All the items are available on eBay at much lower prices. I bought enough parts for 10 Rex units and 5 Quads in May and the total cost for the parts was around USD $70. Here are the links (some of the prices have increased since I bought), hope you find them useful:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOSHIBA-TC551001CFTI-85L-128KX8-STANDARD-SRAM-85ns- TSOP-32-PIN-IND-TEMP-X10/321925695100?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid =p2057872.m2749.l2649 http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-AM29F800BB-70EC-AM29F800BB/271129079709?ssPageN ame=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 http://www.ebay.com/itm/XCR3064XL-10V-XILINX-CPLD-CoolRunner-XPLA3-Family-1 -5K-Gates-64-Ma-x-10-PC-/263063627023? http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-pcs-1x40-Pin-Single-Row-2-54mm-Round-Male-Header -M114-connector-gold-plated/262937197424?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trk sid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 Some of the items originate from China however they arrived well before the boards from OSHpark which took about 14days for my order, however YMMV. At least for the US there were no import charges. Some quick observationsŠ.. Ended up building 6 REX and 3 QUADs they all worked fine (well I did have 1 dry joint on the last REX but I was tired :) ). One issue was with the footprints, they are not ideal for hand building just be patient and do not try to rush to the finish line. I use a 10x loupe to check my work especially for shorts. Also would recommend solder paste which I find much better for SM parts. The new Xilinx programming software (you will need to create a free account on Xilinx to download) ran fine on a Win 10 machine, the main issue was pulling the program enable pin. I ended up tack soldering a wire to the resistor and the power line. Also had to tack solder a header to the programming pins to provide a good connection. The staggered holes would not work for me it caused no end of headaches. I would not recommend programming the boards in your beloved Model T so many things can go wrong. Just tack on power wires and use a bench supply set to 5V. The other issue was grinding down the edges of the REX board, watch for the through hole plating it has a tendency to fold into the hole and can cause problems. I cleaned that out with a small needle file. if you don¹t watch it can cause a jam in the OPTrom socket which is tricky to deal with. Once you have sanded do clean the board with alcohol to remove the dust and your fingerprints. The QUAD board has issues with the parts being too close to the header pins you may need to sand the plastic off one side of your header to achieve the best fit depending on which header pins you buy. As they say Slow is Pro! Above all have fun building them, nothing like seeing your efforts come alive on the Model T. Regards Ian On 20/9/17, 9:09 PM, "M100 on behalf of Jim Anderson" <[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]> wrote: >So... I decided to pull the trigger on building my own set of REX >modules, and now I'm a bit stuck at verical's shipping-charges gunpoint... > >The main thing I was concerned about was that the cost of the boards from >OSH Park was not discussed anywhere and not available without making an >account, so I'd assumed it was going to be the most outrageous cost of >the whole project. After finding out that it's not anywhere near what I >was expecting to pay (and shipping to Canada is free), I was nearly giddy >and ordered six REX boards and three QUAD boards (figured why not, it was >only a little bit more and if I can figure out what SRAM chip would work >with it I could build some). > >Ordering from Digikey is also no problem - switch over to digikey.ca and >shipping is only $8 for orders under $100. > >Then I go to order the flash chips from verical. I'm sitting here >staring at the checkout form now, jaw agape, as it offers me a choice of >shipping methods ranging in price from $46.70 to $57.76 (for half a dozen >chips!!!). Apparently they only ship to Canada by courier. Chatted with >their customer service and this was confirmed - no option for a cheaper >and slower shipping method. > >From the activity over the last day or two here, it seems like I might >have missed the boat on this, but: if anybody is ordering the flash chips >from verical, would you mind adding six more chips to your order and >mailing them to me after you get them? I'll happily pay you in advance. > >(I used to have things shipped to a PO box service in Point Roberts, WA >whenever I would run into highway robbery shipping like this, but I don't >currently have a valid passport so I can't drive across to pick anything >up now.) > > > > > > > > jim >
