frustrated...suggestions

[christobean]

hi, i have attempted 4 projects inthe past few weeks, and i cannot get anything to work.  First it was a fancied up electra distortion with bypass leds and volume pot, then a ruby, then a dual ruby, then a smokey amp clone.  at this point i am very frustrated and discouraged.  i want to try to get back on track, anyone have any suggestions on how i could go about doing this?
thanks

[Branimir]

Heh i know what you mean

I have periods like that, and this may sound stupid but only effects that work for me for the first time i build them are with opamps... Seriously, some opamp based distortion, without any trimmer ajusting stuff

I usually put transistors the wrong way since the ones that should be used, aren't avalaible here so i use equivalents or similiar transistors... of course, pinouts of the substituted transistors have always different, and i always seem to solder them the WRONG way

and i measure every passive component before soldering it to the board... (caps, resistors)

With opamps i have no problems, since there's only two avalaible ways of putting them in the right way or the opposite and layout schem helps me not to screw up that part

Try something with ic's only, and a normal sized board, i had troubles with some pcb's because the tracks were to close to each other and it was too easy to accidentally solder them together and create a potential problem

And yes, i always ignore any kind of bypass/led signalisation if it's the first time.

Input straight into the pcb, outputs the same way, if it works, you can always connect the switch and the led later...

[trevize]

my first errors:

_bad ic/transistors/fets orientation
_damaged is/transistors/fets due to overheat >> use sockets.
(now i socket almost everything. when i find the perfect ones i consider resoldering them without the socket)
_power supply mistakes

suggestions:
read the what to do when it doesn't work thread

[cd]

If you don't have one already, get yourself a solderless breadboard.  Run some wire from jacks and plug things into the breadboard.  If something doesn't work, you can pop it out and re-do it. 

[burnt fingers]

I would suggest trying to build something that you do not try to modify.  Try a simple one transistor circuit first.  Jack Ormon's muffer is a good one.  I agree with the previous post, don't bother with LED's, or switches at first.  I had the same trouble you did when I started.  I failed a couple of times  before I got a Vox treble booster up and running.  Once I did, then I tried modding it.  Take your time, do it right. verify your pinouts of your tranny,verify your + and - connections on you battery.  I recently wired my battery backwards ( doh).  double check your input and output jacks.

Scott

[bwanasonic]

hi, i have attempted 4 projects inthe past few weeks, and i cannot get anything to work.  First it was a fancied up electra distortion with bypass leds and volume pot, then a ruby, then a dual ruby, then a smokey amp clone.  at this point i am very frustrated and discouraged.  i want to try to get back on track, anyone have any suggestions on how i could go about doing this?
thanks

Get the first project to work before you go on to the next one! At this point, commit to one that you've started, and finish it. It seems strange to me to attempt the *dual* version of something I hadn't successfully built the *single* version of. 

Kerry M

[psiico]

I've only soldered together 4 projects so far, only one didn't work the first time, the dual Ruby.  I found the problem easily though, I had both inputs going to pin 3 on the opamps.  I build everything on a breadboard first, it forces me to study the schematic and understand the circuit.  Then I draw my own schematic from the breadboard assuming I got the effect working - a few times I didn't.  After that I compare my schematic to the original, make sure I have it right, then I start modding.  I haven't done anything I didn't try to mod somehow.  I couldn't tell you how many circuits I've breadboarded in the past couple of months, dozens for sure.  Of course, if you're building from a perfboard or pcb layout you probably don't need to do what I do but it would help you with the debugging if you have a good understanding of the circuit.  I also have two sheets of paper in my work area, one is resistor color codes, I have them memorized now but I still double check when I solder and the other has pinouts for common opamps and transistors and a chart for converting uf to pf and all that.  I know this stuff but sometimes I have a blank moment, it haleps to keep it handy at my newbish stage.

[Mark Hammer]

I have constantly recurring periods like this.  It's my own special type of "bipolar disorder", where I swing from having absolutely nothing work, no matter how simple, to having the golden touch and everything I make works from the moment I first plug a battery in, with no troubleshooting required.  As restorative to self-confidence as the second type of phase may be, having the first type come back again can really shake your self-confidence as a builder.  If anything, being an experienced builder and not having a stupidly simple thing work is as much an affront to one's sense of identiy as it is a source of frustration.

I have no explanation for it, other than certain types of systematic erroneous assumptions.  For instance, I may find that I mistakenly generalized from the lug layout of one brand of stereo jack to another, and have been foolishly connecting the black wire from the battery connector to the wrong lug.  I make my own battery snaps from dead 9v battery caps, hot glue and sturdy wire, and was shocked to find one day that I had absent-mindedly "lost track" of where the red and black wires were going to and had made a fistful of these things one afternoon that fed V+ to ground.  Or perhaps I bought a bunch of pots that had wipers in need of "rehabilitation" or had rivets holding the solder lugs that did not sufficiently clasp the lug and resistive element (i.e., open circuit).  Or it may be an older batch of etchant that I decided to push a little too far (none left at the local Radio Shack ), and all the boards either had copper bridges sneaking in between traces, or else had over-etched traces because I left them in too long.

Generally, it will be one or two systematic errors that account for multiple failures.  The good news is that once you click into what the error or errors were, you can go back and have the experience of bringing projects "back from the dead", bing, bing, bing, bing, like a pinball machine.  Those are VERY good weekends, I must say. 

[mdh]

I strongly second cd's suggestion to get a solderless breadboard if you don't have one... and if you do, use it! It's way easier to play around with a circuit when it doesn't involve desoldering, and you will be encouraged to try lots of different things. Also, keep it simple until you have a good run of successes. The great thing about a breadboard is that you don't have to box up every circuit that you experiment with to feel like you accomplished something. If you haven't built a Bazz Fuss (http://home-wrecker.com/bazz.html), try playing around with that, or some of the other simpler projects on home-wrecker and runoffgroove.

And get that Ruby working... forget about the Dual Ruby for now. And keep in mind what Mark Hammer said. If he has runs of failures, everybody does.

[christobean]

hey thanks for all the suggestions 

as for the dual ruby, i read a lot of posts about the ruby and it seemed that most people had problems with it so i decided to try out the dual version to see if it worked out better

mark hammer mentioned sub-par pots, how can i identify these? the projects that havent worked have been with a new batch of pots that i got from futurelec for cheap, and they seem fine to me but sound like they could have problems

also, for the breadboard-i dont have one. where and for how much can i get one? and are there any different varieties or anything?

thanks

[mdh]

also, for the breadboard-i dont have one. where and for how much can i get one? and are there any different varieties or anything?

It depends on where you live, of course, but if you have a decent electronic component store nearby, they're very likely to have some. Radio Shack has a couple options, but they're kind of expensive for the relatively small sizes they have. In CA/AZ/NV Fry's has really good prices on breadboards. Mail order gives you more options. Small Bear has one, RSR, and Jameco have them, probably lots of other places. I would recommend one of the ones with a metal base and binding posts for a power supply. Just look at what's available, you'll get a pretty good feel for it. The general features are all pretty much the same, though. A plastic block with holes on 0.1 inch centers (IC pin spacing), and springy clamp things inside to hold your leads. Get yourself a jumper kit as well, or just a bunch of 22 ga solid hookup wire, and you're good to go.

Good luck!

[christobean]

thanks! ill have to look into buying one of them

[psiico]

I can't find the link now but I came across a website a while back where a guy had made a platform of sorts for his breadboard.  He glued it to a piece of wood and attached a face plate to the wood for attaching pots, jacks and switches.  From that I built my own.  If I can't find the link when I get home from work I'll post a pic of mine.  It's a lot easier to work on a breadboard when you can mount that stuff somewhere instead of just having it floating around in the way of your work area.  Mine was made from a piece of 2X6 and the molding from the bottom edge of a refridgerator, total cost not including the breadboard - $0.

[psiico]

This isn't mine, this is the link I mentioned above.  His is much tidier then mine.

http://www.diyguitarist.com/DIYStompboxes/GEPB.htm

[Mark Hammer]

It's anal retentive, I know, but these days when ever I start with a new pot or a pot of unknown history, I do the following:

a) I pry the back cover off
b) If there appears to be grime, I clean it with a Q-tip or equivalent
c) Once clean, I apply a small amount of Stabilant contact enhancer and move the wiper around to distribute it
d) I take my needlenose pliers and give the 3 rivets holding the lugs a firm but gentle squeeze
e) Re-assemble the pot

A properly functioning pot should show no perturbations in resistance if you hook the wiper and one of two outside lugs to your meter and gently rotate the wiper.

The other thing I end up doing more and more is using a small piece of heatshrink around the solder joint to the pot lugs.  One of the problems with minimally-planned projects being wedged into small chassis is that the pots get twisted this way and that as you try and fit everything inside.  In the process I've had fractures at the pot lug that went undiscovered more than once, so I use the heatshrink as strain relief (and insurance) these days.