c0nsumer

Thank you. :) -Steve

Well, it's coming along... I've got the enclosure and front panel design finished, and everything works. Just need to finish ordering parts for the couple of them I'm building and it'll be done. Please excuse the quality of the photos. I was pretty tired when taking them and left the sensitivity of the sensor really high, resulting in all the grain. I'll have better ones once everything is done. -Steve

For what it's worth, that's the result of the Dremel drill press, repurposed dental bit, and hand files (small/fine bastard and small box). Those will be the front panels for the MIDIbox SID-NUXX holding LEDs, tactile switches, rotary encoder, display (LCD or PLED/OLED), and front panel all as one assembly. High res images available here: Front - Rear I'll post more info later in the MIDIbox SID-NUXX thread after I've finished assembly of the first one. -Steve

I didn't see that, but I did see a 18' high (or so) statue of the guy, the mouse/rat, etc. It's along the 101 (I think?) somewhere between Palo Alto and the Millbrae BART station. I just returned from that area this morning... Headed out to visit some friends, see the SRL performance at ZeroOne, etc. Where abouts are you located? -Steve

Smash, Yep, great points... Most of my board cutout is actually done on a bandsaw then cleaned up with a file, as it is a great deal easier and less messy than milling. I only tried milling the boards when I needed to do inside cutouts on the front panel PCBs. Photos of this will come later once I'm rested (all-night flight) and have the metal panel in my hands so I can fit everything. I keep thinking about getting one of those sliding vises, but I just haven't needed it yet. For the inside stuff I've just been routing between pilot holes, then filing the remains by hand. Works great and less slop. As far as the Dremel chucks, yeah... The finger chuck is a lot more sloppy. I really should get a new collet set. I received my Dremel for Christmas when I was 10 or 12, and the collet is long lost. I had to purchase a new finger chuck because that had rusted. Unfortunately those dental bits are smaller than any available collet, so I have to use a finger chuck. :\ -Steve

Any, really, as long as it isn't cordless. You really don't need one of the especially expensive ones. And yes, it's capable of cutting those slots, but what matters is if you are capable of using the tool properly to cut said slots. Getting them straight will be a bit of a pain, although it's doable. For something like that I'd be tempted to just have the panel manufactured. -Steve

Tim, Glad to hear you are feeling better. I'm out here in the Palo Alto / Mountain View area and I noticed that there is some extermination company which seems to have a large logo / mascot similar to the icon / avatar you use. Is this the same, or were my eyes decieving me? I think it was on the back of a yellow truck or something. -Steve

For small holes, drill a hole and then file them out. Having a set of small files in box, flat, and triangle shapes is handy. For larger holes, use a saw of some sort then finish it off with a file. Many people will use also rotary cutting tools (such as Dremels) with circular cutting disks to cut the holes as well. I've also been known to use a Dremel with an old dental bit as mill, moving the piece to be cut around it. -Steve

Yes, they have accessories for what they call the Z axis, but it's really just the vertical pieces. There's no screw there for purposes of moving the tool while cutting, nor moving the piece being worked on. Ideally they'd have a third knob on the base which uses a scissor-type jack to raise and lower the piece being milled, and the X and Y could then move it in it's respective directions as well. But... They don't. -Steve

Ah, yeah. I've found it to be plenty good, though... The only time I've broken bits is when I screwed up and moved the board while still retracting the bit. I'm not sure... That I didn't see. I may just buy a Harbor Freight milling vise instead. It won't be perfect, but it should still be good enough for milling out centers of boards. The most recent one (for my MIDIbox front panel) was done by hand and it came out well. I'll post photos of it once I'm home in a few days. -Steve

Runout is generally dependent on the bearings and such in the motor / chuck itself. As the tool you linked to requires a dremel, one should get the same amount of runout with a dremel drill press or the tool you linked to. I looked at what you linked to and it looks nice, it's just a bit pricy. That said, I wouldn't mind their X/Y mill... It'd be better if it also had a Z axis, though. -Steve

1) What file format do you require? 2) What materials do you have available? 3) What are your prices? 4) What sort of turnaround do you have available? 5) To what tolerance are the panels manufactured?

I'd do that, but instead of using a $5 metal cash box, spend the $28 on a yellow or black Pelican enclosure. Or get a surplus ammo can. Lots sturdier, quite nice to work with. Hmm. That makes me want to build a SID in an ammo can... Hmm... Naw, I've got more things to work on. :D -Steve

Using a slower speed with high-speed bits, they don't cut properly. Because of this, I run a dremel at max, whether it is milling PCBs with dental bits or drilling them with resharpened carbide PCB drills. I also question the amount of runout (wobble) that many drill presses have. The Dremel has a lot less, so holes are more accurate and bits are far less likely to break. Also, be sure to wear safety glasses and a respirator when working. The dust from drilling / milling PCBs is pretty harsh. -Steve

Amazon. Cost $35 - $50 if I remember right. It's for a much older style of Dremel, though. One for newer Dremels is about the same price, but I'm not sure where to find it. Probably Amazon, too. -Steve

This is handled by the print driver. Check the default there. Everything defaults to letter for me. -Steve

I have one of those displays and I didn't think it looked good enough, so I redid the color scheme of my box and went with the green/black PLED/OLED. Instead of a red/black box with white indicator lines it's now yellow/black. I haven't decided on the LEDs yet... Yellow to match the enclosure, or green to match the display. -Steve

Do you know what switches / rotary encoders you are using yet? I was having problems finding some that were either tall enough or short enough so that the PCB holding the controls could be put in front of or behind the PCB for the display. If I had put them far enough from the display for this not to be a concern, they would have been a long ways from the parts of the display which the buttons are supposed to select, and that looks bad. What I ended up doing was a layered approach with the switch PCB mounting on top of the display PCB. Using a PLED (OLED) the display will be set back a little further in the case than with an LCD, but it should still look acceptable. I hope. I found parts which would have made this design work okay with the display mounted directly on top of the controls PCB, but there were issues with finding a distributor which carried them. :\ Yeah, more rambling. Sorry. -Steve

Ah, okay. That makes sense... I thought you were going to try and re-use existing PCBs. With the PT-10 allowing two PCBs to be easily mounted (one behind the front panel, the other in the bottom of the case) I could see it being pretty easy to fit all this in there. I'd imagine the biggest problem is finding board layout software which will do it, and a board house which will mfg them for a reasonable price. Are you planning on doing one board for all the controls / LEDs / display to mount to, then another for the rest of the logic? (Actually, if you did controls and LEDs on one side of the board, you could probably fit most of the other stuff on the other side. Then the power supply / audio stuff on a sub-board mounting to the rear panel... But now my thoughts are just wandering. (If I had access to PCB software which would allow me to lay something like this out, I'd do it. It would be an excellent project.) Thank you. The case wasn't used as well as it should have been in the FatMan, but it worked. I was really fitting two odd-sized boards into an enclosure they weren't designed for, but in the end it worked out. The front panel for the x0xb0x is the original metal one, with a rear-printed lexan decal applied over it. I didn't like the original x0xb0x panel, so I designed my own artwork for it and had them printed. I actually had 12 panels made up and sold 10 of them at cost to others who made x0xb0xes. The reason for this was because the printing of a single panel overlay would cost around US$120, but they were $31 or so each in quantities of 10. (If I had of had 100 made, this would have dropped to around $11 or so.) Likely because the design is rather complex and included many cutouts there were some problems with the printer, but they were very good about correcting everything. More info on the layout and application of the panel (this was NOT easy) can be found under here. The FatMan Plus overlay was designed in the same way, but someone local printed it for me as a one-off. It's inkjet printed vinyl with textured lexan laid over the top, then I did the cutouts myself. This printing technique isn't holding up very well and I wouldn't recomment it. The rear-printed Lexan is excellent, though. Were I to ever manufacture something which needed a series of overlays to hold up to years of use, this is the method I'd use. -Steve

Ah, yeah. The differentiation is very slim... That's what I was finding too. -Steve

Just curious, did you find any documentation on this? Crystalfontz says the display is a PLED / OLED, but the spec sheet for it (in fact) says that it's a PLED. So, I guess I should stop saying OLED. I'm curious about the rest of what you said, though... -Steve

That's because people around here who ask for samples aren't really the intended audience. Samples are supposed to go to those who literally want a sample, to possible use a lot more in the future. They aren't intended to be handouts for those who are too cheap to buy their own. (The same goes for PICs and all other parts...) -Steve

Also, don't forget about heat. SIDs get somewhat warm when running, linear regulators need air (and maybe heatsinks) to cool them, and all the other parts are going to produce some heat. -Steve

Is there any chance you could grab a video clip showing how fast you are trying to spin them? Just an idea to help us get an idea of the problem you are facing. -Steve

For what it's worth, I've used these cases twice, and they are pretty well made. I first used one when building an x0xb0x, and then a bit later when rebuilding a PAiA FatMan. Having used them, I think squeezing in four MIDIbox SID's (especially with controls) will be really tight. It was already a tight fit with pots and a switch along the very front edge, and the PCB was well back in the enclosure. I wish you luck with it, though. It's probably doable if things are fit just right. Personally, I would suggest still screwing the front panel down. There isn't a huge lip around there, and I don't know what kind of glue would hold it well. -Steve