My first DIY Project and it ended in a Disaster!!!

steviejr92

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Where do I even begin? This one has been a long time coming….for me at least. It all started with a simple convo here on the forum with @BuddytheReow he sent me to a website which had schematics on fuzz strip boards….the ultimate diy project. I’ll be honest though I wanted more of a challenge so I scoured the inter-webs for a schematic that looked intimidating and most of all I had all the parts for! I came across a website called dirtboxlayouts.com. It’s a blog with a bunch of schematics and I came across the disaster transport jr. Now I looked through the build docs and pretty much had everything I needed. One problem I didn’t have a 220k resistor…or did I? After sending a personal message to @SYLV9ST9R to see if I can sub the 220k for anything else. Just after I sent it I remember my gf had bought a little resistor kit when I first started out from Amazon. I looked through it and GUESS WHAT? There was a pack of 25 220k resistors. Now the quality I’m not too sure of but I tested them and they were right on the money! So I started building. First of course prepping the stripboard. I cut it to size and hand drilled all the cuts and used yellow wire as the links. The yellow contrasting the blue stripboard I think looks good.

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(This photo has everything populated so just imagine I just made cuts and links here lol)


Next of course was to populate the board. Now if you never worked with stripboard before this isn’t just a simple “bend the legs at the body” and get em in there….Oh no no…. There took meticulous planning and bending the legs to situate each component. I tried my best to make it look professional…I think it looks good.

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All done. Some components had to be seated on top of the other. Since this is the Ultimate DIY pedal I didnt want little sockets everywhere, to fit the aesthetic. So only the opamp and delay chip are socketed. I think it came out very good if I say so myself.

Now onto the enclosure first was the design. I loaded up illustrator and got to work….or so I thought. As soon as I went to start putting stuff together a problem in my head arose…I don’t have a drill template. Well @&”$. So I got to measuring. Found where I wanted my knobs stomp switch and jacks. This allowed to then get on with my design. It’s a simple one. I thought this is a delay pedal let’s do some word play and one thing lead to another on this one. I love the way it came out. Now onto the actual application. I’ve been reading @thewintersoldier guide on no film water decals. And for a first timer damn this looks good. The process is super simple and really recommend it to anyone trying to make professional looking pedals.

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Now I’ve been building pedals for a little over a couple months and the circuit boards have been the best experience for me nothing I will put them off but man oh man when you score a stripboard and break it, and making cuts and adding links for the first time 🤯. I think everyone who’s building pedals should at least have one stripboard circuit under your belt the payoff is the most satisfying thing in the world.
 
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Nice job, that looks great!

If your looking for more strip board projects,
that site has a layout for the Grind Customs Ultra Stoner which is an awesome big muff variant. Grind is out of business, so that project is neat since you can’t buy the actual boards anymore.
 
There took meticulous planning and bending the legs to situate each component
I find the "count the number of spaces the component occupies, subtract one and bend it from the side of the strip board" works pretty well.
You did a great job on this, and it was a pleasure not to help! (you had already found the component yourself before I saw your message ;) )
That was also my first strip board build, but it didn't work straight away, as I found out a couple months later I had one leg of a resistor that was one row too low...
 
I find the "count the number of spaces the component occupies, subtract one and bend it from the side of the strip board" works pretty well.
You did a great job on this, and it was a pleasure not to help! (you had already found the component yourself before I saw your message ;) )
That was also my first strip board build, but it didn't work straight away, as I found out a couple months later I had one leg of a resistor that was one row too low...
this one was so cool man the ultimate diy project man! I love mine how has yours held up since?
 
Nice job, that looks great!

If your looking for more strip board projects,
that site has a layout for the Grind Customs Ultra Stoner which is an awesome big muff variant. Grind is out of business, so that project is neat since you can’t buy the actual boards anymore.
Going to give this a look I can always use more stripboard projects!
 
Hmm... Thanks! I might try some of that if I want to treat a circuit. 🤪
Its supposed to be stronger and more durable than the brown boards, which means it can be a pain in butt to break the board to size but that should be small hiccup
 
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