LED... No worky! Rangemaster clone.

[smallbearelec]

Any words of advice before I start etching?

I see that RS finally got rid of the awful kit that they used to sell for this purpose. The material they give you can be made to work, though you will have to figure out how to lay down your pattern on the copper. This article:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/HowTos/DirectPCBoards/DirectPCBoards.htm

shows how I did it in the section on Layout using Dry Transfers. It's doable, but kind of a PITA. Most people use some form of direct-to-copper transfer, like Press 'N Peel film. The article also shows how to cut PCB stock to size, which you'll need to do. If you need If you need other tools or materials, check out my Stock List:

http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/StoreFront

I'm cheaper than RS for most of what you want, usually better quality, and you'll get knowledgeable help with shopping and sometimes construction.

[rydog2223]

Hey thanks!!! Will do;) I've been buying all my decal stock from you for my pedal designs. So I am defiantly happy with your business thus far. I've cut the board. Drew up a plan. Measured.... Just checking my P's and Q's before I go nuts. I will use my Dremel for cutting, sanding and drilling. Starting small before I get to multiple IC boards;) thanks again!!!

[Magnus]

Hello,
I am working with the "toner-transfer"-method.

I use an iron to apply the (toner-)printed layout to the copper-side of the pcb
and I use ammonium-persulfate to do the etching-process...

You need some patience with pcb-etching,
mostly the first try is not successfull or not as good as expected...

Good luck!


Greetings
Magnus

[rydog2223]

Hello,
I am working with the "toner-transfer"-method.

I use an iron to apply the (toner-)printed layout to the copper-side of the pcb
and I use ammonium-persulfate to do the etching-process...

You need some patience with pcb-etching,
mostly the first try is not successfull or not as good as expected...

Good luck!


Greetings
Magnus

Awesome! Thanks so much for all the help! I owe ya one. BTW.... Built another  and the LED works perfectly. Thanks!!!!

[Magnus]

Hello,
no problem

Your other build with led works - great!!!  

I have soldered my third Rangemaster this evening
and I will put in the transistor and make the test tomorrow  


Greetings
Magnus

[rydog2223]

Hello,
no problem

Your other build with led works - great!!!  

I have soldered my third Rangemaster this evening
and I will put in the transistor and make the test tomorrow  


Greetings
Magnus

It does! Thanks again. Awesome on the builds! It's Range Master crazy! Just got my kit from Pigeon today. I gotta figure out how wire up a LED or even a bulb to the DPDT switch. This is the one going in the vintage correct enclosure. I gotta look at your pics again!

[smallbearelec]

I gotta figure out how wire up a LED or even a bulb to the DPDT switch.

If you like the RM (and what is not to like!), please consider building an Oh My Darlington:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/OhMyDarling/OhMyDarling.htm

It can be done fairly cheaply if you paint the enclosure yourself and hand-wire on perf, and my design eliminates numerous problems with the original. The OMD is negative-ground, has a battery door and a faux-variable input cap to adjust the tone. If you go with using Molex connectors for the off-board wiring as I did, the likelihood of mistakes goes down A lot. I just heard from a guy who bought one fully-assembled, and he's more than happy.

[rydog2223]

I gotta figure out how wire up a LED or even a bulb to the DPDT switch.

If you like the RM (and what is not to like!), please consider building an Oh My Darlington:

https://www.smallbearelec.com/Projects/OhMyDarling/OhMyDarling.htm

It can be done fairly cheaply if you paint the enclosure yourself and hand-wire on perf, and my design eliminates numerous problems with the original. The OMD is negative-ground, has a battery door and a faux-variable input cap to adjust the tone. If you go with using Molex connectors for the off-board wiring as I did, the likelihood of mistakes goes down A lot. I just heard from a guy who bought one fully-assembled, and he's more than happy.

Awesome! I will do that indeed. Looks very interesting. Just finished up the Pigeon FX RM. Very nice. Hey two questions....

1. Do you have a email that I can contact you through?

2. Do you or anyone else know of the face plate or overlay that I can put on my clone. At least to label on/off, input, etc....?

Thanks so much!:)

[smallbearelec]

1. Do you have a email that I can contact you through?

I'm at smallbearelec@ix.netcom.com

2. Do you or anyone else know of the face plate or overlay that I can put on my clone. At least to label on/off, input, etc....?

You already know how to use decal stock, right? That's how I would go about creating a faceplate.

[Magnus]

Hello,
I would not install a led to your vintage-style-build from pigeon,
maybe its possible with a dpdt but the original doesn't have an led.
The battery will last very long without an led in the Rangemaster-circuit.

I wired my Rangemaster in the big authentic enclousure with true-bypass,
thats what I have used the DPDT-switch for...
I used a nice brown phenolic-board, printed my layout as a template,
drilled holes in it and soldered the components directly under the board.
So its build "point to point" without etching.
Here's my layout (without led but with true-bypass, positive-ground):
http://forum.musikding.de/cpg/albums/userpics/17258/MOJO-Rangemaster.jpg

The small Rangemaster-Layout at the beginning of this thread
is a negative-ground-version, so theres no problem with daisy-chaining it with other pedals
and if you use a dc-jack (like we both did) theres no problem with a battery-power-sucking led  
I installed "low-current" led's in my two small (type-b-enclousure-) Rangemaster-builds,
just in case if I have to take the pedal with me and have to use a battery...

The "Oh My Darlington" seems to be very interesting!
I have read this article some years ago, maybe I will build it in future
but at the moment there are still too much pedals waiting for their enclousures  

For a decal-design take a look at this thread,
there is a design you can customize for your taste...
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=77025.0
...and the thread itself is interesting to read too  

What capacitor did you order with the pigeon-kit?
The Hunts-capacitor is the more interesting one because its a rare part.
The Styroflex is a good capacitor too but nothing special and still manufactured.
I have some Hunts-capacitors here but they all have much too high tolerance in capacity.
If you have ordered the Hunts-capacitor with your kit it would be interesting to know
what capacity it really has - maybe you can measure it with a multimeter?

If you already have build the kit and would like to measure the capacitor
you just have to desolder one connection of the capacitor
to get it out of the circuit - then you can measure it...

Its always a good deal to select those parts with higher tolerance with a multimeter  


Greetings
Magnus

[rydog2223]

Cool thanks my man! Yeah... After looking at the original designs I see they did not have a LED. For some reason I was thinking that they did.... Thanks for the info on the graphics! Oh and mine came with the Styroflex caps. I have a few in stock as well. I have to check and see what values they are again. Thanks again for all the info!!

[Magnus]

Hello,
I finished my Rangemaster some days ago, sounds really nice

...and today I made pictures of it, here's a link to the gallery:
http://forum.musikding.de/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=611&page=1&sort=pa

...and I posted it in the picture-thread here in the forum:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=36392.23260


Greetings
Magnus

[rydog2223]

Hello,
I finished my Rangemaster some days ago, sounds really nice

...and today I made pictures of it, here's a link to the gallery:
http://forum.musikding.de/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=611&page=1&sort=pa

...and I posted it in the picture-thread here in the forum:
http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=36392.23260


Greetings
Magnus

Awesome! This actually helps a lot! I am working on another perf build and etched a board as well. Funny because the one I am working on at the moment is the black glass OC44 type. For some reason the perf build is giving me grief. I decided to go with the two mono jacks. I'm thinking it may be the switch. It was a older one I had that has had some heat put on it a time or two. I love the overlays as well!!

[Magnus]

Hello,
thank you  

Perfboard is always a challenge, even if you have done it several times,
you always have to mirror up- and downside of the pcb in mind or print a template...
...and it sucks more solder - reasons why I don't do it anymore.

The OC44 is a real good sounding transistor if you have one with good hFe/low leakage
but the OC71 has its own nice charakter too, I don't know which one I like more but hey - now I've got 'em all  

Yes, two mono-jacks are the best way if you don't need a battery...

Damaged switch, too much heat - thats possible...
You can measure the switch with a multimeter - just use the signal checker for the connections.


Greetings
Magnus

[rydog2223]

Hello,
thank you  

Perfboard is always a challenge, even if you have done it several times,
you always have to mirror up- and downside of the pcb in mind or print a template...
...and it sucks more solder - reasons why I don't do it anymore.

The OC44 is a real good sounding transistor if you have one with good hFe/low leakage
but the OC71 has its own nice charakter too, I don't know which one I like more but hey - now I've got 'em all  

Yes, two mono-jacks are the best way if you don't need a battery...

Damaged switch, too much heat - thats possible...
You can measure the switch with a multimeter - just use the signal checker for the connections.


Greetings
Magnus

Thanks man! Yeah it seems to trace just fine.... One thing. I do jump the + of C6 to the base of R2, right? Thanks so much!!

[Magnus]

Hello,
on the layout the quarter on the right side of the electrolytic C6 marks its positive (+) side,
from there it goes one hole up than to the left side till theres a thin blue line - yes this is a solder bridge to R2 / R1

I soldered this bridge under the pcb with solid wire which I isolated with some heatshrink, man - this was really difficult  
...you can use simple stranded wire to bridge it - just a small noose (that the isolation does not melt) will do it


Greetings
Magnus

[rydog2223]

Hello,
on the layout the quarter on the right side of the electrolytic C6 marks its positive (+) side,
from there it goes one hole up than to the left side till theres a thin blue line - yes this is a solder bridge to R2 / R1

I soldered this bridge under the pcb with solid wire which I isolated with some heatshrink, man - this was really difficult  
...you can use simple stranded wire to bridge it - just a small noose (that the isolation does not melt) will do it


Greetings
Magnus

You rock!! Thank you

[rydog2223]

Magnus.... I will now attempt to use your Colorsound One Knob Fuzz diagram. Any pointers when it comes to this guy? I've built a couple of Meathead clones so I am guessing kind of the same concept. Thanks again for all the help!!

[Magnus]

Hello Ryan,
I could not send you a private message at diystompboxes
to answer your questions you asked in your pn - there appers an error message - really annoying!

So I will answer here in this thread:

Sorry, I don't have images of the finished pedal because I have just wired
the pcb out of the box some weeks ago and I still have to finish the box.

But the layout is verified and it works perfect...

Maybe your transistors have a too less hFe.
You can try 2N5088 for sure, any npn-transistor would be a choice for it...

My transistor-setup is the following (based on the original pedal):
Q1 - BC109C, hfe = 580
Q2 - BC108A, hFe = 200

The first transistor has a higher hFe than the second.

Good luck!


Greetings
Magnus

[rydog2223]

Hello Ryan,
I could not send you a private message at diystompboxes
to answer your questions you asked in your pn - there appers an error message - really annoying!

So I will answer here in this thread:

Sorry, I don't have images of the finished pedal because I have just wired
the pcb out of the box some weeks ago and I still have to finish the box.

But the layout is verified and it works perfect...

Maybe your transistors have a too less hFe.
You can try 2N5088 for sure, any npn-transistor would be a choice for it...

My transistor-setup is the following (based on the original pedal):
Q1 - BC109C, hfe = 580
Q2 - BC108A, hFe = 200

The first transistor has a higher hFe than the second.

Good luck!


Greetings
Magnus

Thanks Magnus!! I replied via email and it looks like I have a PM from you as well. Thanks again!!!