Approaching - DIY norns shield

[andrew]

anyone with a shield and pi3 or pi3b+ looking to help test?

image: https://monome.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/norns-shield3-191120.img.tgz

this one ~~~~~~~~~~~

[mah]

I guess that it’s without smd presoldered?

[andrew]

encoders 1 & 2 are iffy

to elaborate on this - seems like basically the encoders are reacting fine to small changes but large changes are missed - does it sound like the missing resistors on 190909 are the culprit or something in software? It’s pretty noticeable - I can barely switch menu screens with enc1 for example

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another maybe helpful metric: when I play a file from tape there’s no sound output and the out levels do not move

[tehn]

hi andrew— sounds like the audio codec is not registering. i’d suggest reflowing the part.

check dmesg for messages regarding the cs4270

the encoders— yes i’d suggest adding the pullups— see a few posts up, should be pretty easy

[ganders]

Hey - I have a bit of a basic question - I’ve never soldered encoders before. Are these tabs on the encoders supposed to fit through these holes? Or am I supposed to bend them out of the way? Cheers!

[andrew]

i’d suggest reflowing the part.

goootcha

the situation is kinda gunky, household cleaning utensils and isopropyl alcohol are not doing me much good (is microfiber cloth the thing for this ?) - I might be seeing a solder bridge there too ? I’m about to just reflow everything (edit: tried this & same results in software (by this I mean: I just melted the solder legs again (do I need to add more flux, or remove the part and re-attatch? (I also have an extra one of these IC’s I could switch out))))

the encoders— yes i’d suggest adding the pullups— see a few posts up, should be pretty easy

would the strategy be soldering some through-hole 10k’s onto those leads ?

check dmesg for messages regarding the cs4270

is this something I can check from the SD card or do I need network access. either way it does indeed seem like I messed up the IC

ty !!!

[andrew]

the board is indeed supposed to have wider holes for those tabs to snap into : /

[ganders]

Crap. I thought it might. Any ideas besides getting creative with a dremel?

[andrew]

to my knowledge the tabs are just there to hold the encoders in place - so maybe you could trim off the tabs and find another way to affix the encoders - but there’s a risk of things ending wobbly. the good news is there are extra boards to be found cheaply around these parts - so I might recommend that

[ganders]

Alas, I’ve already soldered all the SMD parts + pi header, so I’m already quite invested in this board! Cheers though!

[Nordseele]

Ok second attempt don’t cut the whole leg like I wrote before (it’s not a push encoder, you can’t do that), so I’d suggest to cut something like 1 or 2mm of it and use pliers to bend it at 90 degrees, make the leg sit on the top of the pad with enough contact surface to solder it on like an SMD part. That will probably work and insure stability etc.

[Oootini]

Ha yes it’s just the pcb.

[andrew]

got it !

the clock oscillator was the culprit actually - had to get more solder under there. took me a loooooong time to figure that out. it fixed my encoder issues too ? or maybe something else I flowed.

anyway only prob now is digital noise on the input (output is fine). should I bet on that being something in the jack circuit or might it still be IC-related ?

[Oootini]

You’ll need at least some part of those legs in the hole for mechanical stability. Maybe the hole could be drilled? But this is risky. If you end up damaging the pcb plate it might be hard to solder the leg in place. Perhaps snip the leg off altogether, and affix encoder with hot glue?

Edit: these connections may also ground the pot body. If that is the case, they should be soldered somehow.

[ganders]

Thanks all - I used a dremel with a very fine bit to widen the holes by a few mm. Seems to have worked! (Although not tested yet… )

[corpusjonsey]

Anyone in US have an extra shield to sell?

[tehn]

I should have and populated shields any day now

[andrew]

anyway only prob now is digital noise on the input (output is fine). should I bet on that being something in the jack circuit or might it still be IC-related ?

yow ! finally got stuff fully functional. this problem was either a solder bridge between C11/C13 (an assumed non-issue) or a smoked capacitor.

wow. this was hard (for me). fyi

[24Franks]

put me down for a populated shield please?

[ganders]

Heyy again - I’ve been testing my shield but with little success - and I think I’ve killed my Pi in the process haha.
It seems I have a short between the 3V3 pin and GND pins on the shield, which the pi apparently wasn’t very fond of.

I’m going to try reflowing everything this evening, but does anyone know where this might be happening? Any feedback anyone can give me from the pics is welcome!