Building the Uglyface PCB

[tiges_ tendres]

The white dot usually indicates the Positive leg of the LED portion.

Does the board show that the + side of the LED needs to go in that hole?

[jwar]

The white dot usually indicates the Positive leg of the LED portion.

Does the board show that the + side of the LED needs to go in that hole?

Yea the + is on the left side of that pic. You can kind of see it. So I need to flip it then?

I can't really find much about Optocouplers online other than what's written on this forum.

[jwar]

Ok. So I flipped it real quick. This is correct then?

[Taylor]

The end with the short legs is the LED, which should go at the top where the + symbol is. The dot shows the negative side, so you just want to flip it vertically so the dot is on the same side as you currently have it but the short legs go at the top near the sens pot, and the long legs at the bottom

[wizardsofzen]

9v 300ma DC power supply enough for this bad boy?

[Taylor]

Ok. So I flipped it real quick. This is correct then?

Ok, when I made my post above, I actually did not see your second post yet. It's a bit confusing and in this case tiges tendres and I gave you opposite info. This is a great example of why, when in doubt about something like this, always google the part number and look at the datasheet.

http://www.silonex.com/datasheets/specs/images/pdf/103708.pdf

The dot may indicate positive on some optocouplers. But on the NSL-32 it's negative. Parts are often confusing and different manufacturers don't always use consistent indications for things like orientation, so the datasheet is your friend.

So, you now need to flip your opto horizontally so the short legs are at the top but the dot is to the left side of the board.

9v 300ma DC power supply enough for this bad boy?

That should be way more than it will ever draw, so yes that will work just fine.

[tiges_ tendres]

Sorry for the confusion!  I was not aware of that fact!

Thanks!

[jwar]

Thanks so much guys!

[jwar]

Just to be clear there are four grounds all going to the input jack on this? I just want to double check that. The ground from the 9v, board, output and 3dpt all go to the negative on the input.

And just to make 100% sure, this would be the proper orientation for the Optocoupler.

[tiges_ tendres]

Your input jack should have three lugs:

One lug is for input, the other two are for grounding.  One of the grounding lugs should be used for the negative side of your 9 volt battery.  This is so the battery is only being switched on when a jack is in the socket.

The other ground lug will handle the board ground, and whatever other ground connections you need to make.

[jwar]

Ok cool. So here is a pic of the whole thing. Still not working right but I got the LED working (hahaha...I wired the 9v backwards! I have done that so many times it's ridiculous). No bypassed sound, which means I jacked up the input/output somehow.

I wired it according the diagram provided and this



So here's a couple pics. I did the audio probe thing and all the parts seem to be working, so it's got to be something simple that I'm just not seeing. I usually try to walk away and come back to things when they frustrate me. I did that with a diy Robot Devil. Didn't touch it for two months, came back and fix it in five minutes. Dunno why.

First thought I had the IC's in wrong, but I'm almost positive I put those in right.



All the black wires are grounds. The green are from the pcb or 3dpt.






Dunno why I decide on this layout. I want to do an ugly face etch on there. The knobs are in inconvenient places, but it looks cool to me. Plus what's that sexy pedal in the background there?

[Taylor]

Nice! 

So you traced through the circuit with your audio probe, starting at the input jack. Where did you stop getting sound?

[tiges_ tendres]

Looks to me like your input jack is wired wrong.

The green wire (on a standard SwitchCraft) should be soldered to the lug on the far left, and the far right should be ground.

[jwar]

Taylor,

The probe stopped at the LED. Which led me to figure out that my 9v was wire backwards. hahaha



Now I'm screwing up on the jacks. I have tried several variations and looked at switchcraft diagrams...etc.

So here's what's happening. I'll have the input lug wired up, get LED, no bypass tone, but an effected signal when engauged. So I rewired the lug to the way mentioned above. I get no bypassed tone, LED with power, no LED with a cable going into the jack. The cable must be grounding the power out or something.

So I guess I'm just confused.

Green wire to the far left (+), black wires to the far right  (-) except the 9v which needs it's own ground, so put that on the center lug.

Is that correct? If so, then this jack is not a standard switchcraft.

[jwar]

Ok scratch that. Got bypass back when I left the middle lug empty and the output jack grounding on the enclosure instead of the other jack.

So here's what I have right now with my jacks.

I am getting bypass, LED and crazy, crazy noise when engaged. Not controllable crazy noise though. Which brings me back the the IC's. Does the orientation look correct for those in the above pic? Like I said, I got noise of off every component. So that means they're all good right? If I read the directions on the audio probe correctly it does.

[pinkjimiphoton]

FWIW, my uglyface with lfo (on vero) is still running the same battery over a year after building it, and it still kicks ass...probably got at least 40 hours of use in.

can't wait to hear the finished product...sorry if i missed it, just was reading the thread and saw ya ask about battery life.

[pinkjimiphoton]

Ok scratch that. Got bypass back when I left the middle lug empty and the output jack grounding on the enclosure instead of the other jack.

So here's what I have right now with my jacks.

I am getting bypass, LED and crazy, crazy noise when engaged. Not controllable crazy noise though. Which brings me back the the IC's. Does the orientation look correct for those in the above pic? Like I said, I got noise of off every component. So that means they're all good right? If I read the directions on the audio probe correctly it does.

ummm...looking at it, it looks like you're using a switching jack on the input. that can work, but it looks like you wired it wrong. on this kind of jack, when you unplug it, it will short the tip to ground. to make it worrk like you need to, take some needlenose and bend the switch terminal so that it will instead of making contact with the tip connection, hit the shaft of the plug when plugged in.

easier to use a stereo jack, tho.

it LOOKS like you may have it wired funky. generally, you want ground to be ground...and only connect the ground (black) from the power supply to the RING connection. that way, your led won't stay on and drain the battery if the effect is inadvertently engaged.

it's hard to really see from the pictures. but it sounds like a wiring issue on the input.

if you are getting that much noise coming out of the thing, you probably have got the rest right. it is a noisy beast, and it will be damn near uncontrollable. right now from your description, it sounds more and more to me like a wiring issue.

if possible, take it out of the box, leave the switching and jacks and stuff in there, and wire it up the simplest way possible...two jacks, and a power supply. try to get it working that way first.
i have a feeling you will.

don't box it til ya rock it.

that said, look for a short somewhere near the input of the circuit on the bottom of the board. if the uglyface is producing sound, i bet there's a muddled up trace somewhere with a solder bridge, leaving the equivalent of having your thumb on the tip of a guitar cord buzzing.

the orientation of the ic's looks ok to me, but i'd have to see the layout for the pcb to check it out.

hang in there, you'll figure it out. the uglyface is a bloody unworldly effect.

one "duh" question...you DON't have all the knobs up all the way while testing, do you? if so, THAT's your problem....you gotta make sure the gate is down so the guitar comes thru, otherwise all you'll get is basically uncontrollable noise from the oscillator in it. the sensitivity pot should be all the way down to test. if up enough where the oscillator wins, the guitar will not come thru...depending on the pot value used, this could be within the first 30% or so of the rotation.

[jwar]

It works!!!!!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAH! You guys are so cool! Learned a lot with this build, as I do with all of them! Thanks so much for being cool about telling me stuff. I'm still a bit of a noob with all this diy stuff, but love it. Nothing better than having a working product that you put together.


Now to pull everything out and etch this sucker. That at least I know how to do right the first time.

[pinkjimiphoton]

so...what the heck was wrong with it?



props on figuring it out!! big step, my friend.

[jwar]

Hey! Late response here! The damn jack was what kept it from working, plus my LED was backwards. So I used a stereo jack, flipped the LED, and it worked like a charm. Here's a little brief demo on bass I did.

I may use some foul language. My bad. hahaha