And some days, stripboard is best

[newfish]

Hmm.

Am having a frustrating time of building a new Tremolo.

It runs as follows - LM741 as oscillator.  Oscillation boosted by NPN transistor which in turn feeds a LED / LDR combination.
Status LED in series before the LED / LDR combo to give a 'Rate' indicator.

Breadboard version works perfectly.

Builds one and two do not.  At all.

Have checked for solder bridges and have had the NPN in both ways around.

After having spent time etching two boards (trying different layouts), I have conceded defeat and will be making a stripboard version.

Not having built on stripboard for quite some time, it's liberating not to have to mess around with chemicals and heat and such.
Having just populated the board in what seems like record time (compared to PCB making), I can see why some people stick with vero / strip boards.

I know I *will* crack the correct layout sooner or later, but for now I'm pleased at the 'old skool' appearance of stripboard.

I've also learned the following...

Having a breadboarded verson of something is indispensible when troubleshooting.
Not only can you measure 'working' voltages, but you can also try to simulate the faults on your build.

If your untested layout *looks* right, it could still be wrong!

Thought I'd pass this on to anyone who might benefit.

Cheers.

[JFX09]

If your untested layout *looks* right, it could still be wrong!

Alas!  I've spent the better part of my week-end debugging a pcb with a bogus layout (mine, mea culpa). It still beats perf in my opinion (unless your CyborgPerf Boy from Outerspace)

jf

[jkokura]

(unless your CyborgPerf Boy from Outerspace)

AKA Rick from FC

[Renegadrian]

(unless your CyborgPerf Boy from Outerspace)

AKA Rick from FC

I tought the same...

[Nitefly182]

(unless your CyborgPerf Boy from Outerspace)

AKA Rick from FC

was just about to say that.

[liquids]

Having a breadboarded verson of something is indispensible when troubleshooting.
Not only can you measure 'working' voltages, but you can also try to simulate the faults on your build.

If your untested layout *looks* right, it could still be wrong!

Thought I'd pass this on to anyone who might benefit.

Cheers.

Good tip I will put to use! I typically dismantle or put the bread boarded project aside once I embark on a build set in solder, though it's not unusual that I'd end up re-breadboarding it if I have a build that didn't work right away and do an extended debug.  

Also, I find a re-breadboard, after I am familiar with the circuit often proves helpful to me for a debug since you have an idea of what areas need the 'most space' on the board, so I'm not knocking things over and crossing connections, etc, when I try to audio-probe or read off the DMM to compare to the actual build.  And of course, it helps to breadboard it exactly the way it is on the final build rather than assume it will work just fine....  That's another story.

Well, one more good reason for me to continue to add 'just one more' breadboard to my orders whenever possible.    

[frequencycentral]

CyborgPerf Boy from Outerspace

[newfish]

...and who would have guesse that the Stripboard build worked perfectly *first time*!

I think, for the sake of OCD-style completeness, I'll work backwards and draw a PCB layout from the stripboard.

I have a friend who misses tremolo since selling his AC30 (too damn loud *all* the time).
I'm sure he'd appreciate a bit more 'wobble' in his sonic arsenal.
I'd be happier giving him something a little more professional looking.

Cheers Guys.

Happy Building.