Problem with my Chaos Pedal PCB

[doubledre]

I'm building the Chaos Pedal and have been trying to troubleshoot an issue for a while now because I am not getting a signal. After lots of testing, I localized the issue to the C2 capacitor. It seems to be shorting out as I'm getting continuity between the two leads however there doesn't seem to be any bridge going on. But I try reflowing the joints making sure to remove any possible specs of solder that could be causing a bridge. I also scrubbed the area with alcohol using a toothbrush. But the continuity is still there between the two leads. So I thought maybe the cap is faulty somehow, so I remove the cap entirely. But the thing is it's still registering continuity between the empty solder joints on the PCB.

Is it possible that the PCB is faulty somehow? I've definitely made sure there's no bridging going on, so what else could be causing this issue?

 

[fig]

Is this the same pedal that had issues previously with RATE / FREQ? If so, when did the signal stop passing through the circuit?

 

[doubledre]

Yes it is the same pedal. So what happened was I had realized that I used an incorrect value resistor for R21. It was suppored to be a value of 100R but I had used 100k by mistake. So I swapped in the correct resistor and that's when the signal stopped passing through. I got some help from someone online in troubleshooting the issue and eventually it led to discovering the cap issue with C2.

 

[zgrav]

the continuity across the capacitor may not be shorting at the capacitor if the part is still in the board. try removing the cap and check for continuity at the mounting holes on the board. if there is continuity there with the cap removed, the problem is elsewhere. you can then test the cap for continuity as well and replace it if it is bad.

 

[doubledre]

in my post, I stated that I removed the cap and the mounting holes are still showing continuity which is why I'm wondering if the PCB itself has an issue.

 

[zgrav]

if the pedal worked right for a while but does not work now it seems more likely that something else is shorting out on the board from when you worked on replacing the resistor. the continuity you are measuring is a short to ground which can happen lots of places. look carefully for solder traces shorting out around your re-work. post pics of both sides of the pcb if you want other eyes to assist.