DIY: norns shield

[dborowik]

I agree with @Jonlin, definitely practice soldering first, plenty how to videos out there.
Best to get a temperature controlled iron with fine soldering tip, hopefully you could borrow from a mate. Tip tinning powder also helps.
Happy to do it for you if you are in the UK.

[Freeways]

Great, I’m excited to learn something new over the summer, and if it works out I’ll have a new music tool to explore! So yeah, I think I’m gonna try it out! Thanks for the encouragement @Jonlin @dborowik

And thanks for the offer @dborowik. I would’ve definitely taken you up on it but I live in the US.

…I’ll keep ya’ll posted on how it goes.

[Jonlin]

Just take your time, make sure to read up general soldering tips and read the build guide a couple of times until it makes sense and I’m positive that you will do just fine! I look forward to hear about your progress!

[Clashley1]

Both of my shields are built and working. Now I want to get their tempos synced and map that to my arc. Then figure out routing for a live sampling set up.

[mattbiddulph]

I’ve also been using the Ferry module for Norns + Eurorack and I’m very happy with it. Perfect for augmenting a little Intellijel Palette case with some Norns magic.

[sisyphus69]

That looks so fun! Great idea mate. Please let us know how this set up gets along

[takeout]

I think I have made a mistake building my DIY norns. The device powers on and works totally fine via midi, but I cannot get any audio, and the mixer screen always seems to be showing that audio in is receiving noise. This was my first ever soldering project–do you think my sloppy work could have shorted out the audio jacks?

EDIT: using the tuner script, it looks like i’m getting constant noise at 9khz Did I short out my jacks?

[infovore]

absolutely no idea. show us pictures of the back of your board?

[neronoia]

Hey guys, I’m looking for help troubleshooting my Norns Shield build.
First of all, I’m using a RPi 3B (Not +) and a 190909 revision board (first batch, with the 3 missing resistors, that I have modded accordingly to instructions provided by @tehn in this thread).

What works:
Screen
Encoders
Buttons
Wifi

What doesn’t work:
After the boot screen i get “error: SUPERCOLLIDER FAIL”.
Audio out (tested by play the original files present in the image).
Audio In (no movements whatsoever on the meters in the mixer page).
Loading scripts: when I select a script I’m stuck on “loading…”, tried Awake, Orbit, Why. No script seems to load.

I’m gonna try later to reflow my joints, especially around the ADC and the the crystal. Visual inspection looks good on the ADC but not so much on the crystal (I have to say that soldering it was by hand was a lot of pain, also it was the first time i solder something in this package).

Any help is appreciated, thank you!

EDIT: looking into this thread for clues looks like i have a rotated crystal (downward facing writings on it), gonna rotate it and report back.

EDIT_2: My crystal is screwed up, gonna try replacing it. I lifted some pads while removing it, so this is gonna need even more fixing. Gonna update this.

EDIT_3: IT WORKS! Crystal was definitely the problem. I rotated it and used old resistor legs to connect it to the right spots. Now everything looks good! Gonna dive into it right away. If anybody needs it I can post pictures of my fix.

[stay_spooky]

I’d be interested in the knob STL pls

[bachelard]

Hi everyone - I have a super simple question regarding the BOM order. Do I HAVE to put a 0 Ohm resistor on R18, or can I literally solder a jumper wire on it? Asking because the 0 Ohm resistor requires a minimum order of 5000 units…so, you know, if I don’t have to order it…

Thanks a lot.

[jorgen83]

Sure just use a jumper. You could probably bridge it with some solder.

[frankchannel]

You can always select an alternate part with similar specs if the ones in the BOM aren’t available

[takeout]

@infovore wanted to update you—i found a few cold joints on the Pi Header. fixed those up and we’re good to go! Norns is now integrated into my setup

[Cementimental]

Anyone know a UK/EU source for the OLED display? Or any equivalent (UK or eg cheap chinese ones) that would be compatible? Or has one they’d be willing to sell me?

EDIT: never mind, took the lazy way out and just went ahead and ordered the yellow version from Digikey along with the rest of the BOM I don’t already have

EDIT2: got a cheapish Pi b+ from CEX

EDIT3: ??? did i even make the Digikey order!? i can’t find any reference to it anywhere in my emails

[kaylonn]

Heyo. Set up my Norns Shield, but for some reason the encoders won’t work. If I push down or fidget with K1, it will work tho but unreliably. The buttons work tho.

I tried reheating the solder joints, and removing some solder and/or applying new solder, but I don’t know why it’s not working. This is frustrating to me, because I don’t want all this hard work to go to waste.

I’ve included a picture below. Is there also any way I can test the encoders using a multimeter?

[tehn]

check the connector to the pi as well. that’s the other place k1 connects

[kaylonn]

I unfortunately scratched some of the green coating when I accidentally connected four solder points together. Used sandpaper, didn’t have much at my disposal. Will that cause any problems?

[kaylonn]

[tehn]

it should be fine as long as you don’t connect it to other metal with solder