Workflow for building a big batch all at once

[DailyDovetails]

I go resistors, caps, diodes, IC sockets, transistors, any other oddball thing, switches, pots, Indicator LED, then any wiring. If there are SMD components I always do those first. I keep every board in its own little cardboard box and do everything I can with the parts I have on hand. Then I put the parts I'm missing I'm my preferably Tayda cart and move onto the next one. When I get a decent parts order I place it and then run through the same process again. I always test resistors, caps and diodes and will test the transistors when I get a tester.

When I do the resistors I start at the top of the BOM and do all of that value as I go down so if I count 5 10K resistors I pull 5 from the bag and the test and install them, same thing for all the other parts.

 

[Coach_McGuirk]

If they're all diferent designs, it seems to me that there isn't much of an advantage to building them all at the same time instead of one at a time It might even turn out to be slower and more error-prone as you try to focus on too many dissimilar things at once.

Yeah, this is a fair point. Although, when I have a bag of 100k resistors in my hand and can just go down the line and insert them into each pedal, that seems pretty efficient to me. Although, this process requires me to bend the leads a lot currently because I'm just resting the PCBs on my desk, not in a floating vice or anything like that. It can get pretty confusing.

I think I will try building a pedal or two from start to finish to see if it's at least more enjoyable.

 

[Feral Feline]

I mix it up, but here's one way I've tried:

Popped all the resistors, then soldered in the outer edges of the PCB (rotating the PCB clockwise or counterclockwise, then clipped the soldered leads to expose the next "layer" for soldering. Like nibbling around the edge of a cookie, you eventually get to the centre, but without any leads getting in the way of your soldering-iron.

Could also do the above from one side of the board working to the opposite side...

 

[Coach_McGuirk]

I mix it up, but here's one way I've tried:

Popped all the resistors, then soldered in the outer edges of the PCB (rotating the PCB clockwise or counterclockwise, then clipped the soldered leads to expose the next "layer" for soldering. Like nibbling around the edge of a cookie, you eventually get to the centre, but without any leads getting in the way of your soldering-iron.

Could also do the above from one side of the board working to the opposite side...

Are you bending the leads or using blu tack or what? How do you get all the components to stay put while also not creating a mess of bent leads?

 

[Erik S]

Are you bending the leads

I like the pull-and-pinch. You can load a lot of stuff and still have pretty good access.

 

[Coach_McGuirk]

I like the pull-and-pinch. You can load a lot of stuff and still have pretty good access.

That is brilliant! Never thought of that.