[Voodoochile]

I don't doubt you can do it at all!

I'm probably a little weird for wanting to do so much fiddling with these things. I loved my first cnoy, and built a couple others with minor variations shortly after.

Glad to see you are planning on tweakability with your META. I have spent so much time combing the archives here, and reading and re-reading Tangent's excellent notes. I seem to glean a bit more each time.

You are going to love it, I'm sure.

 

[Kal525]

i hate to ask another question, but for hookup wire, i keep reading stuff that says that you shouldn't use certain types in the signal path, but isn't that exactly what you're doing when you use hookup wire to jumper terminals and hook up your input and out put jacks?

I was planning on using belden 22 gague teflon coated stranded wire from handmade, but will i be able to use this for all connections/jumper connections?

Also, is there any other alternative that mouser or digikey would stock, i'm sure i will have to pay a fortune in shipping if i order the stuff from handmade, and i don't really need to have the best wire, just something that works well.

 

[puppyslugg]

Quote:

Originally posted by Kal525 i hate to ask another question, but for hookup wire, i keep reading stuff that says that you shouldn't use certain types in the signal path, but isn't that exactly what you're doing when you use hookup wire to jumper terminals and hook up your input and out put jacks? I was planning on using belden 22 gague teflon coated stranded wire from handmade, but will i be able to use this for all connections/jumper connections? Also, is there any other alternative that mouser or digikey would stock, i'm sure i will have to pay a fortune in shipping if i order the stuff from handmade, and i don't really need to have the best wire, just something that works well.

I think mouser/digikey has teflon coated wire. JMT I believe, uses a 22ga solid, silver plated wire from mouser.

 

[Kal525]

so what does not for use in signal path mean?

 

[Voodoochile]

The path between the inputs and the outputs. The power supply wiring is not in the signal path, for instance.

People can get pretty passionate about wire and interconnects.

 

[Kal525]

haha, ok, that's what i thought, but then what type of wiring am i supposed to use to jumper and connect output/input jacks, assuming the only thing NOT in the signal path is power supply wiring.

 

[Voodoochile]

The best wire your budget can tolerate. Ordinary stranded copper isn't neccessarily a bad choice... there are better choices, though. It's all part of "The Sound", and "Your Abilities", as balanced with the old anchor "Your Fiscal Means".

You could spent $1,000 on a META42 if you thought you had to. That doesn't make it a good idea, though!

 

[Kal525]

yeah, i have learned that this can be as expensive as you want it to be. But even the belden teflon coated wire says not for signal path use on handmade's website, and that stuff is $.32 /foot. How much am i going to have to spend to get wire that i can use for the signal path. I just want something that will work and that i can preferably get from mouser or digikey.

 

[Kal525]

alright, i've picked the wire, all i need now is the proper D2 diode.

I am getting on of the series 1N400x but there are a number of these with different PRV ratings. Anyone know what the proper rating is for a setup with a 24v psu?

 

[tangent]

You need a diode with a forward and reverse voltage that's higher than your supply's voltage. Since the lowest one is 50V, and that's plenty higher than your 24V supply, any part in the line will work. I only suggest that you look into the others in case you're getting some parts locally. Radio Shack, for instance, sells an assortment of 1N400x resistors and you don't know what you'll get. But all of them will work, so you can just buy the assortment and know it'll work out fine.

 

[Kal525]

ok thanks, i think i'm going to try to get as little as possible from radio shack. I'm just gonna grab the 50V diode from mouser. It's only 3 cents and hopefully i get what it says i will get. Is there any way i can check the forward and reverse voltage for a diode with a multimeter? In any case it will probably be what they say it is. The only things i plan to get from radio shack is that DC plug (5.5/2.5mm any other specificaitons for this plug i should be aware of?) and a toggle power switch. One thing i'm not sure how to do is mount the PCB in the case once i'm done with it. Does the case come with grooves or anything like that to allow me to screw it in or something?

 

[tangent]

Quote:

Is there any way i can check the forward and reverse voltage for a diode with a multimeter?

This is an item on the part's datasheet. You wouldn't want to test for it -- it's a breakdown voltage, so the only way to test for it is to get a bunch of samples and then carefully destroy them, observing the point at which they fail.

When you have a diode rated for 50V, it's telling you that it's supposed to be able to handle 50V continuously without becoming a friode.

Quote:

The only things i plan to get from radio shack is that DC plug

Since you're already getting parts from Mouser, why not get the DC jack from them? The DGS part is built better than the RS one, and it only costs a few pennies more. If you live in a state where Mouser doesn't charge taxes, the DGS part may even be cheaper.

Quote:

a toggle power switch

Radio Shack switches suck rocks. I recommend you get an E-switch 100 series unit from Mouser; it'll be about the same price as you'd pay at RS, and it will be built a whole lot better. Or if you want to get the cheapest thing possible that's still better quality than RS, get a Mountain switch from Mouser.

Quote:

One thing i'm not sure how to do is mount the PCB in the case once i'm done with it. Does the case come with grooves or anything like that to allow me to screw it in or something?

The META42 board is small enough that you don't really have to support it -- the board isn't long enough and the components on it aren't heavy enough to strain the board.

In some enclosures, the board will rest nicely on the bottom. This is fine if you've got a plastic enclosure. If you've got a metal enclosure, I recommend that you board-mount the pot and drill the hole for the pot so that the board is suspended a bit above the bottom of the enclosure. If you're nervous about the board hanging out in space like that, put a short spacer under the rear edge and epoxy it to the case so that it acts as a board rest.

 

[Kal525]

alright sounds good, but it turns out what i thought was a toggle switch is actually a rocker switch. I think those look slightly more attractive. That's the one i was gonna get from radio shack. Do you recommend any better ones from mouser?

For that DC plug, i searched radio shack for a 5.5mm/2.5mm DC jack and it didn't turn up anything except DC adaptors and phone jacks. Do you know which one of these DC jacks will work with the WM080 wall wart from mouser, they have a few 5.5/2.5mm ones listed?

http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?hand...12&pdffile=412

After that, i'm ready to go, maybe just for fun i'll buy a few extra diodes and test their breakdown voltage too, see exactly what happens when they "breakdown."

Just out of curiosity, if the breakdown voltage is 50V, won't the amp theoretically never reach that since it's only outputting 24v? If that's the case, how is the diode protecting against spikes in the voltage?

 

[tangent]

E-switch sells panel-mount rocker switches. You're asking me questions you could have found the answer to easily yourself, again. Download the Mouser catalog -- it's well worth the time to download its 50 MB bulk, as it's the easiest way to jump from one part that you know about that's close and find similar parts that will work better. That is, the E-switch toggles you know about are just a few pages away from many types of rocker switches from E-switch and other companies.

You're misunderstanding on the jack: get the one from Mouser whose part number I gave in an earlier post. Forget the Radio Shack jack.

As for D2, its purpose is to block or pass the entire power supply voltage. If the power supply is connected correctly, it will be called upon to pass 24V continuously. If it's connected incorrectly, it will be called upon to block all 24V from entering the circuit. That's why the forward and reverse voltage ratings have to be at least as high as your power supply's voltage. If you put a 5V diode in D2, it would burn up no matter whether you connected the power supply correctly or not.

If you're going to start getting into electronics, as opposed to simple "assembly" (i.e. put tab A into slot B), you had better get a book on electronics and read it. This thread is turning into Tangent's Lessons on Electronics, and I think there are other people who do that job better, people who have written books.

 

[Kal525]

I know they sell rocker switches, i was at their website and saw them all in a nice list with pictures too. I was asking you to see if you would recommend something other than E-switch for a rocker switch, since i don't know if any switch i put in there will work, but i assume it will, again, i am not being lazy, i am asking for advice, preventative advice, in case what i buy should not work.

I am understanding the jack perfectly, I just didn't see the part number you threw in there though in your other post when you were saying it was the same as the radio shack one, that's why i was trying to find the radio shack one so i could get the same thing from mouser, but i could not find one stocked at radio shack, but i see the part number now, thank you.

I'll be picking up more than one electronics book next semester when i take electric circuit theory and logic design, i was just asking you about the diode out of curiosity, it was not an essential piece of information that i needed to know. Again, sorry to bother you, but thank you for your help, i now have all the information i need.........until the building starts of course

j/k, that should go smoothly, i'll only need help if my troubleshooting skills aren't good enough when the thing doesn't work, but i know how to use a multimeter and troubleshoot circuits for the most part so i should be ok.