Bring out yer Diptrace

[vigilante398]

So I borked up a build I am working on using one of my own boards. When it didn't work I started troubleshooting, but my troubleshooting turned up no clues. In going back to my Diptrace files and the original schematic I was working from, I can see that I accidentally left out a 1K resistor going from Vref to a net of capacitors. To fix this pedal, I will need to physically connect the Vref net to one of the caps via an offboard 1K resistor. Can anyone recommend a good way of attaching/soldering an offboard resistor? Preferably under the PCB

Piece of cake on through-hole, just "surface-mount" the resistor leads between the two points that need to connect. On surface mount it can be a little trickier, but if you have a pad that at least one side can go to you can solder down one side then "float" a wire to the other side to connect to where it needs to go. When I tack on SMD passives like that I generally apply a dab of epoxy (or hot glue in a pinch) for strain relief, just in case.

 

[JamieJ]

I have been really enjoying messing about with SMD layouts recently. It took me a while to get my head around adapting from using only TH. So this is a rat with JFET boost after in SMD.

Now I need to test out JLCPCB SMD assembly service.

 

[dan.schumaker]

Due to the bad influence of others on this forum, pushing me to explore this more, here is something I finished up today. It is a 2 BBD delay, giving 600ms of delay time in a 1590A. This has a charge pump to drive the BBD's at 15V, and I added a switch to tap into the first BBD, hopefully giving a sort of rhythmic delay.
View attachment 24988

I got my proto boards of this in, and it sounds awesome! The ghost feature is pretty cool, and I still plan to try it out with a MN3008 in the second position to give some more rhythmic delays.

I did have one issue, I forgot to ground the compander! After connecting it to ground, it works like a champ. Stupid mistake. So while I was updating the board, I thought to myself... there is no way I can add modulation, right? Right? Well, a little work later, and here we are With the little work of hand soldering an IC and 3 SMD parts to the top, I'll be able to have 600ms delay and modulation, pretty cool!

 

[Bio77]

I got my proto boards of this in, and it sounds awesome! The ghost feature is pretty cool, and I still plan to try it out with a MN3008 in the second position to give some more rhythmic delays.

I did have one issue, I forgot to ground the compander! After connecting it to ground, it works like a champ. Stupid mistake. So while I was updating the board, I thought to myself... there is no way I can add modulation, right? Right? Well, a little work later, and here we are With the little work of hand soldering an IC and 3 SMD parts to the top, I'll be able to have 600ms delay and modulation, pretty cool!

Dan, you and thomasha are headed to the Thunder-dome!

 

[vigilante398]

Per my post in the "must build" pedals thread, here's a Soldano GTO layout I put together. I liked the idea I had a bit ago of mounting the PCB vertical in the enclosure so the tube goes horizontal and stays inside the enclosure instead of sticking out the top. It limits the amount of space I have to work with on the layout, but this should fit in a "landscape orientation" 1590BB.

 

[flemming]

I've yet to send any layouts out for manufacturing (soon), but I've put a couple together now and clearly I let my level of confidence get away from me a bit. I was looking at the Spaceman Gemini IV and DeadendFX has it in a 1590bbs and after a quick glance I thought, "sure no problem, I can get this in a 125b". Only after I started working on it did I realize that it had 6 pots, 1 switch and a transformer. But I think I got something that fits. I replaced the MOSFET polarity protection with a diode to cut out a few components. I could have probably dropped the ferrite beads too, but I kept them. There may be a little tweaking left to do, but I was kinda proud that I squeezed it all in there. I never claimed to know what I'm doing so I'm not sure if I made any faux pas from an electrical standpoint.

 

[Grubb]

@flemming I can't believe this is the size of the first project you're sending off! My first PCB project was an Em-Drive, it had about 10 parts total and it still didn't work properly

Nice work mate, I hope to see a future build report with this board.

 

[flemming]

@flemming I can't believe this is the size of the first project you're sending off! My first PCB project was an Em-Drive, it had about 10 parts total and it still didn't work properly

Nice work mate, I hope to see a future build report with this board.

I've did a few simpler layouts beforehand, but I've been sitting on them to save a few bucks on shipping. Also I never said any of them worked, so there's that. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[Passinwind]

I've did a few simpler layouts beforehand, but I've been sitting on them to save a few bucks on shipping. Also I never said any of them worked, so there's that. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I hate getting back coasters. The pricing structure at JLCPCB always makes me tempted to buy 15 or 20 boards even when the design isn't fully vetted yet.

I'm digging this thread and this forum a lot since pedals are mostly a new direction for me. The vast majority of my board layouts have been onboard preamps and the rest have been for various bass amp and preamp builds I've been doing over the last ten years.

So this would be a typical onboard preamp layout in my world:



I've been using KiCAD for about ten years now and tend to make and use my own component footprints most of the time. That particular board came from DigiKey's DK Red service, which is priced similarly to OSHpark but has a few different spec limits. Biggest difference is that they don't accept plated slots, and that does matter to me a lot occasionally.

 

[Harry Klippton]

I hate getting back coasters. The pricing structure at JLCPCB always makes me tempted to buy 15 or 20 boards even when the design isn't fully vetted yet.

I'm digging this thread and this forum a lot since pedals are mostly a new direction for me. The vast majority of my board layouts have been onboard preamps and the rest have been for various bass amp and preamp builds I've been doing over the last ten years.

So this would be a typical onboard preamp layout in my world:

View attachment 26412

I've been using KiCAD for about ten years now and tend to make and use my own component footprints most of the time. That particular board came from DigiKey's DK Red service, which is priced similarly to OSHpark but had a few different spec limits. Biggest difference is that they don;t accept plated slots, and that does matter to me a lot occasionally.

Now I know who to direct my stupid kicad questions to

 

[Passinwind]

Now I know who to direct my stupid kicad questions to

Always happy to help my fellow travelers. It took quite some time to establish a decent workflow but I'm pretty comfortable with KiCAD by now.

 

[Big Monk]

I like this thread as well.

Hobbies tend to go in the same direction for me no matter they entail: I always love the planning, preparation, design, etc. more than the building.

For instance, when I brewed beer, I absolutely loathed the actual brewing part, which many loved. It simply was too messy, too time consuming, etc. I LOVED my home brewed beer and it was absolutely delicious and worth the effort, but brewing it sucked. What I loved was planning the recipe, performing the calculations, putting the order together, checking gravity and fermentation progress, etc.

Building pedals is the same way for me. I love designing boards, verifying dimensions, laying out graphics, etc. playing them when they are finished is awesome as well but the actual building is a lot like driving someplace: The trip sucks, is typically boring and is only redeemed by actually getting to the destination, which is often glorious.

 

[Passinwind]

I like this thread as well.

Hobbies tend to go in the same direction for me no matter they entail: I always love the planning, preparation, design, etc. more than the building.

For instance, when I brewed beer, I absolutely loathed the actual brewing part, which many loved. It simply was too messy, too time consuming, etc. I LOVED my home brewed beer and it was absolutely delicious and worth the effort, but brewing it sucked. What I loved was planning the recipe, performing the calculations, putting the order together, checking gravity and fermentation progress, etc.

Building pedals is the same way for me. I love designing boards, verifying dimensions, laying out graphics, etc. playing them when they are finished is awesome as well but the actual building is a lot like driving someplace: The trip sucks, is typically boring and is only redeemed by actually getting to the destination, which is often glorious.

I hear you there. The cleanup after homebrewing was always an especially huge downer for my GF and me back when we were doing two batches every other week. Right now I'm going to need to step up my game on the metalwork end and really get my CAD chops together, but of course these days we are very lucky to be able to farm out the actual machining work for small money at least.

 

[Big Monk]

...but of course these days we are very lucky to be able to farm out the actual machining work for small money at least.

I've gladly pawned off all busy work to Tayda. No drilling, no graphics. I'm much happier with less to do after a board is populated.

 

[Passinwind]

I've gladly pawned off all busy work to Tayda. No drilling, no graphics. I'm much happier with less to do after a board is populated.

I really like the software Front Panel Express provides to facilitate using their services. Protocase provides something similar too, but $$$ for the actual work. I've only tried Tayda for UV printing so far, will try their drilling too eventually for sure though. I'll probably give Amplifyfun a shot next though, I dig their whole vibe a lot and they are within easy driving distance in my case.

 

[vigilante398]

Building pedals is the same way for me. I love designing boards, verifying dimensions, laying out graphics, etc. playing them when they are finished is awesome as well but the actual building is a lot like driving someplace: The trip sucks, is typically boring and is only redeemed by actually getting to the destination, which is often glorious.

100% this. I love designing pedals, building is just what pays for me to be able to do so I generally like verifying new designs the first time, but after that it's just meh.

 

[Big Monk]

100% this. I love designing pedals, building is just what pays for me to be able to do so I generally like verifying new designs the first time, but after that it's just meh.

It's why I have such a low output. I just don't really like building and wiring, etc. i like designing and playing.

Now if I was selling pedals, I'd find something to enjoy about it...

 

[Passinwind]

It's why I have such a low output. I just don't really like building and wiring, etc. i like designing and playing.

For extra big fun (NOT) get stuck with doing multiple onboard preamp installs the day before the bus leaves for NAMM. My luthier friend hassled me for years to do builds that took all the work off his shoulders and put it all on mine. Finally did that, now it's "do I really have to solder up five wires?"

Now if I was selling pedals, I'd find something to enjoy about it...

That's my current plan. But I'd still rather work on blender drink recipes.

 

[Feral Feline]

I like this thread as well.

Hobbies tend to go in the same direction for me no matter they entail: I always love the planning, preparation, design, etc. more than the building.

For instance, when I brewed beer, I absolutely loathed the actual brewing part, which many loved. It simply was too messy, too time consuming, etc. I LOVED my home brewed beer and it was absolutely delicious and worth the effort, but brewing it sucked. What I loved was planning the recipe, performing the calculations, putting the order together, checking gravity and fermentation progress, etc.

Building pedals is the same way for me. I love designing boards, verifying dimensions, laying out graphics, etc. playing them when they are finished is awesome as well but the actual building is a lot like driving someplace: The trip sucks, is typically boring and is only redeemed by actually getting to the destination, which is often glorious.

Kind of with you on most of that.

I like planning, preparing my builds (I don't design PCBs), but I do like the soldering itself. I like coming up with graphics ideas but don't like the graphics element execution because I kill them and can never get them to look like how I planned them. One with lenticular printing for example.

When I brewed beer, it was at a U-brew type place, so all the mess is contained by the host. Didn't get to try different recipes because I was sharing the cost with three other people. One guy wasn't in to trying different recipes while the other guy and gal were. We should've kicked the one guy out of our group 'cause he was basically an alcoholic and the rest of us couldn't give away our stash fast enough between brews. Every two weeks we were alternately bottling or brewing and had enough each to last a month or more, barring the alcoholic who'd regularly run out.
Oh, and at least it was a good recipe we could all agree on: Grolsch! I used Grolsch and Alsace Fischer bottles with the popper toppers to bottle with. Had to stop brewing and give up my bottle collection when I moved overseas.


DRIVING, however is where we differ. Driving across town is mostly boring, but driving across country or the Rockies is fantastic and the journey and sights seen along the way are often better than the destination.

As for this thread, I enjoy reading everyones' exploits, but it will be a while before/if I can contribute any Dip Tracey — meanwhile I'll be over here playing in my garbage can with crutches...

 

[vigilante398]

Now if I was selling pedals, I'd find something to enjoy about it...

Yeah I've found I actually like interacting with customers, which is weird as an introvert. Obviously being able to afford tools and toys is nice. But it also pushes me in the design aspect as well, I don't just have to think about "does it work?" I start thinking about "how long is it going to take to put together?" That's led to things like changing my pot footprints so I don't have to line things up, mounting 3PDT PCBs on headers so I don't have to run wires, and putting pads where it's most convenient for short wire runs. I'd like to get a turnkey manufacturer to build everything for me, but my designs are still too labor-intensive and the only quote I've gotten was WAY too high.