Silver "Trace" on PCB, one side is messed up, is that OK? what is the sliver pad thing called?

First off, what is the silver stuff around the "traces" called? Are they called "PADS"? Solder rings? What is the non idiot way to refer to that?

On my melter, I f'd up (but learned a lot!) and had to redo the pots, one of them more than once. The one that really got me was the BOOTY pot which is a C5K.

On what I call the component side it has the 3 "silver pads" which are still ok. However, on the back side, one of the pad things is basically fubar and gone. IS IT OK TO HAVE ONE SIDE of the pad thing missing? Here are pics to help explain what I am asking about.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20210721_204659.jpg
    IMG_20210721_204659.jpg
    49 KB · Views: 34
  • IMG_20210721_204629.jpg
    IMG_20210721_204629.jpg
    100.3 KB · Views: 34
  • Like
Reactions: fig
I am reasonably new to pedal building myself, so there may be a better answer from someone more experienced. But I recently repaired a friend's build and in having to rewire some of it during reassembly, I lost a pad on the back of a footswitch breakout board. The pedal works, so the wire and solder are still making connection with the PCB and in my book, that's fine. If it stops working, we will troubleshoot then. If you can still get the wire/component leg, the solder, and the traces to make a working connection, it should be ok.
 
The boards can have solder traces (what links those pads to components) on either side, if you look at the board in good light you can see them, if there is no trace on that side you're good to go, if there is you'll need to bridge from that pot leg to the next component
 
First off, what is the silver stuff around the "traces" called? Are they called "PADS"? Solder rings? What is the non idiot way to refer to that?

On my melter, I f'd up (but learned a lot!) and had to redo the pots, one of them more than once. The one that really got me was the BOOTY pot which is a C5K.

On what I call the component side it has the 3 "silver pads" which are still ok. However, on the back side, one of the pad things is basically fubar and gone. IS IT OK TO HAVE ONE SIDE of the pad thing missing? Here are pics to help explain what I am asking about.

If this is your PCB, You should have Continuity with matching circles.
Green circle has No Connection

Booty Continuity Test.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: fig
Ok, cool. So they are called "pads". The board has traces connecting the pads and the trace is going to be on one side, look in good light for the trace. And then I can actually get my meter out to test that each colored dot has continuity. Music6000 - how do I know what contacts to test? The yellow and red circles look pretty obvious but how would I know about those green ones linking together?
 
Ok, cool. So they are called "pads". The board has traces connecting the pads and the trace is going to be on one side, look in good light for the trace. And then I can actually get my meter out to test that each colored dot has continuity. Music6000 - how do I know what contacts to test? The yellow and red circles look pretty obvious but how would I know about those green ones linking together?
Test Updated picture for Continuity with matching circles.
The Green circle has no connection!
 
Last edited:
Put your multimeter into continuity mode (it will look like a diode symbol). Ensure that the board is NOT powered. place one lead on the first pad you want to test for continuity, then place the second. If there is an electrical connection, the multimeter will typically emit a tone. For the green pads (i.e., ground), put one lead on the C5K pad indicated and the other on the GND pad at the bottom of the board. You can repeat this process for any connections you want to test. A visual inspection is helpful, but won't really tell you much. If you want to be sure about the integrity of a trace or wiring connection, you should use your multimeter.
 
Ok, thanks all. I will test those points with DMM once my new C5K pot arrives from stompboxparts.com.
So the moral of the story here is that a PCB that has pads on both sides for SOME components (seems the 4 pots are the only ones with pads on both sides) it may be OK if one of the pads is missing/gone/ruined destroyed as long a the DMM shows continuity. I assumed I ruined the whole thing when that pad on the backside came off but then realized the pads on the component side are still OK...
 
PCB that has pads on both sides for SOME components
All Pedal PCB pads are plated through-hole. The pads are on each side of the board and the hole itself is plated.

I will test those points with DMM once my new C5K pot arrives
You can test it before the pot arrives. In fact, you should test it before the pot arrives so you know if you can install it normally or if you will need to add a wire connection if the connection doesn't have continuity.

How do you know what these go to?
The schematic shows the connections.
 
How do you know what these go to? The GND i understand cuz of the pot ground, buw how do you know the 10u + goes to left pot lug and those 3 other components go to middle pot lug?
Refer to the schematic of the build documentation. Each component are identified and you will see what the trace does.

In your case, you will see out of the schematic the points that @music6000 identified with matching colors...

1626966301685.png
 
Is it correct to assume that all 4 volume pots on this pedal should all beep when I touch their square ground pad to the GND at bottom?
Because right now the only pot that beeps when i touch the ground lug of pot to the GND hole at bottom of PCB is the A100K at top left.
 
Last edited:
Is it correct to assume that all 4 volume pots on this pedal should all beep when I touch their square ground pad to the GND at bottom?
Because right now the only pot that beeps when i touch the ground lug of pot to the GND hole at bottom of PCB is the A100K at top left.

No not all pots have a grounded lug... Take a peek at the schematic and you will see each lug where they connect next...
 
I just looked more closely at the schematic. Lug 1 of the C5K pot is left floating (it's wired as a variable resistor, not a voltage divider). It's a no connection (NC), so you're getting a correct reading.
 
OK, phew!! Thank you! I do get a beep from GND to the top left A100K pot and of course i get beeps from ground lug of output jacks to the GND. =) my new booty c5k pot shows Saturday so I hope I can restore some booty back to my melter. p.s. - i am still blown away that diff color LED's sound different.
 
OK, phew!! Thank you! I do get a beep from GND to the top left A100K pot and of course i get beeps from ground lug of output jacks to the GND. =) my new booty c5k pot shows Saturday so I hope I can restore some booty back to my melter. p.s. - i am still blown away that diff color LED's sound different.
About the LED colors, I won't say it's a myth because the science supports the statement, however, I watch a few youtube videos demonstrating the differences between clipping of different colors, and I couldn't see a difference. There may be one and my ears can't hear the difference, or it's more obvious live than on a youtube video with headphones.... I dunno...

I'll make a statement to stirs things up a bit:

LED color clipping impact is like Tone wood... :eek:
 
Oh, man.. do not start a tone wood thing. Yikes. People get sensitive about that!

So, on these PCB's bought here, can I guess that they are made well enough that the traces are deeply ingrained into the board and me screwing up one of the pads is totally OK since the other pad is OK and i can see traces when looking at the top AND the bottom?
 
From what I understand, the pad exist on both sides however the trace are only on one of the 2 sides (traces exist on both sides). This is why you were recommended to do connectivity testing to confirm the pad that lifted didn't break the connectivity.

Generally speaking, the boards are solids. I'm not the best at soldering, and never lifted a pad. From what I've seen and read, pads lift if you overheat the board or pull to hard when trying to remove a component that has not been properly de-solder (if that's a word).

When pads lift, you can always fix the issue by soldering the leg of you component to the next connection points, however in the case of of pot, you need to jump as pots connector aren't long enough...
 
OK, cool. The pots were totally my fault because I did them all backwards by mistake and then i accidentally desoldered the wrong one, and then I f'd up again so that poor BOOTY C5K pot had to come in and out 3 times and i had to buy a new one because i broke it completely. Thanks for all the help from the forum. My next pedal will be....

THE DIRTY SANCHEZ!
 
Back
Top