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I’ve recently begun research to squeeze a PS4 into a smaller form factor and add a built in screen. I wish to make it roughly the size of an iPad mini. While the slim version provides a nicely sized motherboard, I believe being able to cut it into smaller bits would definitely make the engineering process much smoother.
With that said, my research unfortunately did not yield the results I am after, so I am turning to the forums. Does anyone know anything about cutting motherboards up (while retaining their functionality?
Posted : 14/08/2024 9:11 pm
With a simple single or dual layer board, this is doable (not easy, but doable).
Beyond that it's an impossibility. Here's a recent design of mine on four layer (two layer would have been fine but this was cut from a four layer board.
This is a very simple board with just two, 8-pin ICs on it - and they are not especially miniature ones. Consider that the distance between the the holes (vertically) is 0.254" Now consider how narrow the visible traces are. Those are the one you can solder to - if you have a microscope and a very steady hand.
I picked this one to really show how impossible this is.
In there is a single "inner" trace (orange).
And there's no practical way that you can splice these because they are sandwiched in the actual board. I don't know about the Playstation but I don't need to guess that it's way more complex than this.
And it probably uses a 16 (or more) layer board which means there are two layers of "visible" traces and 14 more copper layers running criss-cross all over the board.
Sorry to be a buzzkill, but you deserved more explanation that just being laughed at, because we learn more this way.
Take everything I say with a pinch of salt, I might be wrong and it's a very *expensive* way to learn!
Posted : 15/08/2024 9:36 am
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@marcdraco Thank you for educating me! And I fully expect to be laughed at — I’m very new to this world, but I strongly want to deep dive into it, and I can’t do that if I’m embarrassed by my inexperience. Anyways, thank you again, this was very informative.
This post was modified 8 months ago by xioft
Posted : 15/08/2024 6:09 pm
marcdraco reacted
That's the right attitude. The problem with the internet is you ask a question like this and people just laugh at you. Matt is a great teacher and a great example for how we can re-use and re-purpose our old electronics.
This is a great community - I share my screw-ups (I could write a book on them, but it would be very long and rather dry) for this reason.
Most recently I ordered a set of boards (USB C microphone project) and somehow managed to set a small number of parts for "do not place". Which means I've had to buy them in specially and solder them by hand. And you can see the size of them in that image up there. It means working with a microscope.
But we continue because the end results are worth the pain along the road and we can all share in the triumph.
Take everything I say with a pinch of salt, I might be wrong and it's a very *expensive* way to learn!
Posted : 16/08/2024 9:27 am