MOTM

-----Original Message-----
From: robs7@...
To: motm@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 07/29/2001 11:08 PM
Subject: [motm] New to list

>>>Just how hard are the 300s to assemble?

If you've already successfully assembled a '440, you absolutely should not
fear the '300. I think they are fairly comparable. Compared to that filter,
the VCO PCB is actually slightly LESS dense (parts-wise)! I think the reason
that the VCO gets the top difficulty rating is simply that it is a very
critical module. If you screw up a little bit or can't properly calibrate
the VCO, then you will really know it, whereas other modules might be a
little more forgiving. The '300 was designed to be extremely stable, so to
get that level of performance, you need to build it right, that's all.

There are really, I would say, three spots in the assembly where you need to
stay particularly awake: forming the 8 leads and inserting a single
component that is in a "can" package rather than a DIP, seating a
temperature-compensation resistor on top of it with a dab of heat-sink
grease (the only reason that this is difficult is that if you get that
grease on anything, kiss it goodbye), and finally the calibration of the
VCO.

If you just watch what you're doing on the first two, you'll be fine. It's
really not rocket science, just read the instructions and follow them! The
calibration, too, was much easier than I expected it to be, based on horror
stories I'd heard regarding 1970's VCOs. I calibrated four MOTM-300's easily
in less than a half hour, and I was really going for perfection. Again, read
the instructions, don't do these steps at 4 AM after a night on the town,
and you'll be fine.