sharktastica wrote: ↑10 Sep 2023, 01:09
jsheradin wrote: ↑04 Sep 2023, 01:16
The PCBs are thicker but they still fit. I also installed one in my 2014 GE Medical Unicomp. You just need to use a worrying amount of force and come in from the right angle.
This was my experience as well. They fit, but something seems tighter. I tried 3 Unicomps (a 2019 Classic, a 2019 Ultra Classic and a 2020 New M) and it fitted them all.
[...] one thing I found that made mounting easier was that on my 2019 Ultra Classic, I inserted the PCB into the barrel plate and got one of the screw holes lined up (the one closest to the keyboard edge seems to go in easier), pushed the PCB down and then just started screwing whilst holding the PCB. Eventually, the right side aligned and the fit seems to be successful since I'm typing on this "Aristides'd" Ultra Classic right now!
I was eventually able to get one of my Aristides controllers into my Classic from 2018. But it was **NOT** easy. I just kept ramming the new controller PCB into each screw post on either side multiple times until it would manage to wedge itself in. In the end, I was actually left with multiple small black plastic shavings that were quite obviously sheared off of the bottom edges of the screw posts.
And even then, the fit was FAR from perfect. Unlike the outgoing Ruffian controller, I never was able to quite make it feel like the Aristides controller's two bottom holes were sitting perfectly "flat" on top of the two screw posts. Like you, I ended up just forcing the screws into the posts and tightening them down as hard as I could. This caused the controller to tilt back some, but it still sticks up at a slightly greater angle than the original controller, and thus the LEDs are uncomfortably bumping into the lock light cut-outs at the top of the chassis. Because of this, when closing the case, that right side would NOT lay flat naturally. I had to hold it down to screw the darn thing shut from the back with the hex screws.
The keyboard works perfectly fine and all keys register, so there is good contact being made between the membrane pads and the pads on the back of the controller. But the actual fit of the new controller inside the case is terrible.
I would love to actually see a full-size Unicomp board in person that was fitted with an Aristides controller from the factory, because I just can't believe that the fit is this naturally bad for all of them; if it is then the guys on the factory floor assembling these things must be going nuts. Or maybe the plastic molding for the barrel plate on my 2018 Classic is just slightly outside of expected tolerances, or something.
I'm going to try my 2020 Ultra Classic next, but the last time I tried, it was JUST as resistant to having the Aristides installed into it as my 2018 Classic was, so I expect it's going to be a very similar story. Perhaps I will pre-empt the hard part by taking a knife blade and scraping away some of the plastic on the bottom of the two screw posts before trying to force it in...
sharktastica wrote: ↑10 Sep 2023, 01:09
(I'm guessing they used different PCB manufacturers with differing tolerances because IMO the difference wasn't immediately obvious to me)
I'm wondering if the new controller PCB has more layers than the old one does, which would have necessitated an increase in thickness? Either that, or they just plain messed up on the order & ordered the wrong thickness.
I also halfway wonder if they made an initial order with the wrong thickness, discovered the issue, and this has been corrected on future batches. And they might possibly be using thinner boards on their own production line by this point. But they perhaps still have older stock from their initial order kicking around, and are fulfilling the orders they're getting from their own customers for loose controller boards from that stock...
.
