Super Jig and Workaround Thread

[trendyironicname]

Every now and again, I'll stop what I'm doing and think of better ways of doing something.  Like, soldering pots made easy and what not.  I've found a few things and I'll post pictures when I get back to the shop but I'll describe them first.  I'd also like any/everyone to output their sage wisdom and make this a repository of neat tricks.  I'm sure y'all have found better ways than I have and I'm an EAGER learner.

1:I have a few layouts that that are always the same with pots so I drilled two pieces of sheet metal in the same formation. I load it with the pots, one sheet on top of the other, slide them in opposite directions so they kind of "kink" the pots in position and tape it on the side.  There's a more elegant solution but it works. 

2:I have a bench I built myself and on one station, I drilled a hole for each size I use for pots and footswitches directly in the wood.  It makes it a lot easier than fumbling around with top heavy parts when you're trying to solder the bottom of them.

3:When I'm soldering something to the back of a pot,a lot of times in a row, I have this little dremel engraver thing that I put an abrasive stone on that runs constantly throughout the session.  It sits there and scuffs up the back perfectly when I use it.  Makes soldering there a lot quicker.

4:Angled aluminum is a great way to make your whole desk a proto box.   It works well in my "stream of conscious" building escapades. 

5: Old keyboard footpedals are good momentary routing switches.  I have one main probe and depending if I want it to be hooked up to the multimeter, oscope, or the amp as an audioprobe, I just hit the corresponding switch.  It's not perfect because of the length of wires and shielding problems but when I'm working on audio, i've found it to be useful.  I play a lot in "ballpark figures."

These are all I could think of.  Be gentle if you see something that sucks.  I just want to get something going so we all can have constant "aha" moments and a lot easier time at the desk.

[John Lyons]

Always helpful to see/read how other people work and the jigs the come up with
to make things easier.
I'll try to take some pics of what I've got as well. Some are similar to what you have.

[trendyironicname]

I'm def going to add more to this and want everyone to throw their two cents in because I think my favorite thing to read about is ingenuity and better ways of doing stuff.  I watched an episode of dirty jobs where a pig farmer built all this custom machinery to process buffet scraps from casinos to feed his pigs.  I enjoyed it.


When I'm designing, I've found a dual channel graphic eq to be indispensable.  I use it to shape stages. When I get what I want, I rc network the curves up and move on.   I think it's really helping me think outside of the usual tonestacks and sometimes saves on useless knobs that do little or only sound good in one spot anyway.  It feels a little more organic because it lets the guitarist in me overpower the engineer side of me for a bit.

[davidallancole]

I have thought of doing the same thing with a graphic eq.  Now that I know it works I am more wiling to try.

I like using locking forceps or angled needle nose pliers with elastic bands to hold items when soldering.  If you are trying to solder 2 resistors or a chunk of wire to a resistor in free air these tools allow you to hold and position the items and keep your hands free to hold solder and the iron.  I used the forceps constantly when reparing medical equipment in the hospital.

[Skruffyhound]

I use a similar approach "eagle's beak anti-magnetic tweezers" (I didn't know they were called that, I just looked the brand up for the pic below - wow, just 1 dollar. My favourite tool)


Crocodile/Alligator clip on the handle, good grip and less heat sink than most other tools.
I use this tool for about 15 different operations. I can recommend this model Haona TS-15

[R.G.]

These are from 1998-2001 on Geofex:

http://geofex.com/FX_images/solder_block.gif

http://geofex.com/FX_images/protofx5.gif

http://geofex.com/FX_images/tubev1.jpg

http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/deadbug/deadbug.htm

http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/protostyles/proto_styles.htm

[Kearns892]

Always helpful to see/read how other people work and the jigs the come up with
to make things easier.
I'll try to take some pics of what I've got as well. Some are similar to what you have.

I'd be very interested to see your process of wiring effects. I've tried to emulate what I've seen you do in the pictures thread, but never seem to be able to pull it off (always too much going on). Perhaps some tips/ a tutorial?

[trjones1]

I have an old hammond box that I've put in/out jacks and a power jack in, with 4 wires (signal in, out, V+ and ground) running out of it to connect to a breadboard.  The box has a bypass switch and a power switch, so that you can easily hook it into anyplace on the board and get some basic functionality without having loose jacks and switches flopping everywhere.

[trendyironicname]

These are from 1998-2001 on Geofex:

http://geofex.com/FX_images/solder_block.gif

http://geofex.com/FX_images/protofx5.gif

http://geofex.com/FX_images/tubev1.jpg

http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/deadbug/deadbug.htm

http://geofex.com/Article_Folders/protostyles/proto_styles.htm

Wow.  My brain is permeated with your great ideas.  I've poured over geofex for years and, have interred a lot because I remember seeing everything you listed.  I guess my subconscious will not let me get away with forgetting something from there and eventually tells my conscious self a "better way" and takes credit for being a great innovator.  Lying subconscious.

I think it's pretty safe to assume, from now on, that if I ever come up with a good idea, I stole it from RG.  If I do it knowingly or not.

I did mention you in an interview though.

[R.G.]

Wow.  My brain is permeated with your great ideas.  I've poured over geofex for years and, have interred a lot because I remember seeing everything you listed.  I guess my subconscious will not let me get away with forgetting something from there and eventually tells my conscious self a "better way" and takes credit for being a great innovator.  Lying subconscious.

I think it's pretty safe to assume, from now on, that if I ever come up with a good idea, I stole it from RG.  If I do it knowingly or not.

I didn't think you stole/copied them at all - I thought you just hadn't read that stuff yet.

There's a lot at Geofex that is old enough that we're getting a beginners that hadn't yet learned to read when it was written. I just assume that when something re-occurs, the person hasn't read it yet.

There's no harm in reinvention. I do it all the time. Things like the wheel, levers, fire...   

[Skruffyhound]

Snap! I believe it's called a breakout box. I stuck a bipolar supply in mine as well. It's 58x63x35mm and the most used of my builds. Does result in a lot of un-boxed boards though.

[trendyironicname]

You're very gracious and think the best in people.   



I'm not sure how many people do this and it's probably fairly obvious but I get the Millennium Bypass to work perfectly with a pulled up micro pin instead of a jfet.  That's my big secret of how I got taptempo into the Circadia while only using the one dpdt footswitch that bypasses it as well. (Put a timeout in the timer to differentiate someone setting a tempo and someone turning it off and it can pull double duty without having to set a tempo every time they come back into that part of the song)

Thank you for Geofex. I have a binder somewhere that I printed up when I was in my halo because we didn't/couldn't stay online all day back then like we can now and it's filled with Geofex articles. I mean FILLED.

[edvard]

... I get the Millennium Bypass to work perfectly with a pulled up micro pin instead of a jfet.

Micro pin?
You mean a PIN diode? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIN_diode)

My proto bench needs some work to reach the level of awesome I am seeing here, I'm taking notes as well....

One thing I have done is use a bank of compression sockets (the red and black things with a spring for connecting speakers to your stereo) for off-board components (long wires) that get frequently swapped.

[MetalUpYerEye]

Seriously, this is my next project.

http://geofex.com/FX_images/protofx5.gif

Thanks RG! 

[trendyironicname]

... I get the Millennium Bypass to work perfectly with a pulled up micro pin instead of a jfet.

Micro pin?
You mean a PIN diode? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIN_diode)

My proto bench needs some work to reach the level of awesome I am seeing here, I'm taking notes as well....

One thing I have done is use a bank of compression sockets (the red and black things with a spring for connecting speakers to your stereo) for off-board components (long wires) that get frequently swapped.

I like the socket idea. 

The micro pin is just an input on a microprocessor.  It'll let it know if the rest of the effect is supposed to be on or off and it can control things from there.

[R.G.]

I'm not sure how many people do this and it's probably fairly obvious but I get the Millennium Bypass to work perfectly with a pulled up micro pin instead of a jfet.  That's my big secret of how I got taptempo into the Circadia while only using the one dpdt footswitch that bypasses it as well. (Put a timeout in the timer to differentiate someone setting a tempo and someone turning it off and it can pull double duty without having to set a tempo every time they come back into that part of the song)

Nice thinking!

I used a similar trick on some switcher controls. I got a single uC pin to run both sensing the state of a momentary footswitch and running the indicator LED at the same time by flipping the pin from an output to run the LED to an input to sense the switch for a millisecond or two. The change in LED brightness when it was on was imperceptible.

[trendyironicname]

For some reason, my phone's not sending pics anymore but when i get the bluetooth on my computer working, i'll post everything. 

What I'd like to know, are there any tricks yall use to quickly reclaim enclosures?  I have a few things that "help" but if there's a super simple way, I'd love to know because I have 15 enclosures sitting in a corner because i hate doing it and they'll probably wait for a lonnnnnnnng time.   

One thing that does help, is using rags and plastic over top of chemical stripper. I had a lot of problems with the stripper drying and being just as hard to scrap off as the paint was.  Saw a show on hgtv where they were restoring an old door and he used this trick to take most of the paint off.  The plastic keeps it active for longer and the rag gives it something to kind of dry to so when you pull the rag up, a lot of paint comes with it.

It's not perfect enough to make me want to do it a lot but maybe it helps someone with the same problem I had and maybe someone will come along and go, "oh here's my 10 minute foolproof system" (crosses fingers and prays) 

[jefe]

What I'd like to know, are there any tricks yall use to quickly reclaim enclosures? 

.

Assuming you mean reclaim from bad paint jobs (and not reclaiming from other types of mishaps, like drilling mistakes and what have you).. An electric palm sander with a fresh piece of sandpaper can have the box down to bare metal in 5 minutes. Raises a lot of dust, obviously, so if you can do it outdoors, all the better.