What tips/trick/secret sauce do you have that others might find useful?

[Phend]

I've been cutting the box for the DC jack so I can pull out the whole insides with out desoldering. I need a proper Dremel cutter but it only takes a few minutes to file the bit out.

Just to chime in on an alternative approach to the desoldering thing. You can get super cheap ribbon cable and headers from AliExpress in any number of pins, 2.54mm spaced. I often use a two pin header for the DC connection for the same reason. Just disonnect and pull the entire assembly out.

Ribbon cable is what I show in my post. Actually it is breadboard jumper cable. $3.99

California JOS 40 PCS 20 CM (8 inch) Breadboard Jumper Wires Length Optional Dupont wire Assorted Kit Female to Male Multicolored Ribbon Cables https://a.co/d/2lA8bwO

[Focalized]

I've had these in my cart for awhile. I think they're the right size but they have very little stock.

https://www.taydaelectronics.com/connectors-sockets/wafer-housing-crimp-terminal/crimp-terminal/2-8-mm-female-crimp-terminal-silver-crimp-terminal-awg-22-16.html

Or here. Cheaper actually.
https://www.amazon.com/Baomain-Terminal-Female-Connector-Insulation/dp/B01KEU41WI


And using some leather material I had.

[soggybag]

What's going on here? Looks like you've got the switch in the center, if the pots are at the top, then the jacks are at the bottom?

[Kevin Mitchell]

What's going on here? Looks like you've got the switch in the center, if the pots are at the top, then the jacks are at the bottom?

More like, pots on the left, switch & I/O on the right and power through the back.
Horizontal on the pedalboard - like some zvex stuff.

[drdn0]

What's going on here? Looks like you've got the switch in the center, if the pots are at the top, then the jacks are at the bottom?

Correct.

Actually works surprisingly well and fits very easily on most pedalboards.

When I was originally designing the PCBs I couldn't find decent jacks I could fit horizontally so went bottom, and it worked fine so I kept doing it.

Done well over a hundred pedals between sales and building workshops, and no issues once people get over the original WTF

[Christoper]

One tip I have that most of you have probably at least noticed, but maybe not put to words:

Designing the best pedal for yourself is not necessarily the same as designing the best pedal to sell. When making a pedal for yourself you are trying to get the best possible sound for your needs through your rigs and with your playing style. When you are designing a pedal to sell you want it to sound good sure, but you must shift your focus towards making your pedal passable to a wide variety of different setups and applications. If you are putting a pedal to market, you have to learn to make compromises and you MUST test it out with a wide variety of instruments into multiple different signal chains.

As for secret sauce, I don't know. But I do use IR LEDs to bridge the forward voltage gap between silicon and "normal" LEDs.

[soggybag]

My current best practices are:
- Have PCBs manufactured. These are so much more reliable, the cost is pretty cheap these days, starting at $25 for 10, it gets cheaper if gang orders together. You can fit more on to a board and design a more sophisticated board. Considering the time it takes to etch and drill a single layer board the cost is not an issue.
- Design boards with the pots and LED mounted to the board. This makes assembly a breeze, it's more reliable, you don't have wires all over, and the PCB has a solid place to mount.
- Use a standard arrangement for off board wiring. I use the same arrangement on all of my boards: In, GND, LED+, Out, and two extra Ground connections for the input and output jack. I never have to consult documentation, since all of the boards are the same, the arrangement makes wiring the switch easy, it matches the 3PDT switch board I made so I can use a ribbon cable.
- Use the same reverse polarity protection scheme for everything. I use a 1N5817 diode in series with power.