WSG Parts List

Ray Wilson authored this content while he was actively running MFOS as the founder and resident genius.
We retain the content because it reflects a valuable point of view representing that time and place.

Article by Ray Wilson

Obtaining Parts

Kits and components for your MFOS projects can be found at Small Bear Electronics and SynthCube.

The potentiometers can be rated for 1/4W and the parts list will say whether it should be log or linear taper. All components need to have leads. Be sure you are not buying surface mount parts.

Resistor Color Chart For Resistors Used In This Project

The resistors should be carbon composition or carbon film. Use 1/4 watt resistors because 1/2 watt will be too big for the board.

Capacitor Markings For Caps Used In This Project

All capacitors should have a minimum 16V rating. There really is no maximum voltage rating but capacitors get larger as the voltage rating goes higher. I suspect that electrolytics rated at 25V, 35V or even 50V will still be small enough to fit the board. For ceramics the voltage rating can be much higher. The voltage rating is NOT CRITICAL except that ALL CAPS SHOULD BE AT A MINIMUM rated for 16V. The lead spacing for most caps on the boards from MFOS is .2" but you can always make leads with smaller (or larger) lead spacing fit so that is not a big deal.

Capacitors manufacturers have a variety of ways of marking the values on the components. When a cap is not plainly marked as .1uF (spoken as "point one microfarad") it will be marked in picofarad style. It will be marked like this: 104 which means 10 followed by 4 zeros picofarads. or 100,000 picofarads (or .1uF)

When capacitor values fall into a certain negative power of 10 they are given prefix names. Typically micro and pico with some folks occasionally using nano. So if a cap has the value of .0001 Farad we say it is 100 microfarads (or uF).

  milli micro nano pico
. 000 000 000 000

If a cap has the value of .0000001 Farads we say it is .1uF (point one micro farad) but you could also say 100,000 pico farads, or 100 nano farads and be correct. You can see how the marking "104" takes up less space and space is at a premium on small parts.

So... with all that said .01 uF will be marked as 103 (10,000 pF) and 330 pico farads will be marked as 331. The next time you look at a cap I hope you are better able to tell it's value.

Switches

The switches in this circuit are switching very low currents so they do not need high voltage or current ratings. Typical miniature toggle switch ratings are 1 to 5 amps at 115VAC which is way more than they will ever see in this circuit but that's what they make. Buy the cheapest switches you can because they will work fine. Of course if your last name happens to be Gates, Buffett, or Ellison you can buy gold plated toggle switches if you like since as long as they are the correct type (SPST (SPDT will also work as SPST)) they will all work.

More information

WSG Parts List... Finally

Qty. Description Value Designators
1   CD40106 (or 74C14) DIP*   CD40106   U1  
1   LM741 (or equiv TL071, LF411) DIP*   LM741   U2  
2   1N914 (or equiv 1N4148)   1N914   D1, D2  
2   2N3904 (or general purpose NPN)    2N3904   Q1, Q2  
4   Ceramic Capacitor   .022uF   C4, C5, C13, C12  
3   Ceramic Capacitor   .1uF   C9, C10, C1  
2   Ceramic Capacitor   470pF   C2, C3  
5   Electrolytic Capacitor   1uF   C6, C7, C15, C14, C16  
2   Electrolytic Capacitor   220uF   C8, C11  
3   Linear Taper (1/4 or 1/2 watt) Potentiometer   100K   R18, R31, R29  
7   Linear Taper (1/4 or 1/2 watt) Potentiometer   1M   R9, R1, R13, R3, R25, R26, R20  
1   Linear Taper (1/4 or 1/2 watt) Potentiometer   500K   R32  
1   Resistor 1/4 Watt 5%   470K   R35  
2   Resistor 1/4 Watt 5%   100K   R16, R17  
1   Resistor 1/4 Watt 5%   10M   R4  
3   Resistor 1/4 Watt 5%   1K   R8, R12, R10  
4   Resistor 1/4 Watt 5%   1M   R5, R2, R22, R21  
8   Resistor 1/4 Watt 5%   4.7K   R7, R6, R15, R14, R24, R23, R28, R27  
4   Resistor 1/4 Watt 5%   47K   R19, R33, R30, R34  
1   Resistor 1/4 Watt 5%   750K   R11  
7   SPST Miniature Toggle Switch   SPST   S2, S1, S3, S6, S5, S4, S7  
1   9V Battery Clip   9V Battery Clip   Clip for B1  
11   Potentiometer Knobs      For all pots  

* Dual Inline Package (plastic or ceramic)

  • Example Pots From Mouser Electronics
  • Example Switches From Mouser Electronics

    Miscellaneous  PK (included in parts kit)   PKWFP (included in parts kit with faceplate)