Dwarven Hammer (Horizon Precision Drive)

Build Rating
5.00 star(s)
This was my first build that I sourced myself and first purchase from PedalPCB (before unknowingly starting this obsessive hobby). I was extremely surprised this fired up on the first try (before boxing it up) and didn’t have any initial troubleshooting needed due to component placement error. I’d had some soldering experience before but never with small electronics like 1/4 resistors and film box caps, diodes etc. It was this build where I learned that I do not like solid core wire and bought bulk stranded wire.

The Good
The pedal really nails the tubescreamer circuit and the 8 position rotary switch to the 8 different cap values really makes this pedal versatile depending on your needs. I’m a metal head so this is used for the “tightening a loose gain channel” need. The “bright” pot is another great addition adding or cutting some highs depending on your rig. This knocked my Tubescreamer and Boss SD-1 off the board. This build was also before my attempts at water slide graphics. I’m keeping the sticker labels as they add “charm” for a first build

The Bad
Functionality wise, there’s not much to say here. It sounds great and the build was pretty straightforward with nothing out of reach for a beginner first diving in. My only struggle was I ordered a metal 9V DC jack that when secured into the enclosure, would kill my power supply and send my 1spot Pro into an endless power on/off cycle due to the short. That was a quick fix after some google searches by adding a form of insulation between the jack and the enclosure. I used some painters tape that has worked well. One day I’ll revisit and fix this with a plastic jack.
 

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+ 10 pts for the Plastic Washer on the outside. This 3PDT will have a long and comfortable life.

May the Washers shine on your next builds.

Edit : no led bezel ? no standard 5mm red led ? -20 pts
 
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Looks really well done, especially for your first build. I keep going back and forth on the stranded and solid wire but use a combination in most of my projects. The stranded can be a nightmare if you make a mistake or it breaks.
 
Bezels are over-rated. I love to avoid them when I can and have a counter-sunk hole. It just looks so sleek and tidy.
Regarding the metal 9V jack. Does that mean your enclosure is 9V waiting for ground?
 
Bezels are over-rated. I love to avoid them when I can and have a counter-sunk hole. It just looks so sleek and tidy.
Regarding the metal 9V jack. Does that mean your enclosure is 9V waiting for ground?
I’m the farthest from an electrician or expert but I think the metal casing of the 9V plug making connection to the metal enclosure was causing a short circuit. Insulating the edges of the hole where the plug is inserted to prevent metal on metal contact resolved the issue.
 
Ok let’s think about this for a second. How it the DC Jack wired?
IMG_0076.jpeg
And your enclosure is grounded, so you are directly shorting power to ground at the jack when you use a metal jack. And that is why you don’t see these jacks used for most pedals, it’s a pretty common mistake that happens when you are new to the hobby, ( I did this on one of my first builds as well.) part selection can have a little bit of a learning curve, looking up and reading build reports along with other threads on component selection and you will get the hang of it.
 
Ok let’s think about this for a second. How it the DC Jack wired?
View attachment 63305
And your enclosure is grounded, so you are directly shorting power to ground at the jack when you use a metal jack. And that is why you don’t see these jacks used for most pedals, it’s a pretty common mistake that happens when you are new to the hobby, ( I did this on one of my first builds as well.) part selection can have a little bit of a learning curve, looking up and reading build reports along with other threads on component selection and you will get the hang of it.
Yep! I’ve since learned my lesson way back when this was first built. All of my subsequential pedals have been built with a plastic jack with success. See my profile to see other completed builds.
 
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