#533

Not Serge, but somewhat related, has anyone built the Random Source Haible phaser in the 4x4 format? I’m considering that or the cgs phaser/mixer.

#534

yes, simple build as my board was preloaded with the LM3046, 20 BCM847DS and 40 C0G. I do have the eurorack model as well, both sounding the same. However, there are lots of adjustments to personalize the sounds. Do you like to know something specific ?

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#535

Mainly wonder about it as an alternative to the CGS Serge Phaser. Sounds like you’re pretty happy with it?

#536

I can’t compare it to the CGS Serge Phaser but for me its the best sounding phaser I ever heard. :slight_smile:

#537

I’ve enlisted LW for one R*S “4x4” module, I’ve bought one of his panels second-hand and would like to get at least one more full panel. Charlie’s a joy to work with; his designs and ideas are super-musical.

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#538

Is he still doing that? 4X4 modules, that is. I remember seeing something from him a few months back hinting that he was not doing it anymore.

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#539

I saw the same post (that was my module!) and eventually stopped asking for details.

#540

I spent the weekend building the DIY random source NTO and Ring and it was by far the worst soldering experience I’ve had so far. I’m no expert but I’ve been DIYing things for a few years and have built 2 x radio music, music thing reverb, sonic potions stuff, addac surface mount builds, fss brunswick, monome repairs and loads of other small things. In the morning I soldered together a brunswick power supply so I’m pretty sure my iron and solder are working as usual. For some reason the pads on the random source boards just don’t want to take solder. I’m using leaded rosin core and tried iron temps from 330 to 430 c after reading above that the boards need a little more heat. I’ve got both modules working now but it was a nightmare, I’ve never had a board act like this at all, 75% of pads resisted solder unlike anything I’ve ever worked on. Pretty sure it wasn’t a defect as both the nto and ring boards all acted the same. I’m so glad this wasn’t my first DIY project or it might have put me off soldering altogether.

I never use flux as I’ve never had this problem before and thought the rosin core would be sufficient but I have one more random source module to put together so I’d love to get any advice on whether flux might be the magical remedy to this? Might rubbing the board down with isopropyl before hand help? Any idea what else I might be doing wrong? Strange that it seems I’m the only one experiencing this. Thanks in advance.

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#541

I have no experience with RS boards, but have had some nightmares like you are describing. I always use flux now. I just have a cheap flux pen from amazon but it gets the job done.

#542

I soldered a random source resonant eq and it was fine for me. I use a smaller, fine tip with my weller soldering iron (usually run it pretty hot) and use a hakko tip cleaner.

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#543

Thanks for the reply. I use one of those tip cleaners too and pretty small tip. I guess I’ll try flux next. Does your weller have a temp guage? By pretty hot I guess you mean around 400c?

#544

Did you need to flux almost every point before soldering or only when you noticed a tricky one? Most of the rs pads were difficult. So weird. I’ll order a flux pen this week and give that a go. Do you always clean afterwards with alcohol? Thanks for the reply

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#545

Yeah I generally use the pen for all projects now. I adopted the practice when I built my buchla 208 clone last year (I really didn’t want to fuck it up). I’ll skip it if I notice the the board is playing nice without it. I always scrub the flux off with 90% alcohol and an old toothbrush. Much sure to give boards plenty of time to dry! Also watch out for connectors, as they can hold moisture longer.

#546

OK, great. Flux pen and alcohol it is then (really don’t want to fuck up these boards either). I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks!

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#547

Yeah, their boards need a lot more heat than usual. I got around that by using a 2mm soldering tip and being patient – I built almost all their Euro modules. Glad you got them working, NTO is a beautiful thing.

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#548

Thanks for the reply, maybe I should get a finer iron tip. I’ve only just started to play with the nto, any tips on patches to get the best out of it?

#549

It sounds like there is a ground plane dissipating heat to the point where the solder does not melt easily. See if this happens more with points that are connected to ground, likely one leg of a capacitor (a negative end if the cap is polar). Adding flux essentially increases the temperature and allows the solder to melt faster and increases the “flow” or “wetting” of the joint. Turning up the soldering iron temperature can still be safe if you limit the time of heat applied. This is more common with expensive PCBs that spend more money on thicker or larger ground planes. With the price that RS charges, I wouldn’t be surprised.

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#550

Thanks for the tips. I’ll likely be building the vcfq today so I’ll try turning up my iron and using some flux. The boards do feel nice, more weighty than many others I’ve used.

#551

I finished building the vcfq last night, sounds great. I was dreading it a bit because I could see it would be more involved than the other boards which I’d had problems with. Weirdly this one was just like soldering any of the other diy stuff I’ve done, none of the difficulty with the board which I had with NTO and RING, very strange. The VCFQ doesn’t have any surface mount in place, I wonder if being in the oven makes the boards react differently. Thanks for the tips everyone, I feel like the ordeal with the other boards has made me a more informed, better solderer.

3 Likes
#552

I figured this would be the best place to ask this, but please feel free to move this elsewhere if not

needing to install a 0V (‘ground’) banana jack in a eurorack case, though I’m not sure how to do this or to what on the power bus I should connect the jack. from GND on the bus board, there’s a wire grounded to the rail (via shielded screw)—could I solder the banana wire to that? or…? I don’t know much about euro psb/psu topology. any direction or advice would be much appreciated.

IEC power connector, if that makes a difference