Wonky pots

[Timo]

Originally Posted by grs

I gues there are no photos of the actual repotting procedure, that was what I was expecting to see. Did they mention the part numbers or supplier? I'm going to need to replace my pot to sell my b for the TI :P

Mailed them yesterday, and got a reply today:-

All pots are 10Kohm linear.

Took my Indigo apart today, just to assess how difficult it was to get to the PCBs (circuit boards) that house the pots.

Took out the keybed: Without keys

Then detached the chassis and the end-cheeks: "Dashboard"

It was then pretty hectic, as there are countless layers before you got to the pots, including four or five ribbon cables that needed to be logged (so you know how to correctly put them back) before disconnecting them. Once you've taken the chassis and end-cheeks off, you've basically got the whole of the electronics of the Virus underneath the knobs, in two layers, so the PCB which house the potentiometers are obviously the deepest thing to get to.

Underside of the dashboard

..... admittedly that pic may be a little confusing, so I placed a few coloured boxes around several parts so it would be easier to understand:-

Underside of the dashboard - labelled

* Red = a floating/hovering PCB that piggy backs onto the back of the main PCB board.
* Green = the mainboard (which houses the pots)
* Blue = the pitch/mod wheels

So after removing the piggy-backed board, then the mainboard from the dashboard/chassis, it looks something a little like this:-

Virus internals - Those who are squeamish, look away now.

Not a pleasant sight (although immense care was taken), but that is the disassembly required to get to the main circuit board.

The main board which houses the pots is shown at the top. The circuit board to the left flips over and piggy-backs on the back of the main board, so you have to fully remove this one before getting to the mainboard. The mainboard then needs to be unscrewed from the front of the Virus "dashboard" (remembering to take off all the knob-caps), as well as the rear of the Virus (where the audio and MIDI connections are.

So finally, the pots are shown here.

And the underside of the PCB is shown here.

...The box I've highlighted in red shows the 'footprint' of a pot, as one example, on the underside, which will require a good soldering technique and a steady hand to avoid shorting connections with regards to the four close legs.

When I do it for real, once I have the relevant components and tools, I'll take better shots with my camera, in a more fluid sequence too, so it's easier to follow. Today I was just assessing what roughly needed to be done.

Timo