Reply to How to make for 19" connection panel!

PART ONE: The Basics

In this guide I'll try to guide the inexperienced solder through the making of a connection panel for your dj-setup. All links for shops will be to Thomann.de, they ship to most of Europe. If you're in the US, try to google the product number.

Why would you want to make a connection panel?
Well first of all it looks good and professional, and second it makes setting up at your gig so much easier.
Where can i use it?
The connections panel I've used is a 19" rack standard. That means it will also fit in any 19" amp racks. My flightcase came with a 19" 1 unit slot, for this exact purpose.

What do I need?

A standard 19" connection plate comes with 12 holes in D size. You can get the with fewer. You can mix how the connecters how you want, but ill write this guide to the exact panel i made.

For that you need:
1x 19" connection panel (http://goo.gl/Sv4fU)
2x XLR sockets, male (http://goo.gl/UBwFo) - Main out
2x XLR sockets, female (http://goo.gl/ok9oe) - MIC inputs
2x Standard XLR cables, male-female (http://goo.gl/LSdWK)
2x RCA sockets, red, female (http://goo.gl/ugBUI) - Extra channels in/out
2x RCA sockets, white, female (http://goo.gl/kjwQ5) - Extra channels in/out
1x Standard RCA cable, male-male (http://goo.gl/vpHjN) - Extra channels in/out
2x USB sockets (http://goo.gl/H2IBx) - USB in/out for soundcard, MIDI, etc.
1x PowerCon socket, in (http://goo.gl/xxJDY) - Power in
1x PowerCon plug, in (http://goo.gl/marXT) - Power in
2x Standard power plug (whatever is used in your country) - Power in
1x Standard extension cord (whatever is used in your country, but something like this: http://goo.gl/vC2D3) - Power in
1x PowerCon socket, out (http://goo.gl/S6QmH) - Power out
1x PowerCon plug, out (http://goo.gl/JV3fO) - Power out
1x Standard (single) power socket (whatever is used in your country) - Power out
1x Standard household extentioncord - Power in/out
Solder
Soldering iron
Tape or strips
A couple of hours

Well, that was a lot of information. But its not that difficult, let me break it down with a picture.



Connection panel (from left to right)

1. PowerCon - In
2. PowerCon - Out
3. Mic 1
4. Mic 2
5. USB - In
6. USB - Out
7. RCA 1 - Left
8. RCA 1 - Right
9. RCA 2 - Left
10. RCA 2 - Right
11. Main Out - Left
12. Main Out - Right

But what about all the extension cords and cables?

Well, you're going to fabricate your own cables for power in and power out. This (proberly) won't demand any soldering. Its pretty easy, just remove the isolation and disassemble the plugs and sockets and mount the cords. The sockets have illustrated where positive, negative and ground goes.

But what about on the other side of the panel?



In the top left of this picture, you'll see the 'power-area' of my flightcase. The 2 first sockets is for power in/out. Lets start with the power, and all the audio will be explained later on.

You simple just cut the plug of the extension cord, because the end of the cord is going to be soldered to the PowerCon In socket. Just like the PowerIn the cord for power out is going to be soldered to the PowerCon Out socket. I will return on all the soldering later. Right now its just explaining. When you but you extension cord, remember to buy one with enough sockets, and remember that one socket is used for power out.

Lets carrie on to the MIC sockets. My mixer supports 2 mics, therefore there is 2 MIC socket. These 2 socket are identical. The cables will look like this:

The next 2 sockets is the USB in/out. On the first picture its 2 USB out, but since i've built in a USB hub in my flightcase i've changes one of them to USB in. No soldering here. The USB socket are flipable between USB Type A (The one that goes in to your computer) and USB Type B (The one that goes in to a printer, MIDI fighter etc).

The next 4 socket are RCA for extra sound in or out. They are all identical, but for the ease use the same colors on the cable to the same color in the socket. The cable will look like this:

The last 2 sockets are for my main out. Most mixers have XLR out, few only have RCA as main out. It is possible to make RCA to XLR if you would like to have XLR sockets as out. The Main Out is made just like the Mic cable, but opposite.

PART TWO is already here! Right in this thread!

Please feel free to come with feedback, questions or spelling corrections.