DIY Synth Case and Power

Progress...

This is probably the third version of this system, after having a bit of a nightmare with the first system and weird ground issues I then tried to make a version with jack sockets but due to the nature of plywood I then used coffee stirrers to reinforce the sides to stop the panels from flexing and potentially breaking when inserting jacks.

After having a think I realised that it would cost more and be a nightmare to glue coffee stirrers onto my wooden panels each time, I went back to my original plan of bolts and made sure the power was right by having caps and diodes on the power inputs for each module.

I'm really happy with the way this third version is faring so far. Heres how I made the case and power.

Case

Theres a wine merchant in the local town and they sell some really nice alcoholic products, the bonus to this is that they come in wooden boxes that then have to be disposed of. If there's an event on locally one weekend then I know that they normally have a few in stock and they're free.

Some thick strips of MDF were used for cheap mounting rails for the panels.

Wine crates often come in standard sizes and as the height of bottles rarely changes I means that 2 rows of 152mm tall panels is perfect.

Power

The power panel is taken from the wonderful guide at castlerocktronics.com and I created a bus board with a 9v regulator taken from Nicolas Collins Handmade Electronic Music.

So this system runs off a 12v rechargeable battery and will supply unipolar 9v and 12v.