Noob capacitor ?'s

[Barcode80]

i would suggest a heatsink, but it would be even better if you soldered in sockets and then plugged the trannies in. this will ensure you don't overheat the transistor.

[Fuzzy-Train]

Yeah, I ordered some sockets for my wah, but this PCB has the transisitor pads in a straight line, instead of the middle one placed ahead.

For a heatsink I can just use these alligator clips right?



Thanks again for the help

[idlechatterbox]

Those clips will work. Hemostats will work good too, as will metal binder clips (the kind you'd hate to have your finger or any other body part caught in, not a paper clip).

Not to be a wet blanket, but it might be worth doing everything but the transistors, until you get some sockets. You could fry the transistors very easily soldering them, and unfortunately, you might pull your hair out trying to figure out why your pedal doesn't work. The transi sometimes don't give any indication that they're fried (except that nothing comes out your speaker). Even the experts fry rely on sockets, and they trust their soldering ability. 

Good luck either way! 

[Fuzzy-Train]

That's good advice, especially since this will be my first pedal.

Anyone know where I get in-line sockets to fit my PCB?

Thanks for the helpful tips.

EDIT: Something like this will work wouldn't it? It a strip of 20 in-line pins, and they say "you can snap off as many pins as you need".

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=101

http://www.mill-max.com/images/products/pdf/075.PDF

[343 Salty Beans]

Those work fantastic, but if you're in a pinch, you can use a dremel or other cutting tool to cut up any IC socket. Just cut it in half first, then cut out 3 pins in a row. Works like a charm for me, I have a bunch of 20-pinners I never knew what to do with. 

[Fuzzy-Train]

Well, my parts came today... most of them, they forgot 1 resitors and gave one I don't need, and gave me 2 wrong capacitors, so I'll have to get them to ship the right ones.

A couple of questions though:

The electrolytic capacitors they sent me are the ones with the stems on both sides instead of the ones with both stems coming from one end. Is the direction of which the arrow is pointing the side that is -, or ground?

They said in the letter that came with the PCB to rub the board down with fine steel wool. I don't have steel wool, but I do have some gator grit wetproof 600b sand paper that is pretty fine. Would that work just as well, or should I go get some steel wool?

Other then that, I think that's about it. Thanks in advance for the help.

EDIT: Oh yeah I forgot, when rubbibg the PCB down is it ok to rub the whole thing or should I only be rubbing the pads that will be soldered?

[zpyder]

The electrolytic capacitors they sent me are the ones with the stems on both sides instead of the ones with both stems coming from one end. Is the direction of which the arrow is pointing the side that is -, or ground?

Yup, the arrows are pointing to the negative side.

enjoy!!
zpyder

[Fuzzy-Train]

Kew, kew.  Thanks a lot man.

Can anybody help me out on the Steel wool/sand paper question?

Thanks in advance.

[Fuzzy-Train]

In this pic you can see that the primary part of the transformer has 3 wires going to the PCB, and the secondary only has 2 wires to the PCB, but my transformer has 3 wires on the secondary side. Should I cut the middle wire completely off of the seondary side, or leave it on there anyways and just tuck it away?

[343 Salty Beans]

I;ve never worked with tansformers, but if you rub lightly with that sandpaper you should be fine. It's just to remove any oxidized material and get better solder flow.

[zpyder]

Should I cut the middle wire completely off of the seondary side, or leave it on there anyways and just tuck it away?

I clicked on the Schematics link at the top of the page and found this Octavia schematic:


I always have a copy of the schematic AND the layout for whatever I'm building.
In this case, by looking at the layout you provided, I see that the center tap of the Primary side of the Xfrmer is tied to ground.  Also, I see that one end of the wiring on the secondary side is tied to ground, and the other goes through a diode to the volume pot.  I can match those references on the schematic above to resolve that the primary side on the schematic must be the side on the right.  Then, looking at the center tap on the other side of the xfrmer in the schematic, I see that it is clearly marked "N.C." - No Connection.  So the answer is, yes, you can cut that lead off completely, or bend it out of the way.  I would cut it, unless you plan on harvesting it in the future for a different project.  Just make sure that it does not make electrical contact with anything.

cheers,
zpyder

[Fuzzy-Train]

Awesome guys, thanks a lot for the help.

I've got most of the small parts in now, but I'm waiting for the ones smallbear messed up before I continue anything else. I also got all my wring done to the jacks and pots as well, I didn't solder the wires to the PCB yet though... from instructions and tips from people over the web, everyone says to do that last.

Hopefully I'll get some pics the the pic thread this weekend when my brother comes by with his camera.

Thanks again for all the help everyone, I'd be lost if it wasn't for you and this forum.

[Fuzzy-Train]

Well, everything has been installed, I put the whole thing in the case, and just finished trying to test it, but it won't work. Even when I fiddle with the knobs.

The only sound I get is like a low volume, continuous, and rhythmic poping noise when it's on, sort off like a heartbeat... sometimes the pop is louder (only got louder about 3 or 4 times when I had it on for about 5mins), but no matter what I touch, or move around I can't get it to make the loud poping noise intentionally, and those are the only sounds I'm getting.

I remember reading a while ago (can't remember the website) where someone had a similar problem, and that this can be caused by the power source somehow... but IDK if that's true.

I also used one 2% 1/4 watt 22k resitor from a local parts store, because that's what they had. Is it bad to mix 2% with 5% resistors?

And I also moved some of the ground wires around to accommodate my enclosure, and here's the way I switched it around:


I also used these IC sockets from radio shack for mounting my transistors:
http://www.thesourcecc.com/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=PC+board%2fSockets&product=2769111

My diodes have a black stripe at one end, and I assumed that the black striped side is the same as the red stripe from the layout pic, so I put them in the same way.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else to mention, or that I did differently. Are any other components heat sensitive, diodes, certain types of caps maybe? I'm gonna take it all apart and check my joints. After that I'm gonna go smoke a well deserved bowl, and go to my girls house... I'm getting frustrated and need to take my mind of this right now.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Fuzzy-Train]

OK, well after switching one of the jacks... it works, but it only works outside of my case LOL. When I hook everything up inside the case it stops working and makes that "pop heartbeat" noise... I think it worked the whole time just not when I was testing it in the case. I'm going to get some plastic washers and see if that fixes it... I hope it will since it sounded really good when I was playing with it earlier.

Anybody have any suggestions, or ideas to fix this, other then trying some plastic washers?

[343 Salty Beans]

I'm not sure if you just mislabeled, but your wiring up top says that you connected the ground wire on jack #1 to sleeve instead of tip.

I've never seen a switch wired like that...that's a grounded input style switch, right?

Check the 'what to do when it doesn't work' DEBUGGING thread. It helps quite a bit.

[Fuzzy-Train]

I'm not sure if you just mislabeled, but your wiring up top says that you connected the ground wire on jack #1 to sleeve instead of tip.

I think it's just mislabeled, because I have the ground wire connected to the slug that's not connected to the sleeve.

I've never seen a switch wired like that...that's a grounded input style switch, right?

I think it's still wired the same way as the layout from guitar gadgets is it not? LOL, I have no idea what you mean by grounded input style switch man.

Check the 'what to do when it doesn't work' DEBUGGING thread. It helps quite a bit.

I couldn't really find the same problem I'm having... even with a search.

Here are some pics... maybe you can see something I've done wrong or something.

guts:


close-up:


with enclosure:


Thanks for the help.

[343 Salty Beans]

"I think it's just mislabeled, because I have the ground wire connected to the slug that's not connected to the sleeve."

That may be a problem in the future. Look at this mono plug:



Look at the plug itself...the part that actually goes in the jack. The longer connection is the SLEEVE. That is the thing that should be connected to ground. The other thing is the tip (it's on the tip of the plug, thus the name), and the actualy guitar signal flows through that. Now in a stereo jack, when you put a mono plug in, it will bridge the ring and ground connections. However, when you take it out, you will get that loud hum you are describing. If your using a stereo plug (the sleeve is broken into two parts), then the connection won't be bridged at all and you'll still be getting that huge hum. Here's a stereo plug:



When I started, I always wondered why some plugs have two connections and some have three.

The point is, a giant hum means your circuit is probably not grounded properly. The first thing you'll want to do is change that ground wire from the ring to the sleeve of the jack.

EDIT: It looks from the picture like you're using two mono jacks, though. You may be using wrong terminology.

I'm not sure if you did this...make sure your transistors are oriented correctly. Which transistors did you use? I'm not sure if it's earlier in the thread, but to my credit, this thread is three freaking pages long  A lot of trannies have different pinouts.

The DEBUGGING thread is a general help, not specific problems. It helps to isolate the problem quicker. And you'll get way more help if you post voltages from people who understand transistor biasing and all that jazz.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29816.0

Geofex also has a debugging page, and an audio probe helps IMMENSELY because if you trace the signal through the circuit, it will tell you EXACTLY where it's getting messed up.

http://www.geofex.com/

When you follow the link above, look at the group of links on the top-left corner. Click the lowest one, labeled "Guitar Effects Debug". You'll see the subject 'hum' in there, which will narrow down your problems.

The AUDIO PROBE is really the handiest tool. I know there's a diagram and instructions on how to use it somewhere around here...And it's on geo somewhere, I think I'm just too tired to find it.

EDIT: One more thing to add. You're using the all-metal DC jack...did you make sure to isolate it from the enclosure? If not, then you're pumping 9 volts of power to ground, and no circuit is going to like that. Last time I made that mistake (trust me, I make it a lot) I ended up having to replace both my ICs  fortunately, non of your trannies are linked directly to ground, so they will hopefully be fine.

[Fuzzy-Train]

Sweet, thanks a lot for the tips, and information.

Yeah, Pushtone already suggested that the DC jack needed to be isolated in the pics thread. Thanks for the help anyways, you and many others have already been very helpful, and I would've been lost without you guys. Now if I can only decide to paint it or etch it.

Thanks a lot guys, you have no idea how much you guys have helped me.

[idlechatterbox]

now that you've gone from being (by your admission) lost about how to begin to making a pedal that sounds great, you can change your screen name to "NoSomething" 

congratulations. I'm looking forward to seeing your pedal in the "Pictures" thread.

[Pushtone]

if I can only decide to paint it or etch it.

Is that bowl stainless steel? If so etching it would yield very crisp results.
You may not be able to use Pnp because it doesn't look very flat. Kinda concave and tricky to iron.
You may have to get creative with nail polish.

Here is a pic of stainless steel etched with ferric chloride.
Takes a lot longer than aluminum but edges are smoother and the etched ares stays silver in color.

I did this etch with a PnP blue mask and a applied FC with q-tip.
A very controled etch compared to aluminum and with excellent depth
on the "LEVEL" and DIST" labels which were etched longer than the LoFo part.