Equilux with toggle (excessive verbiage alert)

[mybud]

Build Rating

5.00 star(s)

Yes, finally back to catching up on the PPCB backlog. Took it to my friendly local to have the LND250 soldered in, since I can scarcely see the little tiny miniscule microscopic chap. My rationale is simple: If I were to drop the little feller on the workshop floor, I'd probably never find it and that would be heartbreak hotel in a nutshell.

While I was there, I bought a Chinese SMD practice kit for laughs. Seriously though, sooner or later, there won't be any through-hole JFETs or MOSFETs left for us less eagle-eyed folks, so I guess I need sooner or later to get to grips with the SMD world. I don't mind borking this practice kit but boy would I have minded borking the Equilux. So, there goes my rationale. It didn't hurt to have a pre-drilled box from Tayda either: a small price to pay for keeping the focus on the build and not tearing one's hair out when nothing fits thanks to one's bad measuring skills.

On the 'always on' principle I used a toggle rather than a footswitch. Unlike the Meridian (https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/aion-fx-meridian.17978/), where I cut the wires too short to flip the switch so that bypass is up and in is down (curses!), I remembered this time to leave enough slack to enable turning the toggle around so that bypass is down and in is up. To paraphrase Linton Kwesi Johnson, 'Dotage is a bitch, there's no escaping it...'


Guess who ordered one less than required of the Fairchild (?) imitation knobs in the top row. 'DIAB,' indeed. Hence the odd Shin Chins in the second row.

Enough cosmetics, I hear you say. What does it sound like?

Fabulous in a word and a simple enough build. I took my time and didn't try building the whole bangshoot in one go. Got the board ready yesterday afternoon and completed the rest (pots, switches, and offboard today) after a good night's sleep.

I love the vast amount of space on this one and managed not to melt any of my nineteen (yes indeedy) WIMAs while soldering in the switches. A small miracle on its own.

Nice to be back in familiar PPCB territory (thanks to @Robert), where the boards are so beautifully laid out that even an old duffer like me can enjoy the task and get them working to boot.

Thanks for reading folks and NGBS.

[BTW, so good to have @fig back. Feels like all is right with the world again.]

 

[Alan W]

Before you start practicing on the tiny parts, get a MUCH stronger pair of reading glasses. Strong enough that you can easily see each tiny leg. And, even though I’m sure your work table is well lit, add another light, coming from a different direction, because shadows from your hand and the iron start to be more of a problem when your working on tiny parts.

The other major aid to me when I started with SMD was liquid flux with a needle applicator. Rather than heating the parts and melting solder onto them, like with through hole, if you have a spot of flux on the pad and leg, solder almost jumps onto the parts when you touch them with a tiny bead of melted solder.

Very nice build. It’s a crazy good pedal.

 

[mybud]

Before you start practicing on the tiny parts, get a MUCH stronger pair of reading glasses. Strong enough that you can easily see each tiny leg. And, even though I’m sure your work table is well lit, add another light, coming from a different direction, because shadows from your hand and the iron start to be more of a problem when your working on tiny parts.

The other major aid to me when I started with SMD was liquid flux with a needle applicator. Rather than heating the parts and melting solder onto them, like with through hole, if you have a spot of flux on the pad and leg, solder almost jumps onto the parts when you touch them with a tiny bead of melted solder.

Very nice build. It’s a crazy good pedal.

Thanks @Alan W for the mighty good advice, very much appreciated. One of my better efforts, if I say so myself