assembly-max

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Assembly Instructions - Max Case

What you'll need

For the Max edition, you will need:

A small cross-point screwdriver
A soldering iron & solder.
1 x 5-pin 180degrees panel-mount DIN socket (16mm mounting hole).
1-6 3.5mm mini-jack sockets (6mm mounting hole).
However much interconnection wire you need to connect the internal solder points to the tags on the connectors - about 10-15cm per connection.
Tin snips or other fine-nosed side-cutters to remove the blanking areas for the holes you require.
6mm & 15-16mm drills as appropriate for the holes you will want to tidy up once opened.
Alternatively, something like a Dremel multi-tool will prove useful.

"Here's one we prepared earlier!"

Remove the battery cover and the batteries.
Remove the screws indicated with the red circles from the existing base.
You should have 7 larger screws and 7 smaller ones.
Keep them safe!

As indicated here by the red box, gently push the battery tray away from the case to remove it.

Once that is out, gently remove the speaker cover and speaker from the case.
Please note, the speaker is (lightly) stuck into its recess.
Do not poke the speaker from the outside of the case to get it out, as you may break the diaphragm!

Choose which holes you want to remove and gently do so with your fine-nosed side-cutters or other appropriate implement/s.

Use the drill bits to clean up the holes, making them ready for the panel-mount sockets.
The smaller holes are 6mm diameter.
The larger hole is designed as 16mm diameter, but clean with a 15mm drill bit first if you have it.
Please don't use a power drill for this as you're likely to ruin the case.

If you're adding the MIDI socket, solder connection wires to the socket and thread this through the case from outside. Attach and tighten the accompanying nut so it doesn't fall out.

If you're adding the mini-jack sockets, add connection wires as appropriate, before attaching the sockets to the case.

From the outside, the case should look something like this.
The thinking behind the staggering of the sockets was:
a) To maximise the number of sockets we could fit into the case - using 3-pole sockets this allows 12 connections to be brought out.
b) To allow for larger sockets (such as these shown) to be used.
c) It was required to allow fitting around the components on the mainboard, such as the MIDI In socket.

Solder the connection wires to the appropriate solder points on the mainboard.
It's best to use a single ground point for all of the connections (the optimal location for this may differ per instrument, or just use the negative terminal from the battery).
Ensure the wires are insulated as appropriate from the mainboard.

For the DIN socket, the connections should be:
VD (Voltage Reference) = pin 4
GND (Ground) = pin 2
TX (Data) = pin 5

For reference, the official MIDI DIN connector specification can be found here.

Ensure that the internal indents adjacent to the battery-side corner holes are clear - this helps reduce strain on the corners of the battery tray when you are fitting it in.
Ensure that the outside edge of the tray is firmly pushed against the side of the case. Then to clip the battery tray into the new case, push from the inside, so that the inner corners (nearest the four smaller screw holes) clip into place. The battery tray should now be flush with the lip for the cover.
Once the internal screw posts are flat against the inside of the case, attach the tray with the 4 screws that you have kept safe.

Carefully replace the speaker into its new home and reattach the cover. Note that the cover can only go one way - for the notches to line up for the speaker wires to escape from the centre ring (otherwise it doesn't fit together properly). If your speaker wires are still long enough, you can wind them back around the strain relief tag.

Before you reassemble, you probably want to know what a wiring harness should look like for the connectors you're likely adding, so the following images will help with that.

These images are from our Volca Bass, however the same principle would also apply to the other models.

For this example:

The red, green and blue connection wires are about 20cm long.For the mini-jack sockets using a single pole (the tip) have red wires. these are being used for the VCO, VCA & VCF connections.

Those using two poles (tip and ring - 'left and right') have green and blue wires. These are being used for each pair of SQR/SAW outputs for each oscillator 1/2/3 (as this makes the most logical sense).The black (ground) wire is one length that has had the insulation removed from appropriate points so that it is able to be soldered to all of the 'sleeve' (ground) connections to make it easier to attach to a single point on the main circuit board. This is about 30cm long, which makes it easier to fit.

Here you can see the sockets attached inside the case.

The main reason for keeping the connection wires a bit longer than they need to be is to not put undue strain on the when soldering. Also to make installation easier. :)

Here you can see the connection wires soldered to the appropriate points on the circuit board.

The ground connection is soldered to what is the metal surround of the MIDI input - this is because it's easier to keep one wire per solder point (for example, you could equally use the negative battery terminal), but also it's quite a substantial base compared to elsewhere.

After this stage, the case can be fully assembled. Although you may want to check the connectivity first with a multi-meter if you don't quite trust your soldering!

Gently slot the instrument back into the case, until it sits on the posts around the inside edge of the case. The tabs (seen above in the centre of the image) and the internal support posts help stop the 'keyboard' from flexing.

Once it's all back together, use 4 of the larger screws to attach the instrument to the case (the holes shown by the red circles).
From our testing, this should be enough to hold the thing together.
Yes, it will be a bit tricky to get the screws down into the tubes and into the holes... What helps here is a magnetic screwdriver.

Reinsert the batteries and clip on the battery cover - the outside edge should meet with the edge of battery tray (we think it's actually quite clever, as it then means the case itself doesn't have to be 100% the same as the original).
Gently remove the rubber feet from the old case and stick them onto the new one in the appropriate indents (the blue circles). Otherwise the sound from the speaker will not escape the case and the instrument will be really quiet.
Turn it on and make some music! ;)

Here you can see the internal LED's through the translucent case :)

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