shop and tool tips & tricks

[boogietone]

I've found that stiff cardboard works well for a wiring jig too.

A trick I see in your photos is using clear plastic packaging as insulator material.  You can see it under the PCB in this photo:

I have gotten in the habit of cutting off any largish, flat pieces of the hard, clear plastic that most items come packaged in. It is such a pain to get the item out of that I want something extra for my effort.

[Magnus]

Hello,
here are some of my "tools":

Little wire-box:


Transistor-adapter for trying transistors out of the enclosure while using the pedal:


Geofex Leakage and hFe-checker:



Greetings
Magnus

[deadastronaut]

^ nifty tranny cable..


my cap and resistor sub boxes...i just couldn't get by without these now for breadboarding...must have tools imo.

they are a bit ratty now after 4 years or so...but i know the values , i should upgrade and etch a couple of boxes for them really...hmmmm one day maybe..

[Ben N]

Using an endoscope, Dave--now THAT'S anal.

Also, vices may have a grip on my soul, but for DIY, I prefer a vise.

Edit: I am now given to understand that the "vise" spelling of the word for the gripping tool is more or less uniquely American. (http://grammarist.com/spelling/vice-vise/) Apologies and condolences to the rest of you, who must consider the moral dimension of holding your pad-per-hole, vero or pcb still while soldering.

[Buzz]

Rob... What have you got in those boxes?

I assume rotary switches with resistors / caps selectable. Breadboard pins for in / out.

Did you make a pcb or can you just solder the components to the lugs?

This has just gone to the top of my 'must have' bench equipment list.

[CodeMonk]

I've been wanting to do something like Rob did for years, but never got around to it

I built one of these a few years ago.
It's a cap selector switch, 2P6T:


Here the trace layout if you wanna make one, PCB mounts right on the switch (I got that particular switch from Ratshack) :

[deadastronaut]

Rob... What have you got in those boxes?

I assume rotary switches with resistors / caps selectable. Breadboard pins for in / out.

Did you make a pcb or can you just solder the components to the lugs?

This has just gone to the top of my 'must have' bench equipment list.

similar to what codemonk did, but i did it the other way around...which is probably the most illogical knowing me but hey it works right....

no pcb, 2 rotary switches, with a toggle from one rotary to the other...various values....2 wires coming out.

they come in handy for instantly swapping bits, without raiding your drawers having to look for stuff....nifty for quick LP/HP tone control stuff too...

even handy for testing led brightness instantly too...or starving the butt out of trannies..  

[Buzz]

Thanks, that's pretty much how I envisioned it.

Sure beats swapping out caps on the BB.

For resistor values I think need tweaking I usually bung in a trimpot and measure the resistance after.

Rob's box seems like a superior method on this front, too.

[deadastronaut]

yeah man, build em, you'll never look back... i made sure i used ''common'' values...if i need something in between i put my box in series with it etc...

i just used some plastic boxes i had, but one day i'll put them into metal boxes just to pretty them up, and etch the graphics to save me having to re-draw on em every six months

[CodeMonk]

yeah man, build em, you'll never look back... i made sure i used ''common'' values...if i need something in between i put my box in series with it etc...

i just used some plastic boxes i had, but one day i'll put them into metal boxes just to pretty them up, and etch the graphics to save me having to re-draw on em every six months

Next time just write the text on labels and cover those with clear fingernail polish.
(If you draw right on the box, the ink tends to dissolve unless you do it REALLY carefully).

[deadastronaut]

i'll get mrs astro on the case...she has stickers at work.

[Buzz]

i just used some plastic boxes i had, but one day i'll put them into metal boxes just to pretty them up, and etch the graphics to save me having to re-draw on em every six months

Don't do it! You'll lose the mad scientist vibe. My favourite bench gear is all cobbled together from crap I mean found materials

[vigilante397]

Hello,
here are some of my "tools":

Little wire-box:

LOVE the wire box. Add that to my list of "I should really start doing that." 

[armdnrdy]

Well...since everyone is showing off their goods....here's a resistance substitution box that I made. It also incorporates a pot for each resistance scale so you can dial in between resistances that aren't included on the rotary selector. I made a capacitor substation box as well. As Rob said...invaluable tools!

[deadastronaut]

+1 neato!..

slidey switch too..

[armdnrdy]

+1 neato!..

slidey switch too..

Board mounted everything except for the binding posts.

Rob,
How does the small 10pf work out? I started at 100pf because I thought that the leads running from the box to the breadboard would add enough capacitance that a small cap wouldn't be accurate anyway. Maybe I was wrong. 

[deadastronaut]

i think you were probably right...

i shouldv'e started 47/100,   but they were made  a long time ago when i first launched into audio orbit....

[armdnrdy]

i think you were probably right...

i shouldv'e started 47/100,   but they were made  a long time ago when i first launched into audio orbit....

It was just a thought that I had when I was planning the build. I have no way to verify it. My only "tool" for capacitance measurements is my Fluke 87 multimeter but...it doesn't measure small capacitances.

I've been wanting to get one of those capacitance meter kits like John (Jdansti) posted a month or so ago so I can measure the little guys.

[smurfedelic smurfberry]

My testing station



Sorry for the blur, but it's a lab power supply, connected to an amz power box so i have both 18v and 9v available. to a breadboard with in and out jacks on a plexiglass board with rubber feet.

and i still use this sometimes:

[davent]

Using an endoscope, Dave--now THAT'S anal.

Also, vices may have a grip on my soul, but for DIY, I prefer a vise.

Edit: I am now given to understand that the "vise" spelling of the word for the gripping tool is more or less uniquely American. (http://grammarist.com/spelling/vice-vise/) Apologies and condolences to the rest of you, who must consider the moral dimension of holding your pad-per-hole, vero or pcb still while soldering.

Totally anal.

And i blew it, if i'd paid attention that contraption would have been a vise, the convention up here as well as far as i know.

Decade counter resister box in progress.
Ordered a bunch of these switches for China to build decade boxes but they sent two types, the ones on the left  add things in series they were what  i needed and they sent half that add in parallel. Using the series for resistor box and the parallels for a few capacitor boxes. All wired up but yet to be boxed.

Got some more the correct ones from Adafruit at a decent price and they have a larger version of the switch as well. An eight stack fit's nicely in a 1590a. Chromesphere has instructions for building one these.





Plan is to put these in individual boxes.



LED CLR determiner, from 510r - 18k2. Mark Hammer idea.




Geofex GE Tester with adjustable voltage  regulator.



Ge Auditioner based on one stage of mac's Christmas fuzz. Listen for noisy devices and check voltages with the typical component values.


Someday i amy build a pedal.
dave