Thank you for sharing those detailed thoughts, gentlemen.
Because the Reloaded build costs more in time and money than a $140 SE board sold on EBAY, I mention that fact in my videos, suggesting people think of it instead as a thrilling project whereby they are building the heart and soul of a vintage Mac. When you ponder it that way, it becomes a worthwhile and fulfilling project.
What I found in the SE Reloaded Build was that
the prep time took me the longest. I did not calculate that time in my videos because that was work I did so others wouldn't have to repeat what I went through. Basically, making sure you have all the right parts from reliable vendors is key. Kai's BOM was only a starting point for me. I discovered a few BOM mistakes, but all that has now been fixed. Also, since there is no single vendor from which you can buy all the parts, I had to spend a lot of time figuring out the best places to get the parts, and determine that all the part numbers were 100% accurate. Sourcing is hard and time consuming, let me tell you. And the global parts shortage complicates and already hard thing quite a bit.
Kai of course helped me out a lot when I was buying all the parts, and he very graciously shipped me some parts too (not to mention a couple Reloaded boards and even an entire Mac SE). But I needed to compile the complete set of info for other people who wouldn't be receiving any parts from Kai.
In the end, I found that most parts can be purchased on Mouser, with other parts needing to be purchased from the AXXOS Atari Store in the UK, UT Source in China, Amazon, and possibly EBAY.
I compiled all the parts info, including details about the chip replacement projects of @alxlab and Kai in this document, which is linked in the text description under my Reloaded videos. I even spent time adding "location info" which wasn't in Kai's original BOM, which is a real productivity enhancer when you are soldering in numerous parts across an entire motherboard.
If ever replicas of the metal bracket, SONY snd chip, and the plastic stands for the Reset and Programmer's switches come out, then that would eliminate most anything you would need to solder from the stock board. (Philippe Astier from France told me a few days ago he is thinking about work a 3D printable model for the switches, by the way.)
I haven't mentioned this Bourns replacement project thread yet in my parts list document mainly because I found that UT Source carries them. But the bigger problem was that I didn't know how to resolve the issue people would face of having to buy 5pcs of a PCB
panel. Most people wouldn't buy that many, nor wish to hand-build 120pcs. But should someone become authorized to sell individual parts kits or completed bourns filters (similar to the way BlueSCSI is sold), then I can add that info because it will then become useful for SE Reloaded builders.
By the way, I bought my Bourns (shown in my video) from Mouser, just before Mouser terminated sales of that product; but man alive! I had to pay a whopping
$6.15 per chip! And although
UT Source sells them now, they charge
$3.76 each with a min. order of 2pcs (keep in mind you need 4pcs for the SE board), and then you have to pay then $20 in shipping fees!
So you can see why having a lower cost, one-stop place to get the Bourns would help out a lot of people. That is really why I posted in this thread in hopes if stimulating thought on that issue, for the good of community members who want to buy them for an SE or SE/30 motherboard repair or build. (Mac Classic's user network filters too, but they are SMD.)
While the SE Reloaded project requires soldering skills, it is in fact
the acquiring of all the right parts that is key to finishing a build. And while some parts might still be good and able to be desoldered from the stock board, desoldering is many times harder (when done right) than soldering new components to a new board, so limiting that painful work is best.
My parts list is a Google Docs file, so I can add new info to it over time. I am happy to provide a link to a sales page when and if there is ever a vendor of a chip replacement kit or pre-assembled part becomes available.
Thank you, gentlemen for all the work you do.
I would also like to thank
@Stephen too, because he is very much involved in designing PCBs that have bettered the community in numerous ways.
Without those amazing custom PCBs (including Kai's reloaded PCBs), this hobby would still be around but be much less fun. SO THANK YOU!
Seriously though just sharing my projects or website would be more than enough. By sharing I'm hoping new ideas and solutions can stem from them. I'm also alright if you mentioned that I'm selling these filters. I guess the easiest way to contact me for buying stuff is on this forum or the TinkerDifferent discord.