LEDrings?

[rodneon]

I'm new to the MIDIbox project, so bear with me. The page for the MIDIbox64E makes mention of "LEDrings"... can those be bought pre-assembled or are they just a series of LEDs attached to the panel?

[doc]

No, they are mot pre-assembled. You have to make them by yourself.  A lot of LEDs ...

greets

Doc

[rodneon]

I thought so. I think I'll mount the LEDs on a PCB with the ring design. I'm new to this, so I guess I gotta learn to make PCBs...  :-/

[Dr_Nick]

In his designs Thorsten just glued the LEDs to the frontpanel and wired them up without any PCB. It's supposed to be a lot easier that way.

[rodneon]

In his designs Thorsten just glued the LEDs to the frontpanel and wired them up without any PCB. It's supposed to be a lot easier that way.

I suppose it would be cheaper, but not necessarily easier and certainly not neater.

By the way, what kind of LEDs should I use? I saw these really tiny ones, I think they're referred to as "low profile LEDs", but the leads stick out to the side instead of down like most LEDs. I assume they can be bent.

[Screaming_Rabbit]

I suppose it would be cheaper, but not necessarily easier and certainly not neater

... seems like it is easier  ;) You have to remember, that there is also an encoder sitting in the middle of the ring  :-/

http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=concepts;action=display;num=1104455259

By the way, what kind of LEDs should I use? I saw these really tiny ones, I think they're referred to as "low profile LEDs", but the leads stick out to the side instead of down like most LEDs. I assume they can be bent.

... yes they can be bent. I bought some of these from "voti"

http://www.voti.nl/shop/p/LED-4.html

Greets, Roger

[moebius]

I suppose it would be cheaper, but not necessarily easier and certainly not neater.

It depends.. on many factors. d2k used pcb mount leds on his 2 MB_LCs: http://www.midibox.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=gallery;action=display;num=1084140820 but also had a professionally made boards and frontpanels.

Now - because the led rings are not only "a series of LEDS", but matrixed - you'll need a doublesided board, or you'll end up having lots of jumpers - and having lots of jumper wires, in my mind, really defeats the advantages of having a pcb done.

What kind of a frontpanel you're going to have? LEDs clearly sticking out of it, or visible from the holes of the frontpanel?

I mean - You would have to align and solder a number of leds.. to certain height, aligned precisely. And the fun doesn't stop here - then comes the hard part: attaching and fitting the board to the frontpanel...!!!

Bye, Moebius

[rodneon]

What kind of a frontpanel you're going to have? LEDs clearly sticking out of it, or visible from the holes of the frontpanel?

I'm not sure yet, but I like the idea of having the LEDs sticking out of the panel just a little.

I downloaded Eagle today and came up with a PCB layout for one LEDring, but something happened and it didn't get saved...  :P Even though a 2-layer solution may be more logical, it looks like the design is possible using a 1-layer board. You'd need a ribbon cable going from the board to a "distributor board", which in turn is connected to the DOUT module. It maybe a bit too much, but it seems like a more elegant solution to the LEDring problem than just wires soldered to the LEDs glued to the frontpanel.

You would have to align and solder a number of leds.. to certain height, aligned precisely.

Well, those tiny LEDs sit flush and flat against the PCB. It means you'd need a PCB *just* for the LEDs, with holes drilled for the encoders which would sit on a bord underneath the LEDring board. That may not be the most economical idea, but I might consider it.

But hey, I've seen some excellent designs in here that look great on the outside and are a rat's nest inside, so who cares?  ;) I just have a tendency to be extra picky, so bear with me -- I used to go to school for graphic design...