Additional help buliding the Orton 3C

[James Harland]

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year!

I got myself a full Orton 3C kit for Christmas, and now I am starting to think about putting it together. I have had a look at the images on the z80 kits site, and the documentation on the rc2014 site, and searched this forum for Orton 3C references.

So looking at the pictures, I can see that the main board of the Orton 3C is double sided, with the LEDS and switches on one side and everything else on the back. 

I also got a useful piece of information from a discussion here that the main board is soldered into slot 5 of the backboard.

I couldn't find any YouTube videos of the build process. I wonder if anyone here has any more advice or information on putting together the Orton 3C? So far my total soldering experience is a few kits from AliExpress and then the RC 2014 Classic ][ which I put together and got working a few months ago.

Thanks everyone,

James

[Mark T]

I agree with Mike, don’t solder two boards together. If you look closely at the photos on z80kits you can see the backplane 5 has a right angled single row female header and the front panel board has a vertical pin header. An alternate method that might work would be a straight female header on the front panel and right angle pin header on the backplane, then the cpu card could also connect directly to the front panel, but at right angle to it. That might make it easier to debug if you need to start probing with a scope or logic probe.

On Friday, January 2, 2026 at 11:08:39 PM UTC-5 mike i wrote:

By the looks from all the pics at https://z80kits.com the cpu board has female headers and boards with switches has male headers i would recommend this because if something went wrong in future

you will have a he+2hockeysticks of a job to desolder all of those connections to get it apart. Desolder a couple of pins is ok but not many more than that. If there are copperplanes(lots of extra copper)

it is a pain you know where, groundplanes sucks the heat out of the solder iron. One can use a heat gun or a hot air soldering gun for such things but if not familiar with these tools these tools there is a

big chance of burning the pcb. A soldering iron of 50-60w will suffice if not big " planes are there, you can also warm pcb with a hairdryer to 50-60c this will help to solder flow easier. Flow of the "lead/tin"

will depend on how much oxides is on there, solder some caps/res to see how it flows, if there is issues use a rubber (lead pencil) that can help to clean oxides there is also a sort of pen with a glass fiber tip

but one has to go easy with those.

That was what i could come up with quickly

Use ic-sockets will make it easier to fix is an ic goes bad especially since some circuits are n/a anymore  

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RC2014-Z80" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rc2014-z80+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rc2014-z80/3b8abc41-0ff0-4c2b-b7a0-51a34567f2b1n%40googlegroups.com.

[sunnyboy010101]

I took a bunch of photos when I built my Orton 3-C before Christmas. I think the best way to post them is to make a web page and put them there as they are large images. It will be about 1/2 hour and I'll post a link here. The secret is to build male headers on the main Orton 3-C board and then appropriately use the female headers on the extender (if you buy it) and the backplane-5. I used a blue box to hold it all.

-R

[sunnyboy010101]

I built a simple web site for my build of the Orton 3-C. 

https://huntrods.com/orton3c.html

at the moment it's just my photos of the build, but there are photos of the back of the main board (installed in the blue box) showing the connectors to the backplane-5 as well a two photos of the backplane-5 with the small I/O board. I did find in my blue box that I needed to use some threaded nylon standoffs to allow it to sit level with the main board connector and still be able to push down to install a board on the backplane. (as built it was kind of unsupported).

I used a finishing wax on the wood panel as I like the finish it provides, and was super easy to apply.

-R

[sunnyboy010101]

oh yea, happily answer any questions about my build, with all due respect to Spencer, recognizing that he is the real authority on his kits. I'm just a super happy builder of his kits in Canada.

-R

[Spencer Owen]

Thanks to those of you that have replied to this. I hope that helps James. 

The assembly guide on the RC2014 website is my best attempt at showing how it goes together and in which order - however, I am well aware that I am trying to describe things that I already know how to do, and that I am probably making assumptions or overlooking things that might seem obvious to me. So, for those of you that have built an Orton 3C already, please let me know how I can improve the documentations. 

(I will also reiterate that the front panel should not be soldered directly to the backplane or the CPU module. Header pins need to be fitted to the front panel. If it is being used with a backplane then a right angle socket needs to be used on the backplane, or if the CPU module is being connected directly to the front panel, then the CPU module needs sockets)

Cheers

Spencer 

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rc2014-z80/c66756a5-19dc-4ec2-a9b4-23a99210ab7en%40googlegroups.com.

[Jamesbloke]

James,

I could kiss you. 

Child 1 and I have been trying to work out why his Orton isn't working and it is because we put the front panel on slot 1 of the backpane, not slot 5. We (I) didn't look at the pin numbers on the backpane, just the slot numbers, and had everything back to front.

Now I have 80 pins to unsolder and re-solder as penance.....

Nice photos sunnyboy010101!

Thanks,

James

[Mark T]

If you plug the front panel into vertical connector on slot 5, the other connectors on the backplane will be blocked by the front panel, but you could plug the processor into right angle slot 1. Check the pin numbers in case I got this wrong but I think you could test your front panel and processor board like this before reworking the connectors.

[Jamesbloke]

Thanks Mark T, that's what we did, which is why I was so excited.