Most common annoyances

[jwin615]

Note, this is by no means a callout to any particular people here or elsewhere.
Every troubleshooting thread seems to have socketed transistors. Basic Si circuits with all of the jellybean transistors socketed.
Low output you say?
Try soldering in the damn amplifiers. It's a 30 cent transistor made by 17 different companies. It's not a rare perfect example of a GE FF Q1.
It seems like over the last 2 years, so many have started socketing every transistor every time. If it's going in and it's staying in, solder it. It'll be okay. It will be a better, more reliable connection. I personally have never botched a transistor via soldering. Thing is, they're made to be soldered. Sound technique and a few seconds between pads is all it takes.
Maybe I'm an outsider on this but I feel like sockets are a temporary tool, not a long term solution. I would never give someone else a pedal with socketed transistors. But I've seen "boutique" builders pandering wares with them so maybe I'm just a fool yelling at the clouds.

 

[Passinwind]

five dollar diodes

The ten dollar diodes are better. Wanna buy some?

 

[Harry Klippton]

Note, this is by no means a callout to any particular people here or elsewhere.
Every troubleshooting thread seems to have socketed transistors. Basic Si circuits with all of the jellybean transistors socketed.
Low output you say?
Try soldering in the damn amplifiers. It's a 30 cent transistor made by 17 different companies. It's not a rare perfect example of a GE FF Q1.
It seems like over the last 2 years, so many have started socketing every transistor every time. If it's going in and it's staying in, solder it. It'll be okay. It will be a better, more reliable connection. I personally have never botched a transistor via soldering. Thing is, they're made to be soldered. Sound technique and a few seconds between pads is all it takes.
Maybe I'm an outsider on this but I feel like sockets are a temporary tool, not a long term solution. I would never give someone else a pedal with socketed transistors. But I've seen "boutique" builders pandering wares with them so maybe I'm just a fool yelling at the clouds.

Been saying this for years

 

[Fama]

Note, this is by no means a callout to any particular people here or elsewhere.
Every troubleshooting thread seems to have socketed transistors. Basic Si circuits with all of the jellybean transistors socketed.
Low output you say?
Try soldering in the damn amplifiers. It's a 30 cent transistor made by 17 different companies. It's not a rare perfect example of a GE FF Q1.
It seems like over the last 2 years, so many have started socketing every transistor every time. If it's going in and it's staying in, solder it. It'll be okay. It will be a better, more reliable connection. I personally have never botched a transistor via soldering. Thing is, they're made to be soldered. Sound technique and a few seconds between pads is all it takes.
Maybe I'm an outsider on this but I feel like sockets are a temporary tool, not a long term solution. I would never give someone else a pedal with socketed transistors. But I've seen "boutique" builders pandering wares with them so maybe I'm just a fool yelling at the clouds.

It's not the soldering that worries me. It's the desoldering. That can really fuck it up. IMO sockets are fine because when you're happy with the transistors, if you're worried about reliability, you can solder the transistors into the sockets.

 

[jwin615]

It's not the soldering that worries me. It's the desoldering. That can really fuck it up. IMO sockets are fine because when you're happy with the transistors, if you're worried about reliability, you can solder the transistors into the sockets.

Desoldering/fucking up what? The transistors or the pcb?

 

[Feral Feline]

The tool to get rid of sharp edges is a deburring tool. Just a quick sweep around a hole, and the edge gets a nice break to it, without changing the size.

View attachment 77307

For hand held use, a tapered reamer will be hard to make corrections with—it’s designed to enlarge a hole equally on all sides. A rat tail file would be a better choice.

I'm a big fan of deburring tools — used a hand-made one while working at Brodie, my first experience using them, and it was the best I've ever used — wished I'd nicked it when I left.


I don't know what the equivalent is in the rest of the world is, but for Canadians, just...

SAY

NO​

TO​

PRINCESS AUTO's DEBURRING TOOL!​

PA's (MIC) tool is utter crap and snaps if you apply ANY force to it. It's dirt-cheap because it's cheap-dirt.
You get what you pay for ...

 

[Fama]

Desoldering/fucking up what? The transistors or the pcb?

PCB. I'm not sure if it's the unleaded solder or just the solder sucker that's lacking, but I often have a hard time clearing the holes from solder, and fighting with it a lot feels like a sure way to fuck up the PCB. If I have to switch out some parts, I usually give it a quick try, and if the hole just won't clear I just solder the new part on top. Looks ugly, has worked fine every time.

 

[jwin615]

PCB. I'm not sure if it's the unleaded solder or just the solder sucker that's lacking, but I often have a hard time clearing the holes from solder, and fighting with it a lot feels like a sure way to fuck up the PCB. If I have to switch out some parts, I usually give it a quick try, and if the hole just won't clear I just solder the new part on top. Looks ugly, has worked fine every time.

Maybe the lead free? I've struggled with it before. Copious amounts of flux....
One trick I figured out a while back for auditioning transistors, while a painful in itself, help with socket removal:
Use individual 40-50mm pins, plastic removed. Fully insert and solder lightly. Will have to prop the board up or put in a vice to audition. Once the winner is chosen, apply flux, solder suck once, heating the whole pin up.
Then, reapply flux, reheat the pin and pull it out wth pliers or well calloused hands. I've tried this exactly 3 times(3 transistors) and 8 of 9 holes fully cleared. 1 had a thin film that cleared after flux and suck.
The extra length of the pin seems to sufficiently pull the remaining solder with it. You can even reuse some pins but I won't as I don't want any solder on that bottom half.

 

[Feral Feline]

Desoldering/fucking up what? The transistors or the pcb?

The PCB in this case.
I understand, @Fama.

My recent mod for a friend...



... All I needed to do was add a 470n parallel to a 220n to get close to the desired value, but it was fiddly working on the build. Since the universe was unco-operative, I opted to take the 220n out and stick in a 1µ until the 680n could be sourced.

Feral Feline: 0
UNIVERSE: WON… eh, 1

Found out the pads on older GPCB boards aren't as robust as the newer ones (and that I should've used my smaller less-powerful solder-sucker).

Oh well. C6 is tacked in and everything works again, albeit not as prettily working as before.

I do hope my friend likes the 1µ in place of the 690n (680n); I dropped the pedal off last night and I don't want to have to open it up again.

 

[tegendemuur]

I didn't seem to get the sucker working at first either, but now that I hold the iron against the pad while sucking (heh) it works. Always thought you have to take the iron off, but it cools to fast. Even if you cover half the hole with the iron, the sucker will take it out. The plastic tip is hard enough to take the heat for a while.

Grab a PCB from some broken thing and just desolder components. After a while you get the hang of it. Don't practice on your builds. I recommend an old mixer, because once you're pulling out multi-terminal conponents like pots with ease you're good to go. (Just goop solder over all leads, to connect them together, so you can heat them all at the same time by going back and forth with the iron.)

The pot below was broken, so I was a little less friendly to it...

 

[Nostradoomus]

I'm a big fan of deburring tools — used a hand-made one while working at Brodie, my first experience using them, and it was the best I've ever used — wished I'd nicked it when I left.


I don't know what the equivalent is in the rest of the world is, but for Canadians, just...

SAY

NO​

TO​

PRINCESS AUTO's DEBURRING TOOL!​

PA's (MIC) tool is utter crap and snaps if you apply ANY force to it. It's dirt-cheap because it's cheap-dirt.
You get what you pay for ...

I think for the US at least it's harbor freight...but PA is worse

 

[Locrian99]

My biggest gripe is kind of attached to the transistor socket. Snd its more just the general over focus in my opinion.

The your solder joints look bad answer in every trouble shooting thread. Just the amount of focus on solderjnf for beginners. The fear of burning up that precious 2n3904 you just got for 4 cents from tayda as you count one alligator, 2 alligator, 3 alligator and then you still dont get the perfect little hershey kiss. I was so afraid i was going to melt everything in the beginning. The only pads i ever lift are on cheap ass pcbs on mass produced pedals it seems. And the only parts ive ever fried is from trying to remove a switch from a pcb. Not saying soldering isnt important, but it almost feels like gate keeping. I have no idea why your pedal doesnt work so im just going to tell you your soldering looks like shit because thats what we do . Rant over

 

[HamishR]

I just remembered what it is about building I do find tedious. Selecting all the resistors first. I keep my resistors in a box. Each value is in a little plastic bag from Tayda and they're all in numerical order. So finding the right value is easy. It's the taking out the bag, removing some resistors which usually get stuck on the zip-lock bit of the bag, putting them back where they usually get stuck on the zip-lock bit, and putting them back in the right place. Then onto the next value.

THAT is tedious. I don't have the room for anything better.

 

[tegendemuur]

I just remembered what it is about building I do find tedious. Selecting all the resistors first. I keep my resistors in a box. Each value is in a little plastic bag from Tayda and they're all in numerical order. So finding the right value is easy. It's the taking out the bag, removing some resistors which usually get stuck on the zip-lock bit of the bag, putting them back where they usually get stuck on the zip-lock bit, and putting them back in the right place. Then onto the next value.

THAT is tedious. I don't have the room for anything better.

Store the bags upright in some oblong container, so you can cut the zip lock part off? You can then browse the values like vinyl, comics, ...

 

[HamishR]

D'oh! That's a really good idea! They are already in a box packed relatively tightly together. So just cutting off the zip-lock bit might make all the difference. Why didn't I think of that??

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

 

[bean]

I have very precise drill bits but mis-drill enclosures all the time.
If the soldering iron is on at some point I am going to burn myself or something near me.
About 50% of my new ideas or designs are bad or flawed in some way.

 

[owlexifry]

I just remembered what it is about building I do find tedious. Selecting all the resistors first. I keep my resistors in a box. Each value is in a little plastic bag from Tayda and they're all in numerical order. So finding the right value is easy. It's the taking out the bag, removing some resistors which usually get stuck on the zip-lock bit of the bag, putting them back where they usually get stuck on the zip-lock bit, and putting them back in the right place. Then onto the next value.

THAT is tedious. I don't have the room for anything better.

haha this is exactly how i manage resistors.
i have them lined up in an old rectangular bendicks bittermints box with card dividers for 1K, 10K, 100K, 1M

D'oh! That's a really good idea! They are already in a box packed relatively tightly together. So just cutting off the zip-lock bit might make all the difference. Why didn't I think of that??

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

yeah but one day you'll knock that box over and the resistors will fly out of the bags and go everywhere. sorting that mess would be horrendous.

 

[Fama]

I just remembered what it is about building I do find tedious. Selecting all the resistors first. I keep my resistors in a box. Each value is in a little plastic bag from Tayda and they're all in numerical order. So finding the right value is easy. It's the taking out the bag, removing some resistors which usually get stuck on the zip-lock bit of the bag, putting them back where they usually get stuck on the zip-lock bit, and putting them back in the right place. Then onto the next value.

THAT is tedious. I don't have the room for anything better.

I find it's not too bad if you sort of... bend the resistor stack a bit so it goes in the bag easier. But then I also find some satisfaction in using the resistors from the sides first so that they fit better in the bag.

 

[Nostradoomus]

I have very precise drill bits but mis-drill enclosures all the time.
If the soldering iron is on at some point I am going to burn myself or something near me.
About 50% of my new ideas or designs are bad or flawed in some way.

50% is pretty good

 

[tegendemuur]

D'oh! That's a really good idea! They are already in a box packed relatively tightly together. So just cutting off the zip-lock bit might make all the difference. Why didn't I think of that??

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

Been at the same spot, thinking... "this should be so annoying..." I also put a little colored cardboard piece between each series, so right after each board it starts with the lowest, 1k 10k 100k, 1M, 10M. Feel like I am honoring the tireless efforts of the librarian!

Edit: Same as @owlexifry, I now read! Looks like I am doing things right. Reinventing the wheel, or something like that.