First build: Thunderpuss

[DutchMF]

Hi Everyone,

I'm so proud to announce my first build, a Thunderpuss! My partsorder came in earlier than expected, so here it is! As mentioned by Mad Bean himself, it is quite suitable for a newbie like myself.... Had loads of fun doing it, I'm glad I already have some more boards and parts, so I can solder some more this weekend!

In the first picture you see my workspace. It's not ideal, but it works, and there's mechanical ventilation there, always a plus while soldering! The second pic is the completed board, the third gives you a look at my soldering, not bad for a first attempt I guess.....

[jkokura]

Great work on the PCB! And considering your workstation, it's impressive you're trying to do this at all!

Jacob

[DutchMF]

Some more pics, and the answer to the question you al are asking: Does it work?

First pic: board with wires. Second: There is a pot on there!

As to that all-important question: I don't know! I'm gonna butcher an old, un-used A/B-switch and make a test-rig out of it (comes with a DPDT switch and two jacks, oughtta work), and as soon as I find out, so will you! For now I'm done soldering (it's not easy with a laundry-machine between your legs!), I'm gonna have a beer. Cheers people, you'll hear from me in the very near future!

Paul

[DutchMF]

Thanks Jacob,

It is a challenge, but I live in an apartment, I could solder in the living room, but Mrs. Dutch would not agree to that....... A nice garage would be super, but you have to keep dreaming, I'll keep you all posted!

Paul

[jkokura]

Thanks Jacob,

It is a challenge, but I live in an apartment, I could solder in the living room, but Mrs. Dutch would not agree to that....... A nice garage would be super, but you have to keep dreaming, I'll keep you all posted!

Paul

I live in an apartment as well. I used to work in the Living room at our last place. The place before I had a spare bedroom i used. In the place we're in now the Master room has a giant closet, and I set up a desk in the back of that. No ventilation is a problem, but I'm looking into getting a fume remover.

Jacob

[DutchMF]

So you build all your JMK-pedals in your master bedroom? Amazing! My wife would kill me....  Actually we're going to clean up/muck out the space that I posted a pic of, so I can get a proper workbench set up, NEXT TO the laundry machine. Everybody happy. Thanx for your support, appreciate (?? is that correct?) it a lot.

Paul

[DutchMF]

Hi!

It's been a while since I've posted that my Thunderpuss was finished, but I've been quite busy lately. This afternoon, I hooked it up to some jacks, a switch and a battery and I'm really proud to say it actually works!
So, it's ready to meet it's new home, which is gonna be a 1590A box. Can't wait to inject this into my stage rig (Marshall head, 2x12" speaker), as I've only tested it through a ridiculously small transistor practice amp.
Now, for the next project, a Green Bean. I'll keep you posted!

Paul

[sliptongue]

Hi Paul,

I'm working on thunderpuss project, but confused about capacitors, I saw your C1 & C4 are box shaped, are they 1nf & 100nf film/ polypropilene caps? I'm newbie to electronics and unfamiliar with different kind of it.

Regards,
nuke

[DutchMF]

Hey nuke,

Welcome to the wonderful world of pedal building! You chose a very good project to start with. If you look at both the pcb and the schematic you'll see different symbols used for, say, C1 and C5. C1 (and C4) is indeed a box /film type cap and C5  is an electrolytic. With electrolytics, you'll have to carefully watch the orientation, with the + and -. This can mess with your head, since on the pcb the + side is marked, and all the electro's I've seen are marked on the - side  To make it even more complicated, there's a third kind of capacitor, in this project C2, the ceramic type. These come in very small values. Basically it comes down to this:

Ceramic: pico Farads (pF)
Box/Film: 1 nano Farad (nF) to 1 micro Farad (uF)
Electrolytic: 1 uF and higher

Take your time to get familiar with all the parts, symbols and values, it will help you understand what you are doing and what is going on inside your pedals. O, and learn how to read schematics and get a DMM (digital multi meter) if you don't already have one!

For more info, browse the Tech Help part of the forum, it's priceless!

Good luck with the Thunderpuss, let me know how it works out!

Paul

[sliptongue]

Hi Paul,

Thanks sooo much for your explanation.. Now I got the idea, coz I guess I got the wrong C1 and C4. I got ceramic caps for C1 and C4, which colors are green, and I think those are not suitable for audio systems such as DIY effects. I'll try to get those film caps soon..
I've done soldering all components actually, but it didn't work when tested (T_T), so I tried to look for build reports, and I recognized that I have different kind of Caps for C1 and C4. That's why I asked you...
Still trying to fix my thunderpuss.. hope it'll work soon..

Regards,
Nuke

[DutchMF]

The values I gave for the different kinds of caps are just rough guidelines, Nuke. Ceramic capacitors can be found in higher values and should work in pos C1&C4, as long as you have the right value of course..... A good place to start de-bugging is checking all your component values (again if necessary), ground connections, transistor orientation (check the datsheet!) etc.....

Paul