Total Audio Control COMPRESSOR ONE 500 Series, Assembly And User'S Manual

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FEW WORDS ON ASSEMBLY
Thank you for purchasing COMPRESSOR ONE in kit form. You will have a lot of fun in building and using it.
Before rushing into building your COMPRESSOR ONE you should study this manual from front to back, and familiarise yourself with
the design before starting to solder the first component. As the expression says “one picture tells a thousand words”.
The components are packed and numbered in the correct order. The numbers correspond to the bill of materials. Open them one at
a time. Do not open the next package before completing the assembly of the previous one. There is a reason behind each stage.
Populating a PCB always starts with the smallest components. Resistors and/or small signal diodes being the first. If you solder the
larger components first you’ll have a hard time in soldering the resistors or the small signal diodes.
Before soldering a component visually check its value and designation. Although normally it is not required testing them would also
be a good practice (excluding integrated circuits) before they go on the board. We are extremely lucky to be living at a time when a
reasonably well performing digital multimeter with semiconductor testing capability or a capacitance meter can be picked up from e-
bay for the cost of literally a burger meal. Therefore, investing into a few handheld meters would pay dividends in the long run.
A good quality soldering iron with a fine tip and a set of hand tools are a must. Plumber’s torch does not have a place in electronics
assembly, and component leads are not trimmed using a Black Smith’s pliers. A miniature close cutting side cutter will have to be a
part of your tool kit. Equally fixing an M2 screw will not be possible with a screw driver normally used for M10 bolt. A simple spring
action desoldering pump will do fine for single sided boards. But for double sided/plated through boards, such as this, a proper
(electric motor pump action) de-soldering tool will be essential. However, you do not have to get the ones that require re-
mortgaging your house. There are affordable ones that will also do a good job.
Most faults will arise due to incorrect components being inserted or solder bridges. It is particularly important to closely examine
the soldering of components with close pads such as transistors. Therefore, unless you have eagle eyes, checking each solder node
with a hand held or table mount magnifier as you go along will be an extremely good practice.