Making Music with an Atari Punk Console

Step 3 Parts You Will Need

The following parts were used to assemble a breadboard version of the circuit:

IC1 - 556 dual timer IC (24329)

R1, R3 - 1 megohm trimmer pot (42981)

R2 - 1K resistor (661503 or similar)

R4 - 5K trimmer pot (optional volume control--not used in prototype version below) (182829)

C1 - 0.01 uF capacitor (15229 or similar)

C2 - 0.1 uF capacitor (33488 or similar)

C3 - 10 uF capacitor (545617 or similar)

SPKR - 4 or 8 ohm magnetic speaker (673766 or similar)

Miscellaneous: Perforated prototype board (e.g., Jameco 616622), 9-volt battery, battery connector clip (e.g., Jameco 216427), double-sided tape or 9-volt battery holder (105794), wire jumpers (e.g., Jameco JE10 Wire Jumper Kit; 19290).

Note: While the components listed above were used for the prototype, substitutions can be easily made. For example, you can alter the frequencies by increasing or decreasing the values of C1 and C2. Various small 8-ohm speakers can be used.

Prepare the Board and Install the Components

The circuit was assembled on a solderless breadboard and tested. When the circuit was operating properly, the components were transferred to a perforated prototype board (Jameco 616622) and soldered in place.

You can follow your own parts layout (or perhaps one of those shown on the web), and you might consider installing the circuit in a small enclosure. You can also substitute larger pots equipped with knobs so you can quickly alter the stepped tone output. Or you can simply copy the layout I used shown in Fig. 2 to make a trial version of the circuit.

Follow these steps to duplicate the prototype circuit shown in Fig. 2. The jumper leads correspond to the colors of those provided in the Jameco JE10 Wire Jumper Kit.

Be sure to work in a well ventilated room when using lead solder.

Comments

[Shmeeper]

You mentioned you could alter the frequencies by changing the values of C1 and C2. Would it be useful/interesting to use variable capacitors there in order to make this alteration on the fly? Or does the effect just recreate the resistor's affect? Thanks for the great instructable!

[osgeld]

"Be sure to work in a well ventilated room when using lead solder." To be safe you should work in a well ventilated room when using any flux, It takes more than 800 degrees f to start atomizing lead, and at that temperature you will pretty much destroy anything your trying to connect Flux on the other hand is a mild caustic substance, and inhaled can cause lung damage over time All solder that has a flux core presents that danger, not just lead Btw good abile BUT! I was just thinking about making one on this exact subject a couple nights ago, and i would appreciate it if you would quit reading my mind (har har)

[nak]

Actually to correct the correcting correctorerer I would probably work in a well ventilated room during ANY type of work, we breathe oxygen and put out CO2, we are filthy animals breathing our own excrement >: O

[ironsmiter]

Well, in most situations, you are correct....by the time lead vaporizes, you've destroyed anything you are working on... And flux vaporizes much sooner(and is immediately harmful). The real kicker though, is that almost all electronic solder is now lead-free. Not to say that those other metals now used, and the related fluxes are good for you... but lead isn't the issue. Factoid: Lead doesn't even melt till over 620F. For Boiling Point(also called Vaporization temperature), it's 3180F. As to where you got the 800 number from, I'll presume it was a mistake, made based on the "Latent Heat of Evaporation" of lead being 859 kJ/kg. That is, however, a measure of energy/weight. To give perspective, the same "latent heat of evaporation" for water is a massive 2,272(boils at 212F remember). The point on ventilation is excellent though. The solution to air pollution is dilution. Really good ventilation(like a fume hood vented to the out doors) works wonders, since you avoid primary contact... and your secondary contact comes after using massive amounts of local atmosphere to dilute your exposure from parts per thousand(present in the "smoke") to parts per trillion(in the air you breathe). This diluted particle count is, for us older InstructaIbleists, lower than our lead exposure from pumping the real gasoline of our youths(you remember, before they even THOUGHT of putting "unleaded" in our fuel tanks much less alcohol). Hmm, I guess your points(on fourth reading) are essentially correct. just not super clear. I believe the author's comment on safe lead soldering came mostly from the fact that, in 1980, when the circuit was designed...lead solder was still commonplace. To the comment on your wanting to make this 'ible a few nights ago.... Give the author's name of JamecoElectronics, and the almost(not quite but almost) spam-like(ok, maybe advertising-like is a better term) use of Jameco part numbers.... I'd hazard a guess that you should let this one slide(as with any other 20 year old projects they post). To ihackeverything : YES. Atomize... aka vaporize, evaporate, etc. not melt. Melted lead, in and of itself, does not pose an inhalation hazard that requires ventilation. But lead solder is not pure lead... and fluxes are involved....and all sorts of nastiness... So it's just a general good idea to ventilate well. Why take the risk?

[nak]

omg.

[osgeld]

Quote Wikipedia : At the retail level, the two most common alloys are 60/40 Sn/Pb which melts at 370 °F And Atomize is not the same as vaporize, Atomize means to create a fine particle mist (nothing to do with boiling, but particles are in the air) Vaporize means to change from a liquid to a gas at a rapid rate (everything to do with boiling)