Monome 40h Kits

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:52 pm

b0unce wrote:bus-power is a bigdeal for me too, I dunno about your laptop, but mine has two usb ports ...kit wise, that means an 8x16 will still be bus powered.

oh shit, me too. hmmm, didn't think of that.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:17 pm

tehn wrote: kit pre-orders
posted by tehn (tehn)
on 18.06.2007 09:00

we're now accepting pre-orders.

these won't ship until the end of the month at the earliest. we don't
imagine it will be much later, however. we'll post updates to the
shipping schedule here.

first, make sure you've read everything here:

http://monome.org/40h/kit

then pre-order kits here:

http://order.monome.org

thanks! we're looking forward to seeing what everyone creates.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:34 pm

ok i ordered one,

gulp!

kaffein · Post by **kaffein** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:23 am

Surreal wrote:damn. i think i am in.

can someone suggest a good soldering iron? monome priced good ones at 100...that is a little much..but i guess it might encourage me to do other soldering.

and what is a way to become proficient with soldering ? i would like to do this before messing with my 250 dollar kit.

Might want to get a Weller iron with selectable voltage and use the 12w setting since these are pretty delicate it seems.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:30 am

kaffein wrote:
Surreal wrote:damn. i think i am in.

can someone suggest a good soldering iron? monome priced good ones at 100...that is a little much..but i guess it might encourage me to do other soldering.

and what is a way to become proficient with soldering ? i would like to do this before messing with my 250 dollar kit.
Might want to get a Weller iron with selectable voltage and use the 12w setting since these are pretty delicate it seems.

Nah, circuit boards are built to withstand at least 200 degrees Celsius, it's just fiberglass with metal etched onto them.

The only danger is not using an iron that's hot enough, you end up trying to muscle the solder into place and you scratch the metal traces on the board. Even then, that's fixable.

There's nothing delicate about them, straight up microcontroller on a board, elegant, simple, solid design.

This one is great.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

This is a decent cheap alternative, just be careful where you put it when its hot, no soldering drunk in bed with this one
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search
it's just an iron on a wire.

If you read previous posts, I listed out parts to get to practice on as well as other tips.

kaffein · Post by **kaffein** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:40 am

Tone Deft wrote:
kaffein wrote:
Surreal wrote:damn. i think i am in.

can someone suggest a good soldering iron? monome priced good ones at 100...that is a little much..but i guess it might encourage me to do other soldering.

and what is a way to become proficient with soldering ? i would like to do this before messing with my 250 dollar kit.
Might want to get a Weller iron with selectable voltage and use the 12w setting since these are pretty delicate it seems.
Nah, circuit boards are built to withstand at least 200 degrees Celsius, it's just fiberglass with metal etched onto them.

The only danger is not using an iron that's hot enough, you end up trying to muscle the solder into place and you scratch the metal traces on the board. Even then, that's fixable.

There's nothing delicate about them, straight up microcontroller on a board, elegant, simple, solid design.

This one is great.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

This is a decent cheap alternative, just be careful where you put it when its hot, no soldering drunk in bed with this one
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search
it's just an iron on a wire.

If you read previous posts, I listed out parts to get to practice on as well as other tips.

I'm a total soldering nub, I've just been tinkering with bending things over the past 4 years... I hate the idea of soldering on expensive things though so this would be a bit nerve racking for me.

The 20/40 selectable is a good bet I guess, I just use a 25w weller and have killed many a potentiometers with it.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:47 am

wh'happened? Killed a pot? There's no need to scare people, this is totally doabe, people see electronics and get nervous, no need. To me it seems this is a great way to get people into building electronics, getting to know the DIY hands on stuff. It feels great to use stuff you put together.

kaffein · Post by **kaffein** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:05 am

It's totally doable just don't be a dumb ass like me and heat a pot for like 30 minutes off and on. XD

I'm considering getting a kit, just curious what I could mount it in.

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:21 am

How cool would it be to combine a UC-33e and a Monome 40h in a single box?

(But - with the UC-33e being discontinued, it'll probably be a CRIME to crack one open in the future!)

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:32 pm

Patch wrote:How cool would it be to combine a UC-33e and a Monome 40h in a single box?

(But - with the UC-33e being discontinued, it'll probably be a CRIME to crack one open in the future!)

I'm not a UC33 owner, why?

This did bring up an idea...

Rows of LCDs that are two characters high 4x16 of them = 128
Use the Live Python API stuff to poke at the AUTOMAP settings and display all 128 settings at once.

Then 128 knobs on each screen. Top of the screen is the parameter, bottom is the current value.

Novation Zero SL killer?

Completely doable project for someone who wants to reverse engineer the Python and make a hardware box. It'd cost well over $500 to make, maybe like $700, that's a lot of screens and knobs.

mrboni · Post by **mrboni** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 9:50 pm

Hi, I've been following the Monome for a while and am massively excited. Due to lack of funds at the time I missed out on a 40h but the thought of an 8x16 customised version makes that a good thing.

I was wondering whether there is anyone in Bristol who is planning a build, and would be up for getting together to knock heads/share parts etc. I'm well up for a wooden enclosure and this could be one area where collaboration would save cash or wastage.

Patch, are you feeling brave?

And thanks to Tone for keeping this thing buoyed in the Live forum, you've been a massive help!

Will

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:00 pm

There is a new shot of the Logic Board... and it is not assembled.

Does this mean that we are supposed to assemble the Logic Board too?

I was under the understanding that the only soldering was on the Button Array PCB.

What gives?

Mesmer · Post by **Mesmer** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:18 pm

On the soldering Iron thing:

I just bought a 100w soldering GUN this last weekend for $10.50

at radioshack. Just tested it yesterday and it works great, I swear that it cut me in half the melting point time. And for under $11 I think it was a pretty good deal. I love the fact that it has a big bright light that activates while working. I got a better pulse/stability than with my old regular iron.

just sharing, so that people have the info when making decisions.
cares,
-h

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 5:54 pm

mesmer - very cool, you're set! I hit up your post on the monome board, you were right in your observation, things are just a shade different.

kabuki - There was talk of the FTDI breakout board being assembled by using the breakout boards from sparkfun.com but the plan was always to sell a logic kit and a button kit, both require some assembly. Tehn did a really cool thing by finding large through hole parts for the kit, the original 40h had surface mount parts which are harder to solder. Don't worry, the logic board will be easy to solder. Fear not, for the uninitiated I predict an hour for each board, maybe 3-4 hours of work in total for soldering because you'll take your time. Just put on some good CDs and take it one part at a time, no big deal, I promise. I could probably do the logic board in 10 minutes and the button board in 20 but I'll take my time, savor the flavor and spend 2-3 times that long.

mrboni - Cool, go for it! This will be a great project for people to get into making their own kits. I'm glad to help people get into electronics, it's what I do for a living. For once I can give back to the pro musicians and pro engineers around here that have taught me so much with what I do for a living. I'm also excited to get into this, I've always wanted to make my own controller but after doing electronics all day I want to do music when I get home, not deal with bugs and code and soldering. The monomes have done 90% of the work for us.

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:16 pm

Tone, can you recommend a decent breadboard kit for learning and playing around with? I have my little Radio Shack project kit but I've done every project in the book and want to go a step further. Something that I won't outgrow too quickly? I see a ton of stuff for kids and then a bunch of pro level stuff but not too much in between. I have a MAKE subscription and I buy the occasional issue of Nuts and Volts, those seem better than any of the books I've come across. Thanks for any suggestions.