[Billyk]

Finally had the time (and parts) to finish mine. Took me about 3.5 hours, very smooth build. I think I like SMD better than through hole... almost. When I snapped the tweezers with that 805 resistor and sent it flying onto a dirty blue and white carpet I was almost in tears. Found it so all is well. Powered up, was recognized, and made noise first time and it sounds darn good.
I checked out the new site to get the build info and BOM. Looks great! I have one more Carrie proto after this one and think I will wait for the new rev.
Thanks for this!

 

[ujamerstand]

Good Job! My last 2 SMD soldering attempts has resulted in failure

I'll have to go back to debug my grubDAC when I got time.

 

[cobaltmute]

ujamerstand,

Are you working under magnification? It helps immensely. Same for using flux.

I just picked up one of these in 8x from Sayal for $5. Checking over a board is pretty easy - everything is so large

 

[Billyk]

Thanks man! Listening to it as I type sounds great with foobar and ASIO4all.

Cobaltmute, that's a great idea; I'm going to get one. Now I wear two pairs 3.5 reading glasses. Gives me good enough for the work and I check it with a 10x magnifier.

Flux, magnification, more flux, practice, a little more flux... SMD is quickly becoming my preferred building method. If I could only figure out how to stop sending those things flying when I pick them with the tweezers

 

[ujamerstand]

I've got a magnifier, never got used to using it. Instead, I'm using it as a third leg to stabilize the helping hands. But I do make sure I dab more than enough flux onto the pcb before soldering, it really helps with smd!

 

[cobaltmute]

The resistors are the most pain in the a** as they are flat. I find capacitors easy to get down. No caffeine is the answer. I also brace my arms on the table as I work. I open the cut tape so the part falls onto the board, and then align as necessary.

I work with my face pressed into a magnifier light like this Sometimes it gets in the way as I try to solder, but then I just move everything until I can get it right.

 

[Billyk]

I am in my 50's so the old eyes just aren't what they used to be. I find the double glasses trick gives me the best vision for the least fuss. I do love the big magnifier though.
There is something so satisfying when you get one of those big chips done just right, 28 , 32 leads, so cool. I do the same with the single chips and dump them right on the board, those 805s tho...
I know I must be dense, but I just now figured out that the carrie / grub combo has no caps in the audio path. The only good cap in the audio path is no cap!
Thanks for this great design, I am listening to it with my Mini^3, sounds great, gotta order those Carrie parts tonight.

 

[keyid]

finally cased up one of my carrie/grub combos! Sound great

 

[cobaltmute]

Cool casing!

 

[Billyk]

Nice case!
Well I am bummed. Brought my freshly minted grub to work to listen to and it is now saying USB device not recognized. Drat. Getting 5.01 on the USB and 3.29 out of the reg. I must have damaged the 2707... I reflowed everything and checked for shorts and bridges. Any ideas?

 

[keyid]

if it was working before, then try on another computer.

 

[cobaltmute]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billyk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nice case! Well I am bummed. Brought my freshly minted grub to work to listen to and it is now saying USB device not recognized. Drat. Getting 5.01 on the USB and 3.29 out of the reg. I must have damaged the 2707... I reflowed everything and checked for shorts and bridges. Any ideas?

You've re-flowed R1-3? The not recognized errors I've seen before are where the device is found, but something is wrong with the communications.

Is this one with a Carrie board attached or not?

 

[Billyk]

Tried several computers XP and Vista, same error on all. On a fresh PC, one that has never had a 2707 plugged in before, said new device found, installing new device, device installed, then went to USD Device Not Recognized.

Double checked R1,2,3 reflowed, ohmed out from USB pins through R3 R2 to the via points near C3 got 22.8 ohms on each, got 1.502k on R1 to the leg of C10 from the USB pin
Thanks!

 

[cobaltmute]

So this was a fully function grub brought to work and now it fails?

As I asked - just grub or grub + Carrie?

Do you have any messages in Event Viewer? What does computer management say (also check in the USB portion to see if any ports are being shutdown)?

Is it failing in case or out of case? Cable DAC?

 

[Billyk]

Fully functional and sounding great.
Stand alone (sorry forgot that)
No case, taped to a bit of pink static foam to protect the bottom. Wired to a 3.5mm jack. Not a cable type, has USB plug mounted.
Did not see any errors or warnings in the event logs. USB states unknown device, power draw 100ma