Some pedals I've made

[Steben]

how do you keep your bench so neat?!?

If he's like me, it comes naturally. 

That's an impressive picture with all those PCBs laid out!

And those 3PDT switches...

[moosapotamus]

Wow, that is an impressive effort. Nice looking work, too. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Yeah, love the Hammerite... I even painted the trim in my kitchen with it (blue).

It seems like a hell of a lot of work for the price you're selling them for.

I'll agree with that, tho.

It's the first time I built such a large batch and I learned a lot about streamlining the procedure.

That's cool! What kinds of things did you discover that helped streamline the process the most?

Thanks
~ Charlie

[PB Wilson]

Thanks again for the kind words.

As for streamlining, I did a couple things:

I made a drilling template for the enclosures, marked the spots and drilled using a unibit. I got pretty good at counting the steps as it drilled the aluminum. I only botched one hole in the entire batch.

I used a chunk of styrofoam to hold the resistors and caps until I needed them. I counted out how many I needed of a particular value, bent the leads over a piece of wood, put them in each PCB two or three at a time and soldered them in. I could get through the PCBs pretty quickly.

I also measured out the length of wire that I needed, cut them, stripped the ends and put them into small bins according to size.

I used a couple small vises and holders to make the run of PCBs easy to solder and that was basically it.

[PB Wilson]

8Miles- I hope I didn't come off too defensive. I just want to make sure that everyone knows that I respect RGs intellectual property. I did have to mull over the ethics of making clones of a pedal that is still partially on the market though. I also am kinda proud that this project is almost finished. It was a lot of work, but pretty satisfying overall. I can't wait to hear the comments once the players get them on their boards and get fuzzy! 

[8mileshigh]

"8Miles- I hope I didn't come off too defensive"

No, that's cool, respect is what it's all about.

[moosapotamus]

Yeah, good tips.
Instead of styrofoam, I have a bunch of those little plastic dose cups that come with cough and cold medicine. One for each pedal I'm building, to hold all the components.

Aside from the other stuff you mentioned, I think the best ways to streamline the building process is with an efficient layout that minimizes off-board wiring, and having/using good tools. I also got away from using stranded wire because I found twisting and tinning to be a waste of time.

I've also considered building a sort of jig to hold all of the off-board components for easier, faster wiring. The jig would be made so that it held everything in the right position and, after you finish all of the wiring, you could take everything out of the jig and it would fit directly into the finished enclosure.

~ Charlie

[Paul Marossy]

Aside from the other stuff you mentioned, I think the best ways to streamline the building process is with an efficient layout that minimizes off-board wiring, and having/using good tools. I also got away from using stranded wire because I found twisting and tinning to be a waste of time.

I kind of like "the PCB holds everything approach. I might try that sometime. The only thing about solid core wire is that it doesn't let you move it too much, or it'll break. I do like that it stays exactly where you put it, how you put it.

I've also considered building a sort of jig to hold all of the off-board components for easier, faster wiring. The jig would be made so that it held everything in the right position and, after you finish all of the wiring, you could take everything out of the jig and it would fit directly into the finished enclosure.

That's a really good idea!