1 beginner 4 pedals

[bluebunny]

Solder wire is exactly what it's called.    Personally I would go for 0.7 mm.

[Mark Hammer]

Do you think if i flux and the tin the copper now it will make it difficult to place the components (maybe the tin will close the holes)?

With tin thickness I mean the solder wire (I don't know how to call it). The metal wire that melts when soldering

When I wipe a thin film of liquid flux on the board, before I tin, it only takes a small amount of solder to cover all the traces and pads.  A person would either have to use a LOT of solder, and/or drill VERY small holes, for the solder to form a "web" over the holes.  But this is one more reason why I prefer to tin the whole board first, before I drill the holes.  If there are any webs covering the bare spots where holes are supposed to go, you drill through them.  I find the critical thing is to have good lighting so you can see which pads you have and have not drilled.

One of the other reasons why I like to tin the entire board is because I can't always guarantee that the parts I have (especially capacitors) will match the spacing of the board.  If I have to drill any additional holes to accommodate different spacing, the tinning of all possible points of contact makes it easier to solder leads to unplanned points on the board.

[ghiekorg]

Hi Everyone. Yesterday the components arrived and i started to work straight away. I worked on the pedals around 12 hours without stopping

They forgot to ship me the flux, so i went without...

I started, as with etching, with the bitar:
First i rubbed it  abit with the scotch pad and i cleaned it with some acetone, then I prepared the component, labelling them.

Then i populated the board:

And then i solder the components. Things that i learned: bending the legs too much is not really the best idea; cleaning the tip often is really useful; Having a clamp is really useful; the iron is hot.

here in HD: https://i.imgur.com/Q5Vlixt.jpg
After it i went for the big components: pots, cables, jacks, etc. This part was way more frustrating... everything moves, my clamps where destroying the cables, stuff burns the fingers... So i ended up making holes in some soft wood to hold the components from moving too much. I have to also find a better solution for the LED, i found some heat-shrinking tubes, maybe next time i will use them.

I then printed the graphics i prepared on a piece of paper and i used it as guide to make the holes. The 1590A is so small i admit i went a bit random for jacks in out and DC on the sides... Then i drilled the holes:

I then prepared the decal and it took me 3 times to make it right. This thing is so thin... Then i let it dry for a couple of hours. After it i sprayed several thin layers of clear coat and i have let it dry overnight.
This morning i took it and i tried to "fill it". Here started the mayhem... The 1590A is REALLY small. I will never ever use it again. Initially something was shortening the circuit so i had to use tape everywhere to avoid it. Then i had to bend the components (really bend like 90 degrees) a lot of the components on the board in order to make them fit inside. I have closed the case something like 10 times and everytime the pedal was not working anymore when closed (LED always on, no sound when engaged, no sound at all, etc). In the end with a lot swearing and a lot of sweating i could make all fit inside.
Here is a pic of the finished job (the LED is not really centered and the footswitch washer is a bitt too big (or too small) for the graphics i prepared before...

And here is a short clip https://youtu.be/xnnfjdces18


While the case was drying i actually prepared the tentacle board and case. It's drying right now, so probably in some hours i should be able to finish that too 

Thanks everyone

[duck_arse]

it's a good looking thing. if it works, and you've screwed the back on, well, job done, who's going to know? [you are needing some soldering practise.]

[ghiekorg]

It works 😁 probably when closing the case some metal parts were getting in touch. But then I managed to fix it. Important is not opening it again 

Yes I need some practice  too many cold and not straight soldering points? I am open to critiques, I never soldered stuff like that. Actually I probably soldered 5 times in my life...

[Mark Hammer]

You can afford to clips some of the component leads a little shorter, to avoid them shorting out against the case.

In many instances, I will put down 2 layers of masking tape on the inside of the back cover, as insurance against shorting.

[jfrabat]

I like how your pedal turned out!  And I certainly like the NES look!  LOL!  Glad to see other people using waterslide stickers also!

[ghiekorg]

Thanks Mark. I actually taped completely the case inside

My second board should be a bit better, hopefully. I used a different technique: instead of populate and then solder i started from the center and soldered one component at the time while populating. It was much easier and i had "plenty" of space. The harder part was the lugs of the switch. I was scared of warming it too much so i tried to do it fast but the result is not so nice.

Here in HD: https://i.imgur.com/ihRfI65.jpg

The other components soldering went much smoother than with the 8-bitar. and i left the cables much longer this time too


It still needs to dry properly so i am waiting a bit before testing it properly and record something. I tested it briefly and it seems to work fine apart from one thing... I guess i wrongly understood the draw here and i was thinking the pots where looked from above. So i soldered like them. Now they work upside down: the lower the higher the gain /level    it's ok, i like it, i will leave it like that.


Here is some pics, then i will post a video i guess. In italian i would pronounce tentacle "tentacol". So i went for this name 

   

I like how your pedal turned out!  And I certainly like the NES look!  LOL!  Glad to see other people using waterslide stickers also!

Thank you i used the NES controller as reference, with two small red knobs would have been even better 

[Mark Hammer]

Have you listened to it yet?

[ghiekorg]

Have you listened to it yet?

Yes. here are some audio (please don't mind the playing 😊). I like the sound even though i can't play much loud now (it's night here)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YDQs15b7OGQ0McNd3k5s6s3_rooUb1ZS/view?usp=sharing



I just have some doubts:
- Having soldered the lugs 1 and 3 the other way around does it make any difference for the 10uF capacitor on one of the pods?
- As mentioned i bought the wrong pot (it has "steps") and it's the one controlling the overall volume. when using it with high gain there is a huge difference in volume between the one step and the next one.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12m5Ic-QGTDQQcA5f51KV2UxM9V0b4zjy/view?usp=sharing
So much i can barely pass the third step. I am thinking about solder them again correctly to see if there is any difference. Yeah i'm gonna do it now 😁 so i will have also correct direction of the pots.

I will keep you posted. Thanks a lot to everyone is helping me thru this <3

[Mark Hammer]

Volume pots do not HAVE to be logarithmic but the taper will be more agreeable if they are.  It used to be an old trick in cheap amplifiers that they would use linear volume pots.  Some poor teenager would try it out in the store, and going from 7:00 to 9:00 would produce a big volume jump; enough that the customer would think "This thing can get REALLY loud if I turn it up even higher".  But the change in loudness from 7:00 to 9:00 was often as large or larger than the change from 10:00 to 5:00, because of the pot taper  Using a log pot, or in this case an anti-log (C taper), is often preferred because the change is more gradual.  IT doesn't change how the circuit works, just how easily one can dial in a preferred setting.

[ghiekorg]

my pot are correct,i just bought a "stepped" one instead of a continuous one and i soldered them wrong(1<->3).

I corrected the soldering and now it's much better controllable: https://youtu.be/rkY_wHCXnyk
Thank you very much for the suggestion of adding the knobs. It really makes it way more usable. Thanks a lot 😊

[Mark Hammer]

That sounds exactly as it should.  Congratulations.

A few tips about using it, though.  Most octave-up fuzzes, not just this one or yours, don't produce much of an octave unless they are "seeing" the note fundamental, with few harmonics.  To achieve this:

1) Use the neck pickup, with the Tone control rolled back
2) Pick higher up the neck, generally above the 6th or 7th fret.
3) Play single notes rather than chords.
4) Use heavier gauge strings if possible.

Playing single notes will present the circuit with ONE fundamental.  Rolling back the tone and using the neck pickup will also emphasize the fundamental and attenuate harmonics.  Playing higher up the neck results in the strings being stiffer (longer strings "wiggle" more) which means more fundamental and less harmonics.

I've probably repeated this too many times, but I want you to be happy with the circuit.

FInally, if the gain is not too high, using the bridge pickup and picking near the bridge gives a sound almost like an electric sitar. 

[ElectricDruid]

   

That's beautiful too. You're good at this! Congratulations!

[ghiekorg]

@Mark Hammer: Thanks again for the nice words and for the tips. I will save this list of "to-dos" in order to have a better tracking.

@ElecricDruid: thanks a lot, a really appreciate that

[Mark Hammer]

You are in Italy?  Forum member Paolo (handle: zemauno) is located near Siena.

[jfrabat]

ghiekorg, I wish I had started at your level!  This is really good work!

[ghiekorg]

You are in Italy?  Forum member Paolo (handle: zemauno) is located near Siena.

I am italian but I live in Zurich at the moment. Do you know of any swiss member?

ghiekorg, I wish I had started at your level!  This is really good work!

Oh, thank you very much. That's really nice <3

[ghiekorg]

Hi everyone,
i just started to work on the b3k but i have a doubt:
the 1uF caps don't have a +/- symbol to understand the orientation. Can someone help me? the 1uF caps i bought definitely have a +/- side.
Here is the image of the schematic, the 1uF caps are in the center and on the bottom right corner.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EIyu-1z4tiE/WvSP6JVZMhI/AAAAAAAAGDE/Qny5D5tH_YQzSt-DGY826vZZUOILOHyWgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Darkglass%2BMicrotubes%2BB3K.png
Thanks a lot

[11-90-an]

place the bottom-right one with the + facing the TL072
place the one in the center with the - facing the CD4049