Greetings and some advise, please...

[Karl]

Hello everyone! I just ordered (3) A12's, (1) N72, PS02, and Chassis. I can't wait to get started. I have a few questions to ask before it all arrives and I get to dive in.

I saw a mention of being able to identify the components. I, like many others, am inexperienced in this field and really have just soldered basic things. Is there a good resource for this information? I kind of know what things are, but looks like there's a lot there. If the kits contain this info in the instructions, I'm sure I'll be fine, but if I need to pick-out components and know what they are, I'll probably be stumped. Perhaps I need to go to the library and get a book... any suggestions?

Also, among the items I'm gathering for this project are: Soldering station, panavise, DMM (Fluke 73III), bent needle nose pliers, solder sucker, tip tinner, desoldering braid, and solder.
I would like to know what the best type of solder would be, and what temperature do I NOT want to go above when soldering on these CB's (some have wattage others have temp dials/controls)... which parts are more sensitive to heat damage, if any?

What type of resistors come with the kits for the lead bender tool? ...they offer (2) sizes: 1/2 and 1/4 watt, or 1 and 2 watt?

Is there a specific Molex Tool I need, or are they all the same? I found this online: "Waldom / Molex Crimp Tool For .062 or .093 Pins - Open Barrel". Is that what I need?

Thank you very much!

[ErikB]

For the lead bender, you'll want one that does quarter and half watt resistors. All components come in little bags grouped according to type, like resistors, capacitors, semiconductors, etc. For solder, I've always used 63/37 .025 diameter. Can't help you with the molex tool. I used the MTA connectors for my power harness instead of Molex.

[sbranco]

I would just use a needle nose pliers for the few molex connectors you will need for teh PS02. See the thread on power connectors before this and go ahead and order the MTA connectors. The MTA tool is not necessary but I thought it was worth the $15. Made making the wiring harness a snap. We used .03 solder but .025 would probalby be a little better. My buddy said the transistors are the ones most sensitive to heat. You might want to get a heat sink to protect them while you are soldering. I ordered a mixed bag of heat sinks and only the smallest ones I got were helpful. The others were brutishly large. Make sure you get a good solder sucker. After removing a component, make sure you don't put your solder iron over the entire whole trying to suck out the last remaining solder - it creates a vacuum. If you leave a little room for some air, your solder sucker will re-create a nice clean hole again. Our N72 instructions left out one resistor, I forget which one, but they are labelled pretty clearly on the board. I ordered a solder practice kit and it came with a little run down of components. I also printed out a couple of short guides on the internet which helped me identify the components and which ones are polarized and such. You might want to get a pencil point solder iron tip or some tip that is smaller. Also make sure you get a good pair of small side cutters to trim the leads after soldering. Good luck with it!

[Karl]

Alright, thank you so far!

Are you saying I don't need the tool to assemble the wiring harnessesSS? If I can do it with needle nose pliers, then great! I'd rather just use what comes with the kit. Hopefully it's not too difficult... (gulp!)....

[jimi]

i suppose you could get away without the MOLEX crimp tool, but i wouldn't . after assembling my A12s using the MOLEX crimp tool i don't see how i could have done a good job without it.

i have seen a thread on here about a connector that doesn't require a crimp tool. i think the thread was under the power supplies topic and is called "power connectors" - but i may be wrong on that.

[jimi]

i was wrong. the thread is in the General discussion topic and is called "Power connector options (please read Tim!)"

[Karl]

yeah, I read that stuff. I'd rather just stick with what Tim supplies. Just curious, where did you get your molex tool? What kind do I need? I'm a little confused (see the 1st message in this post). Thanx!!

[sbranco]

That's one of the reasons I went with the MTA connectors. It was very clear what you needed to do the job. Molex connectors come in a thousand shapes and sizes and so do the crimp tools. The crimp tools run $25 to about $250 and everywhere in between. I couldn't find on this board which crimp tool I needed and it looks like a couple different models will do. I think I could glean after much searching that one crimp tool requires a couple of squeezes while another will do it all in one shot.
It think its a pretty safe bet that you would need a $50 crimp tool. You can do the connectors by crimping them with needle nose pliers. However, it doesn't look pretty and is really time consuming. I did this for the 10 times needed for the power supply. I wouldn't even want to think about doing it without a crimp tool for the 72 more times to make a complete harness. Now if your only doing one or two modules, you could probably make it work without the crimp tool. Its definitely possible, but I wouldn't for a complete wiring harness with 72 connections. Hope that helps. Maybe somebody can post their specific crimp tool(s) id numbers.

[jimi]

i just went down to my local electonics supply store (Standard Supply Electronics in Salt Lake City) and told them i needed a MOLEX crimp tool. the guy knew exactly what i was talking about, even i didn't. he said there are two types: one that makes the connectors in two step and one that does it in one. the two step tool was around $30 and single step tool was over $100, so i got the two stepper.

radio shack did not have such a tool, nor did they have any idea what i was talking about. after building the A12s, i don't think the single step tool is worth the extra money. making the crimps in two steps was no problem.

[wtn]

Alright, thank you so far!

Are you saying I don't need the tool to assemble the wiring harnessesSS? If I can do it with needle nose pliers, then great! I'd rather just use what comes with the kit. Hopefully it's not too difficult... (gulp!)....

You can also just solder the connectors rather than crimping them.
I chose that route, as many others have.

[Karl]

Man, I cannot express how bad I wish I had my kits!! Last I heard my stuff was supposed to ship weeks ago... nothing... I am trying to be patient here. Not that this will accomplish anything, but just venting here... (don't know what else to do).

What really gets me is I've seen others on this board order stuff and it gets delivered the very next week...(cominginsecond) I've spent $1,600.00 bucks and have nothing... I suppose this is not going to help my situation and should probably just shut up...

I guess I will politely ask Tim what's up in an email, again... hopefully I get a response this time... I really want to love this stuff, but all I've done is spent a lot of money. I get to stare at all my new tools and just dream about how it will be assembling these babies. I think I've read every post on this forum, read the instructions countless times, etc... I AM READY!! I just wish I wouldn't have to pay interest on stuff I don't even have yet. That's not very cool.

Now is the time, I have sessions approaching, downtime is rare and I was hoping to be actually done by now and be using them... I thought I calculated enough time for this to happen, I did not realize things were delayed this badly. Better communication would be nice. Much longer and I may have to cancel. Like users "JackofallTrades, mike007, and vocalworld", I am begging to become concerned... Looks like "cominginsecond" is the only guy that actully received his kits promptly. Lucky guy!!!

Okay, thanx for listening! I'm done now....