Editing SixtyClone Bare-Board Project

{{Infobox hardware
| name           = SixtyClone
| image          = [[File:SixtyClone_250407_PCB.jpg|260px]]
| caption        = A SixtyClone Commodore 64 replica PCB
| developer      = Rob "Peepo" Taylor
| type           = Replica Commodore 64 logic board, bare PCB
| manufacturer   = Sold by Bob's Bits (United Kingdom)
| application    = Commodore 64 assemblies 250407, 250466 and 250469
}}
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'''SixtyClone''' is a set of replica Commodore 64 main-board PCBs. They exist so that a machine whose board has been destroyed — by battery damage, by corrosion, by a botched repair — can be rebuilt by moving its chips onto a new board.<ref name="lectronz">Bob's Bits, SixtyClone product listings on Lectronz, e.g. https://www.lectronz.com/products/sixtyclone-250407 . Source for the purpose of the boards, the statement that they are the same dimensions as the originals and are a direct replacement, the community-editable BOM spreadsheet, and the list of optional extras: resistor packs, electrolytic capacitor packs, resistor networks, SwinSID Nano b, a newly manufactured power switch and a pre-programmed GAL-PLA for U17.</ref><ref name="breadbox">MtnBuffalo, ''SixtyClone C64 Replica'', breadbox64.com, 7 September 2020, https://breadbox64.com/sixtyclone-c64-replica/ . Build log. Source for the designer's name — Rob "Peepo" Taylor — for the three board assemblies replicated, for the price and UK origin at the time of writing, and for the observation that the 250466 uses two 41464 RAM chips in place of the eight on the earlier long boards.</ref>

== Who makes it ==

The PCBs are designed by '''Rob "Peepo" Taylor''' and sold by '''Bob's Bits''', a UK seller, on Tindie and Lectronz. Bob's Bits is the shop, not the designer.<ref name="breadbox" /><ref name="lectronz" />

'''SixtyClone is not an open-hardware project.''' This wiki has looked for published gerbers, KiCad sources or a project repository and found none — the GitHub repository sometimes cited for it does not exist. Buy the board; you cannot fabricate it yourself.

If what you want is an '''open''' C64 replica with published design files, that exists separately: '''bwack''' publishes full KiCad sources, schematics, gerbers, a BOM and an interactive BOM for the '''250407''' and the '''C64C 250469''', with a change log going back to the 2020 prototype. That project began as Michael K. ("Der Alte Bastler")'s SprintLayout reverse-engineering exercise in 2019 and was finished and shared by bwack and Langwell Cowan.<ref name="bwack">bwack, ''The C64 250407 replica'', https://github.com/bwack/C64-250407-Replica-KiCad , and ''C64C 250469 KiCAD Replica'', https://github.com/bwack/C64C-250469-KiCAD-Replica . README and change log. Source for the project's origin with Michael K. (Der Alte Bastler) in 2019, the prototyping and testing credit to bwack and Langwell Cowan, the statement that they are the first to share the design files online, the published BOM, interactive BOM and schematic PDF, and the version history from V1.0 (2020-04-22) to V1.3 (2025-06-09).</ref>

== Which boards are replicated ==

{| class="wikitable styled-table" style="width:95%; text-align:left;"
|+'''SixtyClone variants and what the original board actually contains'''
! Variant !! Original assembly !! What goes on it
|-
| SixtyClone 250407 || 250407, 1983 long board || '''Eight 4164''' DRAMs, 6510 CPU at U7, 6581 SID at U18, 6567/6569 VIC-II at U19, '''82S100 / 906114-01 PLA at U17''', separate 2114 colour RAM at U6, BASIC and KERNAL as separate ROMs at U3 and U4
|-
| SixtyClone 250466 || 250466, 1986 long board || '''Two 41464''' DRAMs at U9 and U10 in place of the earlier eight; otherwise as the 250407 — still a 6581 SID, still a 6567/6569 VIC-II, still a '''separate 2114 colour RAM at U6''' and a plain PLA at U17
|-
| SixtyClone 250469 (Rev. A and Rev. B) || 250469, 1987 short board || HMOS set: 8500 CPU at U6, 8562/8565 VIC-II at U7, 8580 SID at U9, '''BASIC and KERNAL combined in one 23128 at U4''', two 41464 DRAMs, and the 64-pin '''251715-01''' (Rev.A/3/4) or '''252535-01''' (Rev.B) PLA/MMU at '''U8'''. The 2114 colour RAM at U19 is absent on Rev.B because the 252535 absorbs it
|}
<ref name="cerebrum">''C64 Hardware Reference and Repair Guide'' (open_cerebrum), https://opencbm.org/doc/c64/hardware_reference_and_repair_guide/ . Community reference. Component placement tables for assemblies 250407, 250466 and 250469, and the function of the 251715 and 252535 PLA/MMU devices.</ref>

'''The 250466 is a long board, not a proto-short-board.''' Its only significant departure from the 250407 is the RAM: two 41464s instead of eight 4164s. It keeps the 6581 SID, the NMOS VIC-II and a separate colour RAM. Descriptions that give it an 8562/8565 VIC or colour RAM inside the PLA are describing the '''250469''', and following them will have you ordering the wrong chips.<ref name="cerebrum" /><ref name="breadbox" />

== Building one ==

The board is bare; you supply everything. Bob's Bits maintains a '''community-editable BOM spreadsheet''' and sells the fiddly parts as packs:<ref name="lectronz" />

* Resistor packs, metal film, matched to the board you chose
* Electrolytic capacitor packs
* Resistor networks
* SwinSID Nano b, a SID substitute
* Newly manufactured power switches
* '''GAL-PLA''' — a pre-programmed, tested drop-in for '''U17'''

For the 250469, note that the PLA is the 64-pin part at U8 and a U17 replacement will not help you. See [[PLA Replacement Options]].

=== Order of work ===

# Check the bare board for shorts between the 5 V and ground planes '''before''' you fit anything irreplaceable.
# Fit low-profile parts first — resistors, networks, links — then sockets, then the electrolytics and connectors.
# '''Socket the custom chips.''' They are the parts you are salvaging and the parts you will want to swap while fault-finding.
# Keep the donor board beside you. Comparing against the real thing catches a misread silkscreen far faster than a schematic does.
# Power up for the first time on a supply you trust. See [[Commodore 64 Power-Supply Protector (C64 Saver)]].
# Recap and test the chips you are transplanting before they go in: see [[Commodore 64 Capacitor Replacement Guide]].

== What this page does not claim ==

This wiki has found no maker's statement of the SixtyClone's layer count, surface finish, solder-mask colours, licence terms or revision history, and no published errata. Build notes describing bodge wires, silkscreen polarity errors or ground-plane experiments could not be traced to the designer or the seller and are not repeated here. Prices move: the figure in the 2020 build log cited above was '''US$35 plus shipping from the United Kingdom''', and the Lectronz listings are the current source.<ref name="breadbox" /><ref name="lectronz" />

== Related pages ==
* [[C64 Reloaded MK2]]
* [[Ultimate 64 Motherboard]]
* [[PLA Replacement Options]]
* [[Commodore 64 Capacitor Replacement Guide]]
* [[Commodore 64]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Commodore 64 Modifications and Enhancements]]
[[Category:Commodore Systems]]