I Think I Have a Problem

[eldredracing]

That looks so much better than my "use paint pens while I watch TV approach".

[motterpaul]

Like I said, I have never been the artistic type (for visual art). I can't draw a stickman. All of my pedals are a blank face - even the knobs. I am now writing the names in Sharpie on the back - only because I realized I was forgetting what they are...

Of course, a computer makes it pretty easy to do decent graphics, and I know the process for making professional-looking pedal graphics is online. I really care more about the sound than the look, but of course I want better graphics, if I can find a process that isn't more complicated than doing the circuit.

I spent much of the weekend plugging in my earlier builds and some of them sound pretty good. And now that I am better at building I am fixing intermittent problems, fine tuning tone & such. All in all, coming to this site and learning all this has been a really rewarding experience, even if 99% of my real-life friends & family have no idea what I am doing with all those little parts most of the time.

I am really grateful to Mark and Mirasol for the amount of time they put into making all of these layouts, as well as others who have contributed. I have also been inspired by John King and some of the other folks here who make it look so easy. The community here is great just to talk with and share the experience of making these pedals. Also - it was great of induction to get into the theory of schematics with us.

I don't know what is going to happen here, it seems like the blog momentum has slowed down - which is too bad. I was a latecomer, but the apparent speed with which Mirasol learned how to do this before I got here was apparently quite impressive (based on what I have read in his notes where he says he is "just learning" and then within two years is doing very complicated layouts). Maybe someone else will pick up where he and Mark left off. I do realize there are always "contributions" in the forums as well.

Anyway, making these pedals is just a very cool and fun thing to do - and something I wanted to do all my life (but damn, electronic theory is complicated). This was the ONE site that made it doable for me. I don't think I would have persisted if my only option was buying or copying PCBs - it just isn't the same challenge.

[Luke51411]

That paint pen method looks pretty awesome to me!

[Frank_NH]

"I don't know what is going to happen here, it seems like the blog momentum has slowed down - which is too bad."

There are various reason's for the "slow down" of the main site (some of which have been mentioned in other threads), but to be honest if the layouts stopped here, the collection would still be a tremendous achievement and invaluable for hobbyists for years to come.  Like you, I didn't get started in this hobby until about two years or so ago, and it's been a magical stimulus for me to learn electronics theory and applying it to something I enjoy (i.e. guitar effects).

The good news is that the layouts have NOT stopped as evidenced by the activity in the Request and Contributions sections.  I think it would be great to expose the verified layouts there on the main site.  If you did one per week, you would have enough layouts for the rest of the year at least!

We should also think about creating a master "bill of materials" spreadsheet or similar database for all of the projects.  The data from that effort would be quite valuable.

Maybe this topic is deserving of its own thread...  

[Luke51411]

I've seen it spoken of before. If you look back at the history of the layouts on the main site, you can see a clear ebb and flow of layouts coming through. Sometimes they are high volume and other times few and far between, life happens and this stuff gets put on the backburner. There is such a great archive of layouts on this site anyway. I know there are countless more that could be done but how many are either really complex or variations on something that is already available? I mean we probably could use a few more Big Muff variants though

[Ed Nice]

I'm a bit of a latecomer too but in some ways, it's better because there is already so much stuff to keep me busy!

I read somewhere that there is nothing new in analog effects pedals in the last 30 years, other than interpretation or variations on a theme. I don't know how true this is, but nobody has invented anything specifically at the component level that would spur a revolution and I guess almost everything that is everyday useable is just a variation of a few standard themes or just so whacky, it is a one off freak show of limited real world value.

I guess this is reflected in the speed at which layouts have appeared on here and other sites. The community probably had a lot of catching up to do in the last four or five years, because there were about 50 years of product to reverse engineer?

I would imagine the slow down is as much from the lack of new product in the market and the backlog being put to layouts at a pretty impressive rate rather than the contributions of IVIark & Mirosol et al? There is also the ouside chance they have real lives too :)

Anyway motterpaul, on to finishing. My next mini-module. :)

I've bought some acrylic rattle can paint. I've got primer, colour and clear laquer. I've also got some wet transfer paper and started to look at some designs. I'm also keeping an eye out for a cheapo toaster oven (thanks Bogey!) to speed up the process.

Without going into too many details (there are a load of you tubes about) it's sand, prime 3 or 4 times,  3 or four colour coats, apply wet transfers, clear coat 3 or 4 times. Fin. It's time consuming and a bit messy rather than being particularly difficult but like most things, it will probably need a few goes before you get it right. Until then, I'm going to rely on beginners luck which I'm sure will help me out. :)

Here's my first transfer layout:



It's pretty simple. The graphic is my now departed dog, Tara. (I got into this because I needed to do something to take my mind off her being ill earlier this year so I think it's a fitting tribute if she features on suff I build. I know, I'm 19 stome of solid soppiness :p)

Plan is for my first painting this week so I'll let you know how I get on!

[Frank_NH]

"I read somewhere that there is nothing new in analog effects pedals in the last 30 years, other than interpretation or variations on a theme. "

...which is why NOBODY builds outdated, inefficient, old tech TUBE AMPS anymore...

I mentioned in a previous post that the sound sculpting you can do to your guitar signal with analog effects is really infinite, so there is still some mileage left in old tech.  And even if we do borrow from tried and true designs, there still is nothing like building your own and having them work as well as expensive boutique effects.

[motterpaul]

There is a guy on YouTube named Scott Grove who is a well-known ass-hat (other people use the real word) who will tell you the guitar companies don't want you to know that nothing has changed in guitar technology since the 60s. Well, he is an asshat but there is a grain of truth, but then again, music and even electronics are mostly physics - and nothing has changed in violins or French horns for several centuries - so...

There is a good thread over on FSB (I think, maybe DYI) about "what have you learned since you started doing pedals?" - and some guys with 20 years say "I have found that every overdrive I build sounds basically the same." And I think that is largely true for the untrained ear, but of course to us there are worlds of differences.

BUT - I listened to eight different overdrives yesterday and only one or two stood out as being really different. I also listened to a fuzz shootout on YouTube and I swear there was almost no difference at all with 90% of the pedals - but a couple sounded really different and I think better.

I think it is that 10% of difference most of us are chasing here.

[Frank_NH]

Yeah, it's the same in the guitar building world, except the materials you use are much more variable in properties.  At least for acoustic guitars, you can follow a precise formula for construction and end up with a cannon or a dud purely because of the woods you use.  Hence the thrill of the hunt for the perfect guitar continues.  So it is, I suspect, with the pedal building world except the components are much more uniform  (germanium and mojo components excepted) and the construction methods and circuit recipes easier to follow.

[Beaker]

Ed, this is the way I do it too, and I have a couple of tips for you:

#1. Abrade the enclosure with rough (60 or 80 grit) emery paper before painting, then thoroughly wash, then thoroughly degrease it with acetone. Don't touch the enclosure with your fingers after degreasing, and use etch primer as soon as possible to prevent the aluminium from oxidising.

#2. For best results, the first coat needs to be etch primer, just a very light dusting. It contains an acid that eats into the surface of the aluminium, and helps the "nomal" primer adhere. If you don't use etch primer, it is really easy to chip your paintwork right down to the aluminium. One can will last ages, as you only need a light "spatter" coat. Then after 15 minutes, use normal primer.

#3. Get yourself a rotating cake icing turntable - about five or six quid on ebay.

Cover the top with tinfoil to protect it from paint buildup. I use a blob of blu tack to stick a spare paint spray can cap, to the inside of the pedal enclosure, then place the cap with the enclosure sitting on top, in the middle of the cake stand. This keeps the bottom edges of the enclosure from touching the tin foil and sticking to it when painted.

The turntable makes it really easy to spray the sides of the enclosure!

#4. Whether you paint your enclosure before drilling, or drill before painting is up to you. Personally, I drill mine mine first, as I'm sure that I would damage my paint work while drilling.

BTW, that's a great design!

[Ed Nice]

Thanks Beaker. I'm fairly familiar with painting bikes and cars but it has been a while :)

The cake icing turntable is a great idea. Thanks for that. I've drilled first too. I know some people drill after but I'm such a klutz, I figure getting the heavy lifting out of the way first is best.

I've got the primer on now, so it can dry overnight. I didn't think about etch primer so I'll grab some for next time. D'oh...

:)

[dbat69]

THanks Beaker
I hadn't thought about etching primer - such a simple idea but so effective
And the cake spinner - perfik

[Beaker]

Don't worry about it if you have already primed it, as you say - next time.

Also a tip for your waterslide decal, if you use a inkjet printer - after printing the decal, cut it to size, leave to dry for half an hour, then shoot two thin coats of lacquer over the surface of the decal, and leave it dry overnight.

The first time I used a waterslide decal, I did not lacquer it. As soon as I dipped it in the water, all the ink floated off. Doh!

[Ed Nice]

Thanks again Beaker. I'm expecting a few feck ups for the first few goes, so this will certainly help cut down the failure rate. :)

Top tip again with the laquer! I've got a few things ready to box now, so I really do need to get this finishing malarkey figured out.

[Silver Blues]

motterpaul wrote

Like I said, I have never been the artistic type (for visual art). I can't draw a stickman. All of my pedals are a blank face - even the knobs. I am now writing the names in Sharpie on the back - only because I realized I was forgetting what they are...

Any pedal I build for myself is blank-face, just because I like the look. I try and make mine distinct from each other in some way so I don't get confused, and try to arrange controls on similar circuits in the same way every time (i.e. gain always goes here, tone always there).

[rocket88]

same here. mostly i know what each pedal is by color and knob color. i also have a similar skeme that i follow, ie output is on the right, gain left, etc.

but now that i'm doing the etches it's getting easier to tell them all apart. lol

btw, i'll make that etching tutorial either by or on saturday. got to catch up on work, since i just got back home today.

side note, i really love those done with the paint pen. if i had any sort of patients i would totally take the time to do that.

also, let not talk about things slowing down here. nothing is slowing down, sometimes people don't have as much time to work on layouts. stay positive, we're all right here where we've always been. we brothers of the soldering iron got to stick together.

[Chris60601]

Excuses, excuses 😈
Looking forward to your write up.
And don't forget the new coversheet for that report. You did get the memo, right?!?!

[Chris60601]

Beaker wrote

#2. For best results, the first coat needs to be etch primer, just a very light dusting. It contains an acid that eats into the surface of the aluminium, and helps the "nomal" primer adhere. If you don't use etch primer, it is really easy to chip your paintwork right down to the aluminium. One can will last ages, as you only need a light "spatter" coat. Then after 15 minutes, use normal primer.

I never thought to use etch as you mentioned above. I always used it as THE primer. Never had an issue with it but, that could explain some of the "bubbling's" I see from time to time when I bake it.

I'll have to try it your way.

Thanks for the tip, Beaker!!

[motterpaul]

I just happened to notice a guy in the regular blog today under the Calatinbread Sabra mentioning how quiet it is - so I directed him to the forums. I agree this is where the action is and there really are a lot of good contributions in here.

[motterpaul]

By the way - mentioning problems - I just bought 150 AC125 Ge transistors from Bulgaria - and I don't even know if I want to build fuzz tones. But the price seemed right (note to self; ambien and eBay at 2:00 a.m., bad idea)