[Solved] Just started soldering.. am i doing it right?

[mbng]

Greetings from Sweden!

I´m a total newbie and this is my first DIY project, so obviously i have some very basic-level questions.

I´m following the guide here: http://ixox.fr/preenfm2/build-it/thebuild/

At the first step i´m supposed to solder 10 * 100nF capacitors and one 330nF, however the 330nF one has the text 334 instead and is yellow (instead of blue in the guide), and the 100nF ones are marked 104.

Small differences, but these items were the ones delivered so i soldered them in place - i hope that´s ok? I´m not familiar with electronics at this level of detail.

Silly question two - does it matter which direction the capacitors have when soldered in place? Like, does it matter if the text point left or right.. I´m guessing it don´t since there were no markings of any kind and the "legs" are the same length, and nothing was mentioned in the guide.

Really looking forward to using my PreenFM2 so i don´t want to mess this build up so thanks a lot in advance for your help! 

[AnoNeko]

hi and congratulations!  just finished mine the other day minus a working midi din

I thought the plastic caps were ok either way round but I copied the images

the round caps have polarity markings and a shorter negative pin though, just those, the diodes and the ic chips have to be right way round as far as I know

[mbng]

Hi AnoNeko!

Thanks for taking the time to help me out. And now i feel a bit more confident to continue with the construction when i get home from work later today.
I figured that if the direction of the small items were super-important, they would have mentioned it or in some other way marked it on the surface on the item itself. So, on with the building.
Again, thanks for helping out and i wish you countless hours of fun with your machine! 
//M

[Xavier]

Yes, all small caps can be soldered in both direction.
But watch the electrolytic caps minus pins !

Be carefull with the direction of resisor network (back 9 pins components), they're very difficul to remove once soldered.

Good luck 

[mbng]

Hey Xavier, i´ll be careful and won´t rush the process. I´ll try to finish the build today - really looking forward to it!
Thanks for your reply. 

[mbng]

Hey all,
i have another question - as you can se by the attached images i have arrived at the point where the text states:

"Now let’s solder the 4 plastic capacitors. With the resistors around and the operational amplifer, they make a low pass filter (20Khz) whose goal is to antialias the output of the DAC."

In the original image all the four capacitors are white-ish and the upper & lowermost ones have the text "1nJ100", but as you can see mine are red and have the text "WIMA  1000 100-" i think (a little bit blurred).

They were the only ones that made sense to fit in place. Are they alright or should i try to find something else? They were included in the full kit i got from VanDaal.

Thanks in advance.
//M

[Xavier]

You should ask Van Daal Electronics as i don't know exactly the reference.
But i assume that's good

This is the audio filter part, so you cannot break anything if that's wrong.

[mbng]

Thank you Xavier for your swift reply and explanation, i feel a lot more confident now. 
I have sent a question to Van Daal as well, and will update the thread with their response, to add to the general knowledge base.

[served]

Hi.

Replay from Van Daal

That Red Wima is 1n. They should be the best you can get at that price.
You should also Pay attention to the Screen Shield.
MIDI cabling/connector is different.
Pin headers, place only what you actually need. There is not enough to solder all the pinheaders, because you dont need them.
Look through the video posted under Van Daal shop DIY kit page.

Good luck!

[mbng]

Great, thanks for that info - very helpful!
Not 100% clear on some things you describe but hopefully i will work it out when i get there. It´s always good to have some inside info though, before getting started.

Thanks for the video reminder, i´d totally forgot about that one! 

[mbng]

To finish up this thread - the build was a 100% success and the PFM2 booted up nicely without any hiccups at all. Amazing machine, really - so glad i went for this and took the step to build my own despite the lack of experience.

To anyone thinking about building one - go for it! It was actually quite simple and besides some tiny things (which i asked here) totally without trouble.
I did not even have to construct the display shielding since i hear no noise. Crystal clear sound and loud aswell.

Holy s**t the synth sounds good - and the UI is actually very simple to understand and quick to learn. I just the other night got extra happy when i realized it´s 4-parts multitimbral on top of everything else! 

Now all i could wish for would be a small DIY kit to expand it to 4 output pairs to match the parts aswell. That would be even awesomer. 
Anyway, thanks for the help guys and multi-thanks to Xavier for bringing forth this amazing device to us users!