New Flip Chip PCBs

On 4/11/2013 11:50 AM, MikeS wrote: I saw an earlier mention of making flip chips which this thread on vintage-computer brought back to mind. Someone suggested or built a straight 8 out of "mini" flip chips with surface mounted components. One poster there mentions the con to that is that you can't use the original modules if you were to change the form factor. However it would be more feasible to make a backplane if one selected the right edge connectors in PC form rather than wire wrap, and the overall device would make for another type of "spare time gizmos" type of artifact if done that way and replicated. Lots of work, but it would be better in some ways than doing an original form factor 8. There are Pros to that too, but obtaining supplies / parts are less in your control if you go with an actual 8 and try to match the original (using mixture of old and new parts) and also presents some problems too (wire wrap backplane would be fun). With my record of not doing much of any projects I won't be doing this one any time soon, but it would be great to see something like this happen. worth noting on the thread, the flip chip boards were going to be cut out of clad stock, not made up by a board house, and the poster was all ready with gallons of Ferric Chloride and a resist pin to make his first board. and $20 each for the boards in that form. I would think having the boards made up for you by the board house would come in for 1U Flip chips cheaper than that. also, do board houses / DEC / HP have any copyright rights to enforce over the edge card form anymore? Something like the trouble you run into taking an old IBM manual to a Staples and getting grief about copying it? Some will some are assholes. Jim