Can the mc68hc705 chips be cloned?

I have about 50 of a device which runs off the motorola mc68hc705c8fn 44pin plcc chip. but I am having problems with some of them. I have narrowed it down the to software version on the chip (I have swaped them around) as they were bought in different years.

the device is about 15-20 years old and is no longer sold. the company is still around, I have contacted them, but they have no means of programming new ones anymore.

my question is are these chips able to be cloned? I would like to copy the good version chips and swap them into the ones that are not working.

I have found blank chips online for around $9. and a programmer for around $1500usd (there has got to be something cheaper???)

are these chips able to be directly read and copyed? or am I going to run into problems?

and can I find a cheaper programmer?

thanks

Re: mc68hc705 question

anyone?

Re: mc68hc705 question

You may face problems with reading internal memory ..
Have a look at the data sheet section on programming: **broken link removed**
(paragraph 2.6.2): ROM bus latch bit that prohibits the ROM to be read ..

And here you have a description of a simple programmer:
**broken link removed**

Regards,
IanP