FXTal: Replacment F XT PCB

Difficulty: HARD

Time: Weekend

Tools Needed: Soldering Iron, Drill, Hand File, Printer, Hammer

Items Needed: 94-96 Barrels, Extra fipppers, xWhatsit, Foam, Keycaps for your layout

Your trying to make an FXTal, okay before you start I want to emphasize that this project will take you some time. This project will require you dill holes directly into your Model F mounting plate, meaning this is not a reversable mod. Proceed at your own risk and be careful. Mesure twice and cut once. That being said, there are a few things that can be done even if you mess up, so rick of failuar is pretty low I would say.

First thing is first, you need to take all of the keycaps off of the board. Now that that is out of the way, your going to need to open up and take apart your Model F XT or your model F Bigfoot. There are two hex screws on the back of the case.

Once you get those screws out you should be able to take the backplate right off. If you still have the 5 pin din cable attached, then now is the time to unplug it. There is a blue plastic meconism that is holding the cable in place. By pressing the tabs you should be able to free the cable from the PCB. You will also need to remove a little screw on the PCB plate connecting to the PCB.

Now that the assembly is free, you are going to need to separate the barrel plate from the PCB plate. The barrel plate has little feet that hook into groves on the PCB plate, one of which is bent to be more flat to the pcb plate. The bent foot needs to be bent back into a vertical position with a hamer.


Once done, find a hard surface that wont get damaged. I use a mettel support pole to my house, but anything will work. Place the assembly vertical with the barrels for the F keys to the top. Now you will need to use a hammer to force the barrel plate downwards (DO NOT HIT THE PCB PLATE, THIS WILL DO NOTHING). This is easier said then done as the barrel plate is a bit tucked in there. I recomend using the wedge method (putting a piece of wood to make contact with the barrel plate, and hitting the wood with a hammer). Either way you will need to hit the barrel plate hard enough to force the downwards shift.

Once the shift has happened, make sure to tilt the assembly so that the barrel plate faces the floor before you completely separate the two parts, as the barrels and flippers will be lose and can fall all over the floor.... Ask me how I know.

Now that the two plates are apart, put the PCB plate off to the side and remove the barrels, flippers and foam from the barrel plate. Once done you can remove the PCB from the PCB plate by sliding it so it will be freed from the little pips securing it to the PCB plate

Now its time to start the barrel plate modification. Go ahead and download the cut template from the included link. This template is two pieces of paper that you will have to tape together. This template is meant to be attached to your barrel plate to help you make the proper cuts. The included template is for the split space version of the Rev. 1 PCB. The normal space layout for the Rev. 1 PCB currently does not have a template. In the case that you want to make a Rev. 1 normal space FXTal, you will have to use the PCB as a reference and make some mesurments basied on the positions of the contact pads. Anyways, place the template so that the F key holes of the barrel plate are lined up with the template. Once the template is properly secured, you will need to get your drill.