My first build. Low tide. Made a mistake. Is this redeemable?

[boysenpai]

So this is my first build. I heard it was not recommended for beginners, but I've soldered my guitar electronics in the past and also, I just really wish to have Shallow Water for 5+ years and making my own was the only way I could afford it.

It went well until I started to solder chips. It came as a kit but there were no instructions as to how to solder particular components so I googled a lot with each new tier of components. Found a little bag with two chips, found their placing on the pcb, soldered them in. Cut off the residual pin tips. Then I opened next back and I noticed there were these slots and I couldn't pair them with anything. Then I realised these were slots for the chips that I already soldered straight onto the pcb and trimmed their pins.

Will the chips work when soldered straight into the pcb? Or, will the chips slide into the slot and work even with the tips of their pins trimmed? Or should I look for replacement?

 

[boysenpai]

FYI for the audio jacks the ground connection is the one that is on the angled corner tab. you can see it connects to the outside of the jack.

for the LED diode, the longer lead is the anode and goes to the positive power feed.

for the circuit board diodes, the band on the diode is the ground side.

Thank you. I can see now those other two pins on the audio jack are bent to fit the shape of the cable jack. Does it matter which one I choose? Also do you happen to know whether the L and H mean anything at all?

 

[zgrav]

You are using stereo audio jacks instead of mono jacks. you should identify which of the other two tabs connects to the tip of the audio plug when it is in the jack. it is OK to use those jacks, but you won't connect anything to the other tab of a mono signal in and out pedal.

 

[zgrav]

.. and I don't know what the L and H refer to on the jacks.

 

[jimilee]

Done. I don't own an electrometer so I'll just finish it and see what happens.

I love this. This is what DIY is all about. I do the same thing. Unless there’s smoke or fire, it can be fixed.

 

[zgrav]

I love this. This is what DIY is all about. I do the same thing. Unless there’s smoke or fire, it can be fixed.

I bet you have gotten a few things working where there might have been smoke or fire along the way.

 

[boysenpai]

You are using stereo audio jacks instead of mono jacks. you should identify which of the other two tabs connects to the tip of the audio plug when it is in the jack. it is OK to use those jacks, but you won't connect anything to the other tab of a mono signal in and out pedal.

Ok, I can do that. Plenty of instrument cables lying around. I'll plug it in and se where it connects. Thank you.

 

[Mcknib]

Just wire it exactly as shown in the build doc last page



The majority of your solder joints look OK just look for any dull grey joints or any that haven't covered the entire pad with solder

Just hold your iron tip on any suspect joints for around 4 to 6 seconds until you see the solder silver up and flow

Obviously be careful as soon as you see the solder melt remove your iron you don't want to pull any pads off with too much heat

Your iron temperature should be around 370 to 400°C I have mine set at 400°C

If they look OK in reality leave them

The only reason I suggested it is because once the pots are soldered in place you won't have easy access to solder joints underneath them

But as I say if they look OK and nice and shiny leave them

 

[jimilee]

I bet you have gotten a few things working where there might have been smoke or fire along the way.

You think so?

 

[Fama]

I bet you have gotten a few things working where there might have been smoke or fire along the way.

I definitely have gotten some stuff working where there was smoke. Germanium fuzz factory even, I don't know what smoked but the transistors seemed fine. Maybe some flux residue burned off somewhere else.

 

[boysenpai]

Just wire it exactly as shown in the build doc last page

View attachment 55992

The majority of your solder joints look OK just look for any dull grey joints or any that haven't covered the entire pad with solder

Just hold your iron tip on any suspect joints for around 4 to 6 seconds until you see the solder silver up and flow

Obviously be careful as soon as you see the solder melt remove your iron you don't want to pull any pads off with too much heat

Your iron temperature should be around 370 to 400°C I have mine set at 400°C

If they look OK in reality leave them

The only reason I suggested it is because once the pots are soldered in place you won't have easy access to solder joints underneath them

But as I say if they look OK and nice and shiny leave them

This is a great help. Everything is clear now. I think I'm going to finish it now and report the outcome in couple of hours. I'm so excited, oh boooooy.

 

[boysenpai]

I can't solder now because I'm dog-sitting so I decided to prepare the pots and mount them onto the metal casing. I noticed each potentiometer has this little piece of metal that causes issues. Once it gets to the little bugger, the pot starts to mount at angle. I was thinking I could compensate by adding nuts up to the height of the culprit. What is it there for and what would be the best way to go about it?

 

[Laundryroom David]

I can't solder now because I'm dog-sitting so I decided to prepare the pots and mount them onto the metal casing. I noticed each potentiometer has this little piece of metal that causes issues. Once it gets to the little bugger, the pot starts to mount at angle. I was thinking I could compensate by adding nuts up to the height of the culprit. What is it there for and what would be the best way to go about it?

Just snap off those tabs using pliers.

You can save those tabs to put in split shaft pots to keep the shaft from breaking when tightening knob on the shaft. Just FYI for the future.

 

[boysenpai]

Just snap off those tabs using pliers.

You can save those tabs to put in split shaft pots to keep the shaft from breaking when tightening knob on the shaft. Just FYI for the future.

Worked like a charm. Sometimes I feel like brute force gets a bad rep. Thank you

 

[Fizz]

You are exactly right. It is the other way around. I was matching the direction of the name on the part with the name on the board, then I realised that the signs are not indicative of the placing but the silhouette of the part on the pcb is. Just bought desoldering braid and was told by everyone so far that I have a real delicate task ahead of me.

The sweet old man in the shop also told me once the chips are soldered straight into the board and in correct direction, it is better to leave them in, finish the job and if it works, it works. I guess I'll abide.

Thank you all for the tips! I'll try to remove the MPC602, place it correctly and then finish the pedal, plug it in and see what happens. Then trouble-shoot. I love it so much and have learned so much so far. Wish me luck!

I recently found this cool video on desoldering

 

[jwin615]

I recently found this cool video on desoldering

Beat you by 38 posts

 

[Fizz]

Beat you by 38 posts

LOL.. I even thought I skimmed over them all.. I guess I did it too fast

 

[boysenpai]

So I finished it, plugged in and it did not explode. It didn't make a sound either. Should I continue this journey in a different section of this forum? Troubleshooting I suppose?

 

[zgrav]

First build. It would have been a gift from the gods if it powered up and worked just then. I think you already have a troubleshooting thread started here for this board so proceed with your debug.

do you know how to use the schematic to see where you should be able to find different places on the PCB where you should have connections to power?
and other places where you have connections to ground?
if you are not sure do a few google searches for how to read a schematic.

when you figure out how to find the power and ground spots on the schematic, find the corresponding places on the assembled board when the unit is powered and see if you have power where you are supposed to (and what the voltage is at that spot). then you do a similar check to see if have ground connections where you are supposed to.

 

[p_wats]

So I finished it, plugged in and it did not explode. It didn't make a sound either. Should I continue this journey in a different section of this forum? Troubleshooting I suppose?

Have you done the trimpot adjustments? They crucial for this circuit and can take time to get right.

One trimpot adjust the BBD chip, which is more about the effected sound, but the other one adjusts the gate and that can take the sound out completely.

 

[boysenpai]

First build. It would have been a gift from the gods if it powered up and worked just then. I think you already have a troubleshooting thread started here for this board so proceed with your debug.

do you know how to use the schematic to see where you should be able to find different places on the PCB where you should have connections to power?
and other places where you have connections to ground?
if you are not sure do a few google searches for how to read a schematic.

when you figure out how to find the power and ground spots on the schematic, find the corresponding places on the assembled board when the unit is powered and see if you have power where you are supposed to (and what the voltage is at that spot). then you do a similar check to see if have ground connections where you are supposed to.

Okay, I will continue here.

I don't know how to read schematic. I will use the power of internet to catch up on that.

Also, I understand to proceed with my troubleshooting I will definitely need multimeter, right. That'll have to wait till next paycheck. In the meantime, can someone recommend a budget multimeter worth buying? I'm located in central Europe.