FLD

I have started building my MidiBoX SID and i decided to make one of these PhotoBlogs, because everyone else has one. So i´m making a MBSID with 4x SID:s 2x8580 and 2x6581. The SID:s i got from friends with 2-5€ each. I have already received my parts from Reichelt.de and they cost me about 240€ with all expenses. I also spent 200€ in my local electronics store, because i needed some better equipment, and good tools are always investments ;) Also i decided to make the PCB:s myself, because i happen to have equipment and knowhow for that :) And i should probably also mention that i´m videotaping all that i´m doing, so if someone wants i can release it somewhere somehow sometime :p So heres some pictures! Heres what reichelt gave me: I started by spraying POSITIV 20 Photosensitive spray to blank PCB:s: While the boards were drying i made the Optimized C64 Powerthingy on stripboard: Next step is to expose the boards with this: Then develop them in Caustic Soda... And etch them in my tank:

O.o

I was thinking ways to make a cheap front panel while i was etching, and i had this idea that what if you spray a photosensitive layer (POSITIV 20 for making own PCB:s) to a cheap metal panel. Then expose&develop it and etch the text. And you could spray it with some black spray paint and wash the photosensitive layer off with alcohol. Has anyone ever tried this? Is there anything that prevents you doing this? ::)

Yea :P

Oh yay! Thanks!

Thanks SLP for translating those! Still looking for Female SIL Crimp Connectors Female DIL IDC Ribbon Cable Connectors

I need little help to find the following items from reichelt.de shop: Rotary Encoders TO-220 Heatsink Female SIL Crimp Connectors Female DIL IDC Ribbon Cable Connectors Stripboard/Protoboard Cheap 5mm LED 300nF Ceramic Cap I´d really aprisiate if someone could help me to find these, because the dictionary didn't want to co-operate :p

Yes, my intentions are to document the parts that can be hard. And ofc i would edit it so, that i wouldn't have hours of video how to place components on PCB :P

So i was thinking.. Because i´m about to start my MidiBox and i happen to have a video camera. Would anyone be interested of a complete video blog of building MBSID?

Well, i´m so eager to build that i don't have the time to wait for 2.0 >:D I bet that when 2.0 is ready, there will be some cool plans how to update. And most of the updating costs will come from the new PIC:s which actually at the same time can be the cheapest parts, if you catch my drift ;) ;) ;)

Well the biggest concern here is that how much different hardware will V2 have? So is it even possible to update the 1.7

lol, but seriosly i've been thinking of building a midibox so should i wait until V2 or build the 1.7 and update later?

What will be the updating costs?

What are the dimensions for the PCB's couldn't find them anywhere. MBHP_CORE MBHP_SID DINX4 DOUTX4 I need to know dimensions for those PCB's.

Oh nice, how much did it cost?

Oh geez, i´m very sorry that i didn't notice your prices were in dollar$ :( I obviously didn't spent enough time making the table. I bet there are still errors ;( But i think the basic idea in the chart is pretty nice. Maybe someone should make better one? And maybe the someone is me? ionno :p Does anyone know the prices of those "Parts Kit's" or can you calculate it by taking the kit's price and then minus the PCB´s price For example in SmashTV "Core Module" is 15$ and "Core Module PCB" is 6$ so would the "Core Module Parts" be somewhere around 9$?

I think this pretty much shows that you should use SmashTV and Mikes Midishop because they are not SO expensive. And afterall they support the MIDIBox community :) Couple minuses i discovered: SmashTV: Lower your DIN/DOUT module prices? Get some new LCD's? Mikes MIDIShop: Rotary Encoders?? And maybe you could sell component kits?

So i decided to do little calculations because i wanted to know how much cheaper it will be to order everything from reichelt than SmashTV or Mikes Shop So its: Reichelt VS SmashTV and Mikes MidiShop (The Reichelt prices are based on the partslist which you can find from ucapps) (SmashTV and Mikes MidiShop prices i took from their site) Module-Name Reichelt SmashTV Mikes MidiShop ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Core(with PIC) 19,5€ 18€ 23€ Core(without PIC) 13€ 12€ 12,5€ SID 5€ 12€ 12,5€ DinX4(2-pieces) 12€ 18€ 17,5€ DoutX4(3-pieces) 15€ 29€ 26,5€ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTALS(With PIC): 52€ 77€ 80€ TOTALS(Without PIC): 45€ 71€ 69€ 4x Core+PIC+SID: 111€ 157€ 149€ 4x Core+SID: 84€ 133€ 107€ Note that Reichelt prices don't include Premade PCB:s or anykind PCB. Amount of blank PCB for this project costs about ~10€ So here comes the packages: Package: Core(without PIC) SID DinX4(2-pieces) DoutX4(3-pieces) Blank PCB ---------------- Reichelt: 55€ SmashTV: 70€ Mikes: 69€ DIY-Saves: 14€ Package: Core(with PIC) SID DinX4(2-pieces) DoutX4(3-pieces) Blank PCB ---------------- Reichelt: 62€ SmashTV: 77€ Mikes: 80€ DIY-Saves: 15€ Package: 4x Core(without PIC) 4x SID DinX4(2-pieces) DoutX4(3-pieces) Blank PCB ---------------- Reichelt: 84€ SmashTV: 138€ Mikes: 144€ DIY-Saves: 54€

Oh cooool, that PCB Design is my wet dream!!! I definitely want one! Someone should start mass producing them :p

Ok at this point it looks that making own DIN and DOUT module PCB´s is gonna be way more cheaper than buying them in kits because DIN and DOUT kits are like 15€ and the components are 7€

Well i´ve been etching PCB´s for 4 years now and i have all etching material. But the kits just seem sooo easy, because you don´t have to put every component one by one to the shopping cart :D

So How much money do you save if you buy each part separately and not in one of those ready kits The kits contain professionally made PCB but what if you just buy blank PCB and make it yourself So how much do you save by doing PCB's yourself and ordering the parts separately?

Actually i just found out that the parts list has reichelt.de Part number. This means i can just type the Part Numbers and order them I wanna say THANK YOU for whoever wrote those codes down. It saved me A LOT of trouble :p

Well the WIKI said: "You can order all components at http://www.reichelt.de" I guess i´m gonna try ordering the parts from there. Its gonna be little hard cause i cannot understand Germany at all :D Lets hope i can make it :p

Oh those kits are really expensive because they have PCB:s I only need the parts because i have the tools to make my own PCB:s