Typical DIY Build Process

[Jdansti]

Welcome! Based on my experience, and as mentioned above, bread boarding is an excellent way to see how the connection and function of components relate to the schematic. The next step in my opinion is to go from the breadboard to perf. Perfing is similar to bread boarding in that both are nearly 3D copies of the schematic layout (similar to PRR's suggestion of using a printout of the schematic as your layout platform). From there, you can learn to create your own PCB and Vero layouts.  Best wishes in your new hobby! 

As a side note, after all of these years of belonging to this forum, I continue to be amazed at the volume, quality, and friendliness of the help from forum members. You definitely came to the right place!

[bluewaterpig]

Ok, so resistors...metal film, 1/4 watt, 1% tolerance...got it.

On to capacitors. On my parts list, it specifies what type along with the value, but for the film caps, I'm seeing a choice of buying high-voltage film, low-voltage film, old-stock film, and then a bunch of different brands within each of those.

What are the general guidelines for selecting capacitors?

[Kipper4]

I'll chip in here. Welcome Bluewaterpig.
Capacitor or caps as theyre commonly know around these parts.
Firstly i'm guessing like most of use you will be using a 9v power supply to power your circuits at least for a start.
So I mostly keep a stock of caps rated at 10v min. max 25v
common values in radial cap stock box
1uf, 2.2uf, 4.7uf, 10uf, 47uf, 100uf
films and greenies 1nf to 1uf
ceramics 10pf to 47nf all rated at 50v
I dont bother with new old stock. because capacitors have a finite life and buying already old caps seems like i might be buying trouble. Some swear by them for "mojo" effects. I'm not that guy beside i cant hear the differance enough to pay mojo cap prices.

Probably a good idea to invest in some storage containers while your about amassing parts.
Cardboard boxs and bags will be a good start
Have fun

[bluewaterpig]

Thanks Kipper.

I'm getting pretty overwhelmed here to be honest. My parts list says I need a .1mf film cap. I'm trying to find one on Bear's site. I tap low voltage film, then I have to select between BC components, Greenies, Panasonic, or Topmay, then I have choices like ECQ-B, ECQ-E, or ECQ-V, or TMC-05 or TMC-07...how can there be so many confusing elements within one freaking part?? Really makes me wanna say screw this, I'm buying a kit, but I'd really like to know what the hell all this stuff means.


I guess what I'm asking is when I go to find something as simple as a .1mf cap, what do I need to look for?

[Jdansti]

>I guess what I'm asking is when I go to find something as simple as a .1mf cap, what do I need to look for?


For stomp box film caps, the most important parameters are voltage rating, dimensions, and price. The type of film caps will not make any noticeable difference in the sound. If your project is using a 9V power supply, and/or 9V battery, make sure your caps are rated above 9V. The most common voltage rating above 9V is 16V. You could use a 35V, 63V, or any other voltage above 9V, although I wouldn't push it by using a cap rated at 10V. That's too close for comfort. 9V power supplies might deliver 10V or more, so play it safe.

As for dimensions, look at the pin spacing, height and width. You don't want a cap that takes up more room than is necessary on your board.

For general use, I prefer the Topmay TMCF07 5mm box style caps, but any that you listed are fine as long as the voltage rating is well above your power source and it fits your board.

Keep in mind that a 0.1mf cap might be listed as 0.1uf, 0.1μf, or 100nf.

[Kipper4]

Google up capacitor code sheet.
It will tell you how many pics farad in a nano farad, how many nano farad in a micro farad etc.
I know all this stuff is confusing. Trust us your on the right path.
It can take years to learn all the jargon.
And yes John makes a good point 10v power rating is a bit near the knuckle. I've become complacent. I guess partly because I used to order 10v caps early on, I mostly use 25v now.
I use a very stable power supply that I know shouldn't deliver more than 10v too.
After a while you will become familiar with it. It's worth learning just take your time and do one project at a time.
Start a thread. I intend to build such and such but I have some questions.
What do all the parts do?
I still do this sometimes even when the answers are staring me in the face and I get schooled.
Sometimes I just need confirmation I'm getting it. Sometimes I just don't get it, sometimes something else. I'm no Electrictronics Engineer. I do build pedals or small signal audio effects though and to a standard I'm happy with. This gives me enormous joy. I'm time rich ,Money poor
I ask the kids to get me the big stuff for birthdays and Christmas. Nice Meter, Solder Station, big reel of solder, and all the help I've had here has been second to none.

While your at it read plenty too.
Head on over to smallbear. Beavis audio (not sure this is still up) GeoFx .
There's some great articles for example RG Keens Technology of the fuzz face.
Even if you end up googling lots of terminology while reading you will get most of it. Because of the thoughtful way the likes of RG, Smallbear Steve,PPR and the rest of the guys word it.
Your doing ok buddy.
Edit
There's no shame in buying a kit. It will get you going. Improve your build skills, make you aware of potential pitfalls, help your debugging and learn.

[Gargaman]

My parts list says I need a .1mf film cap.

Pay atention to the values (units of measurement).
Resistance is in Ohms, capacitance is in Farads (F).
One Farad is a big value. You usually will work with values expressed in
uF (microfarad, 0,000001 F)
nF (nanofarad, 0,000000001 F)
pF (picofarad, 0,000000000001 F).
Don't bother about brands by now.
Don't bother about materials too much; for this project, Film type may be good in place of Ceramic type and vice versa. For the Aluminum Eletrolytic ones, this is not always true.
Note that these are the bigger values 33uF, 100uF, 220uF and have a positive and a negative lug wich may be respect as indicate when connecting then into the circuit. I've never used more than 220uF into pedal building (but I'm a novice )

Try to compare your bill of materials from Guitar Gadgets with another one, like Tonepad's for example. You may discover that the 220uF in your list may not be there. Why? Soon you will know. Look at the schematics, compare.
Have fun, a lot!

[Kipper4]

Heres Beavis Audio on the way back machine because beavis audio is currantly down
http://web.archive.org/web/20140814033658/http://www.beavisaudio.com/

on buying parts
http://web.archive.org/web/20140801194805/http://beavisaudio.com/techpages/BuyingParts/index.htm

[Gargaman]

Beavis Audio helped me a lot learning about wiring off-board parts and other cool tricks. Also some beautifull and illustrative figures. Can I get all of the content with this "Way Back Machine", Kipper?
Sometimes the smaller capacitors comes with nothing but a 'code' written on it, so I'm always looking to this:


or using this:
http://www.muzique.com/schem/caps.htm

[Kipper4]

Can I get all of the content with this "Way Back Machine", Kipper?

although i havent checked i believe you can mate

[slashandburn]

I can't confirm ALL pages are there in their entirety and completely up to date but way back machine hasn't failed me (yet) with beavis audio

[duck_arse]

I rekon you'd be best buying a 10-of-each-value bag of resistors from the interwebs. and a bag of ceramic caps, a bag of poly/box/green-caps, and another bag of asst electros. this will save you lots of headaches, and stock you up real good for quite a few projects to come. and there's no better way to learn about the parts than to have to sort the buggers.

when confronted with all the filters and choices on sites like mouser, sort by price, lowest first. with the correct value, this will weed out a lot of stuff you'll never need.

and, please, have a care for the poor slob picking the parts. if your list says 1 resistor, buy 10. if it says 2, buy 20. if the 20 price is more than the 100 price, buy the 100, or shop elsewhere.

[slashandburn]

I'll second that. Sorting capacitors into different tubs was a a fairly dull task but help me get my head round codes better than I could've imagined.. I still need to consult charts sometimes and get mixed up but it helped hammer home that 47n is the same as 473 (and so on) without having to stop to consider what unit of measurement I'm working with and how many 0's or decimal points I need to convert the units.

[LightSoundGeometry]

> build an effect just by looking at a schematic.

Print the schematic. Poke the part legs through the paper. Join as indicated.

It won't be minimum-size. Some parts are not as small as their symbols and you have to cheat. It may have "layout problems" (though a good schematic is often a good layout guide). It isn't very road-worthy. Hard to mount in a box. But it will work. (And does save some tennis-eye when it doesn't work and you have to compare the build to the schematic to find an error.)

> Which of these would I need?

Mouser sells resistors for EVERY purpose. 99% of their stock you would NEVER want in small electronics.

You can mess-about with electronics for decades, kinda-learn what type of parts you find in other people's work, and learn to find similar parts for your own work.

You think resistors are confusing, wait til you shop for capacitors.

Tip: stick with stores who focus on PEDALS. Bear is shy but he KNOWS what you really want and doesn't clutter his store listing with stuff you don't want. There are other pedal-parts stores. There are also guitar-amp stores but they lean to the higher-power higher-volt parts not suited to pedals. There are audiophile stores, but they have to stock a lot of exotic parts which some audiophiles think sound better for re-production. And then there is industrial, micro, military, and super-precise stuff with specs (and prices!) which are "too good" for our needs.

Until you have a good sense of what you want, shop at pedal-parts suppliers. I happen to know Small Bear's head bear, but there are several others with more or less appropriate selection and in different corners of the world.

It's like I decide to eat fish (I don't), and go to the Boston fish market. They have hundreds of kinds of fish, from $1 to $1,000 a pound, and I don't have a clue. If I go to ShopRite, they have a dozen fish, most around the same price, and this must be the fish most people really eat. If even that is overwhelming, the frozen section has two brands of the same breaded Alaskan white-fish, which is fish, and many people eat it. *After* learning my breaded/frozen, and working my way through the fish counter, *then* I may be ready to start exploring the big fish market.

that is not a bad idea at all! I remember in art class now, we learned about a painting technique where the artist traces lines with a very fine needle and the process ends up basically transferring an image from one object to another to paint or wire up !