Basic Assembly Guide (suggestions)

[the_grumpy_gnome]

@bifurcation - Don't feel badly about screwing up pedals. I've been making them for years and still screw things up, sometimes in embarrassing ways. I've re-ordered the Triple Wicked board from here five times, each screwed up a different way. This is a hobby that takes practice.

There're currently no general build or troubleshooting guides available from PedalPCB yet, but I think (@PedalPCB) we should start a sticky.

In the meantime, there are other good guides elsewhere:

Coda Effects: Debugging DIY guitar effects

Learn more about electric guitar related electronics: DIY guitar pedals, from fuzz faces to delays and reverb, cables and circuits theory

www.coda-effects.com

This one's geared toward vero, but the principles are the same and easily applicable to PCBs:

Fault Finding a Build

Collection of vero (stripboard) & tagboard layouts for 100s of popular guitar effects, with over 1000 verified designs. DIY your own boutique effects!

tagboardeffects.blogspot.com

Also, it's pretty common for faults to develop for soldering issues (hey, guess how I learned that). I've watched every damn video on youtube about soldering through-hole boards and I highly recommend this one to everyone:

Some of what's discussed is overkill, like you don't need to wipe your solder and board every time right before you apply heat; clean the board when you sit down to work on it and clean the solder once when you pull a new piece.

Also, this series from Pace is also worth watching:

 

[Cybercow]

Specific EEPROMs are generally available for specific effects:
Kaleidoscope PCB
Kaleidoscope EEPROM This chip is programmed with the Kaleidoscope algorithm. Most other FV-1 effects work the same way. (You can often just swap the EEPROMs, too)

For the Module 8 or Octagon just scroll down and the algorithms are listed.

If you want to choose your own, you can do so with the EEPROM builder and put it into an Arachnid.

Thanks Grumpy! I was looking in the specific EEPROM pages hoping to see them there. I didn't think to look in the project build pages - and they they are. I ordered a custom EEPROM just 2 days ago and made sure to include the Kaleidoscope program among the other 7 I selected. Information gathering on the FV-1, Arachnid, Pythagoras and associated EEPROMs has been a bit tricky. Reading the FV-1 datasheet cleared up a lot.

I'm thinking I may stack EEPROMs and add a toggle or rotary switch to switch between them and the default FV-1 programs. IT appears, from the schematic, that I should be able to lift pins 5 & 6 from the EEPROM socket, attach the switch there and use double-pole switching to swap between EEPROMs. Or would just using the power pin (#8) be sufficient?

 

[Cybercow]

I'll set up a basic wiki and we'll do a trial run with one of the next build docs, just to see how well it is received.

Is the WIKI site up yet? I may have missed that notification.

 

[the_grumpy_gnome]

"Thanks Grumpy!"

*grunts*

"Information gathering on the FV-1, Arachnid, Pythagoras and associated EEPROMs has been a bit tricky. Reading the FV-1 datasheet cleared up a lot."

Dude, seriously. I try to be as explicit as possible when discussing these projects as they can be much more confusing than regular boards.

"I'm thinking I may stack EEPROMs and add a toggle or rotary switch to switch between them and the default FV-1 programs. IT appears, from the schematic, that I should be able to lift pins 5 & 6 from the EEPROM socket, attach the switch there and use double-pole switching to swap between EEPROMs. Or would just using the power pin (#8) be sufficient?"

You're probably on the right track there, but site staff or someone more knowledgeable than me will need to comment on your specific question, but I believe a toggle is already in the works (as discussed on a thread around here).

 

[Robert]

I'm thinking I may stack EEPROMs and add a toggle or rotary switch to switch between them and the default FV-1 programs.

Lift pin 1 of each EEPROM and use the rotary switch to switch between High (3.3V) and Low (GND).

Pulling the pin High effectively disables that EEPROM. Whichever one is pulled low will be active. Be sure only one is active at a time.

You'll have to manually change programs after switching to a new EEPROM, just swapping the EEPROM doesn't trigger a program change.

 

[Gordo]

I like the wiki approach. Would be cool to see what others are doing in terms of substitutions, mods, and tweaks. As I get my FV-1 chops up it would be ideal to share patches as well. I hadn't thought of the commercial eeprom aspect. Other than a gentlemen's agreement (there's a term that needs to be de-gendered), is there a way to enforce copyright on a chip that can be read?

 

[the_grumpy_gnome]

I'd like to add an algorithm repository of sorts... If nothing else, just a forum category for posting the SpinASM source.

My biggest concern is moderating it / ensuring that no EEPROM dumps from commercial pedals is added.

Lock uploads ---> mod review before posting

 

[Cybercow]

*grunts*

Dude, seriously. I try to be as explicit as possible when discussing these projects as they can be much more confusing than regular boards.

I didn't intend to come across as critical. I was just 'fessin' up my own misunderstanding. Here in the forums, explanation are quite explicit. I was browsing the shopping site before I found this forum. The forum seems to complete the PedalPCB experience. And I like where the Wiki is headed. Thanks!

 

[Cybercow]

Lift pin 1 of each EEPROM and use the rotary switch to switch between High (3.3V) and Low (GND).

Pulling the pin High effectively disables that EEPROM. Whichever one is pulled low will be active. Be sure only one is active at a time.

You'll have to manually change programs after switching to a new EEPROM, just swapping the EEPROM doesn't trigger a program change.

Ah! That makes it so much easier. TBH, I hadn't inspected the datasheet for those EEPROMs yet. Thank you!

 

[the_grumpy_gnome]

I didn't intend to come across as critical. I was just 'fessin' up my own misunderstanding. Here in the forums, explanation are quite explicit. I was browsing the shopping site before I found this forum. The forum seems to complete the PedalPCB experience. And I like where the Wiki is headed. Thanks!

No worries, you didn't.

 

[chris.knudson]

A list of IC and transistor substitues would be great indeed

I agree. You can find them by reading through the forum, but having them in one place would make selecting and ordering parts so much easier.

 

[darwin999]

If you can think of any topics that should be covered let me know and I'll add them to the list.

@Robert

I really like your wiki idea, as it can be easily updated + it introduces new customers to the PPCB Forum.
You could include a links to the Wiki and Forum with the shipment, e.g., on a slip or paper or on the order receipt.

Here are some random thoughts, offered for free and worth at least twice the price...

• A list of some substitutions/equivalents for frequently used ICs, transistors, and diodes
• How to select voltage rating for the capacitors, e.g., based on your supply voltage and use of charge pumps
• A discussion on breadboarding (+_ a plug for your Auditorium test platform, which I like)
• Possible modifications - as this is a wide open area, you could give some examples (e.g., links within the Forum from CDB and others) + describe how to search on the Forum for other people's mods.
• Also, as I know all this is extra work for you, so remember that you could delegate first drafts for some of these topics to specific people in the forum.

Cheers,
Darwin999

 

[giovanni]

This thread is 4 years old, is this still in the plans?

 

[jaminjimlp]

Yep, that's how they're organized on my end. There are all the generic templates (4-Knob, 5-Knob, etc) and then there are the specialized ones that are specific to a single project. The complication is that they are individually linked into each of the build docs. Changes made to the master copy aren't automatically pushed into all of the individual references.

Maybe a good solution for this would be in the build documents where the drill template page would normally be just have a web-link to a 2,3,4, or 5 knob master template pdf so that way you would only have to update the one master and all build documents would lead to their specific knod number and layout... except for your special projects.

 

[bluedmc777]

Saw this and thought it was a great idea. Then realized it was from 2019. Still a great idea though I imagine Robert had enough going on.