Modular Synth Panels

I got my stooge panels today and the look great. I drilled the
panel and finished building the Oakley VC Phaser. Works great.
But, when I tried to install it in my rack with the MOTM-rails
it won't fit. The board is about 3/32" too tall and hits the rail
on the top before any of the mounting screws line up.

I'm eventually going to upgrade my cabinet with the stooge
wooden cabinets so I'm not going to worry about it until then.

I was wondering if others have had issues and what they did
about it. I'm too tired now to mess with it right now. I thought
this would be a quick diversion from trying to get my car running
again ...

Dave

This is not a Stooge panel issue, but an ANY panel issue associated
with some Oakley boards. Some of the Oakley boards extend above the
limit that Paul established for his PCBs from the top. Normally they
work great with rack rails. You will find with wood cabinets it is
more of a problem. For this reason, I check my Oakley PCBs and often
mount the pots off board using a Stooge bracket.

I have never understood why Tony does this. The only way to solve it
with panels is to set the pots off of the normal MOTM grid. No one
wants that as far as we know.

Larry


--- djbrow54 <davebr@...> wrote:

> I got my stooge panels today and the look great. I drilled the
> panel and finished building the Oakley VC Phaser. Works great.
> But, when I tried to install it in my rack with the MOTM-rails
> it won't fit. The board is about 3/32" too tall and hits the rail
> on the top before any of the mounting screws line up.
>
> I'm eventually going to upgrade my cabinet with the stooge
> wooden cabinets so I'm not going to worry about it until then.
>
> I was wondering if others have had issues and what they did
> about it. I'm too tired now to mess with it right now. I thought
> this would be a quick diversion from trying to get my car running
> again ...
>
> Dave
>
>
>
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On Tue, 26 Aug 2003, djbrow54 wrote:

> But, when I tried to install it in my rack with the MOTM-rails
> it won't fit. The board is about 3/32" too tall and hits the rail
> on the top before any of the mounting screws line up.
>
> I was wondering if others have had issues and what they did
> about it.

>Larry Hendry wrote:
> I check my Oakley PCBs and often mount the pots off board using a Stooge
> bracket.

There is an alternative that I have used successfully with Omeg pots.
I have mounted a fiberboard washer between the panel and the front of
the Omeg pot mechanism box (i.e., put the washer over the pot knob stem
and push it all of the way to the 'bottom' of the pot mounting threads),
so that the washer will be between the panel and the 'box' of the pot that
would be against the back of the panel. The thickness of the washer needs
to be only enough so that the pcb clears the motm rack rail. That is, a
small part of the rack rail will be between the front panel and the pcb.

Mounting the assembled front panel requires one to initially angle the
module to fit the rack rail between the back of the panel and the pcb, but
then can be gently manuevered into place.

Why a fiberboard washer (that I think it is used in automobile mountings
of fenders (?))? It has some give to it and sometimes I have had to cut
about 1/3 of the washer so that it does not interfere with the rack rail.
Washers should be put on all pots, and the washers cannot be too thick or
the front mounting pot washer will not adequately secure the pot to the
front panel.

I have had to do this on 2 of my Oakley modules (multiladder & phaser)
with success. But as Larry astutely pointed out, this probably will not
work with his flat rails, so I will also have to figure out an
alternative approach for these 2 modules when I transfer my modules from
19"rack rails to Larry's flat
rails.

Jeff

Hi Larry, Jeff, Dave, All,

I'm in the process to build some preliminary "homebrew" panels but
will try to stick to MOTM standards as far as necessary and I'm about
to order a couple of stooge rails.
And since I'm awaiting a load of Oakley prepopulated PCBs this is
quite an issue!

--- In motmpanels@yahoogroups.com, Larry Hendry <hendrysr@y...> wrote:
> Some of the Oakley boards extend above the
> limit that Paul established for his PCBs from the top.

What are this limits?

> Normally they
> work great with rack rails. You will find with wood cabinets
> it is more of a problem.
> For this reason, I check my Oakley PCBs and often
> mount the pots off board using a Stooge bracket.
>
> I have never understood why Tony does this.

Ok, although this seems to bother some/many people I'm happy to read
this because I for my part dead sure would have run into this problem.

I don't know if you read about Tony's recent PCB house trouble in the
Oakley list but IMHO that's a big chance to correct this since Tony is
forced to reissue many of his boards.
We should address this.
AFAIK Tony's not in this list, but I could crosspost if you wish.

> The only way to solve it with panels is to set the pots off
> of the normal MOTM grid. No one wants that as far as we know.

Well talking about that - I was looking for a comprehensive
description of the "MOTM standard/grid" etc. for a while but obviously
wasn't thorough enough.
Judging from the many FPD files I looked at there are more people than
me who are not that confident regarding the correct measures.
Into the bargain the labeling of some MOTM panels is not that
consistent as it could be - doesn't make me feel very sure.

Any pointer?

Thanks, Michael. (awaiting his first MOTM kits too ;-)

It's really off by 1/16". I measure 7/16" from the top of the board to the top of the panel. I suppose it has to do with how accurately I drilled the board but since all four potentiometers lined up I think I got it pretty close.

I used a 3/8" cylindrical sanding disc on my dremel tool and took at least 1/16" off the top of the board. The mounting pads for the top potentiometer bracket are just about at that position. I kept sanding until I had gone 50% through the top two mounting pins. there is still enough material there to hold the top bracket. I used a file to smooth out the top of the board and it mounts fine. I did this with the front panel installed as it was all completed. I'll do the modules with just the board as it will be easier to control.

Dave

--- In motmpanels@yahoogroups.com, "djbrow54" <davebr@e...> wrote:
> I got my stooge panels today and the look great. I drilled the
> panel and finished building the Oakley VC Phaser. Works great.
> But, when I tried to install it in my rack with the MOTM-rails
> it won't fit. The board is about 3/32" too tall and hits the rail
> on the top before any of the mounting screws line up.