I built a pedal! Again...

[upthepunxxx]

Odale Vatos!

I built another pedal. This time I didn't get my brother to paint it as he was busy with work, so I was left to my own devices, and this is what I came up with. I call it  "John Doe-verdrive©". (You like how I put a © symbol on someone else's name and basically pedal?) Its a Red Llama. It will make more sense when you see it. I had some extra DPDT switches, so I used the millennium bypass method to keep it true bypass but still have an LED. I'm still striving everyday for that ever elusive beautifully clean wiring job!
My girlfriend hand sewed the bag that is underneath it in the pictures. I thought it was a cool way for us to incorporate our hobbies. Plus anything that can keep her busy and buy me more time with a soldering iron in my hand, I am on board with!

UPTHEPUNXXXX!!!~

https://www.flickr.com/photos/121224112@N02/sets/72157643235030225/

[rullywowr]

I dig it man!  Nice job overall and the millennium bypass is always cool to see. Any time you can get with an iron in your hand and while your girl is happily occupied is a win in my book. Buen trabajo!

[nzCdog]

Nice finishing!

[midwayfair]

Nice work! Also, the needlepoint under the pedal is very well done.

Your wiring is good for a vero build, but there are some things that will help get it even nicer:

1) When using a metal box and non-isolated (open-frame) jacks, you don't need to run a ground wire from the input sleeve to the output sleeve. The output jack will ground against the enclosure. That's one less wire to worry about.

2) Those X-wing switches have you running wires all over the place. Consider switching to the Alpha-style switches. I know they're more expensive, but Tayda has a clone for $3 that's ... tolerable. It's not just the appearance, though; the other kind of switches tend to feel a little nicer and hold up better than the X-wing switches.

3) When you're planning your enclosure, think about how many wires need to go to one place, and try to drill the box in a way that will result in the shortest wire runs overall. Cut your wires to the right length AFTER you have the PCB situated in the box. (Because you're testing the PCB before boxing, right?) A big thing I see here is the power jack up at the top of the enclosure, off set from the LED, which means you're running wire from the power jack, down to the millenium bypass, back up to the LED. That's a lot of extra wire! And it means running power lines back and forth across audio lines, which can contribute to noise in a particularly noisy distortion effect.

4) Consider using some doublesided foam tap to hold your PCB in place.

5) Orient your pots to get the shortest wire lengths with the least amount of stress on the wires. Think about where they're going to be in the enclosure before you even solder the wires to the pots!

[upthepunxxx]

Nice work! Also, the needlepoint under the pedal is very well done.

Your wiring is good for a vero build, but there are some things that will help get it even nicer:

1) When using a metal box and non-isolated (open-frame) jacks, you don't need to run a ground wire from the input sleeve to the output sleeve. The output jack will ground against the enclosure. That's one less wire to worry about.

2) Those X-wing switches have you running wires all over the place. Consider switching to the Alpha-style switches. I know they're more expensive, but Tayda has a clone for $3 that's ... tolerable. It's not just the appearance, though; the other kind of switches tend to feel a little nicer and hold up better than the X-wing switches.

3) When you're planning your enclosure, think about how many wires need to go to one place, and try to drill the box in a way that will result in the shortest wire runs overall. Cut your wires to the right length AFTER you have the PCB situated in the box. (Because you're testing the PCB before boxing, right?) A big thing I see here is the power jack up at the top of the enclosure, off set from the LED, which means you're running wire from the power jack, down to the millenium bypass, back up to the LED. That's a lot of extra wire! And it means running power lines back and forth across audio lines, which can contribute to noise in a particularly noisy distortion effect.

4) Consider using some doublesided foam tap to hold your PCB in place.

5) Orient your pots to get the shortest wire lengths with the least amount of stress on the wires. Think about where they're going to be in the enclosure before you even solder the wires to the pots!

Wow man, this is so cool. This place really is the best. I know you didn't have to take the time to check my shots out, let alone offer such amazing advice. Thank you so much, this is exactly the sort advice/direction I've been searching for. I will apply it all to my next build and hope that it will look a bit better than the last. Seriously man, thank you so much. Super cool. I think the ground wire from jack to jack will help clean things up, maybe not hugely, but its all about efficiency and adding up a whole bunch of little things to get a great final product. So taking that into consideration, along with orienting my pots and minding wire stess, crossing power and audio lines, and planning my drill patterns more precisely my next builds should only get better from here. Well at least thats the plan...

Also, I always rock it before I box it 

[brucer]

Nice work Punx.  The finishing looks great.  How's it sound?

[LJangel]

Nice build.  Makes me think fondly of "Racer X" from the Speed Racer cartoons when I was a kid.

[upthepunxxx]

I headed your helpful wiring advice and gave it another shot. Your tips really helped out. The more practice I get the more I realize that this game is about working small to big. Its all about the details. I really paid attention to what you said in regards to wire length and layout. The only thing I wasn't able to fix was the X-Wing switch. I have a bunch of them already. However, that is the next step. I think it came out alot better, however I still got plenty of work to do before I can really feel like comfortable posting pictures of my builds alongside all you heavy-hitters! Thanks again for the tips!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/121224112@N02/sets/72157644798757448/

Nice work! Also, the needlepoint under the pedal is very well done.

Your wiring is good for a vero build, but there are some things that will help get it even nicer:

1) When using a metal box and non-isolated (open-frame) jacks, you don't need to run a ground wire from the input sleeve to the output sleeve. The output jack will ground against the enclosure. That's one less wire to worry about.

2) Those X-wing switches have you running wires all over the place. Consider switching to the Alpha-style switches. I know they're more expensive, but Tayda has a clone for $3 that's ... tolerable. It's not just the appearance, though; the other kind of switches tend to feel a little nicer and hold up better than the X-wing switches.

3) When you're planning your enclosure, think about how many wires need to go to one place, and try to drill the box in a way that will result in the shortest wire runs overall. Cut your wires to the right length AFTER you have the PCB situated in the box. (Because you're testing the PCB before boxing, right?) A big thing I see here is the power jack up at the top of the enclosure, off set from the LED, which means you're running wire from the power jack, down to the millenium bypass, back up to the LED. That's a lot of extra wire! And it means running power lines back and forth across audio lines, which can contribute to noise in a particularly noisy distortion effect.

4) Consider using some doublesided foam tap to hold your PCB in place.

5) Orient your pots to get the shortest wire lengths with the least amount of stress on the wires. Think about where they're going to be in the enclosure before you even solder the wires to the pots!

[mah62]

Nice work! Also, the needlepoint under the pedal is very well done.

Your wiring is good for a vero build, but there are some things that will help get it even nicer:

1) When using a metal box and non-isolated (open-frame) jacks, you don't need to run a ground wire from the input sleeve to the output sleeve. The output jack will ground against the enclosure. That's one less wire to worry about.

2) Those X-wing switches have you running wires all over the place. Consider switching to the Alpha-style switches. I know they're more expensive, but Tayda has a clone for $3 that's ... tolerable. It's not just the appearance, though; the other kind of switches tend to feel a little nicer and hold up better than the X-wing switches.

3) When you're planning your enclosure, think about how many wires need to go to one place, and try to drill the box in a way that will result in the shortest wire runs overall. Cut your wires to the right length AFTER you have the PCB situated in the box. (Because you're testing the PCB before boxing, right?) A big thing I see here is the power jack up at the top of the enclosure, off set from the LED, which means you're running wire from the power jack, down to the millenium bypass, back up to the LED. That's a lot of extra wire! And it means running power lines back and forth across audio lines, which can contribute to noise in a particularly noisy distortion effect.

4) Consider using some doublesided foam tap to hold your PCB in place.

5) Orient your pots to get the shortest wire lengths with the least amount of stress on the wires. Think about where they're going to be in the enclosure before you even solder the wires to the pots!

Wow man, this is so cool. This place really is the best. I know you didn't have to take the time to check my shots out, let alone offer such amazing advice. Thank you so much, this is exactly the sort advice/direction I've been searching for. I will apply it all to my next build and hope that it will look a bit better than the last. Seriously man, thank you so much. Super cool. I think the ground wire from jack to jack will help clean things up, maybe not hugely, but its all about efficiency and adding up a whole bunch of little things to get a great final product. So taking that into consideration, along with orienting my pots and minding wire stess, crossing power and audio lines, and planning my drill patterns more precisely my next builds should only get better from here. Well at least thats the plan...

Also, I always rock it before I box it 

Ditto! Jon you are such a positive contributor here, many thanks! Also, I actually understand what you are saying here  

Nice build BTW, I love  the red llama. I gave up on vero ages ago because my builds always looked like the dogs bollocks, literally!

Mark

[muddyfox]

I gave up on vero ages ago because my builds always looked like the dogs bollocks, literally!

That's no reason to give up on vero. It just takes a bit more practice to learn how to hide the pot wires.
I know I'm overusing these pictures by now but they serve well to prove a point... these are two of mine, a 5 pot build:




and a 4 pot build:

[mah62]

Very impressive, Muddyfox! I've got bags of superb Ivlark layouts begging to be housed, now!

[upthepunxxx]

Thanks man! Yea I know what you mean about veros. I'm trying to tech myself to get better at etching as well as eagle via Jacobs tutorials. They are super helpful! I just need a lot more practice

Nice work! Also, the needlepoint under the pedal is very well done.

Your wiring is good for a vero build, but there are some things that will help get it even nicer:

1) When using a metal box and non-isolated (open-frame) jacks, you don't need to run a ground wire from the input sleeve to the output sleeve. The output jack will ground against the enclosure. That's one less wire to worry about.

2) Those X-wing switches have you running wires all over the place. Consider switching to the Alpha-style switches. I know they're more expensive, but Tayda has a clone for $3 that's ... tolerable. It's not just the appearance, though; the other kind of switches tend to feel a little nicer and hold up better than the X-wing switches.

3) When you're planning your enclosure, think about how many wires need to go to one place, and try to drill the box in a way that will result in the shortest wire runs overall. Cut your wires to the right length AFTER you have the PCB situated in the box. (Because you're testing the PCB before boxing, right?) A big thing I see here is the power jack up at the top of the enclosure, off set from the LED, which means you're running wire from the power jack, down to the millenium bypass, back up to the LED. That's a lot of extra wire! And it means running power lines back and forth across audio lines, which can contribute to noise in a particularly noisy distortion effect.

4) Consider using some doublesided foam tap to hold your PCB in place.

5) Orient your pots to get the shortest wire lengths with the least amount of stress on the wires. Think about where they're going to be in the enclosure before you even solder the wires to the pots!

Wow man, this is so cool. This place really is the best. I know you didn't have to take the time to check my shots out, let alone offer such amazing advice. Thank you so much, this is exactly the sort advice/direction I've been searching for. I will apply it all to my next build and hope that it will look a bit better than the last. Seriously man, thank you so much. Super cool. I think the ground wire from jack to jack will help clean things up, maybe not hugely, but its all about efficiency and adding up a whole bunch of little things to get a great final product. So taking that into consideration, along with orienting my pots and minding wire stess, crossing power and audio lines, and planning my drill patterns more precisely my next builds should only get better from here. Well at least thats the plan...

Also, I always rock it before I box it 

Ditto! Jon you are such a positive contributor here, many thanks! Also, I actually understand what you are saying here  

Nice build BTW, I love  the red llama. I gave up on vero ages ago because my builds always looked like the dogs bollocks, literally!

Mark