dSPLIT assembly

DISCLAIMER: We are not responsible for anything wrong (including electric shocks, malfunctions, fires, accidents involving a soldering iron) that might happen during the assembly of the kit. Everything you do while assembling the kit is at your own risks.

Preparing for the build

We assume you know how to solder. If you don’t, please check these tutorials before proceeding — they are super helpful:]

EEVblog #180 – Soldering Tutorial Part 1 – Tools

EEVblog #183 – Soldering Tutorial Part 2 – Through hole soldering

The commonly accepted strategy for populating PCB’s is to add low profile components first (resistors, diodes, anything else axial), then proceed with higher profile parts (ceramic capacitors, IC sockets, etc), then finish with highest profile components (electrolytic capacitors, connectors, etc).

It’s also a good idea to wash the board a few times during the build: this allows you to better inspect solder joints quality and keep those microscopic solder whiskers away.

The bare dSPLIT PCB v.0.2:

dSPLIT_assembly_00

dSPLIT_assembly_00a

Let’s get started:

Add 8 x 220 Ohm resistors. They are used for input & output protection.

Note: resistors are not polarized, but  random resistors resistor orientation looks ugly 😉

dSPLIT_assembly_01

Add one 1 Ohm resistor. (power filtering & protection):
dSPLIT_assembly_02

Add 1 x 100K  resistor (input pulldown) and 2 x 1n4148 diodes (input over & under voltage protection):

Note: diodes are polarized.

dSPLIT_assembly_03

Add ceramic capacitors (not polarized).

1 x 47p (470) input EMI filtering capacitor.

4 x 100nF power filtering capacitors.

dSPLIT_assembly_04

Add 1 x 47uF electrolytic capacitor (power filtering):

dSPLIT_assembly_05

Then solder 2 x 14pin IC holders and 2×8 pin header (Eurorack standard power connector):

dSPLIT_assembly_06

Add 8 x PJ-302M 3.5mm jack connectors:

dSPLIT_assembly_07

Notice: Front panel is only 3hp width and we don’t need long pins, sticking from the bottom of the board. We suggest to cutout jack connectors pins to the length about 2mm BEFORE soldering. This trick helps to keep the bottom side of PCB free from possible scratches from cutters. 

dSPLIT_assembly_07a

Power supply test:

It’s time to power up the module. dSPLIT is fully digital module, so we need only +5V.

dSPLIT_assembly_07b

Insert the IC’s:

1 x 74LS14N or 74HC14N Hex inverting Schmitt trigger.
1 x CD4013BE CMOS Dual D-type flip-flop

And, the panel:

dSPLIT_assembly_08

Done!