FPE Panels for MB-6582

[socrates]

nice

[nILS]

Neato, it looks a bit like the MFB synth.

The blue panel kinda makes it look retroish to me very nice! :-)

[Futureman]

hmmmm.....

blue things.

[latigid on]

I say orange knobs/buttons:

;)

[m00dawg]

Thanks all! I really like it because of the interesting light/dark look. The actual colors are Blue for the panel and Gentian Blue for the dividing lines (these are Front Panel Express colors). Depending on how light hits the panel, though, either it or the lines can appear to be light/dark blue. So it's a pretty neat effect!

As for the knobs, orange would look awesome! Admittedly I haven't put a whole lot of thought into the knobs yet. There's always the Waldorf's but I'm going to look around and see what else I can find first. Just in case I find any gems online. Nice thing about knobs is that they are easy to replace.

Speaking of the knobs, though, do I have to remove the detents or is that just preference? I got my knobs from Mouser and they seem soft (easy to turn) with the detents such that I don't really mind them being there unless they had some other purpose.

Finally, for attaching the four screws to the panel, I'm guessing I clamp everything done, put down some JB where the screw will go, and then screw it up onto the panel? Looking at Wilba Flickr pictures off the Wiki ( ) that seems to be the case, but I didn't want to make any assumptions here :)

[Wilba]

Nice! Me likey!

Finally, for attaching the four screws to the panel, I'm guessing I clamp everything done, put down some JB where the screw will go, and then screw it up onto the panel? Looking at Wilba Flickr pictures off the Wiki ( ) that seems to be the case, but I didn't want to make any assumptions here :)

"screw it up onto the panel" is probably the best way to describe it, never thought of using those words though... :)

However, since the panel should probably be at the bottom, perhaps "screw it down" is better. By putting a nut between the screw head and the PCB, you can pull the screw up and turn it, using friction between the nut and PCB to gradually lower it into the JB-Weld blob, and the nut also holds it in place. A nut on the other side can hold the screw head off the panel while you prepare the JB-Weld blob, e.g.

[m00dawg]

Awesome! That's what I figured, but it's good to know I was on the right track. I still need to get some clamps but once I grab those up I should be ready to go! Thanks for the clarification, Wilba!

[fussylizard]

Here's what worked for me.  I first clamped everything and left it panel-side up.  I attached the bolts in the corners with two nuts, one above and one below the PCB.  Then I put a small blob of JB-Weld on top of the bolt head (since the bolt head was facing up, towards the back of the panel) using a flat toothpick (there's not a ton of space to maneuver in there, but just get a small blob on the top of the bolt and spin the bolt against the toothpick to break off the sticky, stringy "tail" of JB Weld, sort of like you would do with a fork and pasta).  Then I twisted the bolt to raise it to the back of the panel and tightened the nuts to hold it in place.  Once all four were done, I flipped it back over.  Easy as pie.

I dragged some pics off my camera showing the process.

HTH,

C

BTW - I hope you ordered bolts to mount the LCD in your McMaster order.  They are 2.5mm holes, and Home Depot only carries down to 4mm metric and #4 standard (which is 2.8mm - too big!).  So...I'll probably have to order some from McMaster-Carr.  I also failed to get screws to hold the PCB into the bottom of the case, so I'll need something for that also.

[fussylizard]

As promised, here's a pic of my wife (a former pastry cook), using some parchment paper to pipe out JB Weld onto my panel like cake icing. :-)

[m00dawg]

Those pics were really helpful, thanks!

I ended up using something very close to your solution. I didn't have a flat toothpick, so I used a small screwdriver. I flipped it screw-side up,smeared JB Weld on the 4 screws, then flipped it over and made sure there was enough on the sides. Seemed to work well, although I guess I will know in 24 hours :)

I dunno what people are using to mix the JB Weld, but I found the plastic packaging that it came in worked well.

[fussylizard]

I'm sure it will be perfect!  I was a bit apprehensive about all the JB Welding, but it was fairly straightforward.

Now how are your cake icing skills for the next step? :-)

[Wilba]

A toothpick or bamboo skewer works well... even if the blobs are a bit messy to start with, they clump together into nice blobs after a few minutes.

[m00dawg]

I'm sure it will be perfect!  I was a bit apprehensive about all the JB Welding, but it was fairly straightforward.

Now how are your cake icing skills for the next step? :-)

Didn't you say your wife was a pastry chef? Yeah, I gotz no cookins skillz :) Doesn't look too bad, but is something I'll probably have to practice a bit first. The screwdriver didn't fair too bad, actually. I assume it's roughly similar to a flat toothpick or skewer that Wilba mentioned.

First things first, though, and that's to wait. I still have 12 hours before I can take everything back apart. That means I won't be able to do the second round of welding today. Oh well. As Wilba suggests, the wait is worth it!

[strophlex]

I used a syringe without needle that I got from my girlfriend that work in the hospital. Worked really well. The only problem was to suck the sticky J-B Weld into the syringe, but it was easier than expected.

[m00dawg]

I assume you put it into the syringe post mixed? How exactly did you get it in there?

[strophlex]

I assume you put it into the syringe post mixed? How exactly did you get it in there?

I mixed it in a small plastic container, about 10x10mm then i sucked it "back way" into the syringe through the tip. I had to do it about ten times every time sucking until there was air coming into the syringe so that I could press the handle back and do the process again, every time gathering more J-B Weld in the syringe. Hope this makes sence. I lack the words a bit...

[m00dawg]

Sure does! Thanks for the info! I know a few people I might be able to get an empty syringe from so this might be very doable for me as well. Hopefully I can get to this soon, but either way, I'll post an update once I'm past this point.

Maybe there should be some sort of contest for who's method of putting on JB Weld is the best :)

[strophlex]

Sure does! Thanks for the info! I know a few people I might be able to get an empty syringe from so this might be very doable for me as well. Hopefully I can get to this soon, but either way, I'll post an update once I'm past this point.

Maybe there should be some sort of contest for who's method of putting on JB Weld is the best :)

I liked the idea of puting the J-B Weld on the screw heads instead of on the panel. Didn't think of that one. Puting it on the spacers wouldn't be too clever though ;)

[Wilba]

I liked the idea of puting the J-B Weld on the screw heads instead of on the panel. Didn't think of that one. Puting it on the spacers wouldn't be too clever though ;)

Ooof! I forgot, that's what I do... but then I add more after. Always add more to cover the whole screw head and the panel, even if it means you need to "countersink" the PT-10 mount holes to accommodate a cone of JB-Weld around the screw head. The spacers stay stuck extremely well, the screws don't stick as well, as many people discover... :(

I've never suggested this before, but once everything is assembled, you could permanently attach the panel to the PT-10 using some extra glue, that would stop the screws being stressed if you continually open and close the case (like I do).

[fussylizard]

I liked the idea of puting the J-B Weld on the screw heads instead of on the panel.

It's probably not much better than putting it on the panel directly and then clamping, but it does relieve some of the stress of trying to clamp quickly.  I think the standard JB Weld takes a while to set, so it's probably irrelevant.

BTW A quick update on my panel- my CS is pretty much done.  I tested the encoders and they all work now.  I messed up a via on the base board a while back which broke one of the encoder inputs, but I bypassed the via with a wire so it works great now.  Now I just need to solder the encoder tabs.

I was a little disappointed that my yellow LEDs look more amber on my panel than I had hoped.  At full power they are very yellow, but on the CS the PICs only power them 1/8 the time (per my understanding of the display matrix) which is probably the issue.  It's not a big deal, but I was hoping for pure yellow.  On the up side, I tested the stock resistors for the LEDs and the LEDs had a good brightness, so I soldered them in.

I have been unsuccessful in finding bolts/washers/nuts for the 2.5mm holes to mount the LCD, so I ordered some from McMaster-Carr last night.  Hopefully I'll have the LCD mounted mid-week.

I decided to use right-angle connector SIL strips for the CS to base board connection.  I didn't like the crimp pins I got from Mouser for the SIL headers that are needed to connect the CS to the base board.  I had some pins from SmashTV sitting around that worked much better, and he now carries 8-pin female headers.  I went ahead and crimped all 66 pins over the weekend and hooked up the CS without headers (being careful not to short the pins together when moving the CS).  It worked well enough, and I ordered the necessary headers last night (along with the other headers I forgot about initially for the feedback pots...I already had spares for the fan, passive audio out, etc.)  Now I just have to hope the 8-pin headers that SmashTV sells are the same as the other sizes or else I'm going to have to re-crimp all those connectors. :-)

I also discovered that that the passive audio output jack I bought is slightly too big for the rear-panel hole.  I'm probably going to just drill out the hole in the panel so it will fit (I have a small metal shop at home) instead of finding a smaller jack.

The exciting part last night was finally mounting the 6582 SIDs I got from Wilba (!).  They replaced the single 6581 I had been using.  Unfortunately I discovered that CORE2 and CORE3 are not responding (I get a "no MBNet connection" message when selecting those cores).  I also get a steady tone on the passive mix that sounds eerily like a 1Khz triangle tone.  I'm guessing I forgot to upload the MB-SID firmware to those cores (they are probably running the testtone app), but it was late so I didn't have time to mess w/ it last night.

Anyway, I'll post pics of the CS tonight with the lights and all.  Getting close!

Regards,

C

[fussylizard]

The spacers stay stuck extremely well, the screws don't stick as well, as many people discover... :(

FWIW My screws stick great to the FPE panel I got.  Those things are never coming off.  I think the threaded shaft would break off before the head came unstuck.

[m00dawg]

I decided to use right-angle connector SIL strips for the CS to base board connection.  I didn't like the crimp pins I got from Mouser for the SIL headers that are needed to connect the CS to the base board.  I had some pins from SmashTV sitting around that worked much better, and he now carries 8-pin female headers.  I went ahead and crimped all 66 pins over the weekend and hooked up the CS without headers (being careful not to short the pins together when moving the CS).  It worked well enough, and I ordered the necessary headers last night (along with the other headers I forgot about initially for the feedback pots...I already had spares for the fan, passive audio out, etc.)  Now I just have to hope the 8-pin headers that SmashTV sells are the same as the other sizes or else I'm going to have to re-crimp all those connectors. :-)

That was my plan as well since I might end up using the baseboard in a C64 case at some point. Curious how things end up for you. Are you using standard .100" IDCs or the heavier cable Wilba recommends when soldering directly to the board?

[fussylizard]

I used standard IDC cable since that's what I had, and I couldn't find the other stuff on Mouser (I'm sure it's there, but I just couldn't find it).  The standard IDC cable seems fine to me.  I soldered the right-angle header strips to the top of the CS, and soldered the cable to the bottom of the base PCB.  It worked pretty well.  There is sufficient room between the top case and the right-angle connectors for the headers to be slid on/off without having to unscrew the CS from the front panel.  I'll post some pics when I get home.

[fussylizard]

Here's a few pics, including the top panel showing the orange-ish hue of my yellow LEDs.  I also included two pics of the base PCB wiring that goes to the right-angle male SIL strips.  Amazingly I didn't take a picture of the CS side of things.  I'll have to do that the next time I get a chance to work on it.

The standard IDC cable works fine so far, and the convenience of the detachable CS from the base is nice.

[Wilba]

What LCD are you using? Seems to have nice contrast (and I'm shopping around atm)...