Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

[squiggles]

When I say "hitting with the hot air gun" I really mean blowing hot air from the hot air gun onto the joint...not actually hitting it with the gun

[watt-a-mezz]

Originally Posted by squiggles

When I say "hitting with the hot air gun" I really mean blowing hot air from the hot air gun onto the joint...not actually hitting it with the gun

I can see it now.......Soldering on Emeril live! BAM! BAM! BAM!(I wish my wife wouldn't watch cooking shows so much!) Have a good one, Watt

[wolfraven]

Hmm...I found a cost-effective solution for hot-air soldering, actually...if anybody's interested...DIY Hot Air Soldering Iron I haven't made mine yet, since I'm still learning to solder well before tackling anything this large...but if they use hot-air stuff for surface-mount, then it might be a good cost-savings, and it kind of helps keep this whole thing DIY, even with the surface mount stuff.

[JayC]

I bought mine from Circuit Specialists. I love it. I've played with it on old hard drives removing and replacing the TQFPs. On small 805 parts it's a breeze. The "Free Gift" was junk

FWIW,
Jay

[MPaulHolmes]

The controller is basically done! ya! There were several bugs to my crappy process, but Ben's will go much smoother. Well, I need to make and attach end caps and Hondo's enclosure. I think that given a bunch of pre-drilled stuff and etched pcb, it could be assembled over the weekend by anyone with a heavy soldering gun (200 watt or so from Radio Shack for $30), normal soldering iron, and normal other stuff like pliers and screw drivers, etc...once the process is sort of streamlined, and each tiny little nick nack is purchased. I've made like 20 trips to Home Depot for stupid little screws and stuff like that.

[watt-a-mezz]

Hey Paul. Saw the new pictures, there have been some design changes, looks good. Were you going to take pictures of the complete controller, before you send it? The metal covers kind of make it complete. (the clear cover was cool too!) . Keep up the good work! Watt

[MPaulHolmes]

yo yo yo! Watt up, Watt? Yes, I'll definitely take pictures with Hondo's Enclosure on it! I can't wait! If I get that dang mill CNC-ized, we could come up with some really cool picture to etch onto aluminum plate before bending it into an enclosure! Wouldn't that be cool? Maybe a very very angry cougar for this version, or perhaps a little miss mosfet for another version, and also the O.P.R.A.H., which is the really really large and slow version. I'm guessing that one won't be a very popular option.

I started Ben's controller! ya! This time, I'm writing down my process step by step AND TAKING PICTURES (13 of Ben's process so far), trying to learn from my mistakes in Joe's process:
INSERTING THE VIAS to make a 3 ounce PCB act like 6 ounce


All Vias inserted. Also added some equivalent of 12 gauge stranded wire to help the 3 ounce board to stay cooler in critical spots.


Now, solder everything into place. Oops, I mean solder my finger. It smelled sort of good, like roast chicken.


Bottom Side soldered! (I'm getting better at soldering! ya!)


Top Side Soldered!


All those imperfections were from leaving the tin salts on there for like 1 hour while I tried to find some stupid cleaning stuff at the store.

Solder smoke gives you a headache! Use a fan!

[reggiewatson]

Paul,

Just found your thread today and just finished all 184 pages. WOW!!!!! I feel like I have found a new Hero!! I'm very impressed with all you guys have done and now planning on building one for my 74 SB conversion. I'll be watching for the group buy.

Keep up the great work guys.

Reggie

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by reggiewatson

just finished all 184 pages......

Did we ever come up with a Triathalon Award for anyone who reads all the pages of the Forkenswift, Electro-Metro, AND Open Source Controller threads?

If not, we should. However, the real reward is all the newfound knowledge in the readers life!

[reggiewatson]

Paul,

This might be a silly question but I'm going to ask it anyways. Do you have to have the buss bars? Could'nt you just have a nut and bolt for each of the inputs on the board for your wires to bolt to? Or maybe those nice covered plugs coming out of the case instead of the buss bars? That way you don't have to worry about shorts against the buss bars.

Reggie