Making kit pedals - what gear would you recommend?

Megii

thermionic said:

The soldering stations Maplins sell for £40-60 are decent by all accounts. Sometimes they sell the more expensive one in-store for £40, which seems to be a bargain. Also easy to get spare bits in different sizes for them.

I hope those accounts are right @thermionic, because I confess I've just come back from a trip to Maplins, and got one of these:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/60w-mains-lcd-solder-station-a55kj

- it was the same price i.e. £39.99 in store, and I also bought some spare tips for a few quid as well. Other places seem to sell the same unit with various brand names used. For guitar wiring, I've got by for years with really cheap i.e. sub £10 soldering irons, so I think this is certainly an improvement on that.

Megii

Adam_MD said:

Decent soldering iron which will easily do the job 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B005ZEM7YI/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1477836742&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=antex+xs25&dpPl=1&dpID=31pmfB7ECsL&ref=plSrch

Whatever you do don't buy a cheap electronics store solder sucker they're a complete waste of time I couldn't believe the difference when I bought a decent one.  You genuinely don't want to skimp on this I've found it way too easy to burn a trace with a cheap one because you end up excessively heating the board.  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B002MJMXD4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477836913&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=engineer+solder+sucker&dpPl=1&dpID=31FrUVEX1TL&ref=plSrch

Good side cutters also make a world of difference and don't have to cost a load of money.  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00ONEVUF8/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1477837057&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=engineer+side+cutter

Also the best tip I've ever had is to get some bluetack it's awesome for holding components onto the board while soldering.

As I say above, I've now already got the soldering iron bought, but hopefully it's at least of the same standard as the example you link to @Adam_MD .

Your other points very much taken onboard though - I think I might easily have gone for a cheapo solder sucker, so I'm grateful you've saved me making that mistake. Good side cutters will be obtained I promise, and I like the blue-tack tip, so cheers for that also.

thermionic

Yes, that's one of the two decent ones Maplin sell. £15 more than a bog-standard mains Antex is money well-spent imho.

Megii

thermionic said:

Yes, that's one of the two decent ones Maplin sell. £15 more than a bog-standard mains Antex is money well-spent imho.

That's what I thought too @thermionic - I see some soldering irons going for well over £100, and I can't really justify that for what I'm going to be doing, but I thought at least get something a bit better within what I can afford. I'm sure the Antex is OK having said that, but if I'm going to be doing a few pedals (and doubtless the odd bit of guitar wiring) in the future, this should help.

thermionic

I've built several pedals and an amp myself with one of those Antex irons, so they're not bad at all. However, I've worked in the electronics industry where we had a Weller on every bench, and using a temperature controlled iron is so much better. I will get one myself before I start my next project...

Megii

thermionic said:

I've built several pedals and an amp myself with one of those Antex irons, so they're not bad at all. However, I've worked in the electronics industry where we had a Weller on every bench, and using a temperature controlled iron is so much better. I will get one myself before I start my next project...

I'm thinking I will start a thread to document my progress as a pedal-making newby @thermionic, so I will try and put in my honest impressions of the soldering station I've just bought, once I've had the chance to use it for a while. The temperature control does make sense to me - basically it needs to be hot enough to heat the joints enough that that solder will melt easily and make a proper connection, but not any hotter I would have thought. So useful to have that control.

Sporky

I use these side cutters (though mine are branded RS):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Piergiacomi-TRE-03-NB-Electronic-Side-Cutter/dp/B00841YA44/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1477851086&sr=8-4&keywords=side+cutters

Also some very skinny pliers will be useful. I've not found any I like better than these Bahcos, but they're expensive:

https://pimdata.snaeurope.com/media/sub152/14d39124db97c73f.png

A set of jewellery tools will probably do the job - Lady BMcH has these and they'd be an excellent starter:

http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Beadsmith-Beaders-Tool-Kit-In-Aqua-Fashion-Clutch-Bag-prcode-999-K02A

Adam_MD

I bought a cheapo anti static plier set off Amazon as well which have been excellent.  I've got a temp controlled solder station on my shopping list too but have used the antex for a year now and it's been grand.  

Also to echo Danny1969's point earlier once you've built a few kits and the addiction sets in just buy pcbs and start sourcing the parts yourself in bulk it's a lot cheaper.  I find RS and Farnell are pretty good for resistors and caps when you buy 100 of each, Tayda are great for knobs, sockets, common ICs and some diodes but I'd stay away from their resistors, caps etc and hard to find parts.  

Powder coated enclosures will save you a lot of hassle with painting I find the upcharge for powder coating pays for itself in the time you save.

Sporky

Also if people want PCBs, I'll be getting the mini CNC router going again early in the new year. You'll either need to learn EAGLE or pay for some layout time, but for one-offs it'll likely still be cheaper than a commercial boardhouse for single-sided stuff, and darned close to the same precision level.

Megii

Cheers for the further advice and suggestions @Sporky and @Adam_MD - much appreciated.

It will be great if I get to a point where I can just buy PCBs and source the bits myself, and drill the enclosure and may the pedal in the format I choose. I see that there are veroboard diagrams published for some pedal circuits as well, and it would be cool to be able to use those. So, yes, I hope things will go in that way.

For my initial rat-clone build, I'm ordering a pre-drilled black powder coated enclosure, so got that one covered.

Megii

Sporky said:

Also if people want PCBs, I'll be getting the mini CNC router going again early in the new year. You'll either need to learn EAGLE or pay for some layout time, but for one-offs it'll likely still be cheaper than a commercial boardhouse for single-sided stuff, and darned close to the same precision level.

Wish I understood everything you're saying @Sporky, but it does sound like something I might want to take advantage of nevertheless.

juansolo

Old thread but a lot of the advice is still good: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/532222/

Megii

juansolo said:

Old thread but a lot of the advice is still good: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/532222/

Many thanks @juansolo

Sporky

Megii said:

Sporky said:

Also if people want PCBs, I'll be getting the mini CNC router going again early in the new year. You'll either need to learn EAGLE or pay for some layout time, but for one-offs it'll likely still be cheaper than a commercial boardhouse for single-sided stuff, and darned close to the same precision level.

Wish I understood everything you're saying @Sporky, but it does sound like something I might want to take advantage of nevertheless.

I have an economical way to make very high quality PCBs in small quantities. Downside is that you need to either do the PCB design, or pay for it to be done.

Megii

Sporky said:

Megii said:

Sporky said:

Also if people want PCBs, I'll be getting the mini CNC router going again early in the new year. You'll either need to learn EAGLE or pay for some layout time, but for one-offs it'll likely still be cheaper than a commercial boardhouse for single-sided stuff, and darned close to the same precision level.

Wish I understood everything you're saying @Sporky, but it does sound like something I might want to take advantage of nevertheless.

I have an economical way to make very high quality PCBs in small quantities. Downside is that you need to either do the PCB design, or pay for it to be done.

Ah, ok, got it - interesting, cheers!

Sporky

If someone's already made the PCBs, use theirs! You can also do fairly complex stuff on stripboard. I found (when I was doing monkeyFX) that I didn't like the look of stripboard in something I was asking people to give me money for, and I didn't like the quality of PCBs I was getting from other people, so I bought one of these - it's basically a Dremel spindle (actualy a Kavo dental spindle but the principle is similar) on a computer controlled gantry. It cuts away the copper between tracks, and it does ultra-precise drilling too.

https://static.rapidonline.com/catalogueimages/Module/M551189P01WL.jpg

Megii

Sporky said:

If someone's already made the PCBs, use theirs! You can also do fairly complex stuff on stripboard. I found (when I was doing monkeyFX) that I didn't like the look of stripboard in something I was asking people to give me money for, and I didn't like the quality of PCBs I was getting from other people, so I bought one of these - it's basically a Dremel spindle (actualy a Kavo dental spindle but the principle is similar) on a computer controlled gantry. It cuts away the copper between tracks, and it does ultra-precise drilling too.

https://static.rapidonline.com/catalogueimages/Module/M551189P01WL.jpg

Amazing - how did you even know that that was the right thing to buy I wonder. So... if in the future I get to the stage where there's a really cool circuit I'd like to use, but it's only been published in stripboard form and for whatever reason that's not quite satisfactory (space constraints?), or maybe just shown as a circuit diagram, you might be a good person to talk to?

Sporky

Yup. Not necessarily the very best person to talk to, but perhaps a useful one.

If you find yourself wanting to draw up schematics I'd recommend EAGLE - https://cadsoft.io/ - it'll go right up to industrial sizes and multi-layer PCBs, but there's also a free non-profit version that'll do a PCB big enough for almost any practical stompbox. Lots of libraries of components, error checking... and loads of schematics and layouts and such out there to use. Not somethign to worry about yet though.

english_bob

Megii said:

Cheers for the further advice and suggestions @Sporky and @Adam_MD - much appreciated.

It will be great if I get to a point where I can just buy PCBs and source the bits myself, and drill the enclosure and may the pedal in the format I choose. I see that there are veroboard diagrams published for some pedal circuits as well, and it would be cool to be able to use those. So, yes, I hope things will go in that way.

For my initial rat-clone build, I'm ordering a pre-drilled black powder coated enclosure, so got that one covered.

I've drilled the enclosures for the last few pedals I've done (from veroboard diagrams on tagboardeffects.com)- it's not too tricky, if a little risky- for one thing, you only get one shot at drilling, and if you put the holes in the wrong places you're stuck with them (and you're out a tenner if you've bought a proper Hammond box).

There are templates around for various combinations of pots, switches etc that you could use. If you're not using something like that, plan carefully and remember to take account of all the dimensions of the components - height, width and depth.

FWIW, a stepped or conical drill bit is a good investment:

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/0499299/?grossPrice=Y&cm_mmc=UK-PLA-_-google-_-PLA_UK_EN_Tools-_-Power_Tool_Accessories_And_Drill_Bits&mkwid=sy1KTqots_dc|pcrid|88057064763|pkw||pmt||prd|0499299&gclid=CPGw2O_XhNACFYefGwodkC8Bbw


I've found that I've got the best results by drilling very small pilot holes, then slightly larger ones, then using a conical bit to widen the holes to the size I wanted. Keep the drill at the slowest speed you can. If you do it like that you can do your drilling without the need to use a vice (although it would be significantly safer if you did). I generally keep the components I'm drilling for handy, so I can check when I've drilled the right size hole. Drill slowly and keep checking.

Others will give you better advice about finishing- I've never put a huge amount of effort in to it. Hammerite paint will give you decent results with minimal effort (although in a fairly limited range of colours, and not very cheap), and if your handwriting is reasonably neat you could just handwrite your labelling (I've got a Stabilo Write-4-All pen that works on bare enclosures or on Hammerite paint).

Oh, and Tagboardeffects also has a good numpty's guide to component sourcing- should help you avoid buying wildly inappropriate components.

Megii

Sporky said:

Yup. Not necessarily the very best person to talk to, but perhaps a useful one.

If you find yourself wanting to draw up schematics I'd recommend EAGLE - https://cadsoft.io/ - it'll go right up to industrial sizes and multi-layer PCBs, but there's also a free non-profit version that'll do a PCB big enough for almost any practical stompbox. Lots of libraries of components, error checking... and loads of schematics and layouts and such out there to use. Not somethign to worry about yet though.

Absolutely no need yet, but cool to find out about these things all the same, cheers @Sporky ;.