Topics

Inspired by the "been thinking" thread, let's get a good vibes in diy running thread going. Something to get the forum chatter up.

Something you're excited about, good things happening, crazy ideas, kudos, whatever is good on your corner of the world and your workbench. 


In the last couple of weeks:
Been giving my nephew a break from his more complex (3d) milling jobs to do some of the more difficult (squared) shapes and things for enclosures. Stuff I can't do on the drill press. He's enjoying it. 

Also gave my oldest (who basically bought their first electric on their own dime) a G enclosure Rat. He cane up to me and said, "which one of your pedals can I have?" Loves that thing.

Occasionally one or both want to help populate boards. Oldest also wants to solder, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that 😅 maybe I'll dig some of the bogus boards out of the ewaste box, but some beezosmart components and let them go to town .

Shout out to aleph null for keeping up with their projects. Always cool to see. 

Tired brain; weird title

I'm thinking about doing more etched projects, and definitely want to use solder mask. My big question is if anyone has any tips for application, specifically about excluding pads from the application.

I have this idea of using something as simple as a crayon, then just wide-brushing the solder mask before curing it. Kinda like dyeing easter eggs lol

I figure something like that would be easier than brushing around the pads, especially if they're close together.

Then I've got to decide if tinning is worth it, or if I can just mask and forget.

With the troubles in southeast Asia, I don't think Tayda will be unaffected I hope Hugo is okay.

What I'm wondering is if anyone knows where I can find this particular jack.


I've looked at Small Bear, LMS, and StompboxParts with no luck. The Tayda page is a PN and manufacturer that just leads back to that page. I'm certain it's a clone of some existing jack, but I have no clue which one it is. Lumberg?

Anyhow, if you have a clue, please let me know. Thanks.

And for my next installment of "good'n'uff fer rock'n roll" looking, sweet-sounding builds, comes the Madbean Bacon Bits (PCB layout butchered by me).

I do like this thing for giving my little 5W box some nice, warm grit. Brahmin are the mutated, double-headed bovines of the Fallout universe, good for labor, meat, hides, and ranch land rustling. I imagine anything being called "bits" of the creature would be less-than-stew-meat level mystery filling. Food markets ...food markets never change ...s.

You cannot view this attachment.You cannot view this attachment.

Not quite what was in my head, but I like the sound, it works, and it's boxed  It's a great circuit.

As bad as it is to blame one's tools, the rattle can white enamel is just too thin, finding the smallest of spaces to seep into and blotch. I'll have to come up with another solution, should I continue down this path. At the very least it's an inexpensive way to get my ideas out.

Had some good fun with this one , and back to my Fallout themed shenanigans. I was always drawn to the Boss GE-7, but just never got one, so here we are. Doing CNC on the enclosure is required for this one . Thankfully it's not as slow as doing custom drilling and UV printing from Tayda, plus I needed to get my laser on.



Opted to try out their relay bypass. Wasn't sure it would fit, but being wire connected instead of lead/screw mounted made it less intimidating.

Definitely make sure all the relay pins have good joints on them. For some reason they didn't take well, even with plenty of flux.

This is actually my first PedalPCB build... very strange to actually put that into words. This is the Kewpie Fuzz, clone of the Umbrella Company Mayonnaise Fuzz, and boy does it sound good! I (half) joked to some friends that this is like a muff you can actually get good sounds out of. Eminently tweakable, and just downright great.

 

Went almost too far with the etch borders... have one more that I think is a bit safer, so I may just use that as the standard from now on. First time doing sold-core wiring. As long as I don't have to take the guts out for the fifth time, I think we're good. (not really five, just more than once, where I like to keep things)

Thanks for lookin

Is the 2000 character limit something new? to fight the bots?

Nothing terribly special, but I like it.

Rat tone sections are kinda ...pointless, in my view. You can get usable tone control with your axe. No clutter on the box.

 

Did some etch magic. Super happy it's trued up and working properly. 5W for now, maybe 20+ in the next year or so. We'll see. Also, I'm still getting used to photo editing tools in Linux. Might get Affinity up in a WINE bottle to make it easy. Maybe even find an old, standalone Lightroom. Dangit, 'dobe, why you gotta be so greedy?

I was on a building hiatus when the G series was in force, and I wanted to experiment, so here we are: a slim Rat. The jacks are flopped and LED opposite where it should be, since I also didn't mirror the drill pattern. And some of the caps I didn't have in <7mm height. 100μF cap was meant to be flat.

The board is capable of PDIP or TO99-8 LM308/OP07 (don't know if the OP07 had a can... but it might, because it's OLDer than I thought).

If anyone wants a board, hit me up. I've got 2 left. Would also work in a 1590B, if you aren't partial to the lilliputian elevation of the G.

So I'm tinkering more and honing in on some cheap as free™ cosmetic tweaks on my little Monoproice/Harley Benton/Laney 5W guy. The power light jewel has a nice amber color that shifts full blood red with the red LED on the other side. jwin sent me some 10mm clear white LEDs and so that'll go in. I want it to be a bit brighter than stock, so I fiddled with some resistor values on the bench and got it locked in at 1k2

Looking closer at the amp main board, it's got a regular value for the CLR at 4k7. Looks like a 1W resistor, and the silkscreen says 'Fusible' on it. Wondering if that's standard practice on an amp for the power lamp/LED, and what I should get to replace it, or if I could get by with a standard metal film 1W and not risk a fire or some other hazard.

Maybe a no-brainer, but figured I'd confirm

When setting up filter caps for the power section, should the multiples(?) of the the caps be multiples?

E.g. if my main filter cap is 100µF, should the second (and third, possibly) follow suit? 10n, 1n? So if I'm doing a smaller 47µ, 47n and 4n7?

A scuffle at the bar. Two idiots beyond the tipsy are pointing at the barmaids, occasionally opening their mouths with a shred of coherence, swiping at passersby, nigh on spitting. The bouncer is asleep, and the shadowy loner in the corner calmly looks over, sighs, and looks down at his drink. The voices get a bit louder, and the doorman is still chatting up a hopeful patron. My boy picks up his pint, finishes it with a light lip smacking, and quietly stands up walking towards the bar with a casual gait.

"Let's go, boys" he flatly says as they are frog-marched out the back, and gives them the trouncing of their lives. All the two bloodied hooligans remember from the night's altercation were the snout, the gloves, and the ...tightness of the jeans the antlered avenger was wearing.





Eyy, look, a not-Fallout-themed pedal for once  : P

I've finally gotten around to finishing up the Dizzy Elk from @peccary who graciously send one my way. I took my time, and breadboarded to audtion a few bits. Went with MP38A spaceships for Q1 & Q2 & a towering AC127 (generously gifted by @jwin615 ) for Q3. The transistor is apparently a D9K, but the bag I had it in was labeled differently. But whatever, I like it. Tweaked C4 and C5 to have a larger gap (100x vs 10x), at 330n and 3n3 respectively.

The enclosure I decided to hand drill and laser my design. The original intent was to burn in a stencil of sorts and paint fill. While it didn't go like I originally envisioned, it turned out how I want. I like the antiqued look (hey, Fender adds a $10k surcharge for dentists who want this on their strats they'll never play 🤡 )

How it sound? I think this thing has some killer tone and flexibility for a fuzz. I've been fuzz touring since I got back into this, and it's a mighty fine machine.

Thanks for lookin ...my eyes are up here.

I have a handful from back when I ordered a ton of samples. Separated the faster S spec, but wondered if there's any use for these.

Regular MAX1044 EPA and CPA PDIP chips. Slow switching and squealy in most effect circuits I've tried them in—as expected.

Anyone's welcome to them whatever the end application. I don't want to ewaste them if they still have a purpose elsewhere.

K, I've never been a wah guy. Only had a considerable amount of time with whatever was programmed onto the POD via the simulated foot controller thingy, and it was awful. I know. Digital effect, but still, just wasn't ever my bag, but I'm thinking about it now.

Couple questions about it all.

1a- The potentiometer
So ICAR just means it's adjusted to compensate for not being able to mechanically (by extension, electronically) move through the total wiper range? Places like amplified parts have wah-centric pots from 100-200k, with 100k being log taper, the others being linear. A bit confused here.

1b- continued
If I've never been a wah guy, am I really going to "notice" the pot's behavior not being "the right way" if I somehow get the "wrong one?"

1c- continued
If I want to avoid the MiC product out there, what's a decent one that isn't going to cost upwards of half the cost of a decent wah shell kit? (I've seen >$20 ones and struggle to understand)

2- to avoid contention (based on what I've seen elsewhere on the web), I don't want to start a "what's better" war, but what's the general character differences between Fasel and non-F style inductors?

3- Weener or neener?

[Vault-Tec: Be prepared for the future today!]

HA HA HA HA GAAARRRYYYYY!
GARY?
GARY!!!



Vault-Tec: Be prepared for the future today!

Little did the lucky(?) few who secured their places in the vaults realize what they were in for. Are you a singular man locked away with 999 women? Or the other way around? Maybe a few wild animals were released to keep you company? Perhaps your central vault mainframe has told you, on your first day as Overseer, that you have to sacrifice one person from your vault every year or you all die? Or maybe you're all alone with only a box of hand puppets seemingly left there on accident?

No. You didn't retreat to your vault, you weren't even born there—you were grown there. You understand only one thing: Gary. And every other non-Gary needs to die. Lucklily you have 50-some-odd other Garys to keep you company and protect the vault. But eventually you got so wrapped up in the hunt that you drifted from the saftey of Vault 108 and happened upon a group of soldiers wearing red and black painted armor—power armor.

You're taken, but they don't want you for a slave, for meat, like other wastelanders. They want what's on your left arm. They want your Pip Boy, and they meant to get it by any means necessary.

Such was the fate of Gary 23. The Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts were determined to gain access to the cache of pre-war arms, provisions, and other technology, but there was one hitch: it was tied to a VR simulation which could only be completed when interfaced with one of the hand-held computers given to select few military staff and denizens of the Vaults. Sadly, Gary 23 did not surrender his Pip Boy willingly, and after his death the unit attached to him ceased to operate. Luckily for the Outcasts a naive young Vault Dweller happened by and relived the retaking of Anchorage in the simulator, thereby opening the pre-war cache.

Done with Tayda's Metallic Candy Blue, which was just perfect given the 2015/2024 reimagined texturing of the Fallout Vault Suit. I had many ideas for this one, with and without the control text. Odd that they did the box inside and out and managed to not fill the screw holes. Didn't even ask for any sort of masking, so IDK.

The circuit is great! I love the ability to have a dwell/feedback control that is very easy to manage and make sure you don't self oscillate, though you can should you fancy it. After testing out quite a few combinations I ended up going with the following:

- Motorola 2N3904 with an hFE of 158 for Q1
- mushroom top 2N3565 with an hFE of 353 for Q2

Thanks for looking.

[EDE]

Working through my backlog of boards, I remembered I received this PiF from blearyeyes this last holiday, so I set to work. Sparkplug. Well, given my fixation with Fallout, the first thing that came to mind was actually Sparks from Fallout 4's Automotron DLC, but then I decided to play to type and pick an eyebot from New Vegas

ED-E

 

A pre-war relic, sent from the east, detouring in Chicago before finally making its way towards Navarro: the last bastion (fight me) of the Enclave. ED-E took a .308 round cruising down through the Mojave, before being picked up by passing courier who picked it up and dropped it off at the Mojave Express office in Primm. In the hands of another, it would be repaired to working order and accompany the fated "Courier Six" on their journeys. Companion, pack mule, defender, eDog, it was the only one who never complained about the questionable actions carried out by the courier, with them until the end.





This one was comparatively spur-of-the-moment, which thankfully came out 99% as intended. I suspect one of monojack holes was milled slightly larger than the other, hence the asymmetrical protrusions. I think it just slipped over the annular ring on the input jack.

I toyed with a few enclosure color options, but when looking at Tayda's "cream", I converted the approximate Pantone to HEX and that sealed the deal: #EDE9AD I kid you not.

Thanks for looking.

My brain is playing tricks on me and wanting to rather be safe and ask a dumb question than sorry, I'd like to double check:

The solid/thick line in the PCB drawing is the mounting tab (that needs to be clipped off), correct?

You cannot view this attachment.

Looking to reduce footprint area on a project by using a sub-mini toggle, but have ran into issues in the past. Anyone know of a sub-mini lever toggle that has longer pins? It's a challenge to both mount it with enough threads to secure it and get a good solder joint (barely seats into the hole at all).

That's at least the case with standard PC-mount pots, anyway. Probably no issues with off-board, but I kinda want to avoid that more than I want to avoid using a regular DPDT footprint.

Thanks.

Curious about this

I'm tinkering with a couple of OTA circuits and it got me thinking:  anymore it's more economical to use the LM13700/NE5517 dual OTA chips, and just terminate one of them.

Wondering if there are circuits that can take advantage of both amps.

I've seen a lot of products out there, e.g. from Krylon.

Is that a decent choice, or is there a better solution that (ai broken) Google search isn't showing me? Anything to recommend from experience?

Thinking about cutting stencils, since my 5W laser isn't great for much else. Gotta get my money's worth.

Thanks

Edit: I guess it'd also be good to know of there area issues with a tack spray and existing finishes I should be aware of...

Most of the lives I'm seeing claim "low tack" but what does that mean in our context of finishing enclosures ourselves, or just other materials in general...

My neighbor heard from my bragging wife that I make guitar pedals and after months of dragging my feet (and recovering from illness and surgery), I'm finally accepting his invite to demo for his high school guitar class. tomorrow

Never mind that some of those kids likely play better than me...  I'm excited and nervous.



(Amp)--------|
|---------(git)

Degenerator; Glass Hole; Fraudhacker; Pork Barrel
Runt; Mudbunny; Sardine Tin; Bumblebee

It may but be a surprise, but this is the first time I've set up a pedal board. Borrowed the physical board from a friend, along with a few pedals that I didn't have ready (Pork Barrel, Runt, and Mudbunny). I've got a good assortment, I think. about all I can fit! I wanted to put a Moodring after the Degenerator and a cupcake at the front...

Hopefully the signal chain is what it should be. I'll welcome any feedback that may come in the next 12 hours