Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Build experience of a diy noob
Hi all,
I finally started to build my LXR and thought it might be helpful for other solder and Diy beginners to share my experience, especially if you haven't yet decided wether you are up for the task at hand.
Since the LXR isn't considered a beginners project, i was doubtful wether i could do it alone and was very worried of damaging the kit or destroying it. I used to solder a couple of cables before, but that's it. After receiving the kit i tried to lure some experienced techs i know ro help me, but in the end i couldn't wait any longer, so i loaned myself a weller solder station and off i went. The beginning was pretty tough as i soldered the caps into the wrong place and had to start desoldering after the second component. Doh! It went better from there and after a couple of hours i made good progress.
What really helped was the great assembly guide and reading this forum., especially being aware of the pitfalls that other builder stumbled upon.
The most difficult parts for me sofar were soldering components that have to sit straight or flat on the board and don't stay in place like the switches .With only 2 hands and the insight that upside down soldering is probably not a good idea, i tried fixing component like the dc stick or pinheader with tape to the board, so they are alligned when making the first solder joints. This worked with some parts, but i also had to resolder the midi plugs and Dc stick again. also used underlays of card board under the pcb to keep the pinheaders alligned at the right height. That worked ok for some of the pinheaders. Today a tech at my company showed me some nifty tricks how to do this much easier, even if you don't have a "third hand" clamp to hold tour solder wire in place while you hold the part in place. Just solder one pin first. Even if it isn't straight, you can simply reheat the solder joint and bend the component in place. This would have saved me a lot of time.
It is probably a good idea for a beginner to do a bit of desoldering practice with and old pcb or stuff you have laying around to get a bit of confidence, so that you don't panic if something goes wrong. I worked with desoldering braid, but can't say wether a desolder pump works easier. I also helped me to watch a couple of how to solder vids on youtube and read some guides. A couple of hours into the build things went much smoother as the practise kicked in and it went from worrying to having a lot of fun. ;;) As with everything having good tools also helps and i probably wouldn't have made it with a 5 euro cheapo solder iron. Try asking some friends wether somebody has one to borrow, if you don't want to spend money on a decent temperature controlled soldering iron. Make sure your solder tip isn't too big and follow Julian's tips on the website.
So, would i recommend this kit to Diy beginners? Yes, absolutely. Sure there are a lot of parts and solder joints, but you grow with your challenges
And once you made it past the first hundred joints, you'll have aquired some useful skills and things get more easy. If you are anxious practise some soldering before starting the kit.
Make eg some cables or get a cheap guitar pedal kit . For me building the LXR has been a great experience sofar and am already dreaming of building my own modular synth. Oh the sweet smell of solder! Looking forward to finish my LXR within the next two evenings and will keep you posted.
Thanks again for offering this nice kit and all the support. Hope to see more product emerging in the future and look forward to new firmware updates.
If i could make some suggestions for improvments, i would have liked to know a bit more about what the individual components
Are doing, so people missing the basic electronic knowledge would get an even better understanding of the design and learn more.
P.s. finding the magic gum within the kit was a very sweet surprise :-) i hadn't tried this since the early 80s
I finally started to build my LXR and thought it might be helpful for other solder and Diy beginners to share my experience, especially if you haven't yet decided wether you are up for the task at hand.
Since the LXR isn't considered a beginners project, i was doubtful wether i could do it alone and was very worried of damaging the kit or destroying it. I used to solder a couple of cables before, but that's it. After receiving the kit i tried to lure some experienced techs i know ro help me, but in the end i couldn't wait any longer, so i loaned myself a weller solder station and off i went. The beginning was pretty tough as i soldered the caps into the wrong place and had to start desoldering after the second component. Doh! It went better from there and after a couple of hours i made good progress.
What really helped was the great assembly guide and reading this forum., especially being aware of the pitfalls that other builder stumbled upon.
The most difficult parts for me sofar were soldering components that have to sit straight or flat on the board and don't stay in place like the switches .With only 2 hands and the insight that upside down soldering is probably not a good idea, i tried fixing component like the dc stick or pinheader with tape to the board, so they are alligned when making the first solder joints. This worked with some parts, but i also had to resolder the midi plugs and Dc stick again. also used underlays of card board under the pcb to keep the pinheaders alligned at the right height. That worked ok for some of the pinheaders. Today a tech at my company showed me some nifty tricks how to do this much easier, even if you don't have a "third hand" clamp to hold tour solder wire in place while you hold the part in place. Just solder one pin first. Even if it isn't straight, you can simply reheat the solder joint and bend the component in place. This would have saved me a lot of time.
It is probably a good idea for a beginner to do a bit of desoldering practice with and old pcb or stuff you have laying around to get a bit of confidence, so that you don't panic if something goes wrong. I worked with desoldering braid, but can't say wether a desolder pump works easier. I also helped me to watch a couple of how to solder vids on youtube and read some guides. A couple of hours into the build things went much smoother as the practise kicked in and it went from worrying to having a lot of fun. ;;) As with everything having good tools also helps and i probably wouldn't have made it with a 5 euro cheapo solder iron. Try asking some friends wether somebody has one to borrow, if you don't want to spend money on a decent temperature controlled soldering iron. Make sure your solder tip isn't too big and follow Julian's tips on the website.
So, would i recommend this kit to Diy beginners? Yes, absolutely. Sure there are a lot of parts and solder joints, but you grow with your challenges
And once you made it past the first hundred joints, you'll have aquired some useful skills and things get more easy. If you are anxious practise some soldering before starting the kit.
Make eg some cables or get a cheap guitar pedal kit . For me building the LXR has been a great experience sofar and am already dreaming of building my own modular synth. Oh the sweet smell of solder! Looking forward to finish my LXR within the next two evenings and will keep you posted.
Thanks again for offering this nice kit and all the support. Hope to see more product emerging in the future and look forward to new firmware updates.
If i could make some suggestions for improvments, i would have liked to know a bit more about what the individual components
Are doing, so people missing the basic electronic knowledge would get an even better understanding of the design and learn more.
P.s. finding the magic gum within the kit was a very sweet surprise :-) i hadn't tried this since the early 80s
Comments