Monome 40h Kits

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:10 am

woot,

but where can you actually buy it? I don't see any link or anything on that page??

edit: oh I see, later this week...

Verbal · Post by **Verbal** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:23 am

Anyone have an idea for the enclosure? I want something basically like the 40h is so I can put my 40h and the kit next to each other and have a 8x16 when I want it.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:01 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.

Youtube to the rescue...
This guy shows how to solder two wires together but the same applies to soldering wire to circuit boards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QznAAwL ... ed&search=
This looks to be an OK guide too
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/solder.htm
It'll be easy.

If you want to practice, go to Radio Shack, ask for some breadboard
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

and some DIP IC (dip as is potato chip dip)

and some ribbon cable

Those plus the LEDs (shown below, Radio Shack will have them too) are all the shapes you'll have to deal with.

*You can also take scrapped electronics, take them apart and just start playing.*

Some solder
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search
avoid lead free solder, ask for 60/40 solder or standard solder

This is a good soldering iron

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search
It has a stand to hold the soldering iron and a sponge you soak in water to wipe gunk off the soldering iron tip, wipe every few solders. Gunk on the iron prevents heat transfer.

This is a cheaper iron, comes with a cheap stand to help keep the soldering iron off the table and putting burn marks in your table

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

Ribbon cable are wires in plastic case, you separate the wires and strip the insulation off with these
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... age=search

The LEDs they suggest are these guys: (3mm through hole, standard parts)

The only trick with those are knowing that on the red base one side is flat, also, one leg is longer, these two things are indicators of which way they go into the board. More on this later, in the end it'll be 'all flat sides face this way'.
About halfway down this page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED
They show how to identify the anode and cathode of an LED. Cathode is the negative end, anode is the positive, people remember this with by saying 'I hate cats' (negative towards cats.) Cathodes go to ground, anodes go to the signal on the microcontroller end, but you won't really have to know that.

I'll post more details once I see the kit, the monomes will include instructions. Trust me, as homebrew kits go, I believe this will be as easy as it gets.

I look forward to what people come up with, new software, hardware tweaks, all that.

The only 'trick' is patience, heat goes from the iron to the two pieces of metal, the metal pieces then in turn heat/melt the solder. Solder should flow just like candle wax in a wick. People get impatient and touch the iron to the solder to get it to flow onto the wire and board. When that happens there isn't a bond to the wire and board, this is called a 'cold solder joint' and they fail over time (something to look for when trying to fix old synths and stuff.)

Oh, for a case, I'm thinking these guys
http://www.tapplastics.com/
There's a store near me. I've used the to make enclosures before, just square pieces of plastic, I drew out the shape, they cut the shapes, I bought their glue, glued it together, taped it up tight, let it sit overnight and it's done. For a nice rounded case they have some kind of molding kits but I have no clue about those.

Oh, also you need a way to screw the boards together, those are called 'standoffs'.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... S:official

With those the boards are connected but you obviously can't have them touch.

I kinda feel like I'm making it seem too complicated, this is just off the top of my head, once I get a kit I will post part numbers and web sites with quantities of each part. I promise this won't be hard.

itook4lefts · Post by **itook4lefts** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:54 am

have you guys seen they're doing a limited edition white 40h with orange leds, built in accelerometer and handmade bag for 800 dollars? there's only 16 being made. and it's a lot of cheddar. but probably cheaper than current ebay prices, and better.

itook4lefts · Post by **itook4lefts** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:55 am

props to tonedeft for putting so much info out there. this is the way i'd go if i hadn't already got one. and i knew which end of a soldering iron to hold.

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:11 am

itook4lefts wrote:and i knew which end of a soldering iron to hold.

I can teach you that in 2 minutes. You have a choice between the easy way or the hard way to learn it.
The hard way may render you unable to use your soldering hand for a few days though

Verbal · Post by **Verbal** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:29 am

itook4lefts wrote:have you guys seen they're doing a limited edition white 40h with orange leds, built in accelerometer and handmade bag for 800 dollars? there's only 16 being made. and it's a lot of cheddar. but probably cheaper than current ebay prices, and better.

I'm really interested in the accelerometer. Thinking about adding one to the kit.

I wonder what accelerometer they're using.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:23 am

Verbal wrote:I'm really interested in the accelerometer. Thinking about adding one to the kit.

I wonder what accelerometer they're using.

http://wiki.monome.org/view/40hAccelerometerTutorial

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:10 pm

word fucking up! i'm all over this ishtar.

Patch · Post by **Patch** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:28 pm

An Accelerometer would be sweet! You'd have to fit a handle to the top and right side - but then you could use a left/right tilt to control volume, and a front/back tilt to control filters. Hmmmm...

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:48 pm

Can anyone tell if the Keypad kit includes the Buttons (switches). I am not referring to the rubber pads (of course they are there) but the actual switches or buttons that trigger the event. I see they are talking about needing LEDs, but I see nothing about the electronic button switches... and I am forming a budget for this project.

Thanks

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:55 pm

What does THIS mean?

From the Monome Site, regarding the kit...

"the keypad kit does require you to solder surface mount diodes. these diodes are included in the kit. orientation is very important, do not solder them on backwards."

I wonder how many they are talking about...

apalomba · Post by **apalomba** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:57 pm

Thanks ToneDeft for all the info. Have you estimated now how much
it would cost to build an 8x8 now, assuming mono chromatic LEDs.
Any estimates on a top plate and enclosure? I am trying to pin down
what would be my actual cost.

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:23 pm

Perhaps the Pads ARE the switches...

MAN, I SO want to build a 8 x 16 with faders...

apalomba · Post by **apalomba** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:29 pm

kabuki wrote:Perhaps the Pads ARE the switches...

MAN, I SO want to build a 8 x 16 with faders...

Me too! If I am gonna go through the trouble of building a 40h, getting
a top plate made, and an enclosure built, might as well add some other
usefull things in there as well. Assuming the USB bus would power anything
extra.