Stuff to Buy in Bulk

[Cozybuilder]

THRobinson-
The fuzz you asked about has a PCB available for $4.95 from GuitarPCB, run by one of our members (Barry Steindel). I've bought half a dozen of his boards, they are excellent quality. This board is the "Great Balls of Fuzz", based on Color Sound's One Knob Fuzz. The build documents show numerous other circuits that may be built on this PCB.
See this:
http://www.guitarpcb.com/apps/webstore/search?utf8=✓&sort=alpha&query=gbof

Any idea what DIY Schematic name this would be under?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvtq4Fw3bX0&feature=youtu.be

[yanng45]

> "64 values 1280pcs 1 ohm - 10M ohm 1/4W Metal Film Resistors  Assortment Kit" on eBay for under $6CAD

It's less than lunch. 20 each of every 1.26X value means you won't quickly run out of, say, 56K. When you see any tape is down to half length, order more of whatever values you are using.

Yes, you will die with 19 pieces of 9.1Meg un-used. (You used one the day you ran out of 10Meg; often no difference.) You may never touch the 1.2 Ohm. At a half-cent each, not the worst investment you'll ever make.

I did that for most passive component when i was getting started, ordered them in bulk from Aliexpress. At first i found those helpful graphs (http://diy-fever.com/misc/value-statistics/) and proceeded to compare them to a few schematics of effects i wanted to build, it was pretty spot on but i quickly noticed that for many effects you would need some more "exotic" values. That's where those large kits are great, you have a bit of everything to start.

[EBK]

I'd say get every resistor value in the E12 series from 100-ohm to 10M (get them as 1/4W, 1% tolerance metal film, of course).  And, for more exotic values, buy them as needed, or if you can fit series/parallel combinations in your builds instead, get an app that quickly gives you the closest two-resistor combo to the value you need.  I use ElectroDroid for that.

[THRobinson]

Well I picked 4 pedals to build, listed all the parts out, went through and ordered about 480 items... which sounds like a lot but resistors were so cheap and ordered in multiples of 10 so added up.

I couldn't tell looking at the diagrams, what switches or jacks to buy though...

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.ca/2012/10/colorsound-one-knob-fuzz.html

For example... shows input, I assume mono 1/4" but when I searched for photos of DIY pedals, some were some weren't. On Tayda I ended up grabbing ones based on price/reviews and was in stock.

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/hardware/6-35mm-1-4-plugs-jacks/6-35mm-1-4-stereo-phone-jack.html

Same as the foot switch, couldn't find anything in the diagram indicating SPST, which is on the homepage as a top seller so thought that but said momentary switch... also looked at DIY photos and took a guess and bought 3PDT switches. Even looking at the 1-Knob Fuzz kit on Tayda, no switch was in the parts list.

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/3pdt-stomp-foot-pedal-switch.html

Let me know if that's totally wrong, if still 15% off I can buy some more stuff that's correct.

Those diagrams/schemetics look good, but, not noobie friendly since again, seems to miss showing jacks and switches. A no-brainer I'm sure if you've built a few, but can't assume everyone has. 


Oh ya, also bough "64 values 1280pcs 1 ohm - 10M ohm 1/4W Metal Film Resistors  Assortment Kit" off eBay for $5.75... but ETA is like Sept 6 - Oct 18, so... ya, be a while to get those.

[deadastronaut]

whiskey, coffee...in that order. 

[Cozybuilder]

whiskey, coffee...in that order. 

You mis-spelled hors d'oeuvres, agree with whiskey first   

[bluebunny]

seems to miss showing jacks and switches

There are many ways to skin a rabbit <shudder> so these are often left out; the builder then employs his or her favourite wiring scheme.  For instance, I always use scheme #5 (or sometimes #3) from the famous Tonepad wiring document.

[THRobinson]

seems to miss showing jacks and switches

...the builder then employs his or her favourite wiring scheme....

Exactly my point... not friendly for beginners, because beginners don't have a favourite scheme.

[bluebunny]

Fair point.  Try #5 above.  You soon will.     (IMHO, of course.)

[THRobinson]

Tayda is pretty darn fast!

Maybe 12h after I made an order of over 450 pieces, it was shipped.

ETA is tomorrow... but shipped by DHL. Got a call saying $28CAD duty fees... checked the Canadian Gov't website to calculate how much the fee's should be, $13CAD. Had that the last 2 times stuff can through DHL.

[davepedals]

I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of tayda stuff is stocked in their USA warehouse , as I have never waited more than seven days to receive an order.

[deadastronaut]

THrobinson.... never use DHL.

we had this discussion a little while back,

i did an A/B test with the same order ( using cheapest postage, and using DHL.).

cheapest postage didnt take much longer, and no duty charged..

DHL wanted 37 quid for duty....

lesson learned. 

[THRobinson]

Ya... had DHL in the past and try to avoid them like the plague, however, at checkout, I only had 2 options and the other shipping was longer and almost double the cost.

Though, had I known I'd be hit with duty fees... and not sure why, shows origin as Bangkok and never had duty from there before.

[bluebunny]

Duty is dependent on where you are, not the sender.  It's levied by your government.  But in any case, I'm ultra-surprised that the regular postal charge was higher than DHL!

[THRobinson]

Duty is dependent on where you are, not the sender.  It's levied by your government.  But in any case, I'm ultra-surprised that the regular postal charge was higher than DHL!

Yes, I understand it's based on where I am located, and where the package is coming from (plus value of items shipped, type of items, manufacture origin, etc)... but, as I mentioned in my previous message, I've had stuff come in from Bangkok/Thailand before, never been hit with duty. That's why I wasn't expecting it.

Got a very brief, borderline rude, call from DHL... some lady just called, said a package is coming and $28 is owed in duty then hung up soon as I tried to ask about it. Didn't even wait for a response. Didn't even check if she had the correct phone number.

At that time, checked the gov't site for calculating duty, less than half the amount DHL is charging. 

I guess basically, pay more for the slower shipping method, and save in the long run. Takes a week longer but, I'm not in that much of a rush.

[suryabeep]

Not sure what's up with DHL in all of your areas, but my last order with Tayda was some 300 pieces. DHL to Socal was cheaper than regular postage, no import duties, got here in 2 days.

[Zilla]

All of my tayda orders ship out of thailand and usually take about 15 business days to arrive via canada post.

I've only once been charged duty on a Canada Post shipment.  I've had stuff shipped via DHL once or twice because i needed the parts asap and as expected i was bent over with brokerage fees and "duties"

I wish Tayda would ship to canada from the US warehouse and not Thailand.  that just doesn't make any sense.

[THRobinson]

Ya, especially since the tracking for DHL shows that before going into Canada, it arrived in Cincinnati first anyways.

If passing through the USA first anyways, just ship from the USA if they have a warehouse there anyways.

Still impressed by the speed. Having dealt with eBay China/HK stuff taking 4-6 weeks, or sometimes never arriving at all. Amazon.ca is the same now too... half the sellers are no longer in N.America. Last year ordered a few things end of October for part of an Xmas gift, arrived first week of February. By then I had a refund, but already spent more on a replacement. 

[davent]

Ya... had DHL in the past and try to avoid them like the plague, however, at checkout, I only had 2 options and the other shipping was longer and almost double the cost.

Though, had I known I'd be hit with duty fees... and not sure why, shows origin as Bangkok and never had duty from there before.

Do DHL always forewarn you when ransom is going to be required?

I'm awaiting part of an Amazon order that after the fact i was notified was coming from Thailand by DHL.

dave

[THRobinson]

Nope... in fact, I emailed and asked them how much duty 'should' there be and the reply was that they deal with many countries, please contact DHL.

I think there was about $14 worth of a handling/processing fee, on top of the duty. Which to me, makes no sense... shouldn't the handling/processing be a part of the shipping fee paid?