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FAM500-K v1.0 manual Dec. 2022 — p.3/14

www.flightofharmony.com

Kit Notes (cont.)

• 

Good, fine-tip tweezers are a must. The Wiha 4b and 7a tweezers are great

2

.

• 

One helpful trick for soldering SMD with wire solder is to pre-solder one pad 

for each component location. Next, hold the component in place and touch 

your soldering iron tip to the pre-soldered pad to reflow the solder. Then you 

can solder the other side normally.

• 

Flux is your friend. 

Use flux. Water-soluble flux is best for a clean 

finish, but you have to make sure to get it all off when done, as 

it can corrode the joint and some fluxes may also be capacitive. 

 

NOTE: The potentiometers and switches are NOT sealed and cannot be 

submerged; so don't wash them. You can also use no-clean flux.

• 

Smallest first.

 Solder the components in increasing order of size. Per board, 

per side, not overall.

• 

Minimize heat exposure.

 Heat destroys components, and SMD are particularly 

sensitive because they have less mass to distribute the heat. Flux helps with 

this too.

• 

Use the face plate to line up the potentiometers, jacks, and LEDs, before 

soldering; this is much easier than resoldering them to line them up correctly 

afterward. 

Assembly Order

The easiest build order is as follows:

• 

Control PCB:

1.  All SMD 
2.  All panel components
3.  Socket headers

• 

Mid PCB:

1.  All SMD
2.  Headers

• 

Rear PCB:

1.  Rear side SMD — VR- & VR+
2.  Front side SMD
3.  HDROUT, HDRIN, HDR22, HDR23
4.  HDR29, HDR30

3

NOTE: Use a large tip and a heat gun (if possible) to solder VR- and VR+. 

The heat sink areas will wick the heat away rapidly, so use the heat gun to preheat 

the board.

2)  IMO, their 5abb were the best, but they discontinued them so FML. No, you can't have mine.

3)   No, there aren't 30 headers, I forgot to update the numbering before finalizing the design.

Summary of Contents for Famine 500

Page 1: ...Voltage controlled power starvation Eurorack Module kit v1 ...

Page 2: ...header 2 1x3 0 1 pitch machined socket header 2 1x5 0 1 pitch machined socket header 2 1x7 0 1 pitch machined socket header 1 Power cable bag 1 9 16 conductor 0 050 pitch ribbon cable 1 12 16 conductor 0 050 pitch ribbon cable 3 16 pin IDC female socket header black 3 16 pin IDC male pin header grey 1 Controls bag 2 Potentiometer B10k 2 M7 Washer 2 M7 Nut 2 M7 Knob 2 3 5mm TS jack 2 M6 Washer 2 M6...

Page 3: ...ology SMT so the assumption is that you understand how to work with Surface Mount Devices SMD and have some experience This doesn t mean that you re completely on your own just that I m not going to hold your hand1 Below are a few things to help get you started Feel free to ignore them Assembly Tips For the smaller SMD use the smallest soldering iron tip that you have My favorite is the Weller ETR...

Page 4: ...components in increasing order of size Per board per side not overall Minimize heat exposure Heat destroys components and SMD are particularly sensitive because they have less mass to distribute the heat Flux helps with this too Use the face plate to line up the potentiometers jacks and LEDs before soldering this is much easier than resoldering them to line them up correctly afterward Assembly Ord...

Page 5: ...rds Most of the troubleshooting requests I have received were solved by zooming in and closely examining the pictures Cold solder joints are sneaky and hard to spot if you haven t dealt with them before A cold solder joint is where the solder doesn t adhere to both the pad and the component lead and just flowed around one of them without making contact They happen and they suck but they re easy fi...

Page 6: ...FAM500 K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 5 14 www flightofharmony com PCB Assembled Front View ...

Page 7: ...FAM500 K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 6 14 www flightofharmony com PCB Assembled Rear View Oops should say Control ...

Page 8: ...FAM500 K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 7 14 www flightofharmony com SMD Reference Also oops ...

Page 9: ...FAM500 K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 8 14 www flightofharmony com SMD Reference cont ...

Page 10: ...FAM500 K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 9 14 www flightofharmony com Exploded View ...

Page 11: ...FAM500 K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 10 14 www flightofharmony com Controls LED Installation Solder first These too Finger tight Finger tight Set lens to desired height then solder ...

Page 12: ... K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 11 14 www flightofharmony com Power Cable Assembly Pin header gray Socket header black Power in cable 9 23cm Power out cable 12 30 5cm Triangle indicates pin1 location of red stripe ...

Page 13: ...FAM500 K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 12 14 www flightofharmony com IC Orientation Diode Orientation Miscellaneous LED and capacitor Orientation OR LINE Pin 1 Line Slope Line Slope ...

Page 14: ...l do not tighten Tighten gently with nut driver wrench socket Tightening toggle switch jam nuts Toggle switches are slightly shorter than the jacks and potentiometers so the jam nut rear nut must be run flush with the panel before tightening the outer nut to prevent deforming the panel Miscellaneous cont ...

Page 15: ...FAM500 K v1 0 manual Dec 2022 p 14 14 www flightofharmony com ...

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