Many components are available now, a few remaining that are still missing should arrive soon. It's about time to start soldering. Before doing so, I have sorted all resistors and capacitors:

Sorted Resistors and Capacitors Sorted Resistors and Capacitors20150228_235916_4771cr
Sorted Resistors and Capacitors

That will help in finding the correct ones. I'm starting with the three VCO boards. Earlier already I had mounted the sockets for the CA3046 ICs. Yesterday evening I have added the resistors:

Resistors on 3 VCO Boards Resistors on 3 VCO Boards20150228_235412_4768c
Resistors on 3 VCO Boards
Component side.

Resistors on 3 VCO Boards Resistors on 3 VCO Boards20150228_235626_4770c
Resistors on 3 VCO Boards
Back side, resistor legs still to be cut.

Today I have added the 3x2 SMD decoupling capacitors on the back side of the VCO boards. These are of size “0805”, which means a length of only 2.0mm. This turned out to be easier than I thought:

SMD Capacitors on VCO Board SMD Capacitors on VCO Board20150301_165607_4773c
SMD Capacitors on VCO Board

Maybe the correct tools help here. An extra fine soldering tip and a pair of (anti-static) tweezers:

Soldering Tools for the SMD Capacitors Soldering Tools for the SMD Capacitors20150301_172933_4776
Soldering Tools for the SMD Capacitors
[scale in centimeters]

Last part for today was adding a few capacitors:

Capacitors Added to VCO Boards Capacitors Added to VCO Boards20150301_211131_4777c
Capacitors Added to VCO Boards

What's still missing as of now:

  • The 2N3904/2N3906 transistor pairs, I need to do some matching for these first.
  • The 2N4125 and 2N5459 transistors and CA3046 ICs, I hope to receive these soon from Balzer CFS.
  • The 1k87 tempco resistors, I hope to receive these soon from Thonk.
  • The 5pF capacitors, I haven't found these yet…
  • The headers, to connect the VCO boards to the main board. I'll do these last.

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