Chapter 4 - Mechanical Assembly

The Eurocard frame kit contains two end plates, two end plate front angles, two front tie bars with tapped strips, two rear connector mounting rails and eight fixing screws. Assemble the frame as shown:

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Note that viewing the frame from the front the 83rd guide position is on the right.

The standard allocation of the front of the cardframe is as shown:

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The 2.8" space is for a 5/12 volt power supply. Seven Eurocards spaced at 1" are allowed for with another one occupying part of the 7" space for a floppy disc controller. The left hand Eurocard location is reserved for the C.P.U. card when bus buffers are fitted to the backplane. The four card system 2 does not require buffers and so the cards are fitted as follows:

	2.8" Space (power supply)
	1"   Space
	1"   CPU
	1"   cassette interface
	1"   VDU interface
	1"   memory board
	1"   Space
	1"   Space
	7"   Space (Floppy disc controller)

Take the backplane board with its four connectors and lay it so that the board is between the upper and lower rear tie bars with the connector mounting ears on the front of the tie bars. Pin 1 of the connectors should be at the top i.e. the bus buffer I.C. locations are to the left hand side. Using eight of the 2.5 mm screws provided fix the connectors into the tapped holes on the rear tie bars that are numbered 21, 26, 31 and 36. Check that the power bus lines on the backplane are not shorted to the tie bars.

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With the backplane mounted in the frame take care that the protruding connector pins are not damaged in any way.

Card and module guides may be fitted at multiples of 0.2" spacings by either clipping them into the holes, or onto the metal between the holes, of the tie bars:

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Note the guides are fitted with the flat side to the left and the stepped side to the right. To fit the guides place them in the appropriate location on the rear tie bar and then push them onto the front tie bar where they snap into position.

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To remove the guides push them to the rear whilst unclipping them from the front tie bar. Top and bottom pairs of guides are fitted into positions 20, 25, 30 and 35.

It should now be possible to slide the four boards into the guides with their components facing to the right. The connectors should mate together but it may be necessary to loosen the screws securing the backplane connectors and move the backplane fractionally to allow the connectors to mate freely.

With a fully expanded system card guides are fitted in positions 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 with the slimmer module guides in positions 2, 12, 51 and 82.

The Eurocard frame may be fitted in a 19" case giving protection for the printed circuit cards. Two front handles supplied with the case are positioned behind the card frame angles and four screws with plastic washers secure the frame and handles into the case.

One inch front panels may be fitted to the Eurocards, these are available with holes already cut for suitable front connectors for each board. The memory board only requires a blank panel. The front panel is fixed to the board using two plastic brackets also supplied as shown:

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