Recreating motherboard?

[Forrest]

So, i was wondering if anybody has ever tried to make a reproduction PCB.
Long story short, I *thought* I was buying a XT model 286 on eBay, but it turns out it had an aftermarket board, which, unlike the real IBM board, has suffered the barrel battery corrosion plague.
Since these models are particularly rare, and I already have a good case, i thought, "Perhaps i could build an exact replica of the original board".
Call me crazy, but MITS sells an exact replica of a model B PC board, so I thought, "What's to stop me from doing that myself"

So.....any thoughts?

 

[modem7]

Call me crazy, but MITS sells an exact replica of a model B PC board, so I thought, "What's to stop me from doing that myself"

Well, not exact. They were obviously unable to source (either all all, or economically) delay lines TD1 and TD2.

So.....any thoughts?

From the PC-Retro web site: "Reverse engineering the original IBM board was a substantial undertaking, as we found many differences between the 'official' circuit diagrams and actual board construction. Additionally, you can imagine the complexity of trouble-shooting this board and verifying the correct operation! Not to mention the logistical challenge of sourcing the original vintage electronic parts."

 

[2icebitn]

What's the difference between the aftermarket board and a real xt 286 board? If you thought you were being sold a real IBM product, and the board differs substantially (i.e asics are used in place of discreet logic), then ask for a refund. If it's an actual aftermarket clone of the original, more or less identical, well IMO things could be worse. I hate IBMs yucky brown motherboards, and I'm of the persuasion the xt 286 was always brown.

If you want to try and recreate an xt 286 mobo, don't. Or rather choose a small multilayer board to mimic, no more then 4 or 5" on a side. And see how that goes. Jumping into a project like that with no experience will likely wind you in a sanitarium.

 

[Forrest]

Well, the big issue is the board is already damaged from battery corrosion. But i did manage to source an original board elsewhere, it's even garunteed for 30 days! Now if only i knew where my debit card went...

 

[glitch]

It's usually cheaper to just buy another original than reproduce when it's commodity PC hardware. I've done several reproductions myself and helped with several others. Going the "direct copy" route using a PC board scanning service would be over $300 alone for something the size of a PC motherboard.

 

[2icebitn]

Please post a photo of the aftermarket board.