11/24/2008

Making IDC & MTA tooling

I spent most of this weekend making some tools to make life easier. Here’s the rant behind all this:

Tooling. You need it, but you can’t afford it. Why the f*** do manufacturers do this? A case in point: AMP/Tyco MTA .100″ Series IDC Connectors. I love these things – no crimping, no need to strip wires, just press the wire end into the connector and you’re done! A 2-pin 22ga. connector is just 7.4¢ in quantities of 100, how nice is that? Oh, wait, if you want to use them you have to buy the ‘crimping’ tool. Your options: you can get the cheap plastic t-handle “field repair” tool for about $18 at Mouser, but that only does one wire at a time, is plastic, does not position the connector, and is plastic. I don’t like plastic tools. Or you could buy the much better pistol-grip pressing tool – well, you can buy the pistol grip for $58.25 at Mouser, AND the actual die head for $122.85 at Mouser. But the die head is only for one size – either 0.100″ or 0.156″ – and only does one wire at a time.

The point of this: Do not charge ~$200 for the tools to attach a 7¢ connector! I blame Ford for this. You should make it EASY for people to use your products. Yes, I know that good tools are freaking expensive to design and manufacture, but do you want your product to sell? This approach severely restricts your consumer base and is one of the many wonderful decisions that brought about the wonderful economy we are dealing with today. Enough of the rant, back to the tools.

First: IDC = Insulation Displacing Connector. The wire is pushed into a slot that is cut into a thin piece of metal. The slot is a little narrower than the width of the wire so it both pushes the insulation out of the way and grips the wire tightly (scraping away any surface oxidation).
MTA = Mass Termination Assembly. This means you can do (terminate) MORE THAN ONE WIRE AT A TIME (small discrepancy between part description and tooling design?).

One common technique is to use a flat-bladed screwdriver to push the wires in one at a time. The drawback to this is that the wires don’t get pushed down far enough to ensure they won’t work back out. My first adaptation was to cut some slots in a screwdriver bit to clear the metal contacts. This works quite well, but still only one wire at a time. I thought, “why not have 5 bits and do the whole connector at once?” The specs for the tooling are available on the AMP/Tyco website here.
The process:

1. cut some strips of metal that is of the correct width
2. cut slots in one end – just stick one end in a connector and mark the centerlines of the metal contact.
3. find a block to use as a base that will hold the bits and cut slots in it that are the width of the bits, spaced 0.100″ or 0.156″ depending on your needs.
4. drill holes for fixing screws/pins
5. assemble and fix

The end result (click on image for large size):

I’m getting tired of typing all this right now, so I’ll just show images of the rig and get back to ya later.

posted by flight at 6:44 AM

11/12/2008

Oh hai!

Sorry for the long silence, I’ve been very busy.

Since several have asked: The Plague Bearer modules will be back soon! That’s why I’m so busy :). I hope to be finished in the next two weeks – I had vendor issues and had to find some new suppliers. I’ll let you know when they’re ready and in stock at Analogue Haven. The Plague Bearer will be available there in both Euro and Frac formats, with your choice of knob colors.

Other news: I found the joysticks finally! I’m really freakin’ giddy about this, as I have been hunting these damn things for several years now :P. Here’s a picture of the old versions (new versions have PCB studs and threaded panel-mounting holes on both sizes):

They are available in linear taper 10k and 100k. I’m currently getting a group buy together, email me if you are interested and I’ll give you the details. The actual purchase will take place in January. Since I can get the joysticks, the I.N.M. will be a full-time product line – no more limited runs! Furthermore, come next February or so, I will have joysticks in stock for sale.

I’m going to bed now, I’ll speak more words later.

Toodles,

~flight

posted by flight at 11:34 PM

10/01/2008

October newsletter (and clarifications)

Oops: The newsletter subject line should have been “October newsletter”.

~flight of harmony~
October newsletter
(apologies for any duplicates – mail merge had a fit)

Hello again!
First off: Plague Bearer Eurorack modules are now available, in single and dual units. Due to a minor manufacturing error, this first batch is slightly discounted.
A huge thank you to everyone who bought some PB Barebones Packs! They were much more successful than I expected. They are a permanent product line now. I plan to add barebones packs for each main product offered.

The website homepage now has an “available products” menu in the upper-right corner (I still haven’t decided on a “store” page layout, so I cheated), and has an RSS feed as well.

In development: The Infernal Noise Machine modules. Muahaha…

Thanks again to everyone,
~flight

posted by flight at 5:17 AM

10/31/2008

Hallowe’en Hellfire

Happy Halloween!

posted by flight at 6:24 AM

9/27/2008

Current news

Look – a post!

Okiedokie, here’s the current news:

Plague Bearer Modules – The panels came in last weekend. Good news: they look pretty nice. Bad news: There was a file conversion error which shifted some of the graphics a little. Spoot. I have to take the blame for this one, since the elementary rule of work sourcing is: Do as much as possible before handing off the project to a vendor, NEVER make them do any more than absolutely necessary. And always pay attention when viewing proofs. Heh.
So, The panels are still usable, and the error is very slight – just enough for me to have to mount one or two pots off of the PCB – so I’m going to discount this batch a tad. I should have one built and a picture up later this week.

INM – This is actually amusing. A while back, I accidentally told someone that the INM was available, and they bought one. So I’ve been working on that. It’s almost finished – here’s a rendering of the front panel – and I have to say it turned out better than I had hoped. This thing is a blast!
This unit, however, is a one-off unit. I don’t have enough joysticks to offer version 1, and the wiring takes AGES! You can’t see it in the rendering but the jacks are on the back panel – 7 CV, 1 external in, 1 out, fuse, power jack & switch. I’ll post more once I’ve worked out the v2. Which leads to:

Errata – If you get curious, I occasionally post random unofficial/not-directly-business-related items and other jabber on the f(h) MySpace page. You can see a picture of the inside of the INM showing the wiring on there. Drop by and say something!

Regarding the aforementioned joysticks: I’m actually looking into distributing this style (for which I have been searching for years)and am waiting on the manufacturer for the pricing structure. These are the old-style joysticks that can be PCB mounted and have a full 90° travel range, as opposed to the more common 45° or 60°. If there is anyone else that is seriously interested in joining this venture, please contact me. I would like to make this a co-op venture if there are enough interested parties.

Toodles,

~flight

posted by flight at 8:59 PM

3/26/2009

Apologies

I guess it has been a bit since the last post. Sorry about that.
The last few months have been pretty… interesting, to say the least.
But! Things are progressing, and I will have some news pretty soon. For real even!

~flight

posted by flight at 7:33 AM

8/11/2008

August Newsletter

flight of harmony newsletter August 2008 (forgot to post this here earlier)
I’m quite busy filling the current orders, but here’s a quick update:

• After this run, the current Plague Bearer form factor will be discontinued – these housings are just too labor-intensive. There are only two v1.1 Plague Bearers remaining at the time of this writing and they are the last of this style.

• If there is enough demand, populated main boards for the Plague Bearer, Imp, and the Infernal Noise Machine will be made available. Main boards do not include PSU or I/O jacks. Email me if you are interested, I’ll have some populated board pics up soon.

Upcoming:

• Modular versions of the Plague Bearer, Parasite, and the Infernal Noise Machine.

• The standalone version of the I.N.M and the Imp will be available in a couple weeks

posted by flight at 12:45 PM

10/29/2008

First batch of PB modules almost gone

The PB-1E are all sold out, and only a few PB-2E left. I’m starting on the next batch, so they will be ready in a couple weeks. They and all other future modules will be available through Analogue Haven. I’ll let you know when to start hounding him. ;)

~flight

posted by flight at 6:53 AM

7/28/2008

Must share this one

Some randomly-generated spam I just received:

“Deliberately the pants foolishly break across the crooked museums. The boiling restaurant beyond a filthy and great forest anxiously and accidentally count a long zoo beside the wet backyard.”

Pure poetry…

posted by flight at 6:07 AM

4/28/2009

Choices

Finally, the new Choices page is up!
Eurorack Choices modules (CH-E) are now available through Analogue Haven.

I do apologize, it has taken longer than expected, but here they are. My deepest gratitude to everyone that helped to make this happen! I could not have gotten this done this quickly without all the preorders, thank you. I am currently working on clearing out the backlog of orders, pre- and otherwise, but I’ll post more news soon.

~flight

posted by flight at 7:28 PM