Kenbak-1

Public·1 member

January 12, 2025

Slow but unsteady progress ;)

There's been a lot going on the last couple of months, but I've been incrementally approaching a (hopefully!) working Kenbak-1. The wiring job is done, and am now about to start bringing up the electronics:

The front panel wiring was a pain... the 26AWG solid-core wire that Artem had supplied just didn't work well with my strippers and crimper, and kept breaking. I ended up switching to 24AWG stranded and also upgrading my crimper, which went a lot better.

Next steps - test the clock generator and start installing and testing logic.

30 Views

jim-kbk

12 jan

I had a quite decent Paladin crimper but the die only has 24-30AWG and 18-22AWG slots, so it was kind of a case of either too small or too big. I wasn't able to find a better die so I bought a relatively cheap crimper that has 5 slots covering 2 wire sizes each.

I put in the fans with "an abundance of caution". They're not very noisy but I can disconnect or dial them down if I find they're overkill.

BobD

October 19, 2024

Slowly coming along.

92 Views

jim-kbk

13 nov 2024

$202 including shipping. That's more than pcbway estimates, but after looking at reviews I felt that a specialist in front panels was the least-risk option. The fan cutouts on the back accounts for $33 of that :/

jim-kbk

October 12, 2024

Resistors!

I got a little obsessed with finding some period-appropriate carbon composition resistors. I tried various sources, even ordered some that turned out to be the more modern peanut-shaped style.

I eventually discovered that a Japanese company until recently made some quite satisfactory ones (until they were bought by Ohmite), and you could still find those via audiophile sources, as well as some NOS Allen-Bradley stock.

I got these via a Canadian company :

https://partsconnexion.com/resistor-carbon-composition/?_bc_fsnf=1&Watt=0.25W

37 Views

Gavin

28 okt 2024

They look so ..... well ... Retro! :)

Thomas Jones

August 30, 2024

Wow, a Kenbak-1 Kit! Great idea!

So I just stumbled upon this, and very excited. Artem even got a source of the rare Intel 1404a shift registers! Not an easy feat.

So I have to ask, has anyone gotten one of these kits built and running? How does it work? Has anyone tried to get PCBWay to make up a case? I suspect they must have to charge at least $600 or more for these low quantity cases. Anyone get a price quote? I always thought that if the sheets were laser cut, bending and painting them wouldn't be terribly hard, and may be a fun project.