How many times have you rebuilt the same box.

[burnt fingers]

I thought I'd post this hoping to get piece of mind. 

My Modded tube reamer started acting up tonight and I ended up pulling it out of the box (again).

When i first made it, it worked right of the bat.  I sockited a lot of stuff so I could play around.  Once I decided on the changes I stuck everything on the board. 

I was pretty happy but I wanted a tone control, so I added a simple one, 25k pot to .047 cap to ground. Now it's done.

Then I wanted a little more flexibility, so I pulled it apart again and I big muff tone control.  Now it's done.

Well now  the output is a little low, so I decide to use the Jfet output for one of the Shaka braddahs. 

Now its done.  Sounds great, boxed up and good to go.  Of course the board is a mess by this point because I've soldered, unsoldered, replaced and moved all sorts of stuff.

So here I am a month later, happy as can be with this thing when all of a sudded,  cracking, gating, fuzzy nonsene.  So i crack it open and just can't identify what's wrong.  I pull it out of the box and then think, Do I really want to do this again. 

Should I just trash the thing and start from scratch?  If anyone else has had this experience please let me know so I don't feel like such a DIY loser. 

Scott

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

What kind of crackling is it?
If it is actually a bad joint (yeah, sometmes a joint that wasn't too good goes obviously bad later) then maybe you can locte it by tapping components in various places, twisting the board, using an audio probe etc.

Personally, if it was perf or stripboard, I'd build another one, but keep the old one. Because, you will (if all goes well) then have a good one to compare voltages.

Personally, I find the commonest source of crackles are crap pots, for what it's worth.

[burnt fingers]

Paul, I think you are right that maybe one of my joints was a little weak.  It is perfboard so maybe I will just start over.  I am going to keep the old one( for now ) because I haven't actually drawn a Schmatic for it yet.

Thanks for the advice.

Scott

[MartyMart]

"Crap pots" ..... don't even go there !!
I must be "Mr pot breaker" as I seem to have about 1 in every 4 go bad !
The best ones have been Alpha's from Smallbear.
I just bought a bunch of 24mm "citec's" from RS components and so far every one has "cut out"
issues ..... ggrrrr 
They have plastic shafts and "leak" their lubrication gunge all over the place !

MM

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Marty, you aren't overheating the pots are you? I had trouble with some switches once, and it was overheating (was OK when I took care to clean & pretin the lugs, so solderign went much quicker & te internal lube didn't melt onto the contacts.. at least that's what I suspect happened.)
Citecs from RS should be OK (that's Radio Spares, not Radio Shack, right?)

[MartyMart]

Marty, you aren't overheating the pots are you? I had trouble with some switches once, and it was overheating (was OK when I took care to clean & pretin the lugs, so solderign went much quicker & te internal lube didn't melt onto the contacts.. at least that's what I suspect happened.)
Citecs from RS should be OK (that's Radio Spares, not Radio Shack, right?)

Yeah, Radio Spares ... I dont get it, I'm on and off the pots in max 5 seconds !!
Any less and the solder flow isn't good enough ...
I just seem to be unlucky with them, or I need better pots ?
So far, from about 40/50 from steve, only 2 have been "dodgy"

MM

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Well, I don't know what could be wrong with the pots. I guess you could try CRIMPING the wires to them! then you would know for sure it wasn't a heat problem.

[MartyMart]

Well, I don't know what could be wrong with the pots. I guess you could try CRIMPING the wires to them! then you would know for sure it wasn't a heat problem.

You mean crimping tiny spade connections to tinned wire and just "pushing" onto the pot lug ? ( PCB Lugs )

That's a great idea !

BTW I use a well tinned 25 watt iron, with nice tips ..

MM.