts come in and I take MB out of the case.
I will take as many close-up shots as possible from all angles. I will probably start with wide top and bottom shots of MB, then start doing areas, starting Top Left working across, then Bottom Left working across, Front and Back. I'll get particulars from there.
The manual has no parts list that I can see, so one of the next things is to list all the parts and Doo-Dads.
Steven
If you can get me high-quality copies of your scans, I can turn the whole thing into a PDF and post it up here.
Thats what I'm going to try to do Doc.
Hello Steven,
as explained earlier... the very moment i get hands on the stuff - in the mailaccount i mailed to you - i´ll start with documentation and reengineering....
so just let the thing start... i´ll give feedback if anything needs more detail....
just besides: if scanning the manual you could also just scan top and bottom of the interfacecard.... that would be first step for reengineering...
sincerely speedyG
All,
If you remember what I said:
"The manual is sitting here next to me ready to scan. It's 30 pages with graphics."
It is ready to scan. I am doing it this weekend. Steady folks.
OK!
It's scanned and turned into a PDF File.
Now...How do I upload it to here?
Might be easier to use Dropbox, or Box or a Google Group....
Hello Steven,
there are 2 ways to solve the task:
1st way:
choose at the left border side ".create content" and the choose "file" and follow instrustions.......
2nd way:
uploading to asimov:
I´ll send the instruction for this way by pm, because it is important to protect asimov from
being uploaded with bulk or other nasty stuff.....
sincerely speedyG
Finished last night.
Loaded file here this morning.
I'll start taking pictures this week.
Hello to the members following this thread....
- taking a short overview spoting out the major important points to the reengineering.... and it confirms in some points, what i guessed in earlier postings.... :
the major decoding is executed on the interfacecard which also performs the latching of the inserted cards....
a remarkable point is that the interface card drags the signals from the socket of the F12 located chip ( a 74LS138 ) which is used in the mainboard to decode the CS1 and CS3 signals of the slots 0 troughout 7. It seems by the description and the documented software switches that the interfacecard also uses besides some of the softswitches allocated to the gameport ( similar to the 196kb expansion project of the magazin ct documented in my downloadpage):
http://www.harrowalsh.de/Elektronik/APPLEBOX/appleIIupgrade196kB.htm
So it will be very interesting to follow up the progress here....
sincerely speedyG
It sounds like I'm too late, but don't skimp on your soldering iron purchase, especially for work on irreplaceable gear. Get a good temperature controlled soldering iron, that will not melt or delaminate the PCB you are working on (unless you turn the temperature up too high). Fixed wattage irons are not good for delicate rework on printed circuit boards, as there is nothing except thermal conductivity of the work piece and surrounding air to keep the work from overheating. Things get especially difficult when dealing with higher mass items, like big caps with big leads.
Regards,
Mike Willegal
The Caps finally came in.
I have the workbench cleared and the camera has a stick and new batteries.
I will start this week with the pictures and repair.
I'm a bit nervous, but I'll get through this. lol
Phase 1, Disassembly, completed.
1. Removed the Adapter cable from the MB.
2. Disconnected Power Cable from rear connection to MB.
3. Removed Front Cover Control Cable from MB.
4. Removed four(4) screws and removed Front Cover.
5. Removed eight( 8 ) screws from bottom of chassis and removed chassis sides and MB.
6. Removed all MB stand-offs (I believe there are ten(10). Plastic, 1/2 inch tall.
7. Did four(4) scans of the bottom of MB, but I don't think they came out that great.
8. I only have a 32MB SD Disk, so I got four pics. They didn't come out so hot either.
9. Could not scan top of MB as there is a Heat Sink sitting just about the center of it
and cannot be removed.
10. Ordered a 16GB SD Disk and USB 2.0 Adapter to take pictures. Should be here soon.
Pics and scans are on the way.
Phase 1 Part 2:
1. Went back and took a good long look at MB to see where Caps need to go and what I
need to do to replace them.
2. Marked back of MB in Caps location with "+" and "-" so I would no inadvertantly place
terminals in wrong holes.
3. One of the parts( I guess it's a Cap) has two(2) nuts and bolts holding it to the MB.
One nut is missing, but I do have the bolt. I will replace the nut this weekend when
I go to ACE.
4. I will have pictures of everything eventually and I plan on making a Parts List.
Steven
Phase II:
1. Finally set everything up on the workbench and plugged in the soldering iron.
2. Using the iron and a pair of side-cutters, I removed the existing capacitor terminal
post remnants from the board.
3. Using a 3/32" drill bit I cleaned out the capacitor terminal thru-holes.
4. The fit for the new capacitor teminals wwere snug enough that the capacitors were
held in place by friction.
5. Soldered all four terminals.
The board is now sitting on the workbench awaiting pictures to be taken.
Steven
Update:
I just finished ordering new standoffs for the board.
They should be here by Friday.
I will start taking pictures (finally) tomorrow.
Many pictures!
I will download them tonight and start placing them here tomorrow.
you cleaned out the through holes? Did you make sure that
1) you didn't clean out the plating?
2) there are no traces leading from the top side of the holes?
otherwise you may have to solder the leads from both sides of the board to ensure connectivity.
regards,
Mike W.
Mike,
Nope. No traces on the top of the board, just two mounting pads for each Cap.
I soldered from the bottom where all the traces are located.
As I said a few posts back, I used a drill bit that was just a fraction smaller than the Cap leads so that each Cap has a slight pressure fit through the holes.
Everything looks ok. I guess I'll find out when I put everything back together.
Ok,
As of right now all parts are ready to go back together.
I have ordered new standoffs and other small hardware to make this happen.
I hope to have the Chassis re-assembled by the middle of next week if all goes well.
After that I will start testing to ensure that it is working correctly.
On the other hand...
I have about 60 pictures of the chassis to show up here, but I am unsure of how to go about loading them.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Ok.
Reassembly and testing is about to start.
I have all new hardware (stand-offs, etc.) and I'm ready to go.
I must add that I am NOT a Photographer.
I have been doing the best I know how.
Speedy has elected to assist me, so I am going to be sending my best shots to him.
He will do some magic and they should then be up here.
Ok folks....We're off to the races.
Update:
Sent a whole bunch of photo's to Speedy.
I am in the process of making a sketch of the motherboard, which
I will use to make a rendered drawing.
I am then going to make the parts list.
Then scan the adapter card.
Then take a few shots of the adapter cable.
Then reassembly and testing.
Hello to AFmembers,
i´ve got yesterday a huge bunch of pictures...... some nearly similar and some with slight distorsion or lighting problems.... i´m doing a workaround just focusing on this kind of problems to get best possible solution from the images and besides sorting them in an index - so from topside and from bottomside there will be an overview picture edited with lines and letters dividing the board into sections and the detailpictures will be renamed with a name correlating to the displayed sections for better orientation. Besides i´m trying to also complete the pictures from the manual with the partnames or partvalues.... in some cases it will be needed that gsmcten will have to correct some of them due to the fact that some pictures don´t come up with true color - so reading the coderings from resistors with faded lighting is sometimes quite difficult and at some components the values are printed on the side and can´t be read fron the topview of the images - so please wait until the comments and partlist from gsmcten have been aded and verify the parts and values.... - but in general the pictures are great in details. I guess, up till tommorow evening i´m finished with the task and start uploading. Then gsmcten will add his comments and explenations. Some of the pictures i´ll upload to my site and set here the links ( those important for reengineering with good view to traces in very high resolution above 4 MB ) - but compressed pictures from that images will also be here availiable.
The Manual is availiable at:
http://www.harrowalsh.de/Upload/MountainHardwareExpansionChassis.pdf
Important Update:
by mistake i uploaded the wrong ( later ) manual and set the link...
the correct link to the manual of the Box from gsmcten is:
http://www.harrowalsh.de/Upload/MountainExpansionChassis.pdf
sincerely speedyG
What's the s/n of this chassis?
Keatah,
IT DOESN"T HAVE A Serial Number!
Do you believe that?!?! LOL
Where it should be is a big blank space. I wonder what that means?
Hmmm.....
No serial number, must be a Saturday Night Special.
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