Midibox Core Complete (Finally)
Finally had an evening spare to start building my midibox kits from SmashTV’s store. Spent a bit of time setting up my high tech, top end work area (aka my kitchen table) and making sure all the parts and equipment are to hand before I start. First up was the Core which is the main brain of the controller.
Most important on the table was the laptop pointing at the layout for the Core on Smash’s website which has handy diagrams and info about all the parts and where they go.
Starting with the resistors I used the resistor layout guide at the foot of the Core layout page then double checked with my multi-meter before soldering to the board. These boards are different from the kits I’d put together before as the holes for the component legs have very small solder pads on the bottom of the board but are tinned right through to the front so you fill the holes with solder rather than build up huge blobs on the back (with any luck). After the first few I seemed to get the knack for this and I’m by no means a soldering expert.
Using a small pair of pointed nose pliers I pre-bent the resistor legs so they had a clean 90 degree bend so they sit nice and low on the board. I then place then in situ in groups of two or three, flip the board and use the weight of the board to hold them in place while soldering.
I then moved on to the diode (I’m hoping I got it the right way round!) and the other low level components. Once all the smaller components were in I soldered in the mounts for the ICs, the DIL headers (the upright pins that connect the other circuit boards), the largest capacitor and finally the midi sockets.
Quick tip for those of us without fancy multi arm PCB and component holders… To get the IC mounts and the DIL headers on flush to the board is to grab a small amount of solder on the end of your iron, hold the mount in the right position then dap the iron to a corner leg on the back. That will grab the mount and enable you to turn the board over solder all the other pins easily and finish up cleaning up the dab of solder you used on the first leg.
All in all it took me about two hours from sitting down to having the finished board (without ICs) and pouring my self a nice glass of white beer my colleague Chris very kindly brought me back from his trip to Germany.
It was very welcome after the solder fumes and I can only hope when I finally plug it all in it works.. I would have done it that night but totally forgot to get a power supply which is pretty typical.