[sdiy] Reliability: Share your lessons learned

[Tim Ressel]

Here's a tip for those who don't want to give up on MDF: Shellac. It is 
alcohol-based so it doesn't raise the wood grain near as much as other coatings. 
And 2 coats of it seals MDF very nicely. My homebrew corner horns have been 
around for 16 years with no sign of degradation.

--TimR




----- Original Message ----
From: Mike Beauchamp <mikebeauchamp at gmail.com>
To: sdiy DIY <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Sun, November 14, 2010 5:29:46 PM
Subject: [sdiy] Reliability: Share your lessons learned

The recent .1" heading thread has me thinking about long-term
reliability. We all have experience building and repairing things that
employ different parts, techniques and finishes and we've all seen
what is still working and/or easily repaired.

So please share any lessons/experiences about what works and what
doesn't for the longer-term.


My experience is still rather limited and the stuff I've built hasn't
been around for too long, but I suppose I can say:

works:
-point to point wiring and eyelet boards. (more of a guitar amp thing).
-PCB's with a silkscreen legend designed for others to see and understand.
-PCB's with soldermask and cleaned after assembly. (I haven't tried a
conformal coating yet)
-socketed IC's
-Alpha pots (and I like that they can be disassembled for future
maintenance/cleaning).
-neutrix and switchcraft 1/4" jacks.
-electrolytic capacitors that are easily replaced.

doesn't work:
-lots of hardware from futurlec (especially their unusable 1/4" jacks)
-strain relief on most wallwarts.
-particle board, MDF, chipboard, etc. (if there's a possibility of
water contact.)
-perfboard. fails way too easily when being repaired/modified.
-the paint electro-harmonix used on my deluxe memory man reissue. epic fail.


-- 
[mike]
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