My first bend - advice?

[drissa]

Hi

Finally got around to doing some circuit bending. I'm hooked. I tried a kids phone, which was going really well. However, each time I put the case back together, something would go wrong - a connection would break and need repairing, pressure from the vase would disable some of the new controls, etc. I guess it takes practice. However, I have some specific questions and would love some advice -

1. My cheapo soldering iron won't heat properly at the tip. I found I had to melt the solder along the shaft., then drip it down to the tip. I assume if I get a decent one, the tip itself will be hot enough? I did buy a battery-powered one too, but got tired of keeping my finger on the button.

2. The biggest challenge was holding the wire onto the contact point, considering both hands were needed for iron + solder. I resorted to using a small piece of tape to hold it in place, with varying degrees of success. Is there a proper technique? My searches haven't revealed much.

3. I tried to put a 1/4" jack plug into one device. I read somewhere that I could simply run it from one of the leads going to the internal speaker, but this didn't seem to work - I just got bit of interference at the output. I was using one of these -

http://info.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1263&criteria=mono%20socket&doy=5m5

And ideas what the issue could have been? Something rather obvious to those with electrical knowledge, I'm sure...

4. I had an idea to build a kind of bending 'control centre' or patchbay. If I had a box with various pots, switches and connections, I guess I could experiment with different instruments and leave trailing wires from each, to be plumbed in as needed. And tips, in terms of connection types, etc? What would go on the end of the leads? 

5. One final question. I found some great contact points with the old 'licking the finger and prodding the board' trick. However, the points were so close together, I found it impossible to determine which ones to use. I did try soldering wires to each point, but couldn't recreate the effect. Just bad soldering?

Apologies - I use audio engineering forums all the time and I'm sure this post is the equivalent of 'which interface should I get?' or 'what is compression?'. I'm hoping someone will bear with me...

Thanks
Ben

[computer at sea]

Hey Ben,

Everyone is new once, eh?

So your soldering iron is making things waaay too difficult for you.  Is your tip in all the way?  It sounds like you should probably get a better one in either case. 

Holding stuff together with the iron and the wire, etc can be tricky.  Do you tin the wire first?  That will help a bunch.  just coat the end of the wire with some solder before you approach where you're soldering to.

For your audio jack, figure out which point is + and which is -.  Generally, the + is the part that connects with the tip of the plug when it's plugged in and the - is any other tab.  Then connect the + on the jack to the + on the speaker and likewise with the -.

For your box you could throw a couple RCA jacks by each pot and then make a cord that has an RCA plug on one end and a alligator clip on the other for holding a screwdriver to test out bends.

Speaking of screwdrivers, get a couple of jeweler's screwdrivers and search out your body contacts with those.  Just hold one in each hand and use them like you would your fingers.

Good luck

[drissa]

Cheers Mr Sea - that's really helpful. Sounds like I'm wiring the jack socket incorrectly. 'Tinning' sounds like the way forward, although it's been very hard with the iron I'm using. Will look into a better one.

If I wanted to turn the box idea into a more permanent piece, any thoughts on how I might terminate each wire leading from the toys? I guess I could wire an RCA plug to the end of each? I'd like something as solid as possible, but 1/4" Jack seems a bit much for those tiny little leads...

[kick52]

If you are in the UK, Maplins do a smashing deal on a soldering iron station with adjustable heat dial. The thing that pisses me off with this though it that the stand doesn't work, and that the iron WILL BURN AND SMOKE the holder. But for £10 it's quite good

[computer at sea]

for a more permanent box think about using a 25 pin d-sub connector.  It's like what an old printer plugs into.  Get a male and female end and keep track of what is wired to where.  For instance, if you have the male end permanently mounted on your container and have wired a 500k pot into pins 1, 2, and 3, you can then install a female end into any bent toy and whatever you wire to points 1, 2, and 3 on that side will connect to the 500k pot when you join the box to the toy. 

the pins on the connectors will look sort of like this:

      . . . . . . . . . . . . .
       . . . . . . . . . . . .


Call the top left pin #1 or whatever nomenclature suits you best and count over from there.

[drissa]

Great - that's just what I was thinking. I was looking at various D-Sub-style connectors in the Studiospares catalogue.

I guess I could develop some kind of standard wiring system, assuming I'd find, say, a couple of points for pots, a couple of points for switches and one body contact per instrument (a bit ambitious perhaps...).

I had another crack with the battery-powered iron and it was much better - the tip was melting the solder properly - so it must have been the crumby old one causing problems.