make the apc

8/12/2019 Make the APC

1/38

HomeAbout

ContactKits

Open HeartMake HeartProgram Heart

Atari Punk ConsoleMake the APCHack the APC

LoL ShieldMake the LoL ShieldProgram the LoL ShieldDiavolino

Subscribe

Jimmie P Rodgers . com

Make the APC

Making the APC

Being that there are a number of resources online about how to solder, I am not going to goover that here.This is a fairly straightforward kit that should be a great first time project. If yo

haven!t soldered before I suggest you check out this page for a ton of examples and links. Itactually how I learned to solder,by reading, watching, and then practicing. If this really is yofirst time, pick up some broken electronic part, and de-solder and re-solder parts to it till youhave nice looking solder joints.

Document Map:

OverviewStep1: The PartsStep 2: Fitting the Case

Step 3: Soldering the 556Step 4: Soldering the resistors and capacitors.Step 5: The SpeakerStep 6: The PotentiometersStep 7: PowerStep 8: The Case, and the headphone jackStep 9: Finishing, and attaching the knobs
http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step8http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step7http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step3http://feeds.feedburner.com/jprodgershttp://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/lolshield/programlolshield/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/lolshield/makelolshield/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/lolshield/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/hacks/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/openheart/programheart/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/openheart/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/http://jimmieprodgers.com/about/http://jimmieprodgers.com/http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step9http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step8http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step7http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step6http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step5http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step4http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step3http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step2http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step1http://ladyada.net/learn/soldering/thm.htmlhttp://jimmieprodgers.com/http://feeds.feedburner.com/jprodgershttp://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/lolshield/diavolino/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/lolshield/programlolshield/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/lolshield/makelolshield/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/lolshield/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/hacks/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/openheart/programheart/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/openheart/makeheartv1/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/openheart/http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/http://jimmieprodgers.com/about/contact/http://jimmieprodgers.com/about/http://jimmieprodgers.com/


2/38

What you will needto build this kit:

Soldering Iron (a cheap one will work, but a temperature controlled iron will improveyour life)Shear CuttersSolderWire strippersNeedle nose pliers

A small flat head screwdriverA drill or rotary tool like a Dremel along with various bits (depending on your case)A markerA fun case to put your kit inA 9V Battery

Things you really should have, but do not absolutely need:

Helping handsDe-soldering braid

MultimeterTapered hand reamerSmall files

I suggest you check out this list of recommended itemsfor a good soldering setup.

Some tips before we start:

Lay out everything beforehand, and go through the directions at least once before youstart.

Keep your iron tip clean. I Highly recommend a brass tip cleaner.Use 60/40 flux core lead solder, unless you have a good iron and know what you aredoing.The joints should look like a Hershey!s Kiss, completely covering the pad.Do not over-heat things. It will only take 1-3 seconds at the most to solder a joint.Don!t abuse your tools. Use your tools for their intended purpose, and keep themmaintained. This will dramatically improve the quality of anything you do.Double-check your work.If you get stuck, don!t be afraid to ask questions.

Step 1: The Parts

Check your kit and make sure you have all the parts and tools you need. Since the speakerhas a magnet, sometimes parts like to stick to it, so you should remove it from the plastic ancheck. Click on the image for details:
http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step1http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=156777http://ladyada.net/library/equipt/kits.html


3/38

The parts include:

PCB556 TimerTwo 500K Pots1K R10K R

4K7 R.01uF Cap.1uF Cap10uF Cap3.5mm Mono JackSpeakerTwo KnobsSwitchButton9v Strap

1"Wire Black1"Wire Red

Step 2: Fitting the Case

I!ve placed this first, because this is what you are going to be providing for your kit. It!s alsoextremely important to have a sense of what you are going for prior to starting. This is a veryimportant step. Time spent here thinking and measuring will save you a bunch of time and
http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step2http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150306471/


4/38

frustration later. Go ahead and get a sense of the size of your case. Place componentsaround inside of it to see how well they fit. The 9V battery takes up nearly as much space asall of the other parts. Make sure you can fit everything comfortably inside of the case beforeyou start.

I!ve designed this to fit all of the parts easily inside of a standard Altoids (or similar) tin. Thatincludes all of the parts in this kit, as well as the battery. There is not a ton of space in thereso you need to be careful. You can!t really fit anything on top of the 9V battery, and you hav

to have your parts far enough away from the edges that they do not hit when closing thecase. Try and get a good sense of how things fit before starting. Here are some examples:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150308687/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150307945/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4151065528/


5/38

You are also going to want to think about where you want your controls on the case, and hoyou might want to use them. Also try to use wire sparingly, as you will have to fit that in thecase as well. You want enough to reach the part, and to have a bit of slack, but too much wgive you problems when you try to close the case. The two feet provided should be morethan enough for a standard Altoids tin, with extra to spare. Also in general, having a sparecase may also be good in case you find that parts aren!t fitting as well as you had hoped. Yoshould also go and check out the hacks page for some additional ideas.

Step 3: Soldering the 556

The 556 is the heart of the APC. It is extremely important that this is placed in the PCBproperly, otherwise it will not work. You will notice that the silkscreen on the PCB has a notcin it. That corresponds to the notch in the 556. If the chip does not slide in easily, you canvery carefully bend the leads against a flat surface till they are more parallel.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150309255/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150310995/http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step3http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/hacks/


6/38

Once the chip is in, and you have verified that it is in correctly, you can simply bend thecorner leads down to hold it in place while you solder.

Go ahead and start soldering it in place. Your soldered joints should hopefully look somethinlike this:

Make sure there are no bridged solder joints, and solder fills the whole pad.

Step 4: Soldering the resistors and capacitors.

We will be doing the ceramic capacitors first. They are the two smaller yellow ones. Theseare actually different values. If you look carefully you can see a 103#and a 104#printed othem. Those correspond to the silkscreen on the PCB. Place the caps in their correspondingplace (they can be placed in either orientation), and gently bend the leads out to hold theminto place:
http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step4http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4151068518/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4151067912/


7/38

Go ahead and solder them into place. Then clip the leads just above the solder. It!s generaa good idea to not cut too deeply into the solder, as you can sometimes rip a pad off of a

PCB.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4151069862/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4151069462/


8/38

The resistors will be next. You will have three of them, and each is of a different value:1K, 4.7K, 10K


9/38

The colors on the resistor are going to be what tells you the value. They are read withthe metallic band on the right side. The first band is the ten!s place, the second is the one!splace, and the third is the multiplier. You can look up resistor color codes online for furtherinformation. For this kit you only need to deal with these three values. There is a photoreference below.

1K Brown, Black, Red

4.7K Yellow, Purple, Red10k Brown, Black, Orange

Place them in their corresponding places on the PCB by gently bending the leads to beparallel with each other. Like the smaller capacitors, the orientation does not matter.

Once they are in place, gently bend the leads outward to hold them in place, and then soldeand clip them. Your PCB should now look something like this:


10/38

The final electronic component is the electrolytic capacitor. I!ve saved this for last as it is theonly other component part that has polarity and needs to be placed in a specific orientation.This is also where thinking about the case you want to place your kit into is going to behelpful. The negative side of the capacitor is marked as negative. The leads can also tell yowhat polarity the component is, as the shorter is also negative.

There are three basic orientations you can use:


11/38

Vertical

Flat

Pushed over (what I usually use)


12/38

How much space you have in your case, and where you are going to place the PCB willdetermine which orientation will be better for you. Flat is best if you are going to try and cramit into a flatter space, and vertical is good for cases where you are not going to stack parts othe PCB. Pushed over is great if you are going to be soldering the potentiometers to the PC

Step 5: The Speaker

You will only need to do this step if you want an internal speaker. I sometimes skip this if Iknow the APC will only be used for line out, or if the case cannot fit the speaker. If you havethe space, I would recommend using the speaker. The headphone jack will wait till you areready to case the APC, as it comes in from the outside, and will have to be mounted to thecase prior to soldering onto the PCB.

First place a bit of solder on each of the pads of the speaker, this will help with attaching thwire:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150318365/http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step5http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150317647/


13/38

Now strip just enough wire to attach to the speaker. You want to remove only enough to dothe job. The speaker does not have any kind of polarity, so you do not have to worry aboutthat. I like to use both the red and black wire only because it looks cooler when twisted (morabout this below).

Apply heat to the solder blob and attach the wire. By applying a bit of heat to the wire, itshould naturally pull some of the solder on. Once you remove the iron tip, let the blob cool


14/38

before letting go of the wire. Once solidified, you should be able to gently pull on the wirewithout it detaching:

Now do the same for the other wire:

This is completely optional, but I like to then twist the wire gently to provide a cool effect. Thdoes nothing other than look nice. It adds a bit of structural support, but that is fairlyunimportant. You only want to use enough wire for the job though. You!ll only need a couple


15/38

inches at most, but measure inside of your case to be sure, then clip the wires to fit:


16/38

Now you!ll want to attach the speaker to the PCB where it is marked Speaker. Strip justenough wire to fit through the PCB for both wires. The orientation does not matter, but it canbe helpful to use black for negative and red for positive to have a consistent look. While thespeaker does not have polarity, the output jack does, which is right next to the speaker on thPCB.

Go ahead and solder them into place, bending the wires on the back of the PCB may help t


17/38

hold it in place.

Step 6: The Potentiometers

The PCB is designed for either on-board pots, or off-board. Structurally, placing the pots ontthe PCB gives a nice solid feel once they are in the case. However, make sure you havespace in the case you are going to be using. Of the three contacts, only two are the ones tha

will determine the resistance change. In both cases that is the outer two, which have 500Kwritten between them. This was done because it allowed the board to be mostly singlesided. That means that if you want both of your knobs to go up in frequency in a clockwisedirection, you will need to offset the right pot by one space.

There are also some small tabs on the tops of the pots. They are used to grip into a case anhold it into a specific place. They are not very useful unless you are good at creating smallvertical slits in the case. My suggestion is to just bend them downward:

On-Board soldering:

If you want to attach the pots directly to the PCB, you!ll first want to go ahead and fill each othe pads on the PCB with solder:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4151084304/http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4151083692/http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step6


18/38

Then straighten out the leads of the pots if they are bent:

Now add solder to the leads on the pots:


19/38

Now center the pot over the three holes, and heat the middle one. Allow it to sink down andthen solidify before you let go. This joint does not have to be perfect, as you will be re-

touching it later:

Heat the other two points, adding a bit of solder. You want enough to fully cover them andmake a solid connection:


20/38

Now re-touch the middle one, adding a bit of solder. It should now look something like this

You can go ahead and do the right pot in a similar way. If you are off-setting the right one,yours should look like this:


21/38

Without the off-set:

Off-Board Soldering:

Depending on how you want the knobs to behave, you have a choice of which two points yowant to solder the wires to. Increasing while turning clockwise is the common and intuitiveway, but you may want to swap that depending on the case:


22/38

Increases as turned clockwise

Decreases as turned clockwise

I like to go ahead and add solder to the pots first. Then strip just enough of the wires to maka solid connection. Now, apply heat to the joint and insert the wire, applying heat to the wir

as well:


23/38

Do the other wire now, and it should look something like this:

I once again like to add a bit of a twist for decorative purposes. You will only want to useenough wire to get from the PCB to where the pot is going to be. Now clip and strip the otheside of the wires to fit, but leave a little slack:


24/38


25/38

Step 7: PowerYou have now mostly completed the soldering portion of the APC, and we can now test it.You can do that by connecting the 9V battery. The red wire is + and the black wire is -. Firstyou should pick either positive or negative, and solder that to the PCB. The other one you wkeep detached for now, and simply touch that to the PCB, holding it in place.
http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step7http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150335957/


26/38

It should hopefully be making some noise. If not, try turning the pots to the middle, as theAPC may be stuck in a spot that is too high to hear. If you still hear nothing, make surenothing is shorting, and that you are connected to the correct place on the PCB for power.Look for any possible shorts, solder blobs, hanging leads, etc. If you still can!t get it to makesound, then consult the troubleshooting section.

Now that you!ve tested the kit and it!s working, it is time to decide how you want to control th

power. The kit comes with both a button and a switch. The button is used for momentarypresses, and is useful if you want to play actual melodies with the instrument. I suggest atleast using the button. The other option is the switch, which will cause the APC to beon continuously. This is useful if you want a continuous tone. You can also use them both toprovide either option. I will be going over all of the options, but it is up to you to decide whatyou want.

Individually wiredBoth the button and the switch will be wired fairly similarly if you want to use either by itself. you just want one, I would suggest using the button, as it provides much more control. The

switch is useful if you want the APC to be able to stay on and generate a tone. You will simpsolder the loose wire from the 9V to one of the leads of the button, or the center of the switc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4151094582/


27/38

Now you will strip and solder a wire from the other point of the button, or either of the sideleads from the switch. Finally, you will solder the other end to the PCB, completing the circu

Now when you press thbutton (or flip the switch, if you used the switch) you should hear some sound.

Using both the button and the switchIf you want to use both, you will need to solder them in parallel. That way, if either the buttonor the switch is used, the instrument will come on. It takes a bit of extra time, but is worth the


28/38


29/38

enough room wasn!t allowed, then you may have to move something from your originalplanned position.

The way I fit pieces is both from the inside, and the outside. I take the nut and washer off ofthe part, and try that from the outside, keeping in mind how much space is going to be usedinside. This takes a bit of spatial thinking, and any extra time spent here is well worth it. Maksure you have a solid idea before you mark or drill. Once I have a good idea of where I wanthings to be, I close up the case, and then use the nuts and washer to mark the holes on the

case. I then use the marker and place a small dot in the center:

A useful thing I!ve found for Altoids tins is to stay within the inner border of the tin. Thatgenerally keeps parts free of the lip on the inside of the lid. When marking on the sides of thcase, make sure that the lid is already closed, as holes in the center of the tin will actuallyprevent the case from closing properly:


30/38

DrillingNow that you!ve marked the case, and you are fairly confident that your parts will fit in theconfiguration you!ve selected, it!s time to drill. I personally use a Dremel with a 1/8#bit, and tapered hand reamer for all holes in all cases I use. The tapered hand reamer allows you tocreate holes to size, and very specifically fit your parts into the case. If you do not have atapered hand reamer, then you will need an assortment of drill bits to be able to drill out theproperly sized holes. Regardless, I suggest starting off with a smaller bit first. A smaller bit is

easier to control, and you!ll have an easier time centering it. Once you have a starter hole,

you can then move onto a larger bit, or the tapered hand reamer.

My tapered hand reamer is my absolute favorite tool.


31/38

You should get one if yolike to make nice round holes in things.

Just to show how nice the hand reamer works, the hole on the left is an untouched hole frothe reamer. The one on the right I used two drill bits, and some files to straighten the case

back out:

To further put this into perspective, this is a side view of the case. The side holes I drilled withe drill bits, and the case became a little warped. I was able to push it back into shape


32/38

(something that also happens somewhat naturally when you start tightening down the parts)However, much more work was needed with my files and some pliers. You can see theperfectly round hole on the top of the tin, without any distortion of the case.

Please keep in mind that this is the most dangerous part of the whole project, and you shoube careful when drilling.Don!t do anything like drilling down towards your leg, or holding thetin in your hand while making the hole. Firmly clamp or hold the case against a solid surfacemove slowly, and be careful. Also, keep in mind that the thicker and harder the case, the

more dangerous it will be. If you are using a solid case, then make sure to clamp it downbefore you even try to drill it. There is no reason for you to get hurt if you are cautious andthink before you drill. Nobody has ever been hurt in one of my workshops, but I wouldn!t wasomeone to hurt themselves at home doing this either.

With the reamerSince this is a bit easier, I!ll cover this style first. You!ll want to go ahead and drill all of yourstarter holes. I prefer a Dremel because it gives better control, but a drill will work too. Thenonce those are drilled, you are going to use the reamer to open the hole up more. Byapplying a rotational movement back and forth while gently pushing inward, it shaves away

bits of the case, and the hole will get larger. You will want to fit your part into the hole at manpoints during this. Fit early, fit often. The part should easily slide into the hole, and not getcaught, but the hole should be far smaller than both the washer and nut for a tight fit.


33/38


34/38

The one on the left wasdone with the reamer. The one on the right is from a drill bit.

Continue to do this with all of the holes till all of the parts fit in their respective holes. If youare unsure about the size, then keep fitting the part. It!s better to do this too many times thato over-size your hole where the part just falls through.

With just drill bitsYou will want to go ahead and drill all of your starter holes with the smaller drill bit (I genera

use 1/8#as a starter). Like I said earlier, this makes the process much easier for centeringthe larger holes. Now you will need to find a drill bit for each of the parts. I!ve gone ahead an

done that, but first I want to go over how I find the proper drill bit size. Basically I use the nutto size the bit, and place the nut over each drill bit. I keep trying larger drill bits till the nut nolonger fits over, but the outside of the nut is still wider than the bit. This is generally a goodway to find the size when you do not know what size to use.

However, I!ve gone ahead and done that. The potentiometers, button, and headphone jackwill all be comfortable with a 5/16#, and the switch will work with a 7/32#. Once you have allthe bits, go ahead and carefully drill out the holes. If the part does not easily go through, the

use the next sized bit you have, as long as it is not larger than the size of the nut. Hopefullyeverything fits well, and you are done with drilling. You may want to use some pliers andsmall files to even out the edges if your case is tin. It tends to rip and warp a bit, but you canusually fix it easily enough.

The headphone jackThe final step is the headphone jack. You should have already drilled out the hole for it, andfits in easily. You should have already pulled off the nut for sizing, but if you have not donethat, then go ahead and do so now. For this jack the longer lead is going to be ground, whic


35/38

is going to go to the negative line connection on the PCB. You are going to strip and solderwires to the headphone jack, and then twist if you like:

You can then feed the wire and jack through the hole, run the nut up the jack, and attach it tthe case. If you solder the wire to the board first, you will not be able to screw on the nut.Once the nut is screwed on, you then clip, strip, and solder the other side of the wire to thePCB.


36/38

At this point, you can now start attaching everything in your case, as you are mostly done.

Step 9: Finishing, and attaching the knobs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150345823/http://www.jimmieprodgers.com/kits/apc/makeapc#step9http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/4150344083/


37/38

There are just a few things you may want to do to finish things up. I like to take files to all ofthe edges and make sure things are nice and bur free. I also clean out the case after drillingso that all of the dust and bits are gone. If the case is metal (like the Altoids tin), I also like tomake sure that nothing is going to short. I clip anything sharp, and cover anything in electrictape if I!m worried about it. If it stops working when you close the case or move it, then yousimply have a short. Hopefully the case closes well, but if not, you can usually move wiresaround till things fit at least a little better. If there is too much wire, you may need to desoldeone of the sides and trim the wire before reconnecting it. You want enough wire to open the

case, but not so much that it causes it to jam open.

You can now put the knobs on the pots. There is a small screw in the back of the knobs. Yowant to unscrew those enough so that they slide easily onto the pots. If they do not go oneasily, then just unscrew them a bit. It!s a tight fit, even a small overlap will cause it to bedifficult to put on. Then simply tighten the screw, and you should hopefully be done.

Search Site

To search, type and hi

My Twitter

I!m off to Beijing. See everyone on the other side of the Great (fire)Wall. 40 daysagoHahahaha, just got a confirmed sub-letter for my room, on the way to the airport.At least I!ve got one. 41 days agoOn my way to China. 41 days ago

As per usual, I!m hours away from leaving, and bag still isn

!t packed. Lots of othethings are though. 41 days ago

Some folks are throwing me a going away party tonight at @artisansasylumat6pm. Come by, have a beer, and see me off before China. 42 days agoWhile in NYC I accidentally ended up drunk on the internets with @bekathwiaan@brookelynn23: youtube.com/watch?v=2eeUuO43 days agoMy team built the Iron Lady: flickr.com/photos/jaypee4We got 2nd place, bydriving off the platform after losing tracking. :-/ 44 days agoYay, @MathWorksreleased the video of the autonomous robotics competition I
http://twitter.com/MathWorkshttp://twitter.com/1/status/381451694220902400http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaypee4227/8663141909/in/set-72157633280664427http://twitter.com/1/status/381537894961127424http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eeUuOjbLIshttp://twitter.com/brookelynn23http://twitter.com/bekathwiahttp://twitter.com/1/status/382196986532724736http://twitter.com/artisansasylumhttp://twitter.com/1/status/382488177727905793http://twitter.com/1/status/382534706715426816http://twitter.com/1/status/382541500565184512http://twitter.com/1/status/382656622746935296http://jimmieprodgers.com/2008/10/creepy-cave-crabs-light-detecting-light-music-synths/


38/38

was in: makerzone.mathworks.com/resources/auto44 days agoRT @hoeken: What are some good 501c3 charities that deal with open hardwaresoftware? 44 days agoChinese visa obtained. On my way back to Boston. 45 days ago

Follow Me on Twitter

Powered by Twitter Tools

Get smart with the Thesis WordPress Themefrom DIYthemes.

WordPress Admin
http://jimmieprodgers.com/wp-admin/http://diythemes.com/thesis/http://crowdfavorite.com/wordpress/plugins/twitter-tools/http://twitter.com/jprodgershttp://twitter.com/1/status/381073322727198720http://twitter.com/1/status/381171943560724480http://twitter.com/hoekenhttp://twitter.com/1/status/381451311436136448http://makerzone.mathworks.com/resources/autonomous-combat-robot-competition-intro/

make the apc

Documents