Off-board wiring sucks.

[ianmgull]

I think most of us can agree with that. It's all of the other steps that are a blast but sometimes getting to this stage can be tedious and boring at best.

How do you guys set this up to be as painless as possible? I've recently started having all my pots, jacks, and switches already mounted in the enclosure with ample wire coming off. Then it's just a matter of making the board hook ups. For one reason or another this makes it seem less tedious. Does anyone else have a secret? Besides both disks of the white album?

ian

[railhead]

* I cut my wire to be as close to the literal length as needed.

* My boards are fabricated for me, so they're plate-through.

* I solder to the top of the board (component side) in some areas.

* I use needle nose pliers and tweezers to get stuff where I want it.

[blanik]

i hate this part so much that i now use my breadboard to test a circuit before committing it to an enclosure...

[caress]

here are my standard steps to a boxed up effect:
1 - populate board
2 - cut appropriate wires
3 - solder wires to board
4 - design/paint/label enclosure
5 - drill
6 - install hardware
7 - solder board/wires to hardware
8 - final tweaks

usually i'll do things in stages, such as populate multiple boards at once while i wait for the paint on my boxes to dry.  then zone out listening to music while i cut/strip wires.  do a clearcoat and call it a day.  etc etc

switching up your tasks can take away the tediousness of the labor involved...

[R.G.]

Old, old problem. Here's one good solution: make yourself a soldering block to hold everything still while it's outside the enclosure so you can properly wire and solder it.



I keep urging people to go read all of GEOFEX first, then asking questions.

[cheezit]

My low-volume/one-off method---I take a piece of cardboard (cereal box or a bit thicker) and cut out an approximation of the enclosure, including the sides (but not the bottom), but I don't tape the corners.  Then I punch the mountable parts through in the approximate spots they will be, tighten the nuts from the other side, and wire away.  I don't do anything special to hold the stuffed PCB, it just hangs there once I get the first few wires on.

The nice part is that the cardboard naturally lays flat, so I can get to everything, but I can make the wires fairly tight and I know they will still work in the real enclosure.  I can even test the circuit and everything, since the pots are pretty stable.  The only problem is parts that mount from the outside, like the nice low-profile DC jacks with the nut on the inside of the enclosure.

I just built a Dr. Boogey using this approach---finished wiring it tonight---and it worked on the first try!  Sheer dumb luck, I'm sure....

[DougH]

I've recently started having all my pots, jacks, and switches already mounted in the enclosure with ample wire coming off. Then it's just a matter of making the board hook ups.

I do it similarly with a twist. I connect offboard wires to the board first after I finish populating it and leave ample wire length. Then I install everything in the box. If pots are underneath the board I don't screw the board down to the standoffs until I dress the pot wires first. Then I install the board and route/dress the remaining wires to the offboard components.

I do this when building amps so it was a natural transition to try it with pedals and it works great. It is tedious but goes fairly quickly. And the excitement of finishing keeps it all going.

I don't have a lot of use for ideas like the effects wiring block- a) it's overkill and b) I like everything mounted in the box before I do the final lead dress. That way I can ensure the wire lengths are correct.

Yes, by all means read geofx before you ask questions. But feel free to make up your own mind and feel free to solicit others for ideas as well.

[nelson]

Design PCB's to use interconnects.....

[kurtlives]

I don't mind the off board wiring at all. I cant stand finishing enclosures though.

To keep things as painless as possible look for "shortcuts" on pots. Sometimes a pot will be connected right to ground. Connected all the grounds from the pots together just making a trail from pot to pot then connect them to a central ground point. Less wires on your PCB/vero/perf.

I think good hookup wire and good quality wire strippers are key for off board wiring.

[bipedal]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who's less than enthused -- relatively speaking -- by this step of the build process.  (And, perhaps not coincidentally, I've generally been less than pleased with my results -- always functional, but aesthetically meh).

I'm staying tuned on this thread to see what other good tips are offered.

- Jay

[DougH]

Design PCB's to use interconnects.....

I always wanted to do that, but never got a round tuit. One of the problems I have is it's enough work cramming everything in the box as it is, without adding more stuff.

[davent]

The least enjoyed part of the adventure, well next to troubleshooting. If you can design the PCB to include pcb mounted pots and maybe switches, those are the most troublesome to wire up.

I try to build the way Doug H outlined and that seems to make things  a bit more tolerable.

Cheezit's (R.G's) method looks like a good way to work if doing a really tight build with not much room in the box.

Use bigger off board parts, 9mm pots are a pain to wire, some of the small toggles have really small solder eyelets and the eyelets are packed tight together, avoid those, again major PITA to wire up.

dave

[frank_p]

If you can design the PCB to include pcb mounted pots and maybe switches, those are the most troublesome to wire up.

But beware of trace cracks if you mount them on the PCB.  The thing not to do is mounting the power jack like Boss do.  Very prone to failure.

[Jered]

  I really, really like the soldering block. I've been using it since RG first posted it a few years ago. With all the switch, pot, jack soldering connections pointing up, soldering the wires only takes minutes.

[ayayay!]

I think good hookup wire and good quality wire strippers are key for off board wiring.

Nailed it Kurtlives!  That and patience.  I don't mind wiring at all, but since it takes a lot of time I tend to try to hurry, which doubles the work sometimes.   

[fogwolf]

I myself can't stand offboard wiring and was glad to see this thread. I've been building more synth modules lately, and they're usually designed to use MTA headers and connectors, which , in my opinion, makes this part of the process much more pleasant.

For stompboxes I mount all the hardware in the enclosure, wire it all up first, then connect to the board (definitely my least favorite part).

[mojotron]

It's possible to put everything on the PCB - I have done this in the board layout for a few things. The tricky thing is that he enclosure holes need to be exactly in the right spot.. I did a reverse engineering of Fu___one's Distortion Pro using 9mm pots.. it was nice just to put everything on the board - all of the wiring took 1/4th the time.

The long term issue with this is that you have to deal with shock and vibration via mechanical dampening somehow.  I have repaired some '70's/'80's EH circuits that clearly showed that eventually the connections with the board will break if the board is big enough.

[jayp5150]

I've been meaning to make a soldering block like above, but in the meantime, I've been using a piece of cardboard that I can put the pots and switches into, laid out the same as the finished product.

I use this as a template to cut all my wire to length, strip, then solder all my wires to the board.

After that, I mount the hardware in the enclosure, and solder all the free ends to where they go.

Then again... I'm not too efficient, am I?

I'm stoked, though, I finally got a wire stripper that goes down to 24ga. today at Harbor Freight for $.99. Score!

No more exacto knife and sore thumbs.

[oldschoolanalog]

I don't mind the off board wiring at all. I cant stand finishing enclosures though.

+1 to that!

[sshrugg]

I'm glad to see there's others out there who think this is the lamest part of building.  It's worth it, but it's indeed painful.

I realized that a big part of the tedium and frustration is simply that I'm not too good at it.  To build some skill, I've started building on terminal strips instead of PCBs and making simple projects like rangemasters and fuzzes.  These projects go quickly, so I'm rewarded with cool stompboxes before I go mad, since the whole project is pretty much in-box wiring.  I even superglue the terminal into the box before I start.  It's a challenge.

(By the way.  I didn't build the rangemaster for a really long time, because I thought it was crazy hyped and I wanted the glass OC44 for mojo. I finally gave, and grabbed one of the metal case ones from SmallBear.  This pedal is honestly the freakin' shiz.  It's not just hype.  It's really sweet.  I'm glad I decided to build it just to work on my wiring skills.  Build it, if you're one of the few that haven't.)