The official GroupDIY 511 Help & Support Thread

[jsteiger]

now this is the reason why we have all those "ground options" in our rack, isn't it.
since we don't know which modules will live in it ... ;D ;D ;D

Yes Volker. Very smart on your part up front. I don't think anyone other manufacturers do this AFAIK. Hats off to you again and this is a few years old now. Maybe they will all learn a little something from you.  ;D

 

[[silent:arts]]

you can call me "Mr GRND" - once I'm six feet under ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[ruckus328]

Hey guys, have another question - getting paranoid regarding tolerance stackup.  Referring to this drawing:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4740474/500_Series_Spec_DWG_-_Sheet1.pdf

My question is this: with those dimensions will my cardedge bottom out in the backplane connector?  Or do those dimensions allow for some wiggle space between them?  I just want to ensure that my front panel will make contact with the mounting face of the rack before the card bottoms out, otherwise with tolerance stackup would put stress on everything.  Thanks.

 

[Meathands]

Has anyone had trouble getting all of the 4/40 bolts to fit? There are a couple of holes on the top and bottom panels that just don't want to accept any of the bolts I throw in there. There is also one hole that is slightly lower than the others, making it impossible to fit with the side panels.

Any tips on what to do with these stubborn buggers?

 

[ShandonSound]

Hi,
Does it matter whether I short the pin 1 of the xlr's to gnd or chasis?
I have hard wired them to gnd but there seems to be a variety of views and I wish I'd left myself the option with jumpers now! What difference will what I've done make?

Thanks,

S

 

[ShandonSound]

Hi,
Does it matter whether I short the pin 1 of the xlr's to gnd or chasis?
I have hard wired them to gnd but there seems to be a variety of views and I wish I'd left myself the option with jumpers now! What difference will what I've done make?

Thanks,

S

OK having read some further posts I decided that I should undo my work and short pin 1 to chassis. My de soldering is not the best I'll be the first to admit but I have done all the changes except that I now have a short between pin 1 and gnd on input 4 and I just can't shift it. Could it be anything other than my failure to de solder properly as I really can't see any evidence of a short?

Thanks in advance,

Steve

 

[peter purpose]

Just built the rack... super easy and solid as a rock... many thanks boys.
One minor gripe. I used about a kilometer of solder... cough.. splutter.

 

[dissonantstring]

hi everyone,
does anyone know what the correct standoff height should be for mounting a PCB to one of the 51x Blank L-brackets to center the card edge?  thanks!
-grant

 

[jsteiger]

hi everyone,
does anyone know what the correct standoff height should be for mounting a PCB to one of the 51x Blank L-brackets to center the card edge?  thanks!
-grant

1/4" works a treat Grant. 

 

[dissonantstring]

that's what i was hoping you'd say. 
thanks for the confirmation jeff!
best,
grant

 

[bkbirge]

Finished up my rack and PSU last night, looks great. The PSU is in a custom enclosure but otherwise all the regular stuff, parts from PTown and ClassicAPI, etc. I did a quick test last night and no audio passes at all through a known working module. Yikes. Troubleshooting tonight when I get home but the power supply checks out at the rack side, trimmed out exactly.

Edit: turned out that it was the patchbay I'd hooked it into. When I swapped out the old lunchbox I'd pulled the ends from the back of the patchbay without knowing it, easy fix. Everything works perfectly, I love this, thanks for a great project! Next up in 500 series is Igor's MixBuzz.

 

[emrr]

Good God, this backplane is indeed the Olympics of solder points. 

 

[[silent:arts]]

Good God, this backplane is indeed the Olympics of solder points.

871 out of the 891 holes are solder pads ;D

 

[sahib]

Good God, this backplane is indeed the Olympics of solder points.

I am not sure what the record is and now I completely forgot what the exact numbers were but my bro and I assembled about 4000 LEDs and soldered over 10,000 nods in two days on an under lighting for an architectural model. After that anywhere I looked I saw nothing but LEDs for the rest of the week.

 

[emrr]

It's really not so bad, other than that I ran out of what looked like plenty of solder at 3AM, unfinished. 

 

[emrr]

I give up; I remember Jeff posting a pic showing a spacer made from some leftover PCB material, that one could use as a bottom stop for standard 500 series modules.  Curious to see it again.  Thought it must have been in the original design thread. 

 

[mitsos]

Sorry if this has been answered, I didn't find it.. Can anyone provide a link for a suitable 7-pin power cable for this? I'm having a hard time finding anything that is sold in less than 100Ft lengths!  thanks!

 

[benlindell]

Sorry if this has been answered, I didn't find it.. Can anyone provide a link for a suitable 7-pin power cable for this? I'm having a hard time finding anything that is sold in less than 100Ft lengths!  thanks!

I made my own, got the parts from Redco.com

http://www.redco.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=132&cat=Tube+Mic+Cable

 

[kepeb]

yea not the easiest thing to search for iirc
I think ptownkid had some way back.
I used a length sold as caravan/trailer electrical connection on ebay, but its probably still safe to use thinner stuff if you can find it.

there may be issues if you use thin stuff and then pull enough for 11 51x modules tho, especially with the upcoming tube pres.
there are charts like this to help determine requirements:

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

maybe a non issue for you, but worth pointing out.

 

[mitsos]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm not sure what's appropriate here, I guess it depends on what modules each person is running, but if we're looking at 11x.13A then that's 1.43A per rail for a fully loaded rack...  I looked at the gotham but the wires seemed too thin to me for this type of current.  I'd love to find something with 7x 16 or 18AWG wires, shielded would be nice, but they are all sold by the reel..  I thought I had something but it's only 5 conductor.. so maybe I'll just connect the 16V for now until I find another cable.

thanks for the help!