
4
•
Flux Core Solder wire (lead free or leaded). Expect to consume about 75 feet of .031 solder
wire.
•
Nylon cable ties - small
•
Isopropyl Alcohol and cotton swabs
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¼ inch Heat shrink tubing (can be subbed with cable ties)
•
Cutters
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#2 Phillips driver
•
Nut drivers 5/16 and 1/2 inch. (Synthcube kit includes hex nuts for the 3.5mm jacks)
•
2.5M hex key
•
Fine tip needle nosed pliers
•
Voltmeter or Multimeter, with frequency counter capability
•
Oscilloscope
o
A very basic kit scope such as the DSO138 is sufficient.
•
ARP 2600 Service Manual
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TUjsTKBTVcuaf_m3qcXhh3aoX6WBkeX2
•
Corrugated cardboard
–
continuous and unbent or creased, at least as big is the main PCB.
Useful non-kit items to have on hand:
•
Liquid flux or flux pen
•
Desoldering braid
•
Dust-off (compressed air).
•
Magnifiers
•
Lead forming tool for ¼ watt resistors (Mouser part 5166-801). You will be sorry if you embark
without one of these.
TRANSISTOR COUPLING AND MATCHING
Footprints showing transistors face-to-face indicate locations for thermally coupled transistor pairs.
When such transistors are of the same type, matching them is highly recommended.
To thermally couple two transistors, place them, and add a small amount of thermal paste between them.
Place a small (3/16) length of ¼ inch heat shrink tubing over them and apply heat. Do this before soldering.
Alternatively, you can couple them using small nylon cable ties. When you are matching transistors, you
can couple them off-board. But for locations with NPN-PNP pairs that are coupled, do this on-board, to
avoid getting them reversed later during assembly.
Some builders have reported good results without hand matching the transistors. Doing so increases the
risk of poor performance (especially in the filter) or tracking. At a minimum, buy name brand (ex:
Fairchild/On) transistors from a reputable source, and use units from the same batch. Buying them on
feed tape for automated assembly machines ensures the units come from the same batch. Matching will
also go faster with tape feed transistors.
While some may forego matching, every location showing transistors face-to-face requires thermal
coupling.