PHOBoS in SMD land

THeff · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 6:59 am Post subject: Seeing SMD

I use one of these at work and at home and have successfully built six MI modules with it. It really works great and has plenty of room underneath to solder. It comes with 10X eyepieces which is all you need. I tried the other eyepieces and they are a waste...because the field of vision is very narrow, like looking through a tube. I couldn't do SMD without this.

-THEFF

https://www.amazon.com/AmScope-SE400-Professional-Microscope-Magnification/dp/B005MZB5NE/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1504532173&sr=8-6&keywords=amscope+se400

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PHOBoS · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 2:59 pm Post subject:

Thanks Kevin, Robert Very Happy

I have soldered on some more components. The solder pads are rather large so it's not too difficult.
11 small capacitors left and then some larger things. But I think it's time for tea.

PHOBoS in SMD land - Braids 06.jpg

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PHOBoS · Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:13 am Post subject:

I finished putting the rest on the components (except pots/jacks) on monday night. Tuesday I spend a lot of time reading
through threads on muffwiggler again trying to understand the whole firmware flashing progress. I am pretty sure
I don't have the right device for it (yet) and while trying to install the virtual environment I ran into some problems, probably
because my computers are too old. However I don't think I need it as the .hex files are available which I should be able to
use directly. I just hope it'll work with winXP. In the mean time I ordered all the parts for Clouds and Rings which arrived
yesterday so I can do some more soldering if I want to.

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AlanP · Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 1:33 pm Post subject:

Why would you not want to? Smile

PHOBoS · Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 4:08 pm Post subject:

I guess I should have written when I want to. Very Happy

But I think they all use the same processor which I'd solder
first. So it might be wise to wait untill I got braids functioning in case I screw it up and have to replace it.

AlanP · Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:42 pm Post subject:

Check the BOM before you solder the processor into the other two. I'm pretty sure that Clouds uses a newer family of STM32 processor than Braids does.

PHOBoS · Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 4:55 am Post subject:

ah indeed. Rings and Clouds use the same one but it is different from the one used in Braids.

DES · Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:29 am Post subject:

Nice work - as usual! Quite a few years ago I remember we used crazy glue to hold components in place by putting a tiny drop between pads or so it didn't get on them...but it stinks when the heat hits it. Now I have to laugh because if I tried doing smd work now my tremors would make it next to impossible to do. On occasion at work I have to remove bad parts and replace (fuses, Leds, etc) and its frustrating. I've been meaning to look into a hot-air reflow system...they're cheap enough these days. Still, I need to be able to place the part without chasing it around the board. Laughing

PHOBoS · Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:28 pm Post subject:

Thanks

Not sure if 'Kragle' would work with the very tiny components but I could see it work with the ICs.
Of course you'd still have to be very careful with placement as you can't change it once it's stuck,
so I think in that regard that solder is more useful. For the DIP chips I started with soldering 1 pin
and if placement was correct I soldered a pin diagonally across it and after a final check soldered
the rest of the pins. Actually pretty much how I usually solder sockets as well. For the processor
I soldered 1 side or at least a couple pins at once and had to reheat & reposition a couple of times
untill I had it correct, before soldering the other pins. I guess for placement something like this would
be ideal but I don't think there are any cheap options for it. Unless you built something yourself.

PHOBoS · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:15 am Post subject:

Another member of the Mutable Instruments family has been added because Alanp was so kind to send me an Elements PCB. Razz

Thanks Alan!

I noticed it has a lot of components placed close together which could be a bit of challenge. With Braids I already ran into the
problem that I couldn't get my tweezers between them which made placement rather tricky.

PHOBoS in SMD land - Elements 01.jpg

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blue hell · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:39 am Post subject:

Pick & place machines use vacuum to pick up components, maybe that is an idea.

PHOBoS · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:53 pm Post subject:

I actually have used a manual vacuum pick and place machine in the past (in school) which does indeed work nice. However,
that was with using solder paste. I don't know how well it would hold when you jam a soldering iron against the component.
It seems like there are some DIY options though so I'll look into it.

AlanP · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2017 11:41 pm Post subject:

My usual tweezers worked fine with Elements -- I have a really cheap pair of eyebrow tweezers from the ladies section of the supermarket.

The only real trouble I have with the tweezers is when I start to get self-conscious and nervous, and my hands resultingly start to shake.

PHOBoS · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 8:05 am Post subject: It's alive, ALIVE!

I received my ST-Link device today. It's a cheap one from ebay which according to a post on muffwiggler should work.
They are available in a variety of colors (which you can't choose) and I was hoping for a pink one which I got Laughing

I soldered up a cable and then realized that I had to reverse the connections because the connector is on the backside
of the board. So after doing that I connected the ST-Link device to my PC, which had no problem installing the drivers.
so far so good. I connected the cable to the Braids module and powered it up (no smoke, yes!) and ran the ST-Link utility
software. I was expecting some problems at this point as I kept getting errors when installing it, most likely because it is
not designed for winXP. But it started ok and 'connect to target' worked too. I flashed the bootloader and verified it (OK),
followed by the actuall firmware and after doing that I was greeted by the letter CSAW appearing on the LED displays. Shocked

I don't know yet if it is actually fully functioning untill I solder the pots and connectors and I first need to make a frontpanel,
but it looks VERY promising.

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AlanP · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 11:42 pm Post subject:

http://www.vo1t.com/Vo1tIllustrated.html

Download the Braids Illustrated Manual from here -- it's very good in explaining what each cryptic WXYZ on the display means.

PHOBoS · Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 5:12 am Post subject:

Thank you, I'll check it out Smile

I was already planning to search for a manual since there are some submenu settings besides the wave form selection.

edit: I noticed the order of the waveforms is slightly different and I don't have a HARM setting. Shocked

I guess I have
a different firmware version, don't know if it's an older one. If I remember correctly it also needs to be calibrated.
(or was that a different MI module ?)

edit2: yep, it looks like I have v1.7. since the bootloader is installed updating should be pretty easy though.

PHOBoS · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:19 pm Post subject:

I got the panel drilled so was able to put the pots and jacks on and with that update the firmware to V1.8.
I did a quick test and it makes sounds Laughing

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 5:01 pm Post subject:

maybe a useful tip:
To raise the displays so they are closer to the panel I used
some pin headers, from which I removed the pins, as spacers.

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PHOBoS · Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 5:35 pm Post subject:

I just finished the toner transfer.
It might not be perfect but I think it looks pretty good. Cool

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Grumble · Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 1:31 am Post subject:

looking great! very nice project!
Is the colour of the panel etched or reflection of the light?
If it was etched after the toner transfer, do you have a link to the recipe?

PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 2:59 am Post subject:

It's the lighting, the panel is just anodized aluminium with black toner.

PHOBoS · Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 11:42 am Post subject:

Here's a photo of the finished module with temporary colored knobs.

I've posted 2 recordings for which I used it:
Brain drops, keep falling out my head
PseudoRapidity

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robsol · Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:42 pm Post subject:

That looks fantastic! Amazing work throughout Pho!

PHOBoS · Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 5:01 pm Post subject:

Thanks

I am pretty happy how it came out myself, and it's an awesome module.
(I'd actually like to built a couple more of them Rolling Eyes

)