Steve Anderson wrote:Hmmm...with all those comments above it seems that this kit not really that well thought out. It should work first time, be stable and reliable. The above suggests quite the opposite.
If no circuit diagram is available someone could scan/photograph both sides of any PCB along with whatever useful data is in the manual.
The concept of this kit is a good one, it's simple and the end product looks...err, attractive. It's shame that it seems so hit-and-miss operationally. Not a good way to get newcomers interested.
Steve A.
Well, it seems to vary a bit. My unit worked, and worked well, straight after assembly. Sync is achieved within a few seconds and remains rock solid. My only mod was to add a high brightness LED and a new diffuser.
The main problem I have had is warping of the disc due to temperature changes. This has required straightening using compression from time to time.
In Newsletter 32 No. 2, mention is made that Peter Smith has traced the circuit and confirmed that it used the Club's standard circuit designs.
In Newsletter 32 No.3 there was mention of 4 recommendations for modification (and that these were submitted to MUTR).
I hope it is not breaching copyright to mention here that the first 2 recommendations were in reference to the LEDs and diffuser as already mentioned, the third involved the addition of a 0.1uF decoupling cap across the 5V rail (pins 8&16 of the 4046) and, in the case of the strobe disc not running true, a 22K resistor was added across R17 (presumably as per PCB overlay) to improve sensitivity.
Steve, would it really attract customs, excise, and duty costs as a one off purchase? Seems rather OT. Doesn't attract those here in Oz (currency exchange bites a bit tho'). Certainly it couldn't be justified as protecting local manufacturing...