User:Rob Kam/sandbox1/Safety and other warnings

Ask an adult to help you.

North Coast Synthesis Ltd. does not offer warranties or technical support on anything we did not build and sell. That applies both to modules built by you or others from the kits we sell, and to fullyassembled modules that might be built by others using our plans. Especially note that because we publish detailed plans and we permit third parties to build and sell modules using our plans subject to the relevant license terms, it is reasonable to expect that there will be modules on the new and used markets closely resembling ours but not built and sold by us. We may be able to help in authenticating a module of unknown provenance; contact us if you have questions of this nature.

For new modules purchased through a reseller, warranty and technical support issues should be taken to the reseller first. Resellers buy modules from North Coast at a significant discount, allowing them to resell the modules at a profit, and part of the way they earn that is by taking responsibility for supporting their own customers.

We also sell our products to hobbyists who enjoy tinkering with and customizing electronic equipment. Modules like ours, even if originally built by us, may be quite likely to contain third-party “mods,” added or deleted features, or otherwise differ from the standard specifications of our assembled modules when new. Be aware of this possibility when you buy a used module.

Soldering irons are very hot.

Solder splashes and cut-off bits of component leads can fly a greater distance and are harder to clean up than you might expect. Spread out some newspapers or similar to catch them, and wear eye protection.

Lead solder is toxic, as are some fluxes used with lead-free solder. Do not eat, drink, smoke, pick your nose, or engage in sexual activity while using solder, and wash your hands when you are done using it.

Solder flux fumes are toxic, especially from leadfree solder because of its higher working temperature. Use appropriate ventilation.

Some lead-free solder alloys produce joints that look “cold” (i.e. defective) even when they are correctly made. This effect can be especially distressing to those of us who learned soldering with lead solder and then switched to lead-free. Learn the behaviour of whatever alloy you are using, and then trust your skills.

Water-soluble solder flux must be washed off promptly (within less than an hour of application) because if left in place it will corrode the metal. Solder with water-soluble flux should not be used with stranded wire because it is nearly impossible to remove from between the strands.

Residue from traditional rosin-based solder flux can result in undesired leakage currents that may affect high-impedance circuits. This module does not use any extremely high impedances, but small leakage currents could possibly reduce its accuracy. If your soldering leaves a lot of such residue then it might be advisable to clean that off.

Voltage and current levels in some synthesizer circuits may be dangerous.

Do not attempt to make solder flow through the board and form fillets on both sides of every joint. Some soldering tutorials claim that that is desirable or even mandatory, it does look nicer, and it may happen naturally when the conditions are good and the leads happen to be small in relation to the holes. But with large wire leads that just fit in the holes, when the holes are connected to the ground plane (even through thermal reliefs), on some harder-towet lead finishes, with lead-free solder, and so on, you may only end up dumping excessive heat into the joint and damaging the components while you fuss over perfect fillets. A well-made solder joint that just covers the pad and makes good contact to the lead on one side of the board, is good enough.

Building your own electronic equipment is seldom cheaper than buying equivalent commercial products, due to commercial economies of scale from which you as small-scale home builder cannot benefit. If you think getting into DIY construction is a way to save money, you will probably be disappointed.

Documentation for the MSK 015 Copyright © 2023 Matthew Skala This documentation is free: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 3. This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this documentation. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.