What is your least favorite part of building?

[paulyy]

Wiring and drilling the pcb.

[deadastronaut]

cutting pcb,

drilling pcb

populating pcb

wiring

drilling

feeding the cat halfway through

finishing

putting those 4 screws in

turning it on..

turning it off

tidying up...

pouring a whiskey or 2..

why the hell do i put myself through this hellish nighmare!!!...

[FunkyGibbon]

SANDING!

(It's in capitals because I AM shouting it!)

Christopher

[bukas]

searching for right parts

[jmwreck]

for me, it's drilling since I lived in an apartment and maybe my neighbors will complain, I don't like it when I'm wiring, it means it's almost done, anxiousness and excitement can jinx sometimes. 

[deadastronaut]

^ true, that last dash to the finish has to be reigned in sometimes...

[amptramp]

Debugging:

Where did that hum come from?  I'm using regulators and there's no hum going stright from guitar to amp.

Is that a red band or an orange band on that resistor?

Something is squealing when I turn the gain up more than half way.

The tone control doesn't do anything.

A control works one day but not the next.

Why can I wiggle that supposedly soldered wire?

[timd]

Graphics. I suck at the graphics. I'v actually resolved to just leaving everything unmarked and popping a "brand" sticker with my logo and name of the effect on it. Screw decals and screen printing...

Actually on the subject - What's the preferred method to securing circuit boards? I'v usually just left them free floating and attatching some nice foam padding to the underside and fastening it to where it's secure in place, but not in harms way of grounding to anything...Debating just getting a mass amount of silicone and filling up the empty space in there with calking haha!

Do you worry about wires coming loose on a free floating board if the pedal is tossed around a bit? The silicone mass thing is great. I've often thought about something similar. Something easy that you could just glop on there or spray. This would also help with the weight of the pedal as DIY builds on average seem to be lighter than commercial stuff.

[rutabaga bob]

@Eric.nail: Some folks use velcro, some hot glue, some self-adhesive standoffs, some use jb weld to attach screws inside the enclosure.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Painting the enclosure or whatever... hate it! 

+1 GAZILLION!!! Hate...Hate...Hate!!!

[rousejeremy]

LEDs. Hate doing them.

Yup. I don't even include them on pedals I build for myself. I can tell when it's on, but customers can't for some reason.

[Keppy]

cutting pcb,

drilling pcb

populating pcb

wiring

drilling

feeding the cat halfway through

finishing

putting those 4 screws in

turning it on..

turning it off

tidying up...

pouring a whiskey or 2..

why the hell do i put myself through this hellish nighmare!!!...

So you only like etching the PCB?

[markeebee]

Graphics. I suck at the graphics. I'v actually resolved to just leaving everything unmarked and popping a "brand" sticker with my logo and name of the effect on it. Screw decals and screen printing...

Actually on the subject - What's the preferred method to securing circuit boards? I'v usually just left them free floating and attatching some nice foam padding to the underside and fastening it to where it's secure in place, but not in harms way of grounding to anything...Debating just getting a mass amount of silicone and filling up the empty space in there with calking haha!

Do you worry about wires coming loose on a free floating board if the pedal is tossed around a bit? The silicone mass thing is great. I've often thought about something similar. Something easy that you could just glop on there or spray. This would also help with the weight of the pedal as DIY builds on average seem to be lighter than commercial stuff.

I noticed this in the local DIY store.  Looks just the ticket:
http://sugru.com/

[Jdansti]

I once told the luthier at my local mom and pop music store that I build stompboxes and he said, "Man, what a pain in the ass!" 

[Paul Marossy]

Building 25, 30 or 50 of the same thing at a time...

[davent]

Graphics. I suck at the graphics. I'v actually resolved to just leaving everything unmarked and popping a "brand" sticker with my logo and name of the effect on it. Screw decals and screen printing...

Actually on the subject - What's the preferred method to securing circuit boards? I'v usually just left them free floating and attatching some nice foam padding to the underside and fastening it to where it's secure in place, but not in harms way of grounding to anything...Debating just getting a mass amount of silicone and filling up the empty space in there with calking haha!

Be done with it and pump in  expanding foam.

I sometimes epoxy aluminum standoffs to the enclosure and attach the pcb to those.

dave

[GGBB]

not being able to walk the next day

Ah!  It's not just me then!  

Other than doing the layouts, everything is equally a pain - especially painting - and cutting pot shafts.

[Hemmel]

(...) and cutting pot shafts.

Aaaaugh those frikkin little thingies you have to cut off pots !!!! Why do they put those ? I've only had to do about 10, and haven't even finished my first pedal, and I'm already annoyed !!!

[Mike Burgundy]

Not having the time/energy to.
Not trying to be funny or anything...for real. 
The other end of that medallion is a good one, so I'm still happy.

[timd]

Not having the time/energy to.

+1