Wilba

A very audible hum could be because the PSU is unable to deliver enough current. Is the hum present when there is only two SIDs installed? If the hum is gone, then the problem is too much load on the PSU, and the PSU can't deliver enough voltage to the regulators. Some PSUs cause the hum just from being noisy.... other times it's maybe an issue with the PCB, it's hard to say... you might try a test with a temporary power supply, such as 9V AC (or 12V DC) walwart and regulated 5V DC walwart... i.e. some good, new walwarts, to compare. Or some other good power supply you might have for other projects. The passive mixer is a passive mixer - you can't get less attenuation without reducing the resistors, which causes other problems. AFAIK an active mixer is just a passive mixer with op amp stages afterwards to amplify the signal level loss from the resistors. You could build an op amp stage but good ones require bipolar PSU inside the case.

Nice work strophlex! Where did you get those bicolor LEDs? They look greener than the ones I used on mine. Very nice.

BTW Those switches look really cool. Can you also share details about the switches? i.e. part number, manufacturer, where you bought them.

I had poor results with some bare aluminium scraps I had, but good results with the black anodized aluminium from FPE. I was told by someone that aluminium forms some oxidized surface as soon as you roughen it, making it hard to stick to, but I don't know the technical details of that. Some people had better results by scratching the surface... it probably depends on the type of anodized aluminium. The 1.5mm black anodized panels I got from FPE are dark grey metallic on the back, whereas the 3mm black anodized panels were the same on both sides. Both types seemed to work fine with JB-Weld without any roughening.

Fantastic job! I just read the wiki, good to see you're documenting how it was built... Your two step process for gluing the screws is great, but did you notice a difference between applying more JB-Weld in a second step instead of doing this at the same time as the initial gluing of the screw? BTW this method isn't mine, I was inspired by Rigo: http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php/topic,6929.msg52071.html#msg52071

Ponoko Prime members can request other materials, but it's not like there's a list of materials available just for them, you have to request them specifically. The problem I see is that you want to make something the same as the 1.5mm aluminium panel but Ponoko just doesn't really have a compatible material - only the transparent acrylic comes in 2mm, the rest are 3mm minimum... the metals can't be engraved... the other plastics are too flimsy for panels. This is why I haven't bothered doing an MB-6582 panel from Ponoko yet, because I'm not that interested in totally clear... the matte black acrylic I'm using for sammichSID is very nice but minimum 3mm thick. If you're keen to do 2mm clear acrylic, go for it... if you've taken the DXF files I published and scaled exactly so all the cutouts are in the right positions and the right size, it should work... I think those files were used by Narwhal and others to make their own panels so there should be no problems... but please take your time and let me check your final SVGs before ordering from Ponoko so I can help you avoid an expensive mistake.

The original panels on the PT-10 (and what I suggest people make using Front Panel Express or Schaeffer) is 1.5mm thick aluminium. This means 13mm tactile switches will protrude 1.5mm (13mm - 10mm spacer - 1.5mm panel = 1.5mm) You can use 2mm but that makes the switch caps only protrude 1mm which is still functional but not preferred. What material do you want to use? The metals from Ponoko can't be engraved, btw, and the only 2mm acrylic is clear.

They're SID freaks... they probably have more SIDs than C64s. Like me ;)

Maybe you can offer them to MSSIAH users who want to mod them or have a spare C64 lying around.

I bitter git on wuth ut eh bro?

donating to webhosting covers the costs of running the MIDIbox forum donating to development buys TK some toys ;) (I usually bypass the middle-man and send him toys directly)

There's some problems with this design, at least as I view it in Inkscape. The biggest problem is the size - it's 185.928mm x 130.617mm. The top panel of a PT-10 (and also same size as the MB-6582 CS PCB) is 232.41mm x 163.27mm Since everything is scaled incorrectly, thus all the holes sizes and positions are also wrong. However, the holes you added for mounting are huge compared to the holes for LEDs. Surely you only need a 3mm diameter hole for screws to mount through the panel. As I said before, you really should do it from scratch using guidelines and such so you know the coordinates of each hole and can verify it with the FPD file and mount hole coordinates. In regards to the engraving, I'd recommend heavy vector (255,0,0) for all engraving. For the dividing lines, use three heavy vector lines in parallel to create a thicker line, i.e. for each diving line, add one to each side at 0.15mm offset. If you want to get fancy, edit the nodes so the outlines don't overlap other lines. Of course you can't do this properly until all the rest is at the right scale. The advantage of using vector engraving and no raster is, Ponoko can engrave with the paper backing still on the acrylic, thus you'll get a perfect mask for doing paint filling. I'm not exactly sure how well this idea will work with such small text... it might be a good idea though to duplicate all the text so the laser does it all three times and makes a slightly wider and deeper engraving. This will cost more but the paint filling might work better. Also you haven't told me what material you plan to use... if it's 2mm clear, then you don't need the LCD window cutout, if it's >2mm then the switch shafts won't protrude past the top of the panel.

did you search for "piping"? ;) http://www.midibox.org/forum/index.php/topic,13492.0.html

You can't make MIDI Thru by connecting them directly in parallel to MIDI In ports... The MIDI hardware is a current loop - when connecting MIDI Out to a MIDI In, current goes from the MIDI Out, through the optocoupler connected to MIDI In, then back to the MIDI Out. Splitting this would result in less current going through each MIDI In, which might not be enough to drive the optocoupler properly. See a schematic of how it should be done here: http://m.bareille.free.fr/midithrubox/midithrubox.htm I have made a "hack" MIDI Thru port on a Core by connecting the optocoupler output to a standard MIDI Out socket i.e. DIN socket pin 4 -> 220R resistor -> 5V and DIN socket pin 5 -> 220R resistor -> optocoupler output (Core IC2:pin 6) It works, but it will only work for one MIDI Thru port, maybe two, I don't know... the "right" way is to use buffers (see the schmitt trigger inverters in the schematic - two of them invert the optocoupler output twice, so it's the same, but "buffered").

I donated my USD spare change ;) but I'll send more after there's a big pile of cash in there, ETA two weeks ;)

What I mean is... develop the layout in 0mm stroke (stroke unset) so your hole sizes are exact. Then at a later stage, you set the required stroke thickness/colour to suit Ponoko and paste it into their pre-prepared SVG templates.

I'm also happy to help check your SVG. You really should use lots of guidelines and do everything in 0mm stroke (or no stroke), using Outline mode. If you can get all your artwork done as vector engraving, then paint filling it becomes a viable option. Do not try to do small text in raster engraving. In fact, just avoid raster engraving. FWIW I'm converting sammichSID artwork to vector only, so everything comes out looking a lot more like CNC engraved instead of blotchy dotty raster engraved. Also, what's the intended material?

Yes, AOUTs generally control stuff like external filters. You'd need to power them separately, as they typically need bipolar PSUs. You can connect them to each Core, i.e. if you want to have all four SID engines have their own external filters, you'll need (for example) 4x AOUT_NG and 4x SSM modules. The audio would typically come out of the audio sockets and through cables to the external filters. The SSM module has a bypass switch which means you could have it always connected and get the Core to use/bypass the filter. The other ideas you suggest don't work well, and would involve cutting tracks and wiring SID outputs through the expansion port, and then if you weren't using external filters (i.e. it wasn't present at all), you'd need some some kind of loopback plug. All very messy. You're better off with the flexibility of cables between MB-6582 and external filters.

Same type for both - standard dual wipe IC socket, same as in SmashTV's kits.

First the LCD: Ignore photos of the prototype - this used a PLED display that was thin enough to fit between PCB and panel. The Mk II (TK's gift) was using the production run PCBs, with cutout in the PCB. I'm not sure why you needed "several plastic rings"... if you solder the wires to the back of the LCD, you only need something as thin as business card to insulate between the LCD and the CS PCB. Even minimizing this spacing, the top of the LCD will be approx. 2.5mm - 3mm lower than the back of the panel. I filled this gap with a piece of clear acrylic (in this case, slightly tinted grey). It doesn't go through the panel cutout, it is just glued behind the panel and so the edges can be rough, they won't be seen anyway. I have considered doing a bulk order for pieces exactly the right size, made from clear 2.5mm acrylic... they would be so cheap to make and post that I could probably sell them for US$2 plus US$2 shipping anywhere, that is assuming I had a minimum of 25 orders.... however, it's the sort of thing I'd prefer someone else manage, I'll make them and send them in bulk to the US and Germany and let someone else with more time do all the packing and posting :) The expansion port wiring is completely up to the user - the idea was it gives the user the ability to connect AOUT modules or analog inputs (like a joystick or SoftPot) or maybe one day it will connect to a Core32 daughterboard for MB-SID V3... i.e. a substitute for a USB port. If you don't have anything to connect to your MB-6582, you don't need to worry about wiring it! ;) (It's also an homage to the original C64's expansion port).

I'm sort of being misquoted here - I used extra IC sockets in my prototype only temporarily, they weren't "premium", just normal dual wipe kind, and I only used them while I was developing the prototype, so I could easily remove and insert them again. I used them on the PICs too, again just for convenience. It's not a long term setup I recommend - the extra sockets do not have as long or as thick a pin as an IC and so the grip is poor and it's very easy to have bad contacts this way. Use only in the short term if you're moving ICs around a lot, something which most builders won't need to do unless there's a problem getting one of the Core/SID modules working (i.e. troubleshooting by swapping ICs).

Well done! I like the green LCD/red LEDs combo... reminds me of this MIDIbox SID, which I always admired, and which became the inspiration for the MB-6582 red/black colour scheme.

I was actually referring to the amount of planning, purchasing, packing and organizing of orders.

IDC connectors should fit, if the mounting screws are not too long... but you'll have to test this with your LCD. The other option is using the connectors with crimp pins, which are the same size as the header and so shouldn't get in the way of the mounting screws.

No one has been crazy enough before now. :o