[KevC]

.... I went to some of these DIY sites and they SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME! I did horribly in gr10 Computer Engineering... (actually I didn't, but to tell you the truth my friend did all the hardware/circuitry and I did all the programming... so I didn't exactly learn what I was supposed to) and haven't touched it since.

I'm afraid of all these terms... MOSFET, FET followers.. etc etc. What are all of these! Ahh *cries*. (browsin Headwize)

I'm not exactly interested in how it works, I just want easy to follow, step by step, instructions... Is that possible? Or do I have to learn all the theory first?

Sorry for being such a n00bie... should I just go and order a prebuilt one? Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to try... but it's just AHH! Scary!

 

[was ist los?]

There is a good cmoy tutorial (step by step with pictures) here: http://www.tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/

 

[KevC]

Wow, thanks. I'll take a look into that. I was looking for tangent's site... but couldn't really find it! THanks!

 

[KevC]

I'd rather have a nicer quality amp the first time around, so is it ok if I got MINT the first time? Or not...? (dun wanna waste money)

 

[was ist los?]

The mint may be hard for you to solder being that the chips are smd (surface mount).

 

[KevC]

Wow... I have no idea what that even means

 

[JMT]

SMD (surface mount) means that the op-amp and the buffers literally sit on top of the solder pads on the board. You will need to delicately solder the pins with a low temperature iron.

DIP8 means that the chip has pins that go through the board, so it is easier to solder.

Note the area that is indicated by the words "op-amp." Notice the through holes....the chip's pins are inserted in the holes and you solder from the backside of the board.

Note the three chips that are just north of the resistors. If you can see it, notice how the pins sit on top of the board. That is surface mount.

Hope this helps.

 

[KevC]

Thanks a lot JMT! I've got a lot to learn...

Is it okay of me to assume that the CMOY is DIM8? What's a protoboard? Is it the same as a breadboard? (worked with those lightly in 10 engineering class...)

 

[Squalish]

Quote:

Originally posted by was ist los? There is a good cmoy tutorial (step by step with pictures) here: http://www.tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/

Read this twice, as well as the associated audio newbie guide, before doing anything.

 

[KevC]

Quote:

Originally posted by Squalish Read this twice, as well as the associated audio newbie guide, before doing anything.

Trying to do that as many times as I can... heh..

 

[JMT]

Quote:

Is it okay of me to assume that the CMOY is DIM8? What's a protoboard? Is it the same as a breadboard?

Check out this link.

 

[Emory]

KevC-Im currently trying to finish up on my MINT. It is the first eletronics project I have undertaken. The soldering wasn't tooo bad. I would do a search for soldering tips or the like, I found many great threads with help to get you started. Another tip, on your opamps and buffers, pin 1 is marked by a circle or notch or something, look for it, its hell to unsolder those things as I discovered

. If you really read up a bit and have a steady hand, a weekend or two to work, and patience to troubleshoot your problems, you should be ok with whatever you do.

 

[tangent]

Quote:

Is it okay of me to assume that the CMOY is DIM8?

Do you mean DIP-8? That means dual in-line package (2 rows of pins coming out of the "package"), 8 pins. The META42 pic JMT dropped in above uses a DIP-8 chip. The CMoy is a circuit design, not a circuit board design, so it isn't tied to any one chip package style. Most commonly people do use DIP-8 chips with CMoy amps, though.

Quote:

What's a protoboard? Is it the same as a breadboard?

http://tangentsoft.net/audio/breadboard.html

 

[KevC]

Yes DIP-8 is what I meant. Well I'm gonna order a predmade MINT from here, but I'm also gonna try building a CMOY for myself and mebbe selling it to a friend muahaha.

Emory: You say it's your first electronics project. Have you had experience with theory before that? I think I'm still gonna stay with the CMoy, since the MINT looks too hard. There's a electronics store nearby so I'll go pick up the parts...

The soderless plugboard was the kind I touched upon in school. I'm guessing that I need the "perfboard"? I'll check out the parts list, I'm sure they have more detailed required equipments... right?

//edit: Also... how does one solder something to the perfboard? Do you drop the "pins" down then solder the other side? I've never worked with soldering before..

//edit2: How does a desoldering braid/pump work..? Do I need this..?

 

[Squalish]

The MINT is actually probably a bit easier, since it's a PCB, aside from the somewhat difficult SMD soldering. The MINT just has silkscreened positions for each part, and a guide for what to select of each part. A CMOY is more open-ended, and I recommend it for your first project because you'll learn more. Stay away from simple perfboard, which is usually just a piece of particleboard with holes in it. Use some kind of what is here called 'protoboard,' which has copper pads on one side, for the solder to stick to, and that conduct in most varients between holes. The copper pads are connected via some kind of adhesive, and solder is naturally attracted to metal. You put a pin through, heat up the junction, and apply some solder, and hold the part there for the second or two it takes the solder to harden. Radio shack is a good place for this.

On Solder, I recommend you get eutectic(63% tin/37% lead) over the normal solder(60% tin/40% lead). Normal 60/40 can produce cold solder joints, where the solder solidifies in multiple pieces/stages, whereas eutectic isn't much more expensive, and solidifies all at once.

On the braid/pump, you don't absolutely need them, but you will probably need to remove moderate amounts of solder every project you do, and they are the only practical way to do it. I recommend you get a good length of braid(I got 25ft, I used it up on the first third of an ounce of solder, about enough for a CMOY), and not get a plain pump. The deal with a pump is that you liquify the solder with the iron, then switch hands really fast with your 600 degree iron and get the pump inplace and sucking in the second or two before the solder hardens. If you're going to get something like that, get the ratshack Desoldering Iron. While not the most durable product, it does an admirable job of sucking up solder while liquifying it at the same time.