Journey of a Newbie Pedal Builder

[Aviator18]

The headline in your image says "100V". I'd call that a 100V cap. Which we *might* assume could stand 0.707 of 100V as an AC RMS rating; but we see they take a fudge from that.

Not that it matters in a 9 Volt world.

Good point.

The observation I made was based on the descriptions on Newark's site which I mistakenly assumed was common practice. Checking Mouser and Digikey I noticed they generally list Vdc (not Vdc) in their box film cap descriptions (of course, if you look at all the data in the listings both values are given at all three sites). I guess the lessoned learned here is don't just fixate on the description, check the other information in the listing and the data sheet. Thank you for correcting me on this. I still have a lot to learn.

I added a comment to my original posting to indicate my statement was misleading and not entirely accurate.

[Aviator18]

I have been working on three different PCB/Pedals: Mad Bean's Rangemaster, GuitarPCB's Red Special, and started PedalPCB's Woodpecker Tremolo tonight. I have all components mounted on the board (excluding pots, switch and LED) for the Woodpecker. The Rangemaster is ready to install in a 1590A and I have the enclosure drilled and I am working on the artwork. The Red Specials is waiting on the artwork for it's 1590B enclosure as well. Once I get them boxed, I will post photos.

I upgraded the workspace a bit.



I built a tool stand based on the one in G. Hoffman's workbench photos. I also installed a under-desk keyboard shelf I had that wasn't being used. I flipped the mounts and turned in into an over-desk shelf. It raises the work surface for soldering and I don't have to lean into it as much. Big improvement.

I ended up taking the resistors and capacitors out of the shipping envelopes in which I was storing them and moved them into drawers in a mobile storage cabinet that wasn't being used. It was just too much of a pain to dig into the envelopes and sort through them to find the zip lock bag with the value component I was looking for. The drawers work much better.

[Aviator18]

The Red Star Boost

I finished my first guitar pedal today and it actually works!




The 1590 was tight and I had to do a little fine tuning to get the back on. I socketed the IC and transistor, which added to the challenge, but I was concerned about frying the TC1044SCPA if I soldered it directly. I mounted the jacks as low as I could get them to provide max room and dry fitted to make sure it would fit before committing to the socket. The transistor is a Russian MP20A I got from Pedalhacker. When I got to inserting it into the socket (it was the last component to install and everything was in the box and soldered), I didn't think I was going to get it to fit. I taped up the metal hat to prevent grounding out and had to nudge it into just the right position. After I got the lid on, I turned it over and saw I forgot the LED. I examined the empty hole and realized the two audio jacks were butted against each other and there was no room for the LED. I have some Lumberg jacks that I can install and that should make room for the LED, but I think I will wait on that. For now, it works fine without the LED and I have several more pedals to build.

[Phend]

Great work,  plus you will like posting your builds in the Pictures Pictures file,  we like looking there. !

[Aviator18]

Thank you. It was a learning experience and now a 1590B will feel quite roomy inside, I think.

[bluebunny]

and now a 1590B will feel quite roomy inside

A 1590A build is a bit like childbirth (so I'm told).  You swear blind you'll never, ever do it again, but a little time passes and you repeat the pain exercise regardless... 

[Aviator18]

and now a 1590B will feel quite roomy inside

A 1590A build is a bit like childbirth (so I'm told).  You swear blind you'll never, ever do it again, but a little time passes and you repeat the pain exercise regardless... 

Yeah, I plan to do more 1590As in the future, but it will be a while. With what I learned on this one, I will be better prepared for the next one. Boxed a 1590B build last night. LED worked great! Bypass worked great! Pedal engaged, not so much - no sound. I will have to troubleshoot it, but I am working on another pedal, so that will have to wait (and I am waiting on a signal tracer/injector pen I ordered from TH Custom Effects). This next build is a 125B with top jacks (a PedalPCB Woodpecker Tremolo). I already finished the board and just have to box it. Drilled the enclosure today and I am preparing the faceplate (artwork printed on photopaper). A GuitarPCB Fuzzstortion is on deck. I marked the enclosure for drilling and will start on the PCB soon.

[Aviator18]

Here is a tip some might find useful.

I was soldering inline sockets for some diodes and resistors I wanted to be able to switch out. Breaking off pieces from one of these so solder in place.



The challenge is keeping the pieces in place when turning the board over to solder the pins. My solution: I placed masking tap to the top of the socket and a attached it to either side of the PCB. Socket now stays in place and you can easily solder the pins. When you are finished remove the tape. Simple solution.

[ElectricDruid]

The challenge is keeping the pieces in place when turning the board over to solder the pins. My solution: I placed masking tap to the top of the socket and a attached it to either side of the PCB. Socket now stays in place and you can easily solder the pins. When you are finished remove the tape. Simple solution.

Yeah, good tip. I sometimes use tape to hold stuff in while soldering too. I generally have a bit of old insulation tape stuck to the top of my soldering iron for the purpose. When it loses all of its stick, I get a new bit!

[Aviator18]

In the load of resistors I bought to establish my bench  stock, I got some TE Connectivity LR series .25W resistors. They are 1/4 watt, but the size of 1/8th watt resistors. I think I will buy more of these in the future. They are a bit more expensive, but I plan to gradually switching over to these as I replace bench stock.

[Aviator18]

Three Builds Complete

I have completed three pedals and have five more with the PCBs completed or mostly completed (waiting on enclosure prep or a part or two that I am missing).

I purchased some 24AWG 40 strand silicon wire. It is like limp spaghetti. I like that the coating doesn't melt when soldering and the flexibility helps in some situations. The 40 strands make it more of a challenge to thread into through-holes and sometimes the extreme limpness can make things more difficult. I am still deciding whether I prefer it to the bonded wire.

I am really liking my over-desk shelf. It raises the work top to a perfect level and I don't have to hunch over as much when soldering. The 3x lighted glasses are a gamer changer. Now that I have used them, I can't imagine soldering without them.

I have adopted a set procedure for assembling PCBs which is as follows:

I print out the build document for the PCB and look over it. I start soldering the resistors. I do them one at a time and check them off the BOM in the build document as I go. I start with R1 and check to see if there are any other resistors with the same value. If there are, I pull all resistors of that value. Then I check them with a multi-meter. I do this for two reasons.
1) to make sure the component is good and within tolerance.
2) to double check myself and ensure I pulled the correct value component.
After the component is verified, I solder it in place. If I pulled multiple components of the same value, I solder them in numerical order. After soldering each component, I inspect the solder joints on both sides of the board. I continue to work down the BOM, soldering resisters, then diodes, then sockets for ICs, then capacitors, then transistors. After all components are soldered to the PCB, I solder wires to offboard components.

NOTE: I am adjusting my procedure based on the PCB layout and will be soldering transistors in place before finishing all capacitors and they get too boxed in. I like to place a heat sink across the legs of the transistors when soldering as insurance and I have run into some situations where this was difficult to do because the transistors were surrounded by capacitors.

I am still figuring out the best way to install the PCB and off-board components into the enclosure.

I have established a color scheme for my wires which helps keep things straight.

Red – positive voltage
Black – ground
Input Jack Signal – Green
Output Jack Signal – Blue
FX in – Yellow
FX out – White
Potentiometer Terminals – (1) Yellow, (2) Blue, (3) Green

I have been printing the enclosure artwork on photopaper (I use 4x6 sheets) and glue it to the enclosure using a permanent glue stick. I spray the printed paper with clear coat before attaching to the enclosure (which I have already drilled). After letting it sit a day, I cut out the holes and spray it with more clear coat. I let it set for another day and then I assemble the pedal.

I have some water slide decal paper which I will try on some light-colored enclosures. I tried it on a dark blue one and was not pleased with how it looked and took the decal off. I also plan trying the custom printed enclosure service from Tayda sometime in the near future.

I am starting to slowly amass NOS components. I had not anticipated doing this when I started down this road.

Now, back to building more pedals.

[Aviator18]

Verify the Layout Will Work before You Drill the Enclosure.

My typical process for making a pedal is as follows:
1. Solder the components on the PCB.
2. Layout the faceplate in Affinity Designer.
3. Print out faceplate on plain paper, verify it fits, then use as a drill template and drill enclosure.
4. Print the faceplate on photo paper and let the ink dry for several hours.
5. Spray the face plate with Krylon and let dry.
6. Glue the faceplate to enclosure with permanent glue stick and let glue cure for typically a day.
7. Cut out holes in faceplate where enclosure has been drilled then spay with clear coat (apply appropriate number of coats) and let dry.
8. Assemble components in enclosure to complete pedal.

I recently started assembling a TS clone and discovered I had a switch located under the PCB and there was no room for a switch under the PCB. Needless to say, I had to go back to step 2 and prepare another enclosure. Lesson learned. Always verify that the components will fit inside the enclosure as planned. I neglected this step and sacrificed an enclosure because of it.

Note on the enclosure: I checked all my PCBs in waiting to see if they would work in the mis-drilled enclosure and none would. My solution: I designed a circuit that would work in the enclosure with the control layout and soldered it up on proto-board. It is now at step 5 and is called the "Green Meanie."