Wilba

Crystal mounting pads? I didn't know there was such a thing. If anyone reads about this and thinks they really need "crystal mounting pads", you can use a tiny piece of card to hold the crystal off the PCB while you solder it, or if you really want to get fancy, make a "crystal mounting pad" out of cardboard.

As I said in the other thread, VAT appears to be charged this time because I added postal insurance... so the amount on the customs declaration was to be the same as the insured amount. It sucks. I might try writing "GIFT!" on the form in future (there is no box to tick for "Gift" on the form like the green customs labels). It's a bit ludicrous... UK and Australia share the same goddamn Queen but imports from Australia get taxed to buggery while all the stuff you get from Europe is free of VAT and customs duty. WTF?

I am sort of stuck between adding postal insurance (protecting your "investment") or not adding it. I can stick 8 SIDs in an envelope and send it to you for $5 and you'll get them 99% of the time. As soon as I add insurance, I have to upgrade the postage (from a thin "letter" to a "parcel") and then the insured value is what customs sees. Unfortunately, I'm doing postal insurance through the regular airmail, it's not some separate insurer (like SmashTV uses, I think)... so I can't separate the declared value from the insured value, otherwise there's no point getting insurance at all. You guys elsewhere in the world have it really bad, UK and Canada in particular... for such small value goods, it's ludicrous... I don't know how you guys get any bargains on eBay or order anything from overseas. For us in Australia, things that are around $500 or under don't get customs' attention at all, and anything over is only 10% duty. But then sending something overseas costs far more than it does to get something sent here. If people want to cancel their postal insurance, they can ask me and I'll refund the difference in postage costs and stick $20 on the customs declaration. But do it quick because I'm packing them this week.

The invoices have been sent to everyone who has ordered before now. New orders are welcome, and I will send an invoice as soon as possible. I will be packing SIDs this week and hopefully get them out on Friday (but testing and packing 300 SIDs into 30 parcels takes time so perhaps I'm underestimating again!)

I have been busy with SID orders... non-SID business got put at the bottom of the pile, sorry...

Brilliant design, Sasha! That is like I have seen in manufactured illuminated switches... the LED is mounted through the switch part and the button cap has protrusions to make contact with the switch actuator. If the cap is supposed to be glued onto the switch, how do you get the alignment right with panel holes? Do you plan to glue the caps on when the panel is attached to get the alignment right?

"Do not get cheap imitations!" was just a warning not to get any other kind of metal glue. The warning about JB-Kwik was about the fast setting time, not it's ability to hold. Even doing the corner screws, I'd allow at least a minute per screw to make sure the alignment is good (perfectly centered in the PCB hole) and add more so it covers the entire screw head. I'm just remembering when I glued to my panel, I'd just spend a lot of money on Front Panel Express panels and was very, very careful and precise, even rehearsing the procedure to avoid a major stuff-up... I would hate for someone to stuff-up because I didn't warn them enough or explain enough about this procedure. I worked out this procedure myself with only one attempt and it all turned out well, so it should be fine... I'm just a little paranoid because not everyone is really "working it out themselves". OK, enough hijacking...

Black screws? There are no screws showing on the front panel. PLEASE everyone review the MB-6582 construction guide before starting construction. Any questions, please ask me on the forum (so I can explain to everyone at once).

Avoid JB-Kwik PLEASE! Get the original JB-Weld! Do not get cheap imitations! Even the normal JB-Weld gets really tacky and gooey within a few minutes. It takes a while to put a blob of JB-Weld on 23 spots on the panel, making sure the blob is neither too big or too small, and even with the non-Kwik stuff, towards the end the JB-Weld was a bit too gooey, like peanut butter instead of like honey. Don't be impatient, you've just spent lots of money on these nice panels, you don't want to feel rushed in this construction stage when you're trying to be ultra careful not to make a big mess and connect the PCB and panels together slowly. I cannot imagine having a 4-minute countdown on my head trying to do 23 blobs on the panel AND THEN put the panel and PCB together. An extra 20+20 hours of just waiting (yes you need to do two separate gluing stages) might be torture but it is worth it in the end. Trust me, follow what I know works and there will be less that could go wrong. I've updated the control surface construction guide, PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY BEFORE STARTING ANYTHING.

How come other people have panels and I do not? Where are my panels, Altitude? *whack*

You've got the equipment to make a board this size, double-sided, with solder mask and silk-screen, plated through-holes and vias, and 10mil traces throughout... for under US$20? Or are you thinking you can make this board with etched double-sided copper-clad phenolic? Dream on. So I should share them with you just to save you the work of rerouting the layouts? That attitude sucks. This whole thread sucks. You didn't find what you were looking for on the wiki (where the layout images were) so instead of asking me directly, you choose to start a thread to get someone else to give them to you. Why do that? reboot, you asked me two months ago in email to get my original files and I said I don't share the original files and also that I don't use Eagle. I would happily share any Eagle library if I had one! I think stryd_one didn't read you post correctly, but there was no need to get upset either. Maybe someone else has already make Eagle objects for 6x6mm ALPS tactile switches and the rotary encoders. I can give advice about the size of holes etc. Post the questions in a new thread. ... and I'll say it again to everyone: I make the PCBs available for others who want to make one for themselves. No one should expect they can or should have the original layouts to tinker with just because this is a DIY forum. If you asked SmashTV for his original layouts, he will also say no. It is a real shame that there are people who steal PCB designs and make profit on eBay so I can't share my original layouts like I want to. For most people this is no problem because they want one as it is, and can buy them already made. However, if you want something different, then you have to do it yourself.

Second set has been claimed.

Goblinz gets ONE set of PCBs. robwillis passed on the other set, so there's ONE set of PCBs still up for grabs. Offer ONLY open to people in the current bulk order for panels. That means the order being arranged in this thread (which is why I posted here in the first place).

I already edited the post; it had said "offer open to people in the current bulk order for panels", and I removed it to minimize the hijacking of this thread... Goblinz, taking into considering your efforts in arranging the ALBS knobs bulk order, I will politely ask robwillis if he minds just taking one set and letting you have the other... since the next PCBs aren't too far off anyway... assuming you are in the current bulk order of panels, that is. I don't know when the next PCB run will happen, but I will give the green light after I've tested the control surface PCB with the panels from this bulk order... if by some freak accident there's a fault in the control surface PCB design, I can fix it before more are made. (Also I am making some tiny tweaks to the base PCB after receiving feedback from builders).

Damn... if there was an emoticon with egg on its face (and not still in my *whack* phase), you would see it here... I should have remembered how stocked up you were to build four... OK done deal.

I have TWO spare sets of PCBs (base + CS) which are spare because of a canceled order (I won't bore you with details). <<snip>> *whack*

I will start sending PayPal invoices for the current orders very soon. I still have plenty left for new orders.

Because they are identical to 8580 and I prefer them to 6581 (which I had lots of bad luck salvaging and I don't like the 6581's noise or filter).

Find it here: http://www.delamancha.co.uk/plugins.htm along with.... MORE COWBELL!

I think you can do whatever you want to with the PCBs when you get them, but IMHO I wouldn't change the way the panel and PCB are attached and the gap between them without a good reason. JB-Weld has a good history of holding stuff together and we're only talking about supporting the pressure of pressing tactile switches and with 23 spacers spaced across the panel and JB-Weld having a tensile strength of 3,960 psi, this is serious overkill anyway. In a test done by myself and a pair of pliers, I could not pull a spacer off with all my strength. If you follow my easy construction guide (yet to be photographed, still waiting on panels), the chance of stuffing up is very small because the first step is gluing the corner screws onto the panel and this is done with panel and PCB clamped together and perfectly aligned already, then the next step relies on these screws already being perfectly aligned so the spacers go on perfectly aligned also. So you can only stuff up by not following instructions, which is less chance of stuffing up than trying something new, i.e. I've proved it works already. These questions are answered in the wiki.

The expansion port is for whatever people want it to be. Eventually I will get to make some external filters and control them through this port...

Keep searching the forum, there was a discussion about this... 22nF matches the datasheet and produces a better cutoff frequency range that's less steppy at the bottom end.... i.e. you could go 100nF for an even smoother bottom end and sacrifice top end range. AFAIK I've convinced TK to use 22nF now and make it the new standard for MIDIbox and match what capacitors are used in real C64s and HardSID. If no fellow Europeans can help you with these capacitors, I can give you 16... this offer is to you only because you've posted this question, other people can arrange a bulk order (i.e. split a bag of 100pcs) like I've suggested months ago.

It's no different to the ones everyone else is making, with panels from the bulk order and red knobs from ALBS and red/black display from ShopEiO.com and red LED fan from Performance-PCS.com and red LEDs from SmashTV.