just curious: so what's your DIY success percentage?

[frequencycentral]

Everything I build works, usually fires up first time. Except this project.

that page you link to- the info/blurb at bottom of the page ends with "Happy April 1st," do you think it's a "decoy" or joke schematic?!? - for 'april fool's day'? eeegh. ()
- Strategy

Damn! You're right. 3 and a half years I've wasted on that thing. Damn!

Oh BUMMER -- EEEEEGGGGG Sorry to be the bringer of that observation, clarity I suppose but at such a price 

Yeah, thanks! I don't know if the guy whose site that schematic is from ever visits this forum, but if he does he'll get a piece of my mind!! 

[Jarno]

LOL, well, when I first started out, it was on DIYaudio taking on waaayyyy to complex projects. Stompboxes are several orders of magnitude easier (at least the ones I started with) I do have an oscillating flatline compressor which needs straightening out, same for RG's Neutron, but the rest works.
But, there are more complex projects in the pipeline (also homegrown ones) so the average will take a nosedive I'm sure :-)

[dano12]

Everything I build works, usually fires up first time. Except this project. I get it out and have a go at debugging it every couple of months, but still no joy, I think there may be an error somewhere in the schematic, which is a real bummer because some of those parts were the devil to source. Lesson: don't belive everything you read on the interweb, in fact don't believe anything you read on the interweb. Except this post of course.

Yeah, there was an error in that schematic. The washing machine timer is shown as a Westinghouse WM-T-8675309. That is incorrect. It should be the older WM-T-5551212.

One other thing to try is to remove the bright cap (C10 on the PCB). It really opens up the amp is much closer to the original "blackface" fuzz factory.

Yeah, thanks! I don't know if the guy whose site that schematic is from ever visits this forum, but if he does he'll get a piece of my mind!! 

I know this project has caused a lot of difficulty, so I'm working on a kit version I will offer for sale. Unfortunately sourcing the vintage mechanical timers is turning out to be difficult.

Best regards,

Laird Dano "Flux Capacitor" Beavis III, Esq.
Bespoke Pedalry to the Currently Incarcerated

[ubaid88]

100%. If i work with proper with tool and equipment.

[frequencycentral]

Everything I build works, usually fires up first time. Except this project. I get it out and have a go at debugging it every couple of months, but still no joy, I think there may be an error somewhere in the schematic, which is a real bummer because some of those parts were the devil to source. Lesson: don't belive everything you read on the interweb, in fact don't believe anything you read on the interweb. Except this post of course.

Yeah, there was an error in that schematic. The washing machine timer is shown as a Westinghouse WM-T-8675309. That is incorrect. It should be the older WM-T-5551212.

One other thing to try is to remove the bright cap (C10 on the PCB). It really opens up the amp is much closer to the original "blackface" fuzz factory.

Yeah, thanks! I don't know if the guy whose site that schematic is from ever visits this forum, but if he does he'll get a piece of my mind!! 

I know this project has caused a lot of difficulty, so I'm working on a kit version I will offer for sale. Unfortunately sourcing the vintage mechanical timers is turning out to be difficult.

Best regards,

Laird Dano "Flux Capacitor" Beavis III, Esq.
Bespoke Pedalry to the Currently Incarcerated

You, sir, are a charlaton and a cad! Quite probably a bounder too. Please put me down for 2 kits. Thanks!  

[sean k]

My percentage used to be dismal but it's gotten much better over time. I had a buzz in my previous to last building session and the three I built all worked.

Back when I started I tried stuff well beyond my capabilities but now I kinda to keep to what I vaguely understand and learn as I go.

And for me my favourite part is taking a schematic and turning it into a PCB so I've got a ton of unfinished projects simply because of the cashola required to buy all the parts for the boards etched and ready to go... often not drilled because thats the bit I don't like the most.

[markeebee]

I have the attention span of a goldfish, and a morbid desire to tinker.

Halfway through every build, I'll add in some bodges and tweaks to 'improve' the design.  Then I'll spend a while trying to figure out why it doesn't work, then I'll fling it through the air, then I'll forget what I was ever trying to do in the first place.  So, stuff I build for other people = zero defects; stuff I 'jazz engineer' for myself = almost 100% disastrous.  Is it just me?

Did I mention I have the attention span of a goldfish?

[Ibanezfoo]

100% so far.  The knowledge in this forum is just awesome and I am very thankful to have found it.  There were some builds I didn't care for so I recovered the parts.  I haven't done a ton of things but everything I have built has worked fine.  I've built:  sansamp gt2, phase 45, green ringer, orange squeezer, burning crunch, condor, multicab sim, crunch box, rams head bmp, tonebender mkii, fuzz face, dr. boogie, diefet, SSS, little gem, noisy cricket, ts808, ts9, jcm800 emulator, guvnor, thor, BSIABII, some others I found in the gallery but didn't care for so I don't remember.  I started with a fuzz face on vero because I was going through a Jimi phase at the time and couldn't afford a real one.  I figured its only a few parts and I should be able to build it myself which led me to these forums.  I've being building electronics projects since I was a little kid so none of this is overly challenging, but damn is it ever addictive.  Lately I've been on a BLS trip so I built a crunch box and it works great.  I don't know why I keep doing this though... I have a modded 5150 half stack that sounds awesome... maybe because as much as I like it, it only does one thing... I dunno...

[Ibanezfoo]

double post.  please delete

[Renegadrian]

In the beginning I worked off of verified schematics and had a good success rate.  These days I try out weird, outlandish ideas and my success rate is rapidly approaching zero. 

The path to success isn't straight, I suppose...But you'll get to the point someway!!!

[kurtlives]

Only couldn't get one pedal to just never work. A BYOC Phaser *face palm* 
Not bad for over 60 effects and 8 or so amps.

[Top Top]

Mine almost always work right away or after a minor fix (cold/broken joints, forgot to put the IC in the socket, etc). So far I have only blown up one electrolytic cap I don't have any that I have built that are sitting there not working for some unknown reason.

I am very careful though that I double check every component and whether it is the correct value and placement both when I populate the board and before soldering.

Despite a pretty good success rate, I am still amazed when I hook up a circuit and it actually works!

[Mugshot]

it's nice to have a look back of the things we did, built, dismantled and threw just because of our "urge" to build them. when i first started, mine was the Tonebender MK2 using PNP Germs WITH a negative ground/positive supply (which was said to be notoriously difficult to get going because of the power supply. hah! i was ambitious! ). after fixing the orientation of the input polarized cap, the thing worked, no issues at all. i dismantled the thing after three months  just didnt suit me i realized.

so far so good, i always use RG's advise whenever i attempt to build projects on PCB good thing i already have a breadboard so i can try if things will work before i build them on a pcb. but i prefer building them in pcb. shucks, my bin for built circuits is piling!

[Nitefly182]

About 95%. Sometimes I will build something and no amount of fiddling or checking will turn it onto a properly-functioning piece of gear.

[jacobyjd]

It's pretty high for me.

Once I commit the parts to the board, I solder on flying leads that I then connect to my breadboard with pots, jacks, etc to verify functionality and tweaks. Once verified, I box it

[oldschoolanalog]

I wish I could claim 100% but that would be like pissing on your leg and telling you it's raining.
That being said, in ~30 years of this madness the vast majority of my builds work right away. Then there's the projects that don't work until I realize the "stupid human trick" I pulled. You know; IC's not installed, power supply not hooked up, guitar not plugged in, amp not turned on, etc. These are the easy fixes.
Then there is the MXR Envelope Follower. My Arch Nemesis/Great White Whale. Ugh.
Much of ones percentage of success can also be directly in proportion to the complexity of the projects chosen. It's just alot easier to have a bunch of successful Fuzz, Distortion, OD, Comp, Preamp, (you get the idea) builds than properly working Delay, Phaser, Flanger, Envelope, (again, you get the idea) projects.
My $.02...

[trjones1]

Once I commit the parts to the board, I solder on flying leads that I then connect to my breadboard with pots, jacks, etc to verify functionality and tweaks. Once verified, I box it

That is a great idea.

[LP Hovercraft]

I'd second the observation by oldschoolanalog that the project success rate goes down as the complexity of the project goes up.  My worst debugging day came from powering a Deluxe Electric Mistress with a MAX1044 and dealing with heterodyne frequencies on top of the lovely EM flanging tone.  I could never got rid of it and found later that it was a result of the high frequency switching action of the MAX1044 interfering with the audio signal path.  This was something that was not well known at the time.

Your success rate will also improve when you do not have to experiment with factors where one has to fill in the blanks to make the thing work (that is, unless you are a trained EE) .  I made a BSIAB1 once and shelved it once I plugged it in and could not get rid of the runaway oscillation.  Thank goodness for the BSIAB2 that addressed that problem by inverting the output.  Conquering or just trying to conquer these problems really builds character. 

We all may have twice the patience of the regular mortal.

[solderman]

From about 75 boxes the only one I have had to trow in my towel on is a BOSS SG-1 Slow Gear   

Besides of this I have a couple of builds that I never boxed because they sounded so bad there was no way i wold use or give them to any one so the percentage is quite high.

[jrem]

wow, you guys are doing well, I have boxes of failures.  Stuff from the eighties was amazingly close, didn't realize how close I was until I bought a scope and took a closer look.  But then again my recording career isn't so successful, either.  Oh well, Edison tried a zillion times before he had the first working light bulb.  I'm just thankful Westinghouse won out on the power transmission debate else I would have died dozens of times over.