Serious Newbie/Moron...Perfboard...Quick the wife is coming!

[skeeter]

Hello to all, great site, hope I can learn...

I've been trying (about 5 times now) to make the Electra Distortion on Effectronics.

My experience: I've fixed a ton of guitars, synths, drum machines, etc...I can solder but don't really understand electronics yet and what component does what.

I've etched a PCB, it looked great, seemed to be going well, soldered everything and...didn't work. Tried it 3 more times, same thing.

Now I'm trying a perfboard for the heck of it

Anyway, really embarassing questions coming:

On a circuit board, perfboard, everything connects to each other somehow right?

2. When putting resistors, transistors, diodes, etc. in a perfboard can 2 leads go into the same hole? And if I've already soldered two leads together and later notice that a wire has to connect to that point, do I de-solder then re-solder the 3 together?

I'm just not understanding something simple, I know it...Any pictorials of perfboard connections?

Crap, the warden's coming :wink: ...THANKS!!!!

[Hal]

i would send pics of mine...but they're messy!!!

Steve has a really nice perf toutorial right here:

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/TweakO/TweakO.htm

my suggestion...if you want two things connected, place them in adjacent holes, trim the leads, and solder bridge the holes.  
but there are other ways to do it.  as long as they're connected, it doesn't really matter too much...

[Chris R]

you can look at the beginers forum too.. it has nice pictures of how you would perf up gus's npn boost.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewforum.php?f=6

Chris R

[Marcos - Munky]

Did you followed the layout with the entire wiring (pot, jacks, board and switch)? If yes, I think I know what's wrong, the switch wires are wrong. Just reverse the two green wires.

[petemoore]

Probably printed somewhere...I find looking at each node [the cross of lines sometimes with a dot centered on it] before making any connections that go to that node and plan ahead for where the parts will be able to go.
 I often times leave some component lead above the board and hook then solder to that for a connection [used sparingly]. the pads ad mechanical stability.
 Look around at all the info in FAQ and other pages...there are well texted pictorial instructionals on perfing techniques.
 Looking at the nodes all the time, and planning one or two ahead I think is a good practice.
 I used to draw them out...laying a piece of paper over perf and marking a hole pattern by rubbing pencil lead across it for a practice template...they have these at Runoff groove now that you can printout.
 Pre planning [drawing them out] a few I think helps you get the first ones 'righter' sooner...with much more than a simple project it's easy to get stuck in a crouded build that's hard to even see what's what...

[skeeter]

Thanks for the help, it's actually helping, hmmm...

The switch in the Electra diagram always confused me.

How do you tell the difference between the top and bottom, On position=top, Off=bottom?

Can't figure it out..

I'm gonna' try again tonight, I might post a photoshop picture of it to see what the heck I'm doing wrong.

really think I'm doing something very wrong but just don't know it, the image might tell

Thanks though, starting to think positive..aint' giving up!

[MAXIMUS]

the electra was my first build, and i had a few problems with what i thought were contradictions (no offense to its creator, i was wrong ) that i had to work out. we may have some of the same problems so if you need any more help, i have experience with this build. I had some of the same questions you do when i was building it :wink: . It is awesome when you first turn the thing on. Dont give up!

Oh, and yes, you can stick two leads through one hole, but what would be better is to separate them by a perf hole and twist the leads together to solder. I too had to do this when i had to convert the schematic from PCB to perf., so i guess i could post my perf layout that i used (It works), if you wanted to see it.

You can also dont need to desolder and resolder the three together, you can just solder further up the lead of the componant, if you are using the above method. (If that diddnt make sense, tell me)

Also, you should see my finished perfboard. I had to twist wires and leads together and solder them, so it looks pretty chaotic. Its lucky i diddnt have a short with all those leads sticking everywhere.  

So if you have any more questions, you can private message me or post in this thread... i'll be watching...

-regards,
Maximus

[aron]

Please check out the beginners forum as others have said.

Almost everything is applicable there.

[skeeter]

Yeah, I checked the beginners section, went to look at the build pictorial and got a bunch of pictures that won't finish loading. :?

I'll continue this in the beginners forum with the topic entitled called "Electra Problems/Newbie"


Thanks

[skeeter]

I finally got the pics, re-created the page in Dreamweaver...because they never loaded, even offline...hope this works

thanks