Last update: 2017/09/28 22:55
mbqg_fp
http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=mbqg_fp
http://www.midibox.org/dokuwiki/
Printed on 2020/11/14 19:23
absolutely sure every single button is seated fully before soldering the remaining two pins. If
the switch isn't seated fully, the 3D printed button will bind and it may prevent the front panel
from going together well.
Solder all the LEDs which are under buttons or LED pipes. Make sure each is also fully seated,
4.
and ideally, pointing as close to straight up as possible. Again, the panel won't go together right
if any are sticking out, and buttons may bind if the LEDs under them are a little tilted.
For each region of LEDs which stick through the front panel: Insert the LEDs into the board.
5.
Stick a couple screws in the area up through from under the board (backwards). Drop a 1/4”
nylon standoff/spacer and a thin washer on top of each, and then slide the front panel down
onto the screws. Secure them with a nut. Now flip over the assembly and drop/push each LED
into the hole in the aluminum. Hold up the assembly and make sure all the LEDs are pushed in
uniformly. Solder the LEDs.
For the above step, if these are LEDs around an encoder, instead of securing the front panel
6.
with screws while soldering, solder in the encoder before you begin the process, and then use
the encoder (with its nut) to hold the front panel to the aluminum while pushing in and soldering
the LEDs. Make sure of course that the encoder is seated fully! If the encoder's mounting tabs
have trouble going through the mounting holes, bend them a bit with pliers–they will eventually
fit smoothly. Make sure to use plenty of solder (and plenty of heat) on the mounting tabs.
For the LED displays, do a similar process to with the LEDs to ensure they fit correctly in the
7.
front panel and are flush with its surface. I used a small piece of wood to hold the displays flush
with the surface while soldering them–“pushed in all the way” will not be flush with the surface,
it will be below the surface.
Make sure to mount the electrolytic capacitors behind the front panel, i.e. on the opposite side
8.
from all the other components.
Final Assembly
Once you have finished the board and tested it on its own, it's time to put it all together.
Insert all the LED pipes in the aluminum. May take elbow grease as the aluminum “cuts” plastic
1.
off the sides of them to fit.
Insert long (~5cm) M3 or 4-40 screws through all the holes in the aluminum, in the correct
2.
direction. Sit the front panel on your table with the screws sticking up (back side up).
Lay all the 3D printed buttons in the appropriate cutouts, making sure to get the LED cutout
3.
pointing in the correct direction.
Add a thin flat washer and a 1/4“ nylon standoff/spacer to each screw.
4.
Slip the front panel PCB down over all the screws. The encoders will hold it up against the table
5.
through the holes.
Loosely cap each screw with a nut.
6.
Pick up the aluminum so that the front panel PCB slips down into all the holes. Press the PCB
7.
where necessary and ensure that the LEDs are in their holes and everything is tightly together.
Loosely tighten all the nuts.
8.
For each screw, loosen and remove the nut, then take another screw and put its tip against the
9.
tip of the screw sticking through the assembly. Slide the two screws down through the
assembly, so that you have now exchanged the original long screw pointing correctly with a
screw pointing backwards (out the front of the panel). Then, take your screw of final length,
push it against the tip of the backwards screw, and slide them through, so the screw of final
length is in its final position. Add a small lockwasher and the nut, and tighten. The purpose of
this is to exchange the long screw for a shorter screw without risking the washer and spacer
getting dislodged.
