Proto enclosure

[jkokura]

Hey guys and gals. I suggest ANYBODY who likes to prototype pedals, designs their own circuits, or does their own layouts, build one of these.

Essentially, this enclosure will be used primarily as a temporary home for prototype circuits I'm designing and testing. Using a testing rig doesn't really lend itself for seeing how a circuit really performs in full rig or gigging sort of situations. A testing rig verifies a circuit works, but it doesn't really tell you how it plays with your other pedals, guitars, or amps. So, by using an enclosure that's already wired up witch a switch and jacks I can now drop circuits in and out of the box to try out on my pedal board in my rig. So now when I want to see how a circuit works with my band I can without having to hardwire it into it's own enclosure and switch and such.

What I've done is permanently wire in the switch, jacks, power and LED to a bare enclosure drilled for my typical 3 knob spacing when I do my layouts. At the bottom of the enclosure the power, ground, switch in and switch out have all be wired to a little 8 pin socket mounted on a piece of perfboard. Using little lead cut offs I've connected the 8 pins together in 4 pairs. Mounted to the enclosure using double sided tape I can now switch the circuit in and out connecting it to the hardwired switch and jacks through the 4 pairs of connections.

I plan on doing another 2 knob setup in another enclosure. I can use this one for single control affairs - though I may go for a third enclosure for one knobbers.

Boring I know, a better picture will come with another great idea to show off.



And the Guts. Notice the socket at the bottom.



Enjoy!

Jacob

[nzCdog]

Gotta have one of these... very handy.

[raulduke]

Its not boring mate. I like stuff like this; functional.

Making test jigs is always good fun.

I have done and ordered a 3PDT wiring board with a stocko connector for FX In, Out, 9V and GND with the intention of doing something similar to you; that way I can swap out boards using the stocko with no hassle.

Stocko's are really good reliable connectors, we use them at work all the time (for industrial applications).

I guess the main problem with this jig is being really sure on what enclosure and pot layout you are going to use is!

My recent board layouts all conform to Madbeans pot spacing so hopefully I will be able to build up something similar.

[jkokura]

Yeah, I always use the same knob layout and spacing, so that does help with conformity.

Could you tell me more about those 'stocko' connectors?

Jacob

[jkokura]

Here's a better shot of the front panel. The 'innovation' I'm really enjoying is using a sharpie on painters tape. Seems really simple, but the joy of it is that I can both indicate what circuit is in there right now as well as what the controls are without permanently marking the enclosure. Handy dandy and super simple.



I was originally thinking magnets. Then I discovered magnets don't work on these enclosures.

Jacob

[raulduke]

Have a look at the link below for Stocko Connectors mate.  I/We at work, use the 2.5mm pitch MKS1850 range.

They are a massive German company. And as with all things German are incredibly well engineered.

Eagle also comes with a stocko library (2.5mm MKS1850) so its good times.

http://www.stocko.de/en/index.php?seite=prod_start.html&rubrik=Produkte+-+Start

Another good company is Phoenix connectors:

http://www.phoenixcontact.com/pcb-terminal-block/26844.htm

These are US based and offer a wide range. I think Phoenix libraries available for Eagle.

Hope this helps!

[nzCdog]

Oh dur... I misread the first post...
Nice idea Jacob!

[jkokura]

Have a look at the link below for Stocko Connectors mate.  I/We at work, use the 2.5mm pitch MKS1850 range.

They are a massive German company. And as with all things German are incredibly well engineered.

Eagle also comes with a stocko library (2.5mm MKS1850) so its good times.

http://www.stocko.de/en/index.php?seite=prod_start.html&rubrik=Produkte+-+Start

Another good company is Phoenix connectors:

http://www.phoenixcontact.com/pcb-terminal-block/26844.htm

These are US based and offer a wide range. I think Phoenix libraries available for Eagle.

Hope this helps!

I took a look, I'm not sure how I'd apply those products. Could you give me a shot of how you did? I'd love something a 'little' more secure than what I'm doing at this point.

Jacob

[raulduke]

Sure thing mate,

I want FX_In, FX_Out, Gnd and 9V to be easily connected and disconnected on the 3PDT wiring board (like you have done with the header socket). This will also allow me to use a proto-enclosure like you have shown here.

Using a 4 way MKS1850 Stocko connector the socket (see below) is soldered to the 3PDT board.


The other female connector (see below) is used to connect FX_In, FX_Out, 9V and GND wires from the FX pcb.


Voila, a reliable, and easily interchangeable PCB to 3PDT connection.

I'm going to take off the locking 'tab' from the female connector as the connection is secure enough without it.

[jkokura]

Ah I see. I wasn't finding the 'female' end to attach to the board leads. That makes more sense now.

Jacob