/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>697133
Next, insulation. I usually cover the bottom side of the circuit board with electrical tape, and then line the bottom of the enclosure with leather scraps (gifts from a supportive relative), but I've run out of leather scraps, and I drink a LOT of coffee, specifically Cafe Bustelo brand. Well, I tested it for conductivity (just to be safe) and it turns out it will make a perfectly fine insulation for the circuit!

Perfect! Now I have another reasons to buy coffee.

>>697132
LED wiring.
I use RGB LEDs for most of my pieces, I like using them, they're fun to work with and allow for a lot of creativity. I wired two 1k ohm resistors to the Red + Green pins, and a 470 ohm resistor the the Vcc pin. I realized I could probably have just wired one 1k resistor to both pins, but I figured it would cause less problems this way. Resistors are concealed beneath tape.

>>697131
Closed her up, gave the project a quick test through the old 100Watt Peavey, sounded great, but I substituted a 47pF Capacitor for C2 (>>696310) instead of the 1000pF I had written on the schem for curiosity purposes.
I regretted that decision, but I will swap it tonight.

Sorry I didn't take any drilling pictures, that was fairly straightforward. I traced the potentiometers, jacks, switches, and LED onto a piece of paper I measured to the size of the faceplate, taped the paper to the faceplate, and then drilled holes in it.

Nothing special to report.

>>697129
... And then solder the rest of the fucking switch...

Not as bad as it looks, takes a little extra time and heat, but in the end, it works alright.

So this picture shows the completed offboard wiring, minus the LED. I did that at the very end.

>>697128
This stomp switch is a piece of shit.
I bought three of these cheap "Taiwanese blue" 3PDTs from Tayda Electronics, and I can see why they were so cheap now. They don't have any holes drilled into the pins, and they're not gold plated!

So, to solder your wires to these, you must first lay the wire parallel to the pin...

>>697127
This is one of the easiest ways to lose track of which wire was connected to which pin in my opinion.

But I was too lazy to unwind, mark the wire, and rewind. So I figured it was a 50/50 guess to match the right wire to the right location.
(Stereo to -9V, GND to GND)
I was wrong.

>>697126
This is one of the easiest ways to bunch your wires together in my opinion.

Also, Blue isn't a bad beer, I'm not crazy about it either, but it's definitely palatable.

>>697124
I use a stereo jack for the input side, so that I can (theoretically) wire the offboard wiring to the 9V connector, so that the pedal can only turn on when a plug is in the input jack.

If you're not familiar with this process, it's fairly simple. You wire the ground plug to the circuit ground, and the stereo connection to the -9V wire. I mixed them up, for reasons you'll understand in the next two pics, and now my pedal will turn on even if no plug is inserted. Fixing asap.

>>697122
STEP 3:
Get an enclosure.
I'm using a cheap Chinese brand 1590BB size aluminum die-cast enclosure. They're pretty nifty, they cost roughly $5 a piece.

I usually try to give them an artistic touch, on the last build I posted (SEE OP) and this enclosure, I soaked the aluminum in some really old PCB etchant I had lying around just to see what would happen. It began to smoke, bubble and sizzle a lot, so I just agitated the mixture and let it do it's work. It came out looking pretty cool. So I grabbed a mason jar of six month old coffee from my garage (don't ask) and threw that into the disgusting vat and I got a few colored stains (visible in the OP pedal).

Then, because this project is currently dubbed "Scratcher" I scratched the 'top' plate with steel wool.

I'm content with it as a prototype, but when I begin building more of these, I intend to give them more than one acid soak.

>>696544
Because of the comment you raised, I found an new part library for EAGLE CAD, created by a group called Adafruit. Hope it's good!

STEP 2:
Solder the board together.
Nothing much special here.

>>696490
Sorry, I have encountered some distractions in life. Yet, here I am, with pictures ready for submittal!

>>696544
Floating pin is completely intentional, it's an experimental design I came up with to force the OP AMP to deliver wild gain and clipping.

I am also sorry about the capacitor facing backwards, I use a software called EAGLE, which I am still learning, and I cannot find any image for nonpolarized capacitor. It's very irritating to myself as well, because I draw the schematics by hand onto paper before transferring them to computer, and the translation phase from paper to screen can be annoying when there are small inconsistencies such as that.

If anyone knows a good part library for EAGLE I'd love to know about it.

Anyways, without further ado, construction photos.

STEP 1:
This is the first time I have done this, I have written a small report on the project I am going to build and the parts I am using. This way I can record specific information about a build, and how it affected the outcome of the project.

>>696322
Dear friend has made an appearance.

AT ANY RATE. I will be constructing the >>696310
tonight. I will take pictures and post them as the creation is in progress.
I WILL NOT be etching a PCB for this design THIS TIME. I will do so in the next buildlog, where I can do some Q/A on etching techniques and such.

I will:
1. Plan the build and gather parts.
2. Populate a pre-drilled board and solder to it.
3. Solder together the offboard wiring.
4. Drill holes in the enclosure.
5. Mount PCB + Offboard wiring to enclosure.
6. Plug and play. I'll record a sound clip too!

OKAY FRIENDS, HAVE A GOOD AFTERNOON, I WILL RETURN TONIGHT.

>>696310
AMX 13 90 is the honorable SAMCYANIDE.
A true and dear friend.

NEW SCHEMATIC TO SHARE:

Just finished this puppy yesterday, she's still in breadboard phase, but if anyone here wants to try an interesting effect that I am currently building for Noise Musicians in St. Pete Florida, I would recommend you try this build! It's really easy, so easy you can build it on a radioshack (or equally crummy brandname) predrilled circuit board.
(Just be careful with the IC pins)

It's a high gain, heavy OP AMP clipping distortion. It's incredibly sensitive and will begin oscillating when if you turn both the volume, or the gain pot up to max.
This is by design, because the musicians whom I make these for specifically like "glitchy" effects!

Without further ado, and with honorable mention to a friend whom wishes to be known as the French Light Tank AMX 13 90: The Scratcher V6 Rev 1 schematic.

>>695369
Voltage starving has been around for a long time, but it's definitely a cool sound! Good work anon, has a nice "made at home" appearance to it!
What value potentiometer did you put on it?

>>695342
Okay, that's important info. When I go home I'll take a look at my amp and see what kind of Lpad I'm going to need.
I usually play through a 100Watt Peavey. I don't know the exact model to be honest.
Also, Guitar Center is a pretty cool place if you don't mind the (loveable) ignoramuses that run the place.

>>695408
To each their own comrade.

>Pic related is an EZ tremolo. Easy for beginners and experienced builers alike.

>>695305
That's some great wiring there anon!
No circuitboard, no problem!
I like the insulation stuff you're using, I alos recognize the radioshack wire colors, haha.

Great stuff anon, keep up the awesome work.

>>695298
>>695296
>match speakers' impedance
>double what your amp is rated for.
I did not know that, I guess that changes a few things. Hmmm...
Still sounds pretty damn simple. Good build, congrats!
Have you thought about building anything else since then?

>>695299
Wow! Great paintjob, did you do that yourself?
I dig the knobs too.

Hmmm, DC Bias / Resonance can be a really big issue especially if the wave is out of phase.
It could be something as small as a bad cap, or something as large as a poor IC.

If the coupling capacitor isn't working then you might be try using an OP AMP as a buffer to isolate the wave, but that might mess up some things.

>pic for cap filtering, reminder that this is just a ballpark chart.

>>695295
>http://guitarprojects.weebly.com/diy-attenuator.html

Whoa that's really cool!
I think it's close enough to call it a pedal.
I think I'll build one, so that I can play my 100watt amp at night without bothering the neighbors!

I gotta say, I really like your enclosure design.
especially the heat-dissipating design! 16ohm 100Watt L-Pads seem to run for about ~20USD on ebay, not so bad considering what it does.

>pic related LFO designs, helpful if you're into that.

>>695284
Glad you're interested.
Sorry about your design, that's a pretty frequent problem that occurs with pedal building. It takes patience and practice to really get good at the art.

Don't worry about your failures, just use them to push yourself to find creative new ways to achieve success. I have screwed up the past five builds of my Scratcher V5. Only after the fifth circuit I etched, drilled, and soldered did I realize the schematic I was basing all of my circuits from was fucked up! How's that for bad luck?
If you need help with your first pedal, I would highly recommend you go here:
http://www.freestompboxes.org/viewforum.php?f=22
And try to build this:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Overdrive-Pedal/

Randofo is a featured member of the instructables community, he helped me get started with pedal building about two years ago. This design is very easy to build and I think it would help teach you the basics!

Yes, I did put the knobs and switches in the bottom plate. When I first started using 2590BBs I didn't know what the plate was for, so I started putting my wiring in it, I liked the way it worked and never went back!

I hope it's legible, it's the schematic for my Scratcher Jr, the pedal featured in the OP.

>>695281
That's REALLY cool anon!
Valvecaster is a really cool pedal, got any pics? If you do, you should post them!

As for your design, personally I think you should try using a 6-pole switch, so that you can decide whether you want the signal to flow through one, two, three, all, or a combination of different diode sets.
Although I like your idea of several potentiometers at the end of the diode stage to blend each different set and I think would work just as well.

You know what to do, breadboard it, try out some options! Keep the one you like the most!

Thanks for the mention of diystompboxes, I almost forgot to mention them:
>http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/
and
>freestompboxes.org

Two GREAT webforums for DIY pedalbuilders and pedal fans alike. They have tutorials and helpful members who will teach you the art of pedal building and answer all of your questions!

>pic related, a design I modded and built a pedal from, found at http://www.mif.pg.gda.pl/homepages/tom/schematics.htm

>>695278
Have some more resources!
Everybody should learn!

Capacitors are essential in pedal construction, for many reasons. This Beavis audio explains why, good for beginners!
>http://www.beavisaudio.com/techpages/Caps/index.htm

>http://sparkbangbuzz.com/
Not 100% related to pedal building, but the DIYer here has done a lot of cool things that are up the same alley.

>http://www.geofex.com/
GEOFEX! A great website to rival Jack Orman's AMZFX website. Maintained by the genius R.G. Keen, you can learn A LOT about audio waveform manipulation here, be sure to check it out if you want to learn a few tricks.
Keen goes over a lot of stuff, like
Schematics
Explanations of technical concepts
Offboard wiring
Pedal painting
Circuit debugging

>http://www.muzique.com/lab/main.htm
AMZ FX, aka Muziqeq, run by another electrical audio genius named Jack Orman. Jack has many pages on this website containing incredibly helpful stuff.
He explains a lot of concepts seen in amps and pedals like:
Diode Clipping
Tone Control
Amplification
PNP vs NPN
Transistor Gain

More to come!

>pic is of a Boss DS-1 Schematic, I have made some notes on it to help explain what specific circuit functions do.

>>695274
Here's another few links:

http://www.mif.pg.gda.pl/homepages/tom/schematics.htm

MASSIVE SCHEMATICS VAULT:
Tons of schematics for MANY name brand / weird slavic amplifiers and stompboxes alike.
Most schematics here come in the form of technical maintenance manuals. Don't expect any translations here, just pure schems.

http://home-wrecker.com/articles.html
Home wrecker, a few schems here, useful explanations, good resource for the curious.

http://www.runoffgroove.com/articles.html
Run off groove, great schematics, excellent explanations, Home-wreckers bigger, better, brother. Be sure to check out the "May Queen" pedal, I think it's pretty cool.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/schematics.html
Another schematics vault, except I think these ones are all DIY jobs, no clones, no replicas.

Useful resources here!

http://electro-music.com/wiki/

Electro Music: An online community devoted to electrical schematics and audio science.
You can find information, schematics, and lots of helpful explanations here.
Be sure to use the search bar in the upper right, the Schematics Vault is rather large.

>pic is Scratcher V4, schem availabe to the curious

Hey /diy/nosaurs!

It's time to discuss and share your effect pedal modding and building! If you're a musician, you should come in here and learn some tricks for making new sounds!

>What is an "Effect Pedal?"
Simply put, it is a device intended to modify the audio signal (sound) that enters the circuit to make it sound different. Louder, noisier, bassier, treblier, swooshier, you name it!

Many pedals are built using "through-hole" components, making them easy to desolder and resolder new components in their place. Thus making modifying existing pedals feasible.

It's also practical to build your own pedals too! I build my own and am more than happy to share the knowledge to help you build your own too!

Let's get started!
To get things going, I'll show off my latest prototype, I call it the Scratcher Jr. It sounds like a high gain, high noise boost to the sound coming in, "fattening" the sound!
If anyone wants to build their own, schematics are available.

If anyone has any questions about pedal building, ask away, I'll be happy to answer.

Next post will contain some resources for beginners and the experienced alike.