SteveF's Pedal Building Journey

SteveF

Adam_MD said:

Can you bend it over at all?  Anything over 11mm gets pretty tight in a 1590b. 

Not a lot because of the resistors next to it.  I may have to desolder it and move it slightly so I can bend it. 

SteveF

Adam_MD said:

Also because I never use batteries I don’t need the extra connection on the larger 2.1mm sockets.  

Same here. I see Tayda have some similar ones for much cheaper.  Any experience with those? 

DC Power Jack 2.1mm Panel Mount Round

Adam_MD

SteveF said:

Adam_MD said:

Also because I never use batteries I don’t need the extra connection on the larger 2.1mm sockets.  

Same here. I see Tayda have some similar ones for much cheaper.  Any experience with those? 

DC Power Jack 2.1mm Panel Mount Round

I’m going to say they’re fine.  I bought some from tayda and bitsbox and once they went into the same parts drawer I couldn’t tell which is which.  

Philtre

SteveF said:

Adam_MD said:

Also because I never use batteries I don’t need the extra connection on the larger 2.1mm sockets.  

Same here. I see Tayda have some similar ones for much cheaper.  Any experience with those? 

DC Power Jack 2.1mm Panel Mount Round

There's only one way to find out! ;-)

SteveF

Got some in my basket waiting for the next code  

Philtre

Tayda is like an Alladin's cave and so, so tempting to buys tons of stuff because the prices are so cheap.  But keep an eye on postage costs, because this can come to around £10 per shipment (but mitigated by the coupon code it has to be said). Also, never never never never never choose the DHL delivery option because they'll sting you for VAT and import duty (Google it).

SteveF

Yep, I think you mentioned that in your thread.  Postage shouldn't be an issue in the next order as I have a, ahem, large basket, so economies of scale and all that!  

SteveF

So in the end, I swapped the LED and switch around and now it should fit. Although I may need to resolder the cap to get an extra mm or so .  I've noticed that the IC is quite high actually, once you take into account the socket.  Can you get lower profile sockets, or do you guys just solder them to the board?

Philtre

Looking good.

I don't solder ICs to the board, just in case. Not sure if you can get lower profile sockets, TBH.

Do those knobs sit high on the pot shafts?

SteveF

Philtre said:

Looking good.

I don't solder ICs to the board, just in case. Not sure if you can get lower profile sockets, TBH.

Do those knobs sit high on the pot shafts?

One pot (the 1M drive one) has a randomly longer shaft that I will have to cut.  The others are fine.  The knobs are actually just perched on top in these pics so I could make sure they wouldn't hang over the sides. 

SteveF

So my Timmeh! is all drilled and ready for some clear coat.  I think I will go for the spray stuff again as it didn't seem too bad on the other enclosures and I still have a fair bit left.  I'll probably start using the ET when it arrives on my next few builds.  I have a friend who wants a Timmy so I'll probably gift this one to him and make myself another!  

For the drilling, I was a little worried about holding the enclosure still and drilling manually, so I bought one of these to go with my drill: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CYVNKN2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01J590QVE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

To be honest, the drill stand isn't the best. You get what you pay for I guess.  It did the job, but it was extremely fiddly to adjust in between holes and the vice isn't great so I struggled at times to get the enclosure to sit just right.  I may look into another solution down the line. 

The stepper bits seem to do the job nicely.  As I have 3 different ones, I didn't have the same trouble as Phil with the 12 being close to the chuck.  I do find the steps themselves quite narrow though, so you have to be careful not to go too far (I did ever so slightly on my stomp hole, so it has a slight countersink to it but it won't be seen when the plastic washer is over it). 

Anyway, I got there eventually after having to widen the LED bezel and switch holes as I'd done them one step too small - here it is ready for coating: 



The only other thing I need to work out how to do is to stop getting the white edge showing around the label.  I've tried cutting them out with scissors and a knife and neither seems to work very well.  

Adam_MD

Craft knife and a good ruler on a cutting mat.

SteveF

Adam_MD said:

Craft knife and a good ruler on a cutting mat.

That's exactly what I did. Maybe I had the blade at an angle in towards the ruler trying to prevent the knife wandering away from the ruler (which was outside of the image) :-/ 

I think it's actually the thickness of the vinyl sticker itself rather than a not sharp cut. I'll try and keep the knife more vertical next time and see if that works better. 

SteveF

Much happier with the clear coat this time.  More coats and it's got a nice thick coating on there now with a lovely glossy sheen.  I guess time will tell how durable it is.  Still a bit tacky, so I'll leave it at least another 24 hours before building it up I think. 

Philtre

SteveF said:

Adam_MD said:

Craft knife and a good ruler on a cutting mat.

That's exactly what I did. Maybe I had the blade at an angle in towards the ruler trying to prevent the knife wandering away from the ruler (which was outside of the image) :-/ 

I think it's actually the thickness of the vinyl sticker itself rather than a not sharp cut. I'll try and keep the knife more vertical next time and see if that works better. 

Maybe the edge is showing because of the enclosure's dark background? My enclosure was light grey. Perhaps a lighter coloured border on the decal would work? I'll have to check next time I cut one.

SteveF

Yeah, I think if it had e.g. a white border you wouldn't notice.  I like the black border though!  Maybe I could run along the edges with a sharpie before I peel it off the backing? 

Philtre

As an aside, have you noticed how pedal building is 90% enclosure drilling, painting, covering, printing, and other hardware issues and 10% actual electronics?

SteveF

Yep, I reckon the graphic and physical layout design, drilling, printing and clear coating has taken me easily 4 or 5 times as much time as the actual building of the Timmy circuit and that's not even including the drying time for the clear coat. 

SteveF

I reckon it's also 90% of the cost!  

Philtre

I used to use Rustoleum Gloss Clear Coat, but one of my pedal's finish has gone all manky. I'm going to sand it off, and re-do it with a decal and ET. Wonder if we should start a new thread dedicated just to finishing pedals (decals, painting, clear coat, ET, etc)?