I did ask a very similar thing a couple of years or so IIRC, and then never did anything, so my apologies for that. But I think I'm serious now, if only because it may be my most economic route to getting the drive sounds I'm after. I particularly fancy doing the Fuzzdog Pedal Parts RAT clone kit, although I would probably start with the Klon buffer kit. And then I'd be looking at a kit for a smooth, fairly transparent overdrive - I guess any recommendations there welcome also.
But anyway - main point is, what kit in terms of soldering iron (+ type of solder) and associated bits, plus any other items (one of those "helping hands" stand things?), should I invest in? I don't want to be hampered at all by not having the right stuff, and within reason I don't mind spending a bit at this stage to get what I need to do a good job. Cheers for any advice chaps.
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First thing to note is that if you are used to wiring up guitars, the components and the enclosures for pedals are much, much smaller. Secondly, there are many, many more components in a pedal than in a guitar - and most of the components looks the same. So you need to be organised and get everything neatly laid out and documented before you start. I found the colours on some of the transistors difficult to decode, so I tested them all to work out what was what.
Do everything you can outside of the enclosure as soldering inside a small box is difficult. A helping hand is really useful, and inexpensive on ebay. Make sure your soldering iron has a sharp tip and keep it blob free, and use the thinnest solder you can get your hands on. Probably not a bad idea to practice your soldering technique joining very small wires before you attack the kit.
Good luck!
I do appreciate your advice on the kit to get though - can I ask what soldering iron you have?
The Rat kit in particular sounds excellent.
For building, I use a 40W Weller iron, non-RoHS solder and a helping hand gadget with magnifier. Beyond that it's just regular hand tools for assembly and plenty of patience
(EDIT - a solder sucker can be useful for when you inevitably realise something's in the wrong place too..!!)
But - I'm definitely going ahead with the Fuzzdog RAT kit - planning to order that today, and will be buying a few other bits in the coming days - temp. controlled iron, suitable solder, solder sucker, helping hands thingy, etc.
I do have one query which is that some caution is advised with regard to how easy it is to overheat some of the components, and I've seen people suggest "socketing" such components to avoid the risk.
a) Is that a good idea? and if so
b) where does one buy the socket thingys?
The only things that are reasonably easy to cook are transistors and chips. IIRC the Fuzzdog kits come with sockets for the chips, and honestly I've never cooked anything in all my builds, so I don't think it's a big deal. As long as you're careful and have reasonable soldering technique it's probably not something you need to worry about.
Even that's probably unnecessary.
For sockets in quantity try Rapid Electronics, RS or CPC. For only a few eBay is probably a better bet - you'll pay silly money for each, but that's still cheaper than buying 1000 when you need two.
Any further tips or thoughts welcome anyone btw - best type of solder to use, what sort of soldering iron temperature, anything really, all very welcome at this stage.
Other useful bits are a teeny tub of iron tip cleaner and a brass shavings pad - the latter is much better than a sponge for cleaning. Possibly a fibreglass pencil for cleaning PCB tracks and pads and socket solder tabs. A helping hands thingy and a small articulable vice too - this sort:
http://www.chronos.ltd.uk/acatalog/486353_l.jpg
Get a good working knowledge of resistors, caps, transistors and opamps ..... learn the pinouts of popular single and duel opamps so you don't have to constantly check the pinouts
Rather than buy pedal kits as a whole just buy the PCB and then get yourself packs of resistors and caps and opamps in tubes ... it works out much cheaper. For simple circuits like a fuzz or single opamp drive a pcb isn't really necessary, you can use veroboard and get the same results much cheaper
I may also be spending less than you would on the soldering iron I'm afraid - but I'm prepared to go up to £50-ish maybe, I wonder if there are any recommendations there?
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.