Pros & Cons of Mounting a 3PDT Directly to the PCB?

[solderman]

Hi I allways do it. This saves a lot og spcae in the small boxes I normaly use (1590A)

All new MXR for example, and other comercial,s as well,  has everything soldered to the board so this can't really be a problem


A Zombie Chorus


FL3 Flanger

[Processaurus]

All new MXR for example, and other comercial,s as well,  has everything soldered to the board so this can't really be a problem

I'd be willing to bet most of their returns will be from problems with the occasional stompswitch getting loose (or getting put back together less than factory tight, or that person forgets the lockwasher, etc) and bending the board every time you stomp it.  RG Keen had mentioned an interesting commercial perspective on switch reliability in that visual sound had redesigned their effects to use a separate, custom actuator to press a tact switch on the PCB, to lessen warranty repairs.  Actually, since you're clearly skilled at laying things out, you could use small bears actuator and the tiny dpdt switch on board (small bear calls it Bypass On Board), if you needed a little more room, though your current design doesn't have any leverage on the PCB, because it is mechanically attached soley to the switch...

[Taylor]

I would think that going the route of a tactile switch w/actuator requires some extremely precise mechanical engineering, no? Wouldn't you need the depth of the actuator and tact switch to line up within less than a millimeter, to properly actuate the switch without putting stress on the PCB? Maybe I'm envisioning it wrong, but if this is the case I imagine it would be very frustrating to use with hand built pedals.

[Processaurus]

It would take some mechanical aptitude, same as directly PC mounting a stompswitch, but the depth doesn't have to be precise because the actuators do the switch pressing with a spring, and also there is a threaded adjustment.  The lateral dimension could be indexed by a standoff or PC mounted pots or something. 



The actuator thing is how Tech 21, Line 6, Danelectro (and probably some others), in addition to new Visual Sound have gotten their switches on the PCB without mechanically coupling it people's stomping power.

A month or two ago I helped a friend replace a switch in an 90's MXR phase100 with the PC mounted switch (switch had failed internally, another crapped Carling), and it was difficult to remove, broke a trace from the plated through hole getting ruined, and we had to order the exact same sub standard switch to replace it.  Dreadful...

[Processaurus]

At this point I think board-mounted pots only is the way to go, then wire jacks, and I think I'm going to start doing a 3pdt pcb with a ribbon cable connecting it to the main board.

[Taylor]

Nice, is that something of yours?

[solderman]

All new MXR for example, and other comercial,s as well,  has everything soldered to the board so this can't really be a problem

I'd be willing to bet most of their returns will be from problems with the occasional stompswitch getting loose (or getting put back together less than factory tight, or that person forgets the lockwasher, etc) and bending the board every time you stomp it.  RG Keen had mentioned an interesting commercial perspective on switch reliability in that visual sound had redesigned their effects to use a separate, custom actuator to press a tact switch on the PCB, to lessen warranty repairs.  Actually, since you're clearly skilled at laying things out, you could use small bears actuator and the tiny dpdt switch on board (small bear calls it Bypass On Board), if you needed a little more room, though your current design doesn't have any leverage on the PCB, because it is mechanically attached soley to the switch...

Hi
I read that tread. It was really interesting. I like to try them out some time since the look really nice.  But since the only repairman on most of our effects will be our self's the " warranty return problem" seems to be less of an issue. The bigger issue is wiring and broken hook up wires. Especially if you use a singel lead wire. They are nice to handle and stays in place but brakes more often when adjusted.
In my case the stomp switch holds the PCB in place and there are no additional things direct attached to the PCB that is attached to the box. So using the actuator would only cause trouble for me

[tranceracer]

It would take some mechanical aptitude, same as directly PC mounting a stompswitch, but the depth doesn't have to be precise because the actuators do the switch pressing with a spring, and also there is a threaded adjustment.  The lateral dimension could be indexed by a standoff or PC mounted pots or something. 



The actuator thing is how Tech 21, Line 6, Danelectro (and probably some others), in addition to new Visual Sound have gotten their switches on the PCB without mechanically coupling it people's stomping power.

A month or two ago I helped a friend replace a switch in an 90's MXR phase100 with the PC mounted switch (switch had failed internally, another crapped Carling), and it was difficult to remove, broke a trace from the plated through hole getting ruined, and we had to order the exact same sub standard switch to replace it.  Dreadful...

Here's something I posted a while back using tactile in that very actuator.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=66856.0

[Processaurus]

Nice, is that something of yours?

Yep.  A fuzz pedal with a bunch of cmos switching to make it into a sort of 3 channel affair.  Kind of an anthology of all the fuzz ideas I've liked.  The latest version is 4 pages of schematics and uses a funny state machine made out of a bunch of logic gates to control the switching.  I'm starting to suspect it might be too much thinking for a fuzz pedal!

It's the first PCB I designed from laying out all of the parts in a modeling program first, and then designing the PCB artwork around that,  including the little daughter boards for the 3pdt's.