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Building the MB-6582 Control Surface - Photo Tutorial


Hawkeye
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While I was waiting for some additional parts I tried different variations to connect the display to the base board. They all worked great but unfortunately they took to much space, so that I would not recommend these variations:

DisplayCable05.jpg

DisplayCable01.jpg

DisplayCable02.jpg

DisplayCable03.jpg

DisplayCable04.jpg

Here are some pictures of my power LED:

BackPanel01.jpg

BackPanel02.jpg

Here you can see the preparation of the front panel. I have used sand paper as recommended to prepare the spots where the hex nuts will be glued on:

FrontPanel.jpg

FrontPanel02.jpg

FrontPanel03.jpg

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When I finally tried to install the encoders I figured out that there is one hex nut which is too close to the encoder. The front panel wouldn't fit, so I decided to file some material off from the hex nut. When I did that I expected to break off the hex nut, but then I realized that the JD Weld is so terribly strong.

FrontPanelHexNut.jpg

FrontPanelHexNut02.jpg

Finally the switches. I have realised that the Alps switches doesn't have the same quality. There are some with a lose shaft, others have a slightly shorter shaft. So I would recommend to check them before you solder them on the PCB. Especially when there is a row of switches where one or two are slightly smaller, you will see it immediately.

FrontPanel04.jpg

Here is a picture of my MB6582:

02.jpg

03.jpg

I still have to complete the additional 3 feedback pots, but I am not sure if I will go for the "audio in" option ... Maybe 2 feedback pots and 2 audio in jacks...

I wish everybody good luck with the box, it is a great project.

Cheers

orange

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi i'm new(to soldering/electronics)

i've gone over this all of last night and all day today. the high res photos you include is immensely helpful, not forgetting the detailed instructions, I can't stop going back to read more; partially adhd and ocd but all in good fun. I never have had thought i would be soldering electronics. I can't lie i feel cool. nerate, the community and resources here are the shit. thanks this tutorial fukin rocks. best out there i think.

cheers,

moon

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  • 1 month later...

Related to Step 22: Building a linear PSU

Update:

The new PSU had - depending on week day and weather :-) - some small noise issues... it was never really bad... but perceptible... like a 50hz hum and some infrequent "crackles"... I really wanted to solve the problem and was wondering why the new PSU wasn´t better in terms of noise than the old PSU... it has quality components all over... so... back to the assembly table :-)

After bugging Antix (because he built an identical PSU) and getting lots of feedback from orange_hand... the following tuning steps were performed...

a) Installation of a second 2200uF capacitator in parallel to the first one... which improves ripple filtering (thanks for that tip, Antix!).

b) Very close installation of the 100nF filtering capacitators to the 78S05 voltage regulator (you can directly solder them on the 78S05 pins, these capacitators are tiny) - this helped a lot... any connection longer than a few centimeters seems to act like an antenna and picks up transformer hum and switching psu noise from nearby synth switchers (thanks a lot for that tip, orange_hand!)

I did some A-B recording tests (using an old C64 PSU as a sparring partner) with the same unplayed patch ("silence" output from the MB6582 SID pair 1) at the same recording levels using max line-in gain on a tascam dr-100 audio recorder, recording 24bit, 48khz wavs...

And yes... there is a difference... see photo 1... after amplifying both waveforms once again with 45.5db in audacity, the lower waveform (old C64 "elephant foot" PSU) reached the maximum amplitude... the upper waveform (new linear PSU) was more silent (and has 2.5db more room to the amplitude max after amplification). It is a barely audible difference when using headphones during A-B tests, but every little bit of noise reduction counts... it is very well audible, when amplified... so... mission accomplished :smile:.

Apart from the improved protection of the SIDs, it might make sense to build such a PSU just because of the lower noise level.

Greets!

Peter

post-7895-0-33064800-1316007289_thumb.jp

Edited by Hawkeye
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi,

today I received my new MB6582 rear panel which was made by Schaeffer AG in Germany. I love the German quality work :-)

22.jpg

As you can see it is still in its protective cover. You will recognise that I have modified the panel with some features:

- I increased the hole for the mix out jack

- The following descriptions were added: Mix Out, On/Off, MOD1-4, Audio Out, Fan

- There is now a hole for a standard on/off switch for the fan, as well as an indicator LED for the fan

- I also added the device name, the serial number of the box as well as the name of the builder :-)

I connected the fan with the switch and the LED:

20.jpg

I connected a cable to the mix out jack:

21.jpg

Here you will see the completely assembled rear panel:

23.jpg

24.jpg

Here is the final rear panel (apart from the pot caps, which I haven't installed so far):

25.jpg

26.jpg

27.jpg

I hope you also like the minor improvements....

Cheers

orange

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Related to Step 22: Building a linear PSU

Update:

The new PSU had - depending on week day and weather :-) - some small noise issues... it was never really bad... but perceptible... like a 50hz hum and some infrequent "crackles"... I really wanted to solve the problem and was wondering why the new PSU wasn´t better in terms of noise than the old PSU... it has quality components all over... so... back to the assembly table :-)

Hey,

I'm thinking of building my own PSU using the RetroDonald schematic. Could you be more precise about the improvements you made to it ?

Thanks !

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The improvements consisted of

a) a second 2.200 uF capacitator for improved ripple softening after the rectifier.

b) closer installation of the voltage regulator filtering capacitators - you can solder them directly on the voltage regulator pins (this really helped a lot in noise reduction, before, it sometimes picked up stray "switcher" noise from nearby PSUs).

Of course, you could do even more things with the PSU, but I doubt that you will hear much difference... Orange_hand is working on a PCB, you could contact him.

Greets and have fun!

Peter

Edited by Hawkeye
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  • 4 months later...

Just finishing off my MB-6582, some tips I think are useful.

When soldering the PCB interconnect leads to the pin headers put some heatshrink tubing over the cable before soldering. After soldering all the connections you can slide the tubing over the joints and shrink the tubing over the soldered joints. This reduces the possibility of wires shorting or coming off. It also looks more professional.

Also, I'm soldering the wires to the pin headers before fitting them to the PCB. It is a lot easier to solder the wires to the pins when they are flat on the bench, although you will need to place something on the pin header to stop it moving around.

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Also, I'm soldering the wires to the pin headers before fitting them to the PCB. It is a lot easier to solder the wires to the pins when they are flat on the bench, although you will need to place something on the pin header to stop it moving around.

Have you soldered the headers to the PCB already? You should notice that the wires easily come off again in the process, because of the heat you apply to the header/PCB joint.

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Have you soldered the headers to the PCB already? You should notice that the wires easily come off again in the process, because of the heat you apply to the header/PCB joint.

They won't with the heatshrink sleeving holding them in place :) (in theory).

A crocodile clip might also help, in both keeping the wire in place and dissipating the heat.

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If you have the heatshrink in place, the croco clip will destroy it when heating up. Either way, you don't want the heat you put into the solder joint to dissipate! You heat it up for a purpose, by adding the croco clip as heat spreader you increase the risk of ending up with a cold solder joint.

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Well, it works. The wires haven't come off but then i use a temperature controlled iron. But I'm having trouble keeping the connectors onto the right angled pins, so I may just end up soldering wires direct like wilbas original.

This is the only bit I don't like about MB6582, but then I guess the CS is using simple technology instead of complex serial buses (which would mean less wires).

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First of all, thanks so much to Hawkeye for putting this together. My mind is completely blown. I will build this. I'm a bit of a noob, but not completely inexperienced, and have already done some less involved projects/kits.

I'm unsure if I'll end up using the PT-10, as I'm thinking about using an old c64 case for an enclosure. I saw a picture of one here somewhere and I like the idea of keeping a non working 64 from a landfill, plus I'm hoping to get one with a working power supply. We'll see though... The PT-10 setup is pretty damn sexy...

I'm assuming that if I did use an old c64 case, that I could still use the basics of this tutorial, yes? Obviously anything involving the case would change, and I'd probably have to do some tooling on the back of the C64 case for the back panel. I'm on the fence here..

Anyway, thanks again Hawkeye.

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Too late, they would have been great. In the end I soldered normal IDC to the main board and used right angle pin headers on the control surface.

If the cable is too thick the resistance to bending when closing the case flips the connectors off the pin headers.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm trying to figure out what this part is... I can't seem to figure out what it would be called when searching for it on Mouser or Jameco. Any suggestions for terms to look for or perhaps a link?

Thanks.

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I'm trying to figure out what this part is... I can't seem to figure out what it would be called when searching for it on Mouser or Jameco. Any suggestions for terms to look for or perhaps a link?

You´ve got a few options:

http://www2.mouser.c...1z0wxosZ1z0wxp7

My choice would be to solder the cable to the baseboard side (eg solder it to normal headers, then use shrink tube to protect the individual pins from touching each other), and attach/crimp a plug to its end. Then use a rectangular socket on the cs board, the link above lists a few plug/socket alternatives for eight pins with 2.54mm spacing... be aware that there is not much room though, the smaller the better :).

I like these sockets, for example, but you also need corresponding plugs with crimp pins, ofc :)

http://www2.mouser.c...UNWgEEmG64gM%3d

Bye,

Peter

Edited by Hawkeye
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