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Final Assembly

A project log for Commodore CHESSmate Reproduction

The plan is to make a reproduction of the dedicated chess computer CHESSmate released by Commodore in 1978.

michael-gardiMichael Gardi 03/14/2024 at 16:354 Comments

The new and improved backpack PCB arrived. Better late than never I guess. I started by soldering on some headers.

I soldered a couple of female straight headers to hold the ESP-32, a couple of male pins to connect to the +5V and GND on the ESP, and a 90 degree Female header to attach the backpack to the CHESSmate PCB. In the rightmost image I have mounted the ESP-32 onto the board.

With the backpack ready I attached the stack comprised of the:

  1. Membrane
  2. 3D printed standoff with cutouts for the displays, LEDs, and buttons
  3. CHESSmate PCB 

to the case with eight M3 x 14mm bolts.

Then I mounted the backpack CPU.

Once it was in place I connected the micro USB connector power leads to the backpack PCB and mounted the piezo speaker to the case with two sided tape.  

Popped the bottom of the case on, applied power, and viola a working CHESSmate reproduction.

Discussions

svofski wrote 03/20/2024 at 09:39 point

Nice! So the membrane is flexible enough so you can push the switches through it without overstretching it?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Michael Gardi wrote 03/20/2024 at 11:34 point

Yes it seems to work pretty well. The push buttons are a couple of mm above the frame which helps I think. We’ll have to see how it holds up over time but it’s easy to replace.

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Cees Meijer wrote 03/20/2024 at 08:18 point

Looks great ( as always) !

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Michael Gardi wrote 03/20/2024 at 08:38 point

Thanks Cees. 

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