sk1! can i get a witness?!! ;-)

[jamiewoody]

well, i finally bent an sk1!

pics to come later. actuaully, i am working on a website for my circuit bend endeavors.

mine includes 2 different pitch controls, a control pot between 2 bends, a skew switch, and a 24 pt patch bay!

i made a box for this a few months ago (well, for my CM500, which i plan to resurrect eventuallly.). so, it is a nice wood case, with the control panel on pegboard. i am thinking something nicer than pegboard is in order. plexiglass maybe? i also want to paint this a cool colour. orange maybe? ;-)

thanks for everyone's help and inspiration! this includes everybody in this forum, as well as "tablebeast", "casper", "gazalla", etc...(i did not copy anyone else's design, but drew inspiration. much of this came from poking with jumpers, and adding a switch or pot!)..

it was a real journey! it died on me once. i had a row of wires soldered to the patch points, and i tested it, and it i got a noise, with no function. i felt all of the blood rush to my head, and turned it off and unplugged it immediately!

from there, i unsoldered wires, and cleaned the solder joints on the circuit board, and put fresh solder on some where too much solder was taken away.

this brought it back to "factory speck". whew! i caught my breath, and re-tinned the wires, a little neater than before.

from there, i got in a habit of soldering 4 wires, turning it on, making sure it worked, then 4 more, etc. that seemed to make for a lot better quality controlled workflow.

when i was finished, almost 4am, lungs on fire, hands shaking, i unplugged the soldering iron, left the mess where it set and went to bed.

as much as i struggled with this, i am in hopes to do more and more of these, perfect my technique, and make new discoveries each time!

[SineHacker]

good stuff  looking forward to pics

[Circuitbenders]

trust me, it does get easier each time 

You probably had something shorted with some extra somewhere which was sorted out when you removed the wire connected to that point.

lets see some pictures! 

By the way jamie, have you lost a whole lot of karma over the past couple of days?
if so take a look here if you haven't read the relevant thread already http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1420.0.html

[jamiewoody]

i think i was just nervous, as i considered this my first BIG bending project. i dont even know what i put that much emphasis on it. i guess it was one of the first "following in footsteps" projects, so it was a different kind of learning experience.

but, i did put my own twist on it, and i did not follow the exact bend pattern my predescessors did. the thing that put me in wonder during the bend probing process, was how many possibilities there are for these keyboards!

i might try to sell my next one on ebay or something! if i do, it will be a set price or a reserve auction!

[jamiewoody]

here it is, so far...

[jamiewoody]

for some reason, some wires came loose. i was playing this, and it defaulted on  a bent sound.

spitting fire and frustrated, i put it on my work bench, and took it apart. 5 wires somehow came loose. i know the solder was solid when i put it all together, so i am thinking perhaps i need to put some velcro on the bottom of the casio case and to the box i made for it.

at any rate, i found another cool bend, a sort of high pitch resonance after effect, so i made another switch for that one!

i decided while i had it open to add a 1/4" "guitar jack" to the front panel of the box i made.

also, i want to add a power supply jack to the box i built. i am a little confused on how to wire this. i know it sounds like a stupid question, but i do not want to mess the polarity up and fry this thing! any advice?

[Circuitbenders]

get a multimeter and check the polarity on the SK power jack when its running from an external source?

I think all casios are -ve tip/inner, and +ve sleeve/barrel, the same as all Rolands. Its mainly yamaha who have to be annoying and reverse it. Isn't the power plarity printed on the back of the SK case?

Just wire a cable from the back of a socket mounted on the box, to a in line power jack that plugs into the back of the casio. It should have polarity protection anyway so it won't matter if yu put it in the wrong way round for a bit, it just won't work.

[jamiewoody]

i dunno...i think that was how i fried the concertmate 500, wrong polarity, not sure.

i guess i can look on the other side of the circuit board and see how that one is wired in.

on a different note, next wire i get will be thinner than the wire i've been using. i had some big spools of this stuff i inherited. it is stranded, which should make it flexible, but since it is a heavier gage, it seems to make it harder to close a box, etc.

i like having most everything on the front panel now!

[Gordonjcp]

Don't just solder the wires on and leave them dangling, if there's any chance that the keyboard can move about.  Stick the wires to the PCB about half an inch away from the pad with a wee blob of hot glue.  This will act as a strain relief and stop the wire breaking.  It also helps to tin the bared stranded wire right up to the PVC jacket, although you'll always get a stress riser where the tinned bit stops.

[jamiewoody]

glue, like from a hot glue gun?

it wasn't that the wire itself broke, it was the solder came loose. i think perhaps the problem is solved now.