Loneoceans DRSSTC/Tesla coil midi2 controller - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: madsbarnkob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2017, 09:27:24 am
content: Long ago I bought one of Gao/Loneoceans midi2 controllers:http://loneoceans.com/labs/sales/midi2/I finally dug it out from the pile of kits-to-build-when-I-get-time(tm) and found a suitable aluminium box to house it in.It has two outputs for optical transmitters, so I wanted to put one of each kind in for each channel, so it will have both a blue IF plastic fiber transmitter (IF-E97) as well as the ST Fiber transmitters (OPF1414T). I will make a separate PCB for these 4 to be mounted in the side of the box.For the front I wanted to make a simple etched PCB for text, markings etc. It was easy and fast to make in ExpressPCB.All potentiometers, switches and push buttons have been mounted in the lid with front plate on. I had the front plate mounted on the lid with the 6 screws when I did all the holes through both front plate and lid at the same time, to ensure perfect alignment, but I fooled myself. As the lid was not mounted on the box, the 6 lid screws was not in center and I will properly break a few of the corners when mounting the lid, since the screws come in off centerIf anyone else ever build one of these, be sure to notice that the connection points for PW, Frequency and SW are mirrored (channel 1/2), but the optical output connections are not mirrored, so it is easy to mix up the turn direction of the potentiometers and that midi/fixed switch works opposite.I thought about coating it, but the clean copper is just too shiny, so you have to see it at the right angle against the light to read the text, so I will left it oxidise and brown up by itself, I tried baking soda so speed the process, but that did not really give anything, most likely because the baking powder that I had was != baking sodaI finished up the optical board and plate for that, unfortunately the box was too thick-walled for the two ST Fiber transmitters to hold the plate in place, so it need some bigger holes and two screws.I checked out the fixed mode with my oscilloscope and it was dead on 10 - 360 uS on-time for the maximum setting on the SMD potentiometer and also the freqeuncy from 100 to 300 Hz was perfect, nothing to point fingers at there.I played 4 MIDI tracks and its a little varying on how much on-time is needed to play all the notes, I played mostly 2-4 notes at a time here and I think the on-time was around 100 uS for a 300 kHz coil. The primary coil, IGBT heat sink and secondary coil was warm to the touch after a 1 minute play timeRecorded with a 5Dmk3 and a H2n zoom external microphone, no sound clipping!Ievan Polkka played on Mini Tesla coil - Kaizer DRSSTC IIThe Imperial March played on Mini Tesla coil - Kaizer DRSSTC IIDance of the Sugar Plum Fairy played on Mini Tesla coil - Kaizer DRSSTC IIScooter - Friends played on Mini Tesla coil - Kaizer DRSSTC IIhttps://i9.ytimg.com/vi/DMCaGwUeoDA/default.jpg?sqp=CMDjlM0F&rs=AOn4CLDpBFiGTJJX4bdVX92cUoAKy3SL9w

author: alsetalokin4017
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 29, 2017, 10:20:32 am
content: Very nice work!You should be able to use a small round file to "drift" or enlarge the holes enough so that you don't break the corners off when mounting screws are installed. The screw heads will probably cover the enlargements so it will still look great after everything is screwed down. If not you can put some small washers between the screw heads and the enlarged holes to cover the oversized holes.

author: madsbarnkob
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2017, 06:58:58 pm
content: Thank youUnfortunately I did not leave much space around the edges, since the lid has a rounding edge, I did not want it to go out over that and create a new edge. So I already broke two of the corners, its time to find some nice spacers to cover that upI think that for a future project I will try to etch directly into the aluminium lid instead and then paint/varnish the extruding letters/figures. As shown here:http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-etch-aluminum-panel-labelsdesigns-with-a-r/