There must be a better way!

[dannoceti]

Hey guys, I wanted to get some feedback on general build costs. Any tip or tricks on keeping this down?

I recently built 3 klon klones and just ordered all the parts to build a KoT clone.  On average I spent about $65 on each klone and the king of tone clone cost me $120. This includes pre fabbed pcb.

Right now I am ordering from 3 different sites per pedal so I'm paying for shipping 3 times, frustrating!

1) I get most of my components from Mouser, resistors, caps ect.

2) I go to Small Bear for the hardware, pots, and whatever components Mouser doesn't have.

3) I go to Mammoth for the painted enclosure and knobs. I can't paint or powder coat so they seem to have a good selection and I just drill it at home.

4) oh yeah, also I go to Tayda or eBay for diodes I can't find on the previously listed sites.

Anyways, there must be a better way!  Looking for some insight from more experienced builders.

Any feedback is appreciated.

-Dan


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[midwayfair]

You're ordering from the same places I am ... I can't imagine how you got up to $120 on a KoT clone -- the passives shouldn't cost you more than $10, the PCB is another $12 or so, the enclosure and switch and jacks are about $20. If you're in the U.S. and you ordered parts for only this pedal from all four places (which would be unusual), shipping should have been about $18-20.

Back when I was first starting out, I think all the parts for a tremolo cost me about $60 and I got everything from Smallbear.

By the way, you know Smallbear sells knobs and enclosures? If that's all you're getting from Mammoth and you're looking to cut down on costs.

[dan.schumaker]

I have a big spreadsheet going of projects that I intend to make, and list out the BOM and the cost, this way I can see how much I am spending or will need to spend on parts.  Granted, I get 95% of my parts from Tayda, so that may bring my prices down on items.

I've attached part of my spreadsheet, showing the cost for Rully's Queen of Bone (KOT) and Rej's Chimera Klon.

[GermanCdn]

Quickest (obvious) ways to bring your costs down

1) Order in volume.  If you're going to keep going with the hobby, you'll end up using them.  You're initial cash outlay will be higher, of course, but you're per unit cost will be less, and you'll save on shipping.  Which brings me to number 2

2) Plan out a set of future builds and make a primary order with one vendor.  Do an analysis of what you need and compare your vendors.  You might find there's individual unit discrepancies, but as a whole it tends to wash out, and if you consider that additional shipping costs, it will almost always be cheaper as a whole to order from one supplier.  Augment your stash with ebay items which ship for free from China where you can find them.   The unit price will be lower, and no shipping.  You will wait longer, but unless you've already sold the pedal, that shouldn't be an issue.

If you're looking to save some cash on enclosures, you can always pick up blems from PPP.  It's a bit hit and miss, as you don't get your choice of colours, but typically you'll save $3 - $5 per enclosure.  DO NOT order blems from Mammoth.  They're crap.  Occassionally Mammoth will have limited run sales in certain colours they are clearing out, which are typically cheaper by a couple of bucks.

[selfdestroyer]

Quickest (obvious) ways to bring your costs down

1) Order in volume.  If you're going to keep going with the hobby, you'll end up using them.  You're initial cash outlay will be higher, of course, but you're per unit cost will be less, and you'll save on shipping.  Which brings me to number 2

2) Plan out a set of future builds and make a primary order with one vendor.  Do an analysis of what you need and compare your vendors.  You might find there's individual unit discrepancies, but as a whole it tends to wash out, and if you consider that additional shipping costs, it will almost always be cheaper as a whole to order from one supplier.  Augment your stash with ebay items which ship for free from China where you can find them.   The unit price will be lower, and no shipping.  You will wait longer, but unless you've already sold the pedal, that shouldn't be an issue.

If you're looking to save some cash on enclosures, you can always pick up blems from PPP.  It's a bit hit and miss, as you don't get your choice of colours, but typically you'll save $3 - $5 per enclosure.  DO NOT order blems from Mammoth.  They're crap.  Occassionally Mammoth will have limited run sales in certain colours they are clearing out, which are typically cheaper by a couple of bucks.

This is what I did also. I built a few one offs when I was first starting out and sold them and I got about $250 in return. I then spent that $250 on all passives and top used transistors/ICs. I get to the point now that I don't order any resistors under 200 quantity and caps of 50 each. My "price per pedal" when way down once I started stocking all common parts and ordered in bulk. The initial cost is what scare people but if you make up your mind that you want to stick with this hobby then it will be worth it in the long run. I always compare this hobby to my wife's knitting. She gets better pricing if she buys in bulk and its a lot cheaper than buying quality scarfs in the store.

I use the following vendors:
Mouser: Most passives when buying in bulk due to price break.
Small bear for a few things
Bitches Love My Switches: Enclosures, switches, 1/4 jacks
Tayda: smaller quanity of passives and some IC's & transistors.
I will be trying out Mklec this month

I also piggy back with another forum member that lives in the same city as me. This helps with shipping also.

Cody

[dannoceti]

I have a big spreadsheet going of projects that I intend to make, and list out the BOM and the cost, this way I can see how much I am spending or will need to spend on parts.  Granted, I get 95% of my parts from Tayda, so that may bring my prices down on items.

I've attached part of my spreadsheet, showing the cost for Rully's Queen of Bone (KOT) and Rej's Chimera Klon.

wow I wish I had only spent 40.  Thanks for all the insight.  I looked back at my orders and the bulk of it was from small bear, photo attached. I accidentally ordered 8 switches, I only needed 4, haha. I want to put the diode switches on the enclosure.

Mouser was 23
Mammoth 29
Small bear 53
Pcb 13



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[dan.schumaker]

Like I said, I get the vast majority of my parts from Tayda.  It definitely helps when adding different values of resistors that you can get 10 for $.12.  Some people have issues with their quality, but I haven't run into any issues with them.  If I was building more "professionally" or making for someone else, I might use more high-quality components, but for me, I think the components sound fine.

[juansolo]

1) We have a stash of regularly used components. Loads of resistors, caps, regularly used IC (TL072, charge pumps, etc). We order them in batches. Resistors in 100s, caps in 50's, ICs in 10's. When they get low, we add it to the order list until there's enough on it to put one in. Likewise we always have a stash of boxes, stomps, jacks, etc.

2) We plan builds in batches, go through the BOMs and add anything that's out of the ordinary (not covered in option 1) to the order lists. All pots are only ordered for builds now. We don't carry a stash of those. It forces us to do it

3) When something is stopping us from proceeding, the order(s) go in and a new list is started.

Works for us.

[rullywowr]

Lots of good information here.  I also like Tayda for things like headers, dip switches, sometimes box caps (less than 100pcs) and even resistors (the thin leads don't bother me).  Most of their ICs are decent too.  I am not fond of their knobs, 1/4" black jacks, or J201s (yeccch).

I source my Jacks (neutrik), knobs, toggle switches, dc jacks, and enclosures from BLMS.  Lawrence is the shiznit and has excellent customer service and a quality product.  Plus you won't get dinged on the shipping weight of enclosures as he uses flat rate boxes.

I like to order good quality electro caps and I usually get them in quantities of at least 100 from Mouser/Digikey/Newark.  Nichicon and Kemet are not that expensive there in qtys of 100+ and you can get them in shorter heights (7mm) in the same diameters 5mm and 6.3mm that most builds use.  Most Tayda ones are 11mm tall which can be an issue with a crowded build.  The Tayda electros/films are not that much cheaper than the other guys and size & quality is everything in electro caps.  Same thing applies with film box caps...if you are ordering in bulk, these guys can often be a better deal than Tayda.

Smallbear is great for specialty items, and I like supporting a local business however the prices on regular "bread and butter" passives are pretty expensive.  You can find great things like Vactrols, matched transistors etc there and Steve will always have my business on that frontier.

When first starting out, and you know that you will be building in the future, I recommend grabbing things in bulk like resistors, leds, caps, etc.  Resistor kits on eBay are a great way to get going and have plenty of values on hand for not that much dough.  I don't have the time to keep track of my inventory of resistors etc so when something is getting low, I simply just order 100 or 200 or that value...(what's $2.00 for resistors).  Then I have a large supply of "ingredients" on hand to build whatever I am going after next.  I just CBA with running spreadsheets and deducting one resistor everytime I am building something.

Keep organized!   Those little divider boxes (tackle boxes) can be had at Harbor Freight for about $3.00 on sale and I use them to hold jacks, knobs and other things.  For my passive components I have been using coin envelopes with CapriSun boxes and I love it.  Building is so much easier and less stressful when you can grab xyz component at your fingertips. 

[juansolo]

We only get pots and odds and sods from Tayda. I don't trust their other stuff not to be shit/fake these days. Everything else is local now. Costs a little more, but you know what you're getting.

[raulduke]

As Juan says; keep an inventory of parts!

Honestly it is worth it in the long run.

I would say start with resistors and caps and work from there.

Of course the risk is you will go of building/tinkering, but I doubt that will be the case (its addictive  ).

[atreidesheir]

You can buy good assortments of resistors and ceramic capacitors on ebay. 
Tayda is great for box caps, ic's, led's, diodes, and pots . 
Lawrence at BLMS is good for the knobs, switches and jacks (my last batch of enclosures were from here too). 
I like to buy specialty stuff from  SmallBear, which seems to happen a lot.  I also try to buy anything I need on short notice to throw in on the smallbear order.
I get panasonic caps and electrolytics from Mouser.  I may get some relays from there too, but I have not committed to try relay switching yet. 

I have been getting some transistors and other various items from Chromesphere's online store and it is still cost effective when shipped from down under.  And he is a great seller. 
I have bought enclosures from SmallBear, BLMS, and PedalPartsPlus (they used to have really good prices on 1590bb), all with good results.
Hope this helps someone.  It is good method to itemize and keep up with costs and learn as you go.  I do not think any build has been very much more expensive than $30 and usually less.  Sometimes as low a $13.

[junkemail86]

Resistor packs are a good idea early on.  I thought that the Futurlec value packs were a good deal for resistors, caps, and electros to build a stash.  If I remember correctly, some of the LED's were rectangular but otherwise were fine.  Don't think I ever ordered the IC or transistor packs, but I would imagine those wouldnt be as helpful.
http://www.futurlec.com/ValuePacks.shtml