Righty ho,

I just uploaded some photos taken whilst building and testing the tuner. You can find them here.

I'll publish my thoughts on the construction of the tuner once I've had some sleep.

Is it true to say this is the first tuner born in captivity? Beta testers aside.....

Construction time?

Ah, beat me to it. I started just after 8pm and have done everything bar the connectors - I reckon I have spent four hours solid on it, and I was going at it pretty fast.
The only problem I had was fitting the co-ax cable in - quite a tight fit.

Also, the battery is out of the car at the moment so it will have to wait til tomorrow.

Gareth

I reckon I have spent four hours solid on it, and I was going at it pretty fast.

Wow, that *is* fast. I don't think I could ever get it down that fast unless I had set up some kind of assembly line system where I don't follow the "careful-mode" instructions.

I'm not actually surprised why it takes Patrick so long to make up each batch of kits. Actually going around and labeling each part must take ages alone!
You've beaten me to assembling it anyway, I got it today but haven't had the time to put it all together.

- Trevor

Main construction ceased at approx 2200 hours. Construction time approx 3 and a half hours. I agree about the coax it's a real bugger, think I may get something a bit more flexible at Craplins tomorrow.

In my experience with the beta kit, even though putting the wires through the holes is tough, it can be done if you're careful. He's made sure the wires are a snug fit on purpose.

Is it true to say this is the first tuner born in captivity?

I think you probably beat me, mine was running by about 11:30PM GMT although at the time I couldn't figure out how to operate it! But...... mine did work first time!!

I still need to figure out how to operate it properly, I truly fluked getting it onto Radio 1. The empeg manual I have was written for the old style remote control (and 1.x software for that matter) so it was very hit & miss for me, hopefully all will become clearer once I've had a night's sleep.

I like your photo's, I took some too but they are all blurry - me and camera's don't seem to get on

Oh, and a big thanks to PCA for making it all possible!

The only problem I had was fitting the co-ax cable in - quite a tight fit

Ditto. With hindsight I think it would have been easier to have partially inserted the coax cable before installing the tuner PCB - the height of the temic module prevents you inserting the cable horizontally.

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But...... mine did work first time!!

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Yes, I was kicking myself about that! I checked both the boards over carefully before I put them together in the box. But I didn't double check the loom. The tuner was up and running by 2245.

I bent the wires, inserted them turned the board over, soldered them, trimmed them and turned it back... repeat...

This was quite laborious and I reckon if I had the board on some kind of swivel clamp and was able to bend/solder them components in batches it would have been much quicker, but then again I only intend to make one more when I have the cash and everyone else that wants one has one!

Oh, I dropped one of those crinkle washers and thought it was lost in my Cable Pile of Doom (just under the desk) but I just used the Maglite Of The Gods and it shone back at me.

Gareth


Gareth

If I find a good coax tomorrow I'll post details.

Maglite Of The Gods

Heh. Reminds me of Larry Miller's "five levels of drinking"...

"When you've stayed up all night, that sun is like God's Flashlight..."

Hey, you got polystyrene chips! I only got three sheets of the Frome Chronicle (or something) and bubble wrap packing mine!

Edit: nice slippers

Gareth

I'd rather have had the newspaper, could make for interesting reading, anyway, the chips aren't that great, you can't eat them for a start!

EDIT: Thanks, I'll let Amy know...

I ran out of the styrene beads at about number 15, and the newspaper and bubblewrap was the only thing to hand. I did seriously consider using popcorn, but the butter would have gone rancid...

pca

You know, I'm kinda surprised I've never seen that. It's GOT to be cheaper than styrofoam peanuts. And it's completely biodegradable. Hmmm... If you include a little packet of cheese powder, you could eat your packing chips. I think there's an idea here somewhere. The greenpeace types would buy it I'm sure.

did seriously consider using popcorn, but the butter would have gone rancid...

I hear they have both kinds now (no, not country *and* western)

There are biodegradeable peanuts made from corn they disolve if they get wet. They could make those flavored and you could eat them.

and they make fun sculptures. I remember in high school finding a box of the corn starch packing thingies and using them to build sculptures UNDER desks. You'd just lick the end of one, and stick. It turned into instant glue where it was wet. Much entertainment during Chemistry.

Nice work on the photos...... to the "tuner starved" amongst us it's almost like making one (and totally risk free )

Cheers, Sim

Your order number is 73
Order placed at Mon 3 Feb 2003 8:27 am

Right then,

My thoughts on the Tuner kit.

The first thing I have to say is, this is the best kit I have ever seen! I've built countless things in the past and nothing has even come close.

• The documentation is clear and precise
• Every frickin' component has a little label on it
• The board is nicely laid out, no chance of bridging pads
• The box is a nice snug fit, no chance of stuff coming loose in there
  

If you're adept at soldering I'd say you could probably get down to about 2 hours. I think if I built another one it'd be a lot quicker now.

My only problem is the coax, I'll probably replace that with something a little more flexable that doesn't put so much strain on the RF pcb.

EDIT: I forgot, the docking connector for the loom was mildly annoying, I think I went temporarily colour-blind and got two the wrong way round, which was the undoing in the other thread. I also found it was impossible to take the pins out once I'd put them in. So that's my one thing to say,

Be very carefull with that connector, one wrong move and you're screwed.....

Anyway, I realised what happened. The data line from the empeg to the tuner was there, I'm assuming that's why the tuner lit up when the empeg looked for it, problem was the rx line was wrong, so when the tuner replied, the empeg didn't hear it. Once the rx line was reinstated everything sprang into life.

Congratulations to pca, an absolutely blinding job! 10/10

You can also freak the hell out of people by eating them.
You get a package, open it in a public place and then proceed to eat the peanuts (just make sure they're the corn starch ones).
Great for a laugh.
They're a little doughy but not bad. And no side effects. At least as far as I can tell.

Uh... I've never done this of course. I um.. saw somebody else do it once.

Z~

I've actually received a package with something that look very like popcorn as the packing material. Apparently it's cheap and biodegradable so some places do actually use it. I'm assuming it's airpopped and unflavoured though so I wouldn't advise eating it!

- Trevor

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I'm kinda surprised I've never seen that. It's GOT to be cheaper than styrofoam peanuts.

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Never seen real popcorn used uh? I have. Sharper Image used to use it back when they sold cool stuff.

Stu

There are several types of these "beads"*), and many of the types are edible. Some of them are made from corn (maize) and are slightly yellow, some are made from grain starch and are brownish, and some are made from rice and are white. There are also those that are made from "plastic" and come in all sorts of colours.
You'll discover at once wether they are edible if you bite thruogh them. The edible ones disolve in your mouth, the inedible ones don't.

Marius (Escort Cab + Mark II)
*) According to Douglas Adams, the universe's "dark matter" (missing mass) is actually composed of these beads that arrive in huge quantities, and nobody knows where they end up.

Hmmm... there's a Sharper Image store in our mall, so I've never actually had to order anything, but their coolness points just went up a notch or two in my book.

Used to make snakes out of the rice/starch ones...they'd stretch out and curl up for feet and feet...

How? acid?