Just spent an hour (at least. I'd returned to my Equinox II vero after 6 months, and failed, deciding I'd rock the compressor) debugging a DOD 280 compressor on vero. Found I'd put a tranny in backwards, fixed that, still no signal.
Found I'd failed to solder an IC socket leg....
Expecting a pedal with no IC's inserted in the sockets to work... ;)
Josh
On one of my amp builds, I somehow connected a cathode bypass cap to the B+. "Hissssssss, pop!"
Quote from: gtr2 on November 20, 2014, 01:51:00 PM
Expecting a pedal with no IC's inserted in the sockets to work... ;)
Josh
I did something similar. After an hour or so of cussing at an Echo Base I realized that there were no transistors and I forgot to put the PT2399 in. :-[
I then shut off my Iron and went to bed.
Been a while, and im pretty sure ive shown it in some earlier "mistake-thread"... but this is... hrrm... a bit of a mistake :o
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10190945/IMG_0426.JPG)
Trying to figure out why I got no 'repeats' in a delay build, only to find out I had the PT2399 chip in backwards. Thankfully, that mistake didn't toast anything.
Building a Pnp fuzz face with a charge pump and not connecting the ff to said charge pump
Forgetting to insert ICs and or transistors
I could go on all day
buying a soldering iron
Building a solid-state, a friend and me managed to have a cold solder joint at the output and a lifted trace at the input without noticing it for 1.5h.
His comment "I think having an input and an output might help"
Soldered my output to ground a number of times too..
Modded a wah recently and had plugged my guitar into the output and my amp into the input. Trouble shot for an hour or so, went to bed, got up and tried it again. No dice. Nice fellow on this forum pointed out my mistake.
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My favorite most recently is when I'm testing the completed pedal on the amp and it's upside down with the back off, I plug the guitar into the output and the amp into the input, and then wonder why I'm only getting bypass.
Quote from: midwayfair on November 20, 2014, 05:07:57 PM
My favorite most recently is when I'm testing the completed pedal on the amp and it's upside down with the back off, I plug the guitar into the output and the amp into the input, and then wonder why I'm only getting bypass.
This is, by far, my most common mistake.
Quote from: LaceSensor on November 20, 2014, 03:20:37 PM
buying a soldering iron
Almost spit coffee all over my computer!
Over the course of three days lost, track of the number of times i re-wrote the lettering until i tossed in the towel and said enough. Gouache paint, washes off with water even after dried so super easy to rework. After all those rewrites and so few options you'd think i'd get the pot order right, nope wrong labels... maybe why i often don't bother with legending.
(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc305/davent/IMG_6775_zps99ea2cf6.jpg)
Recently put a Tl072 in the socket meant for a charge pump...
My stupidist mistake ever was letting some solder drop off my iron onto my thigh while wearing shorts.....
Hooked up a pedal to my testing rig, nothing, not even bypass signal. Checked it was switched on, amp was on, checked the cables, nothing. Ripped apart my testing rig and made it from scratch, then realised I hadn't plugged the guitar in. Now the input and output jacks are swapped on the testing rig, along with the 9V and ground sockets that goes to the boards.
Quote from: midwayfair on November 20, 2014, 05:07:57 PM
My favorite most recently is when I'm testing the completed pedal on the amp and it's upside down with the back off, I plug the guitar into the output and the amp into the input, and then wonder why I'm only getting bypass.
Every. Damn. Time.
Like, to the point where I won't do it anymore. I put it right side up with the back plate there, but not screwed on. Then if I need to adjust trimmers or something while it's hooked up and working, I flip it over after it's already connected correctly and working.
Spent ages trying to fix a grounding noise issue and no signal for hours only to find the jack lying on the carpet and the guitar unplugged
Noob here. Where should I begin?
Using de-soldering braid for the first time, and holding it with my fingers as I apply the iron
Wiring to the wrong terminal in a DC jack and wondering why it doesn't work
My doppleganger that doesn't work has at least one good one somewhere
I'm pretty sure many people have a Mouser failure pile
I built a snarkdoodle up and was testing it before i boxed it.
I didn't work at all.
I troubleshooted for about an hour and just gave up and threw it in my fail pail.
I felt like a failure for screwing up a simple build and was discouraged for building for a few months.
I was poking around on the forums and I somehow realized that I never jumpered my unused boost switch on the build. ::)
Soldering the input jack's input to ground, and the input jack's ground to input. Only figured it out when I was meditating on the can.
When I was putting together my first build (BYOC OD2) I picked up my soldering iron off of the stove top without looking and quickly realized I was holding the wrong end! It was very painful!
QuoteI picked up my soldering iron off of the stove top without looking and quickly realized I was holding the wrong end! It was very painful
I've grabbed mine and held it like a pencil on a number of occasions. You'd think I'd have learnt the first time..
Recently I destroyed 2 PT2399's trying to socket them and one of the legs bent out and went right in the tip of my finger.
I have done the "forget to flip the artwork" more than I like to count. Now I place a red layer in Photoshop that says "FLIP IT DUMBASS" and it helps.
TRANSISTOR ORIENTATION! Why can't I remember the basic ones? or at least remember to look if I am subbing one.
I stopped to using my glue gun for the sole reason of not wanting to rip out any more leg/arm hair from when it drips on me.
Cody
Quote from: dont-tase-me-bro on November 21, 2014, 01:22:28 AM
Using de-soldering braid for the first time, and holding it with my fingers as I apply the iron
LULZ! ;D
We have these brainfart threads once in a while and you'd think that everything was said already.
But invariably, every single time without fail, there's a new one that wasn't mentioned in any of the previous iterations.
You, sir, just made my morning! ;D ;D ;D
QuoteTRANSISTOR ORIENTATION! Why can't I remember the basic ones? or at least remember to look if I am subbing one.
I did this one the other day - The layout had two identical trannies in the DOD compressor facing the same way. Somehow, I had one going the opposite direction.
Tried soldering a few boards up last night, wondered why nothing was soldering, forgot to turn the iron on. Only took a out 5 minutes to realise!
Quote from: muddyfox on November 21, 2014, 07:04:44 AM
Quote from: dont-tase-me-bro on November 21, 2014, 01:22:28 AM
Using de-soldering braid for the first time, and holding it with my fingers as I apply the iron
We have these brainfart threads once in a while and you'd think that everything was said already.
But invariably, every single time without fail, there's a new one that wasn't mentioned in any of the previous iterations.
You, sir, just made my morning! ;D ;D ;D
That's the only way i've ever used solder braid, there's another way?
After i bought an infrared thermometer i ran test to see how hot an object i could hang on too, found i could go a lot hotter and not get burned then reflex would appear to allow... uuuh warped mind... not recommended!
dave
Quote from: Willybomb on November 21, 2014, 09:47:17 AM
QuoteTRANSISTOR ORIENTATION! Why can't I remember the basic ones? or at least remember to look if I am subbing one.
I did this one the other day - The layout had two identical trannies in the DOD compressor facing the same way. Somehow, I had one going the opposite direction.
I tend to always look up the datasheets these days if I'm not using the designated transistor.
I've mentioned this one over the years. Never let the two 9v battery leads come into contact with steel wool by accident. I caught it quick, luckily.
Or, in case of apocalypse, start a fire with a piece of paper, a 9v battery and steel wool.
Some of you may remember from my PIF a couple years ago...
I once worked on the same nonfunctioning PCB on and off for about 9 months before I realized that the polarity protection diode was in backwards.
This thread is making me feel so much better about my mistakes. Cheers guys :)
Doing initial testing of the amp I just built. No b+ voltage or very little like .18volts.....light was on. So I scratched my head a little couldn't figure out for the life of me what was wrong....so I emailed a tech guy and he replies with "Dan, put your black probe to ground, red probe on the b+ fuse, then flip your standby switch on and off".......it was at that moment I was like. ......no way. I didn't......but yup I did switch upside down lol.
I had a new one last night whilst verifying a new board...
IC Big Muff with the tone bypass switch (no its not as obvious as the tone knob doing nothing with the switch down), fired it up, no sound, bollocks! >:(
Turns out i'd picked up a ON-OFF-ON SPDT instead of a ON-ON, switch was in the middle position killing the signal :-[
On a DoubelGanger build the indicator LEDs flashed while the effect LEDs were dark, and effect LEDs flashed when the indicator LEDs were dark.
According to the poor fellow that was trying to help me figure out my mistake: "that is not possible".
I spent days trying to figure it out. I had reversed both of the indicator LEDs polarities.
+1 to almost every one of the stupid mistake already posted.
Well, most of the common ones are covered, so let's try some new ones
Installed the 100 uF cap backwards in Jacob's phaser. Since I had matched a set of trannies myself, thought that was the culprit, so I was switching them with the power still plugged in when the cap blew up in my face. Fortunately I was wearing my glasses at the time. Left ear (my good one) rang for a day. Lesson - always wear glasses til it's boxed up, and unplug it if it ain't working right.
Left my soldering iron on all night. Twice. In two different houses. Fortunately my wife didn't catch on either time and nothing caught fire.
Soldered in shorts. We've covered that. Wrote a PIFmas carol about it. Bad idea.
Earlier this year, I started making pedals because it seemed like a way to save money
Quote from: dont-tase-me-bro on November 25, 2014, 01:25:16 AM
Earlier this year, I started making pedals because it seemed like a way to save money
Ding Ding. Winnah!
Quote from: dont-tase-me-bro on November 25, 2014, 01:25:16 AM
Earlier this year, I started making pedals because it seemed like a way to save money
Classic!
Cody
Quote from: GermanCdn on November 24, 2014, 09:50:27 PM
Installed the 100 uF cap backwards in Jacob's phaser. Since I had matched a set of trannies myself, thought that was the culprit, so I was switching them with the power still plugged in when the cap blew up in my face. Fortunately I was wearing my glasses at the time. Left ear (my good one) rang for a day. Lesson - always wear glasses til it's boxed up, and unplug it if it ain't working right.
I had a cap blow up in my face about a month ago and I wasn't wearing safety glasses! Needless to say, I got very lucky and learned a BIG lesson for sure! ::)
Just thought of another one! A couple years ago I was etching an enclosure (ferric Chloride) and I noticed the reaction was going a bit exothermic. I made sure to have water close by and I frequently cooled it off in a water bath. I was certain it was under control so I walked away for about 1 minute. When I came back I watched it spontaneously ignite from about 4 feet away! Basically there was a fairly loud boom and a ball of fire that would have done serious damage had I been closer. I dumped a bunch of water on it to slow the reaction and removed the enclosure as quick as possible. It was pretty scary stuff!
I once stripped the wire leads for one of those cheap, make-on-the-fly power plugs, not realizing they have vampire taps that dig in when you slide on the cover. Needless to say, when I plugged it in into the wall, I had a 120v short. :o
Thankfully all I fried was a voltage regulator.
I spent 3 months trouble shooting a em drive, which should be so simple. Turns out the output tip was touching the enclosure at the exposed portion of the base.
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Stupid mistake......my first wife lol