Four Wave Mixing

[vallentin]

Outline is gone (already cut the surplus). It's there only as a marker to know where to cut.
I had to print & reprint the PCB a couple of times until I got it right.
Because I noticed something weird about the press-and-peel paper.
Mine is about 10 years old and I still have a couple of papers left. Man, these are way old!
I didn't know that they degrade in time and won't cook right under the iron. It must turn pink when it's done and cooked right. And it didn't.
So I ended up doing my PCB with Chartpak drafting film.
Same age, but way much better!
Tomorrow I will try a couple of PCB's on photo paper & glossy and let you guys know how it goes and what gives best results.
Using this:

Peace!

[blackchisel97]

Very nice job Valentin. I noticed thin outline trace going around and very close to couple soldering points. Make sure it won't short them.

Thanks for sharing

Vtech

[vallentin]

Construction progress


Few parts to go...
I'll get them next week ( if I'm lucky to find them).
Time to go to sleep!

[vallentin]

Timer for the daily session

Just in case anyone need it.
Velleman k2579 small size timer, up to 60 minutes delay.
55mA draw.


I will post the PCB for it soon.

An advanced/programmable version k8015

[vallentin]

Thanks, Mike.
I wanted to do the PCB first. And I had to replace the PCB footprint for those resistors and the cap.
Forgot to change them back (did it with copy/paste).
Yes 2uF is not a common value.
3.9nF too. I'm thinking of paralleling 3.3nf with 680pF.

Done the corrections.
Download it again.

Edit: got my parts, I'm a little disappointed about the trimmer pots. They're so tiny and definitely not what I wanted...
Had to modify the PCB (again). No 250K pot. I got 200K in series with a 50k resistor.
@ John B.
It will really be useful to know the run frequency for the other 3 blocks in order to adjust it in case we can't find the exact parts, but close to that.
Anyway, here's what I end-up with: Finished project.zip

[TheGooch]

Hi Valentin,

Thanks for creating that project in Target 3001. While looking at it (medmachine dip.T3001) and comparing against JB's schematic I noticed some differences. I'm very new to electronics, so forgive me if this was on purpose but this is what I noticed:

R7 and R8 should be swapped.
R10 and R12 should be swapped.
C6 was .0039uF, but you have 220nF.
C7 and C8 were just a single 2uF cap, but you have two 1uF caps in parallel. I'm guessing this was on purpose if it's hard to find a 2uF cap.
R15 was 150 ohm, but you have 680 ohm.
R16 was 330 ohm, but you have 680 ohm.
R17 was connected directly to pin 2 of the 555, but yours isn't.
P01 was connected directly to pin 7 of the 555, but yours isn't.

Some of these differences may be on purpose, but I thought I'd list all of the ones I found just in case they weren't.

Thanks,
Mike

[vallentin]

@ everybody
- Target 3001 project to continue/change/improve as you see fit.
When you print your PCB, uncheck layer 21, make sure that you choose 100% for scale, check sharp black/white, and very important, mirror the image on printer settings.
You can print on glossy paper/film/press-and-peel using a laser printer only, as black as you can (don't use economy mode for this).
Then iron the printed PCB on your board. Make sure you remove it before it cools. Otherwise it is difficult to do it, or it gets destroyed.
You get best results with press-and-peel paper (about $2 a piece) then etch the board with slightly warm ferric chloride.
- Target 3001 download (free - maximum 250 pins)

Thanks everyone for help and ideas!
Thank you John for making this public.

Valentin

[Abusa]

Just been to the shop, I got the transformer PM me your address

[vallentin]

Thank you, man!

[Abusa]

Yes Paypal is fine with me, I am going to first check a store that is near to me, if they dont have it them I will order it from Ebay.

Will let you know tommorrow.

[vallentin]

Tom, I always work single-sided.
Thanks for the advices. I'm in the process of optimizing everything.
Fewer jumpers, shorten the tracks, remove loops, etc.
I have to print it in color to see more clearly what's (and where) to improve.
I know I'm on the right track already.

The 3D preview in the program comes handy when you need it.

Thanks,
Valentin.

P.S. I usually use vallentin (with double l) on forums as a username or nick because the usename valentin it's usually taken.
Not by me, obviously.

[Tom C]

Vallentin,

Nice board! keep it single sided, and for jumpers loop them over to the spot as opposed to running them flat alog the top. I realise that is a drawing, but just wanted to chime in here, you will get mutual inductance from the board if you have parallel traces on both sides or if your jumpers are run tight on the board. it will be very hard to tune that way.
Tom C

[vallentin]

Thanks, Abusa.
I owe you a keg for this. We'll talk about it on PM, cause I need 4 of them. Paypal ok with you?
This is the UK guy I was talking about:
Audio Output Transformer | eBay or
Audio Output Transformer | Amazon

Battery: it looks like it doesn't matter as long as it is not an acid battery. D-cell notation comes from dry cell battery. So, here's your answer.

Thank you again for your favor. It means a lot!

Construction progress
Gave up on Cadsoft Eagle and used Target 3001 (free). Much better!
Just finished these:

Next, thorough verification (for errors), maybe make the board smaller, press-an-peel paper and boards etching.

Best!

[Abusa]

Hey Vellentin I live in London so maybe I can get you the tranformer that you need, you can pay me back once you recieve it, no extra charge, just a favour.

I was wonderig which dry cell battery would best,

Lithium

Alkaline

or dont it matter.

Thanks

[vallentin]

Just gave the order for the parts.
I'll pick everything tomorrow from the company (they don't deliver by post or anything...).
Well, everything except the bloody transformer.
Radio-shack doesn't deliver in Romania. Mouser is too expensive. On E-bay I found none.
I'm unable to find it in Romania. I will try again in UK and around in Europe. Or China...
I found some on ebay.co.uk, but they don't deliver here. The same with Amazon.
As for the construction "per se", I've just started Eagle to make the PCB.
Dip-switches added right after the 10K resistors to isolate every 555 block in order to tune it separately.
I will post the PCB here once I have it running.