io 0.0.1 beta++ » enclosures

rack wiring: 8-pin mini DIN angst

Han-earl Park — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:16:39 +0000

Almost completed the wiring of the rack (except the patch panel foot switch connectors which I am leaving for the moment). No problem with the XLR connectors, quarter inch phones, MIDI cables, barrel connectors… then I hit a major snag with the 8-pin mini DIN panel socket for the Mac serial connector. Too small, too fragile, too many wires, too much… arghhh.

Well, I needed to rethink this, and since I don’t want to spend too much more time on it, I went and purchased a Mac serial extension cable instead. Life is far too short, and my time is better spent elsewhere.

rack: loaded and powered up

Han-earl Park — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:51:34 +0000

Here’s the test of the power supply and the power inlet of the patch panel.

rack, loaded and ready for power on test

rack, loaded and powered on

enclosure and power supply (intermediate version)

Han-earl Park — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:54:28 +0000

Here’s photos of the intermediate version of the power supply in its enclosure.

power supply loaded into enclosure

power supply loaded into enclosure (alternate view)

The front of the unit is at the top of the image, and the back is at the bottom. You’re also looking up at the the unit in these photos. Power switch and LED indicators are at the top left of the image, all external connectors are on the panel at the bottom (see the panel arrangement). The 12V supply is above the 9V in these images. The pre-amplifier is missing in this version (there’s a pass-thru as a place holder).

You might notice the slightly odd choice of securing the components to the top of the enclosure instead of the bottom (I hope this will not prove to be a problem in terms of heat dissipation). I’ve done this because it’ll be easier to access the internals of the device due of the arrangement in the rack case. We’ll see how well this works…

enclosures: patch panel

Han-earl Park — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:17:05 +0000

One of the, again, less glamorous, but practical elements of io 0.0.1 beta++ is the patch panel. The panel holds the connectors that need to be accessed frequently (with the exception of the audio inputs to the pitch-to-MIDI converters since they already reside on the front panels).

Patch panel (bottom unit in rack)

The connectors are, from left to right, IEC power connector, two XLR audio panel connectors, two 1/4″ phone connectors (for use with the pitch-to-MIDI converters’ foot switches), MIDI input and output connectors (that allow one of the pitch-to-MIDI converter’s output to be intercepted, or to patch an external MIDI signal into io 0.0.1 beta++) and a 8-pin mini-DIN Mac serial connector.

Patch panel (left)

Patch panel (right)

Incidentally, if the rack case is placed on its side, the left side of the patch panel will be nearest the floor. Thus, if oriented that way, the power and audio output connectors (most likely heavier cables, and needing to trail a reasonable distance) will be lower, and the serial connector (most likely headed up to a table or chair) will be higher.

enclosures: pre-amp and power supply panels (physical artifacts)

Han-earl Park — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:48:35 +0000

As an update to the previous post, here’re photos of the machined and loaded panels.

Front panel

The front panel holds, from left to right, the power switch, 4 LED indicators (+15V, +12V, -12V and +9V), two filter bypass switches and two output level pots.

Rear panel

The rear panel holds, from left to right, stereo audio inputs (unbalanced), stereo audio outputs (balanced), power output connectors (two for the +9V supply and one for the +12V), power input connector (+15V DC).

enclosures: pre-amp and power supply panels

Han-earl Park — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:01:04 +0000

One handy box that forms a crucial (if unglamorous) part of io 0.0.1 beta++ contains the audio preamp (basically, a couple of filters, signal amplifiers and a balanced line driver) and power supply/distribution components (9V, ±12V). I don’t have a name for this box yet, but here are the layouts for the front and rear panels.

Front panel (click to see SVG image)

Rear panel (click to see SVG image)

The enclosure I am using is the Hammond RMCS9018 half-width, 1U rackmount enclosure [see PDF drawing].

enclosures: rack spaces

Han-earl Park — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 11:19:46 +0000

Rackmount components: 2U or 3U?