Contemplating a Zendrive-alike as 1st pedal project build - advise?

Megii

frankus said:

It really depends how often you do it - I made a classic mistake in writing just now (holding the tip d'uh) that's obvious, I've been writing for nearly 40 years I still make mistakes

It's really about being methodical and I'm not ultra great at that - I made a madbeans delay pedal in about 2 hours the other week - neat soldering and worked almost first time.. a tiny strand of wire was sending some of the signal to ground. It took about 5 minutes looking at the pcb to find it.. yay for neat soldering!

It didn't take long to identify that - all my parts are in labelled drawers but I also multimetered the resistors and ensured the capacitors were the right ones BEFORE I soldered them in, no assuming even though I'd been careful in selecting the pieces.

A lot of effort first will save time in debugging later.

It's not easy if you've got kids or other demands on your time, it's taken me about 6 months to finish making a Klon

Cheers! more great tips in this post, thanks. I do think I am a pretty careful methodical type of chap, perhaps to the extent of being a bit nerdy, I don't know. I'm always happy to go slow, and be meticulous - that has been a trait when building guitars from parts, but the results have been worth the care and time IMHO. So I reckon I would carry that approach forward into the pedal building.

A good multimeter is on the shopping list also now. I already have a cheap digital one, but it doesn't do capacitance for one thing. 

ThePrettyDamned

Pedal parts kits are great, my first attempt (axis fuzz) went amazingly well, worked first time (once I worked out I grounded the board against the chassis!).

So I recommend them whole heartedly.

My axis fuzz no longer works, mind, because I broke the switch. The wiring is awful inside anyway, so I'm going to redo it from scratch at some point, or build a fuzz factory

Megii

ThePrettyDamned said:

Pedal parts kits are great, my first attempt (axis fuzz) went amazingly well, worked first time (once I worked out I grounded the board against the chassis!).

So I recommend them whole heartedly.

My axis fuzz no longer works, mind, because I broke the switch. The wiring is awful inside anyway, so I'm going to redo it from scratch at some point, or build a fuzz factory

Cheers @ThePrettyDamned - I do like the kit idea for my first project, and possible several more to come. Seems a safer bet to me, while I'm still learning and getting used to the finer soldering work involved. And the value is pretty great  - I get something sounding close to a boutique pedal that I otherwise could not afford, plus all the fun of making it, not bad. Have fun re-doing the fuzz factory.

GuyBoden

The Zendrive is not the easiest pedal for a first build.

I'd start with something easier, this "Clock of tone" looks easier and useful:
http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Clock_of_Tone/p847124_10075905.aspx

Have fun.

thermionic

I don't think that pedal kits that have larger pcbs with more components are more difficult to build. You'll spend more time soldering but they're not more difficult. Populating the pcb is the easy part, the trickier part is wiring the jacks, footswitch and LED (and pots, if they're not board-mounted) where you have to think a bit more about what you're doing to avoid mistakes - you have to do that part for all pedals.

GuyBoden

thermionic said:

I don't think that pedal kits that have larger pcbs with more components are more difficult to build.

I do.

Megii

Cheers guys - I think it probably will be the Zen for me - in at the deep end a bit maybe, but I'm happy to take onboard whatever risk there is that I might stuff it up. Whatever I do do has to be something I really want, and that I think I'd find useful. But I'll have a look through the easy kits as well, just in case there is something that takes my fancy as an easier "intro".

stickyfiddle

Big +1 for pedalparts. I've done about 8 of theirs and always my first port of call if I fancy building something. 

The Zen is a bigger kit than most but it's not harder, just a long build with more components. As long as you stay composed and methodical throughout you'll be fine.

FWIW my first kit was a BYOC Compressor around 9 years ago - no easier and I got it right first time. Happy to report it still works

ThePrettyDamned

The board mounted pot builds remove a great deal of wiring - and remove the issue of board mounting. It's a very tidy, easy way of doing things

frankus

Crumbs... my first DIY pedal... um... erm ... well, I made a Ruby perfbaord amp in 2005... first successful build would be a Big Muff.

Megii

stickyfiddle said:

Big +1 for pedalparts. I've done about 8 of theirs and always my first port of call if I fancy building something. 

The Zen is a bigger kit than most but it's not harder, just a long build with more components. As long as you stay composed and methodical throughout you'll be fine.

FWIW my first kit was a BYOC Compressor around 9 years ago - no easier and I got it right first time. Happy to report it still works

Thanks very much for the encouragement Sticky! Looks like this will be a winter project, so something to keep me occupied during those cold months, I will endeavor to stay composed and methodical - I usually can manage that pretty well, even if not entirely sane...

Megii

ThePrettyDamned said:

The board mounted pot builds remove a great deal of wiring - and remove the issue of board mounting. It's a very tidy, easy way of doing things

Yes - I've already had that thought, just looking at pics of pedal insides that have been done that way. I may well incorporate that idea. Cheers TPD.

Megii

frankus said:

Crumbs... my first DIY pedal... um... erm ... well, I made a Ruby perfbaord amp in 2005... first successful build would be a Big Muff.

That one does sound a tad ambitious for a first build, although a shame it didn't work out. At least the Big Muff was a winner though.

frankus

The Big Muff worked till it was put in an enclosure - earthing issues..

The Ruby worked great but it didn't have an enclosure so the jack leads soon broke

Megii

frankus said:

The Big Muff worked till it was put in an enclosure - earthing issues..

The Ruby worked great but it didn't have an enclosure so the jack leads soon broke

So, both worked basically - those enclosures do seem like pesky things to get right though...

ChrisMusic

Megii said:   those enclosures do seem like pesky things to get right though... 

You need to ensure that if the pots, switch etc are mounted directly on the circuit board, that *all* the holes are in exactly the right place in the enclosure.  If they are not you will be stressing the joints and potentially bending the PCB which may well lead to some failure further down the line, and hairline cracks in a PCB can be difficult to find to repair.

PCB mounted controls are a way of keeping mass manufactured product quick and cheap to produce, often by machine, and remove the risk of bad wiring by a poorly paid workforce.  If you have the time and are methodical there is little to fear, and a great challenge, in neatly hand wiring the PCB to separate controls.

Basically it's fine either way as long as you take care over construction, and I have seen the superb guitar builds you have documented on the forum, so I have no doubt you will make a superb job of pedal building too.  Take your time and enjoy the challenge, it's quite easy really  

stickyfiddle

Re board mounted pots, they're not necessary, but do make for a fantastically neat and quick build, provided you get the kit with pre-drilled enclosure!

Compare this Fuzz Face with this "birds nest" Fuzz Factory (both pedalparts kits)

Megii

ChrisMusic said:

Megii said:   those enclosures do seem like pesky things to get right though... 

You need to ensure that if the pots, switch etc are mounted directly on the circuit board, that *all* the holes are in exactly the right place in the enclosure.  If they are not you will be stressing the joints and potentially bending the PCB which may well lead to some failure further down the line, and hairline cracks in a PCB can be difficult to find to repair.

PCB mounted controls are a way of keeping mass manufactured product quick and cheap to produce, often by machine, and remove the risk of bad wiring by a poorly paid workforce.  If you have the time and are methodical there is little to fear, and a great challenge, in neatly hand wiring the PCB to separate controls.

Basically it's fine either way as long as you take care over construction, and I have seen the superb guitar builds you have documented on the forum, so I have no doubt you will make a superb job of pedal building too.  Take your time and enjoy the challenge, it's quite easy really  

Cheers Chris! Good advice there, I will do my best to take it. "superb guitar builds" - I blush, but thank you!

Megii

stickyfiddle said:

Re board mounted pots, they're not necessary, but do make for a fantastically neat and quick build, provided you get the kit with pre-drilled enclosure!

Compare this Fuzz Face with this "birds nest" Fuzz Factory (both pedalparts kits)

That is actually super-helpful of you Sticky, cheers for posting those pics. So in the 2nd one, is the pcb just left floating, and held in position just by the wires coming off it? Obviously that's working fine if so, but are there other methods used to mount the pcb in place so it doesn't rattle around or anything?

GuyBoden

stickyfiddle said:

Re board mounted pots, they're not necessary, but do make for a fantastically neat and quick build, provided you get the kit with pre-drilled enclosure!

Compare this Fuzz Face with this "birds nest" Fuzz Factory (both pedalparts kits)

Nice, very neat with the board mounted pots. If I'm reusing the enclosure for other experimental projects, I like to put the pots onto the enclosure case. Otherwise I don't think it matters, happy building.