Commodore Free 16/Commodore_Free_Issue_16_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64/t.x1541 cable 2

Text File | 2023-02-26 | 11KB | 347 lines

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X1541 - The Idiot's Guide
http://www.geocities.com/cdsixfour/
 x1541.htm

Part 2 of 2

Heat up the surface with the iron you
wish to solder before you solder (In
this case our soldering catchment
sockets at the back of both plugs).
Try not to overdo this because the
plastic around the pins (especially
the 6 pin din) has melted on me before
and the pin I was working on fell out!
(it was fixed again by heating up the
pin and pushing it back into place,
where it cooled back into position).
Heating the surface is necessary
because if the surface isn't warm
enough for long enough you'll do a bad
solder which can be easily pulled
apart.

Soldering itself is straightforward.
There are many techniques, but I
simply placed the wire in the pocket
for soldering, lay the solder wire on
top of that, and then applied the
soldering iron until the solder
melted, filling the socket and welding
into the surface. I pushed more solder
into the connection as needed. Try not
to add too much solder though. More
solder doesn't necessarily mean a
stronger connection. Firstly, let's do
the D25 plug. You can do the 6 pin din
first if you want, but the D25 plug is
harder in my opinion, especially if
you mess up. So if you do mess the D25
up after you do the 6 pin, too bad. I
suggest you practice soldering first
before you work on the cable proper.
Use some spare wire and some extra
plugs.

The sticky tape and blu tak comes in
handy when you try to keep the wire in
position and the plug in place while
you hold the solder in the socket, the
wire under the solder, and the
soldering iron. Unless you're an
octopus, you'll soon realize that
soldering isn't quite that easy and
that the plug won't stay still. The
wire keeps moving out of the plug's
soldering socket etc. BE PATIENT! Once
everything is in place, make the
solder.

Once it's been soldered and the solder
has dried and become hard, check to
make sure that the connection has been
soldered properly. This can be done by
pulling the wire fairly hard (but NOT
TOO HARD!), to see if the soldering
has worked well (If it hasn't the
solder will break off the socket, or
the wire will snap - effectively
forcing you to do a better job next
time!). Remember: allow the solder to
dry before testing the connection!
Also, check to make sure that the
solder hasn't connected any other
sockets next to the one you are
working on. Check to make sure that
the wires will not cross either. This
is very important.

The Ground connection on the D25 plug
is not difficult to do as the diagram
may suggest. Simply strip the wire you
intend to use for the ground
connection so that the exposed wire
can cover across all the ground
sockets on the back of the D25. After
this, it is simply a matter of
soldering the wire to all the sockets.
Easy.

Should you want to, you can add the
Autodetect connection into the D25
plug on pins 2 and 15 (Yes, the 2 and
15 pins on the D25 are wired
together!). This is not necessary when
using the Star Commander, but if you
decide to use the X1541 cable with the
original X1541 transfer program, then
I suggest you make it. Heck, why not
do it, as you have your soldering iron
out at the moment. I made it on my
plug anyway. It makes it a true X1541
cable.

Make sure you solder the right wire in
the right socket! Check your X1541
specifications. The D25 plug you have
may even have the correct numbers for
each individual pin on it. Remember
that the X1541 specifications show the
female plugs of the LPT port in the PC
and the serial port in the 1541. To
help you remember which pin is which,
place the plug with the solder sockets
facing up next to the diagram. Now it
should be easy to see which pins are
which. Some plugs you may buy may be
even so helpful as to have the numbers
of the pins next to them.

If you mess up, you can always
"unsolder" a connection by applying
the soldering iron to the connection,
and then pulling the wire out.

Same goes if you accidentally add more
solder than you should to a socket,
and it spills onto another socket
connecting them. This, however, leaves
the socket in a bit of a mess. Don't
let this worry you though. Keep
trying! In most cases, your mess-ups
are salvageable. If you mess up on the
D25 plug, saving your work can be
harder. Only just recently I soldered
two connections together accidentally.
When I tried to unsolder, the solder
got stuck all over the plastic part of
the plug. Getting the solder off then
was impossible, as I melted the
plastic part with my soldering iron
trying to get the solder off! It ended
up as a complete mess.

With any luck, you'll have managed to
solder all the connections correctly
on the D25 plug! Well Done! Now you
can get the D25 back cover and cover
the D25 plug with it. There's no
instructions that come with assembling
the back-cover, and there are lots of
different back cover models around for
the D25 plug. You may just have to
examine the back cover you have and
experiment a bit. The type that I have
also has a place inside the back cover
where a metallic gripper can be
screwed in place around the cable.
This can be implemented to reduce
pressure on the soldered connections
should the cable be pulled hard.

Step 3
Right! Now that you're feeling a bit
more confident about soldering, it
should be much easier to solder the 6
pin din to your cable. Firstly, you'll
notice that the 6 pin din plug you
have should have a plastic or rubber
casing around it. Pull this casing
off, and push it onto the X1541 cable
that we're building. Make sure you put
this on the right way so that when
you're finished soldering, it can be
pulled back over the plug! DON'T
FORGET to do this step or you may find
that you'll have to unsolder your
connections on the 6 pin din plug in
order to put the cover back on the
plug! (I admit to having done this!).
Be careful with the other parts of the
din plug as not to lose them. You'll
notice that there is the main plug
which carries the pins, and two metal
coverings that hook over the main
plug. One of the metal coverings has a
long claw-like hook. You'll notice
that the sockets for the din plug are
hollow so that you can place the wires
down the sockets before soldering.
Unfortunately, this doesn't make your
life too easy!

Now, shorten the wires coming from the
other end of the X1541 cable you're
building. Not too short, but so that
the metal backing with the long
claw-like cradle on it can wrap itself
around the shrink tubing on the cable.
Soldering the wires to the din pins is
not that easy. Try to get the solder
both in the sockets and outside the
sockets so that they cover the wire
and socket completely.

When you thrusted the wires down the
shrink tubing in the arrangement
according to the X1541 plans,
arranging the wires now SHOULD be
easier. It still may not be, but
persevere! Firstly, I suggest doing
the Reset plug because if you soldered
all the outer sockets first, you would
have a lot of trouble doing the inner
Reset socket. Once this is done,
complete soldering all the other
sockets with their correct wire. Yet
again, be careful which socket they
are going into.

The din plug I bought even had small
numbers of the corresponding pins on
the main plug. As with the D25 plug,
check all the wires to make sure they
are soldered correctly and do not
cross over. Also make sure they they
are in close (But not touching) and
away from the metal covering when you
place that back over the main plug
once you have finished soldering. Blu
Tack or something sticky comes in
handy in keeping the main din plug
still while you solder. It tends to
roll around a bit on the table.

Once this has all been done, replace
the metal coverings on the main plug
and try to wrap the metal claw-like
hook on the metal covering around the
cable. Once you are sure everything is
correct, slide the din plug plastic
cover down the cable and back over the
din plug.

The shrink tubing around the cable can
be shrunk (as its name suggests) to
fit snugly around the wires in the
cable. Do this on a heat source, NOT a
naked flame. You want to shrink the
cable, not burn it. You can use a hot
light globe, electric heater, or a jug
or bowl of hot water. There are
specialist heat-shrink tools to do
this professionally, but since they
are so expensive you're better off not
using them for just one cable! Using a
bowl of hot water is probably the
easiest and best method, as it gives
an even finish to the cable. Just make
sure that the shrink tubing has no
punctures, and you don't accidently
drop the ends of the cable into the
hot water! The reasons for this are
quite obvious I think, as you will be
plugging this cable into your PC!
Boiling water may bubble as you place
the cable in, but don't worry as this
is because you are deplacing air
pockets in the water that are
escaping, as steam!

And that's it! You've made a X1541
cable! Well done!

So that's it? But I'm still stuck!
Still having trouble making the cable?
The parts you bought don't match the
description that I gave? Can't solder
the connections? In this case, send me
an email and tell me what your problem
is, I may be able to help you out.If
you have no time to build one or can't
be bothered building one, you may like
to email Joe Forster at the Star
Commander homepage, and he'll give you
some details for ordering a cable. I
used to have time to build these
things not so long ago, but due to how
busy I am with life in general, not to
mention the CD, and the fact that I'm
having trouble locating the diodes
where I live now (not in a city!) I've
had to give it up!

Remember to check all the connections
you made on your X1541 cable. If you
are sure that they are correct, yet
the cable doesn't work on a transfer
program, then you'll have to contact
the author(s) of that program to find
out what the problem is.

Who knows? you may have enjoyed
building the cable and would like to
put your soldering iron to other uses!
It could become a new hobby!

Disclaimer
My instructions for building a X1541
cable is simply advice from me to you,
whether you accept it or not is your
choice. I have built several X1541
cables before using this method. I
will not be held responsible if you
damage your PC by building a bad
cable, or doing something stupid like
permanently soldering electronic parts
to your PC printer port (which is not
what I'm endorsing) because you
misunderstood me. If that happens,
it's YOUR fault!

I doubt very much that disaster will
befall you though. One of my cables
had a loose reset cable once and all
that did was cause Star Commander to
experience trouble transferring things
as the reset wire bounced around
connecting other wires. Still, you
won't have any trouble at all if you
loosely follow my advice and take care
in your work!

GOOD LUCK!

Star Commander homepage
http://sta.c64.org/sc.html

Article reprinted from
http://www.geocities.com/cdsixfour/
 index.htm

with the writers permission

Commodore Free would like to thank Rio
Baan for the article reprint