Chapter Three - Casing up
In this chapter, we'll explain how to assemble the casings.
This might be the most fun part of the whole process so let's start by peeling off the protective layers.
Each of the acrylic casing parts has a protective layer on both sides that needs to be peeled off. They are not yet fully transparent, but they should be once you finish this step!
All the casing layers
Remember
Peel off the protective layer on both sides of the acrylic casing!
All the casings should be transparent once you remove the protective layer
Heads up!
This is a good time to remove the protective layer on the screen as well.
Step 1 - Assembling the front casing layer
Let's start by assembling the front casing layer. For this step, you'll need your main board that's now almost fully ready, the front panel, and 6 of the smallest bolts.
The acrylic front panel that you need right now is easy to find - that's the biggest one with a window for the screen, 9 holes for the button caps, and 3 long holes for the sliders.
The bolts we used in the tutorial are black, but you should have the bolts in the same size in silver colour. The colour is the same as for the rest of the bolts in the kit so make sure to separate them by size: big, medium, small.
In this step, you'll use 6 out of the 7 smallest bolts - we added one spare for good luck!
You need these components
Lay the casing panel on the front side of the board so that you adjust the holes for the screen, buttons, and sliders.
The casing panels shouldn't move a lot, but its best to tighten the front panel with a few bolts.
Place the sliders in the middle when tightening the front casing panels with small bolts. If sliders are placed fully on the top or the bottom of the slider component, they won't be able to move later because the casing panel will be tightened a bit too much.
Place the casing panel on the board
If you carefully look at the casing layer where the slider potentiometers are, you'll see two tiny holes next to each long hole for the potentiometer. That's where the small bolts go!
This is a perfect example of how carefully each detail is designed. These small holes for the bolts may not look like a big deal, but they will hold everything together once you tighten the bolts.
Take your screwdriver and tighten the casing layer by screwing each small bolt. There are 6 holes for the bolts in total - 2 next to every slider.
The bolt is securely tightened with a screwdriver
When you tighten all the smallest bolts, the first step in this chapter should be done - the front casing layer is all set!
Step 2 - Button caps
Even though the console can work as-is, it would be much nicer to have a bit of a cleaner finish. The buttons, sliders, and rotary encoders themselves are rather small and aren't the most comfortable thing to hold. Therefore, we included some more comfortable button caps made out of plastic that will solve this issue.
This step is very easy and straightforward, so let's see how it goes. You'll need:
- The main board
- 2 small plastic button caps
- 3 plastic slider caps
- 7 plastic rotary encoder caps
All the button caps you'll need are here!
Let's start by adding the two small button caps. Just like in the photo below, place the button caps on their respective location on the board and push until they click into place.
This is where the two small button cap components should go
Next up - assembling the plastic slider caps. Take one cap and place it on the slider, as seen in the photo. You should firmly push the cap, but it shouldn't touch the front casing layer.
Place the first slider cap
Repeat this step for the rest of the sliders - only two more to go!
Plastic slider caps - all set!
Lastly, you'll assemble the rotary encoder caps! These are, again, very easy to assemble.
You have to keep in mind that there is a special puzzle-like design shown in the photo below. To assemble these caps, you have to align them to fit the components on the board.
Align the cap to fit the rotary encoder component on the board
Push the plastic cap so it fits the encoders component. Repeat the same step for the rest of the caps.
All of the plastic caps for the rotary encoders are adjusted
Remember
In case you haven't removed the protective layer from the screen, now would be a good time to do that!
Step 3 - Preparing the side casing
There are a couple of small components in addition to the side casing layer that you'll need to assemble in this step.
Those components are:
- The acrylic side casing layer
- 3 black nylon spacers (2 long and 1 short)
- One medium metal bolt (not the biggest, not the smallest)
The components you need for this step
Start by holding one long black nylon spacer. Add the shorter black nylon spacer and one longer spacer again and screw them until they are tightened.
Tighten the black nylon spacer
Add the long nylon space
Ta-da! You tightened the nylon spacers
Next up, take the acrylic side casing layer and place one medium metal bolt in the middle.
This bolt will hold the side casings together once you assemble everything.
Place the medium metal bolt in the middle
Hold the three nylon spacers in one hand and a screwdriver in the other hand. Tighten the metal bolt and the nylon spacers with a screwdriver like in the photo below.
In the end, you should get something like this
Step 4 - Assembling and connecting the speakers
Hold on tight! Jay-D wouldn't be a DJ mixtable if it wasn't for the speakers.
For assembling them onto the back casing layer and connecting them to the board, you'll need the following:
- The acrylic back casing layer
- Two speakers
- 8 medium metal bolts
- 8 metal spacers
The components you'll need in this step
Start by placing one speaker from the back of the casing layer so it fits the hole.
Then, from the upper side of the casing layer, you'll insert the metal bolt in one of the small holes in the corner.
Place the speaker from the bottom of the casing layer and insert the metal bolt from the upper side.
Secondly, flip the casing layer with the speaker placed there and add one metal spacer that will tighten the bolt and hold everything in place.
Add the metal spacer
Tighten the metal bolt with a screwdriver
Repeat the same step for the rest of the bolts for the first speaker and for the second speaker as well.
Insert the metal bolt, add the metal spacer and tighten with a screwdriver.
The first speaker is tightened to the casing layer
Both speakers are tightened to the casing layer
This is how they should look like from the front after you've tightened all the bolts and spacers. Looking good?
To connect the speakers to the board you'll need two things. You guessed it! It's the board and the speakers.
The cables from the speakers should be inserted into the ports on top of the board.
The board + the speakers
Insert the cable into the port
The speakers are assembled
Step 5 - Connecting the casing together
At this point, everything should be ready to be assembled together!
In the following photos, we'll show you how to connect all the acrylic casing layers you previously tightened to the board, speakers, and nylon spacers.
This part might be a bit tricky just because there are many parts you need to hold to connect, but if you follow our guidelines, you should be fine. Let's go through it step by step.
Firstly, you'll need the acrylic casing layer that goes at the bottom of Jay-D. This part is the biggest one remaining without any holes. Also, you'll need those small anti-slip rubber feet.
The back side of the casing + rubber feet
Place the rubber feet on the edge of the acrylic casing layer. You can see the photo below to make sure you're sticking them correctly. These anti-slip rubber feet will prevent Jay-D from vibrating while you're playing the music.
This is where you should stick the rubber feet
Here comes that tricky part with many components that need to be connected. You will need:
- The main board + speakers that are connected
- Both of the side casing layers (one of them has the nylon spacers connected)
- The bottom side of the casing layer where you just put the rubber feet
- One medium metal bolt
Components you need for this step
Start by placing the side casing layer with the nylon spacer on the table. This will be the base for assembling since it can stand on its own without any support.
You might have noticed that all the casings have puzzle-like shapes on the edges. These shapes will enable you to assemble everything without gluing it together.
Place the side casing layer on the table
Now comes the puzzle part!
Take the bottom casing layer (the big one with the rubber feet) and connect it to the side casing layer like a puzzle.
Heads up! You might think that the rubber feet go on the outside, but it's quite opposite. The rubber feet should go on the inside just like in the photo below. We'll add some rubber feet on the outside later on.
Connecting the bottom and the side casing part
Make sure it fits vertically
The next component you need to add is the main board with the front casing layer. Again, the front casing layer has that puzzle-like shapes on the edges so it should fit the side casing layer without much trouble.
The rubber feet should be inside the casing and touching the main board.
Add the front casing layer
How are you holding up?
Next up - the speakers! Place the casing layer with the speakers on the shortest side of the side casing. Hold everything with one hand because there's one more component that needs to be added.
Remember!
Connect the speakers to the main board if you still haven't!
Add the speakers
Finally, it's time to add the last casing layer, and by tightening that one, you'll connect everything else.
Hold everything that you assembled so far and add the second side casing layer on top of it to fit the puzzle. Don't let go just yet; we'll tighten that one up with a metal bolt.
Does it fit the puzzle?
Put the medium metal bolt in the middle of the acrylic casing layer and make sure it fits the nylon spacer.
Tighten it with a screwdriver.
Tighten the bolt
Ta-da! Your Jay-D should look like this now. Pretty cool, isn't it?
Let's go over a few more steps now to make sure you have everything ready to start mixing.
Your Jay-D is assembled!
Last but not least - let's use the remaining rubber feet to secure the bottom casing layer.
Place the four rubber feet at the edges of the bottom casing layer.
... just like this!
Make sure you turned off your soldering iron! Unplug it from the power source, place it on the soldering iron stand and let it cool off for at least 5 minutes before you put it away in your tools box.