@bigo
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I used laser all the time in the past until I screwed up a laser printer, so I switched to inkjet. I knew about coating inkjet decal paper before placing it on an enclosure, but the new brand I used stated nothing in the instructions about coating it first. Live and learn. I do use the laser for printing on photo paper (Barry’s technique), which I may do for my next pedal.
I actually knew the DC Jack was wired correctly in the drawing, but I can see how Cybercrow misunderstood the diagram. My drawing wasn’t entirely clear. I just wanted to make sure all the grounding was correct. Thanks everyone for their responses.
I had a little setback as I was going to try to fit everything in a 1590B enclosure, but the Ge transistors are a bit large and I didn’t think I could get everything to fit. So I had a 1590BB hanging around so I am working on that to get it ready for wiring in the board.
Thanks Cybercrow.
I have done the waterslide and photo paper methods myself. I am going to try some iron on decal paper one of these days that I found on the internet. I have the decal paper (used for iron on transfers). Going to try using a heat gun instead of an iron to apply the transfer.
Hey Cybercrow, how do you get your artwork to appear so nice like it’s painted or silk screened? Waterslide decals and laser printer? Or some other method? Is it a well kept family secret?
I drilled a hole in the bottom plate in my first ever pedal build, an NPN Ge fuzz face, so I could quickly access the PCB mounted trimpot. I used a rubber stopper to plug the hole and it worked like a dream. I posted the hack on the pedal site’s forum under the “mods” section. However, I decided to modify the trimmer by making an external trimmer. I have an external trimmer/bias on all the Germanium pedals I have built.
Adjust-O-Bright 3PDT & LED Wiring Board is my attempt at a name. A little long, but best I can come up with.
Another couple of pedals. The first is the Contortionist fuzz I finished recently (not a GuitarPCB pedal).
The second is a real Tube OD that I recently finished the exterior of the pedal, but built a few years ago.
Re: The name of the board is Best Ever OD – w/ 3 ICs, 8 clipping diodes, 23 resistors & 20 capacitors.
How about the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator? Although that may be better suited for a super modulation pedal.
I also check each component off the list after soldering it to the board. I also double check each component with a multimeter or semiconductor tester before placement on the board to avoid placing a bad or wrong component before soldering. When first started pedal building, I was real OCD and used to lay out all components on a piece of paper after I comfirmed the resistor values. See below (Barry, notice anything in the upper left of the picture – I was going to invite you to State College for a meet up and treat you to a beer the weekend of the Central PA Arts Festival this year but that doesn’t look its going to happen).
Getting ready to build my first ever pedal, a Ge fuzz face.
I am not so OCD now, except I check out continuity throughout the building process to avoid going back and having to resolder.
I solder the components in a slightly different fashion. I usually solder the centrally located components first and then work my way outward. This gives me a chance to more easily anchor down a component to the board while soldering (such as using a heat sink clip). Also, for me, soldering components center to the periphery makes it easier to get the soldering iron tip closer to the component being soldered with less or no interference from nearby components already on the board.
Just like a series parallel switch for guitar pickups. Could you do a phase switch in a similar vein as in the configuration for a pickup in and out phase switch? As below the top of the X represents the Top Lugs of an ON-ON DPDT switch, the dashes are the Middle Lugs and the bottom of the X represents the bottom lugs.
IN -X- OUT
Thanks so much for the help. I will soon begin the build once my Trigeminal Neuralgia abates. Probably not as bad as getting Covid 19, but severe facial pain does not help with concentrating on soldering a PCB.
Then it’s on to a 4 track fuzz, which I wouldn’t have had to build except for tossing out my old Hitachi D-850 three head cassette deck about 15 years ago when I got my first guitar pedal. And I thought that what I was doing by plugging my guitar into the deck and the deck out to the amp was unique and something nobody had ever done before. It seems like everything I thought I had come up with guitar wise was not a novel idea. But then again the internet was not available in the 70’s and 80’s.
Re: I’ve seen several pedals around the interwebs built into electrical junction or switch boxes
That’s what I plan to do with one of my next builds. I will have to modify the box a bit, but for about $2 total for the box and cover plate, it is a lot cheaper than buying the cast aluminum boxes. My old source for boxes, Mammoth, no longer exists so I have bought some from Small Bear, which is closed for the pandemic right now. This was not a new idea that I came up with, a teacher a the place where I took some guitar lessons about 15 years ago built his own pedals and used electrical boxes for the enclosure.
