Masochist's Video Card

VGA Breakout Hardware Design
           To facilitate the process of connecting the Masochist's Video Card to an LCD monitor I built this small breakout board in Eagle layout. The schematic, board and pdf top/bottom artwork can be downloaded to the right. The description below is very abridged, so check my DIY breakout boards tutorial for more information on how to build breakout boards.

Building The VGA Breakout Board
          We will use the toner-transfer process to get the PCB artwork onto both sides of the board. A quick advisory: if you're using ferric chloride as an etchant, wear gloves, goggles and safety gear. That stuff isn't very friendly to biological life.


·Using an Iron, the toner is transferred to side A.


·Similarly, the toner is transferred to side B.


·Throw the board into a bucket of etchant and see how it comes out. You can see below, side A came out looking quite nice.


·Side B is also very clean.


·Only two parts need to be soldered into the board.


·The VGA connector might take some effort to solder, but the SIPs are easy.


·The board is complete. Use a multimeter's continuity tester to make sure electrical signals make it from connector to connector, through the board.


·All the parts are FINALLY built, let's connect it all together and see how it works and what it does.