Complete beginner wanting to build a Midibox SID

[SupahFly]

Doh! :) This project is going to kill me :)

[m00dawg]

Soldering legs should not be a difficult exercise. If you are having trouble, I recommend starting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4.

[philetaylor]

Hi.

Even large chips like the PIC (40 pin) shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to solder. If each pin is taking more than a second or two then there is either a problem with your technique or your equipment :)

A soldering iron that is too cold will not melt the solder quickly enough and you will really struggle to get a proper joint. One that is too hot can also cause problems as it can damage sensitive components and even cause the copper traces on the board to come unstuck so I would definately recommend a decent temperature controlled iron. I have had the same Weller TCP soldering station for over 20 years (I 'borrowed' it from college...) If you are struggling with technique then there are lots of tutorials around the 'net.

Cheers

Phil

[SupahFly]

Thanks for your replies. I decided to take a small break and build an Arduinoboy first to learn a bit more about electronics. I'm back on the MIDIBOX now though and I have successfully soldered the core module and added an lcd screen.

What I'm struggling with now is the power supply - I have no idea where to begin on this. From the core module tutorial apparently I have to connect the power (+5v) to the 2 pin connector on the board.

I understand that I need to supply two voltages, one to the core and one to the sid module, is that correct? What would be a good choice for a power supply (I live in Sweden) - I'm not too fussed about size as I don't plan on having it internal in my box. I read bad things about suing the c64 supply.

Can anyone recommend something that doesn't require a whole lot of engineering to setup? :)

[m00dawg]

If you are just making a simple MBSID (1 CORE, 1 SID, LCD, a few buttons) then you can power the CORE with the same PSU you power your SID board with and just put a heatsink on the CORE's voltage regulator. Or you can simply buy two power supplies.

In a larger MBSID, the C64 Optimized PSU is something to consider. Even if you don't use an original C64 PSU brick there are clones that provide the same voltages. There is also an excellent on custom power supplies and options. It's lengthy but it's full of great information and will give you lots of things to consider (such as buying pre-made multi-voltage switchmode or linear PSUs; builting your own with various protection circuits built-in, etc.). It's really for something like the MB6582 or similar but you should be able to get some good information from it if you're building something more custom.

[SupahFly]

Is there some step by step tutorial for complete beginners Somewhere?

I have an ATX pc power supply at home, it seems to have +5 and +12 would that work?

[m00dawg]

A PC PSU is not a very good idea. I believe there was a sub-discussion as to why in the thread I mentioned so I highly recommend you thread through it. When you're talking about building or modifying PSUs, you need to be mindful of what you're doing since some solutions involve having to deal with mains (ie 120V or 230V AC) voltage.

If you do not feel comfortable with that, consider using the multiple power bricks as I mentioned in my previous post. It will get you up and running rather simply without involving potentially dangerous voltages.

(If you didn't catch the hint, I'll say it directly - read the post I linked to)

[SupahFly]

Thanks m00dawg and sorry for all my stupid questions. Reusing a C64 PSU seems to be the easier option to me but I've read people complaining about them? Can I use any revision PSU, i.e. are they all the same regardless of C64 version?

[m00dawg]

All revisions have fairly similar pin-outs, but you will always want to verify that with a multimeter. The C64 Optimized PSU includes the pin-out you will need to mate with the C64 PSU connector and you can use that to validate the pinouts on your C64 PSU.