New DIY platform for pedals, feedback needed!

[Teemi]

alltrax74 wrote

Teemi,
What is your target price for the board ?

If people are willing to pre-order these boards so that I can get at least 50 pcs paid before having them fabricated, the price will be less than $3. If I have to take full risk myself, the price will be higher.

[Teemi]

Stoogie wrote

Hey Folks

I know you guys dont often worry about these things but ...where would the battery go ?? lol ...its important to me :)

I personally refuse to use batteries, but I know others love them. It's all about trading with the space. Adding space for the 9V battery will remove at least 6 rows. It might be worth it, many people want that battery option.

Stoogie wrote

Im feeling the ease by going with a method like this ...on paper its a really good idea , i am in engineering so all i do is kinda look for flaws in things and forgive me if this is out of line

No way! This is just the kind of feedback I need to get to make this board right.

Stoogie wrote

 ...i feel that pots with the right angled long solder pins have a place in the electronics world.. but not really for something that is stomped on ?

That is more like an option, nothing stops advanced builders from using the pot pads for wires. I think Silver Blues hit the spot when he said this:

Silver Blues wrote

Not going to lie, I probably won't use them because it's just so easy for me to grab a slice of vero and a bunch of wire and build a pedal. At the same time, I am a good solderhand; I think it would be a great thing for the newbies so as to streamline the arduous task of offboard wiring and reduce the errors in this field that often lead to frustration.

[Jopn]

As skeptical as I sound, I'd be in for a few as a development platform.  It looks like a good board for building on when the extra space can be used for tweaking.

[alltrax74]

Less than $3/pce for a batch of 50, this is more than reasonnable !

[Teemi]

alltrax74 wrote

Less than $3/pce for a batch of 50, this is more than reasonnable !

I may be obligated to collect Finnish VAT (24%), so the price may be a bit higher to some Europeans. It would be less than 3 € even with VAT, which I still consider quite cheap. I'll have to check that from the tax office, but to my best knowledge, I don't have to collect the VAT from sales to outside of EU tax region, (or to a VAT registered business in EU.)

[Rolf Poti]

I like the idea, the layout you posted is probably what most people would like. I personally put the all the jacks on the small side of the enclosure. Maybe in the future there could be a few more layouts for different preference?

I think this would speed up the building process alot and i would probably buy a few even if they aren't perfect for me : )

[Neil mcNasty]

I absolutly understand why someone came up with this idea.
And I did think about something like this at a point. But I soon abandoned the whole idea when I dawned on me that eventhough it would make many aspects of pedal-building easier. It would also make it streamlined and I became that it could become too standarized and boring in the long run, being afraid that it would make all the pedals too similar.

I put a lot of thought into how I'm going to do my layout and how to make my pedals stand out on a pedal board. Sometimes I also use much bigger enclosures than needed, because the size of the stompbox also affects how we percieve the sound (it sometimes sounds even bigger if the box is a bit bigger), and sometimes I want the knobs to be really big (or small).
For me, the decision of how to do the knob layout and designing my look for the boxes is so important (and fun), that I personally probably would not buy such a product.
But then again, I know many who would!
So I say. Hell yeah. Why not?
Just make shure you do enough research for the potential demand (which you allready started doing with this post), and get the cost low enough. Then I think this could become a quite coll little business.
I'll even get some of them myself, to see if what I said above proved to be pure bull! (Which it actually is, since it's just a point of view)

Cheers!

[negativefx]

All 9mm alpha pots that I've ordered from Tayda and Mouser have right angled lugs as well as two extra support lugs.  I order from small bear specifically for the non-right-angled ones.  Also, regarding the i/o jack pads...  why not design them so they can be easily snapped/dremeled off if you're using non-pcb mount jacks?

[Teemi]

Hi guys, I'm sorry I've kept you waiting for such a long time.

I've made quite many alterations to the board design, and here's the latest draft. The stripboard area is notably smaller, but personally I think it's a good trade for the space for a battery.

Teemi wrote

<p>Legend:</p>
<ul>
<li>Blue is ground.</li>
<li>Red is +V.</li>
<li>White stripes show connected pads. Only the pads in single white area are connected together.</li>
<li>All yellow pads are connected to FX In of the footswitch.</li>
<li>All black pads are connected to FX Out of the footswitch.</li>
</ul>
<p>The silkscreen will obviously be all white, this color coding is just to help to see the full image.</p>

[dexxyy]

Battery space for board space doesn't seem like a good trade off to me. It seems to me that by making space for the battery you are severely restricting the size of layout that can be built on the board hence restricting the number of layouts it can be used for. Most of the vero layouts here do not leave enough space for a battery, I doubt there are many builders here include batteries in their builds even if there is room (I know I don't ). I think shrinking board space to accommodate a battery that few people will even use at a cost of the board being able to be used for bigger builds makes it less attractive to me.

[Geiri]

Battery and non-battery versions?

[IvIark]

I agree.  To me a battery connector is simply a bonus (which I'd never use) if there's plenty of room, I'd much prefer the extra board space.  I just don't really get batteries, nothing to do with green issues in the slightest but thinking about the logistics of using effects, and they're just a pain in the arse!  Expensive, especially if you've got 14 pedals or something excessive on your board, and let's face it if you're ever doing a gig and you lose the supply to your pedals, there's a good chance you lost the supply to your amp too!  Plus offboard wiring and power supply adapter considerations to save battery life.  No thank you.

I only even bought battery snaps in the past in case someone wants a pedal building and insists on one, I haven't built myself an effect with a battery snap for years.  The last time I bought was about 3 years ago when I bought 10, and I still have 7 left

[Teemi]

I do agree that the smaller size restricts the possible layouts, so I'll stick to the earlier layout for the board. I think the "pot row" restricts the layout too much, too, so I'll switch the orientation of the rows like in the latter version. If I make the drill holes large enough, you will still be able to use board mounted pots if wanted.

For the board that supports battery I have a new idea. Basically I would leave out the mounted jacks, but still have the RC/diode network for the power supply. It would basically be a 3PDT daughter board with a tiny stripboard. I can also make it super cheap, if I make it slightly smaller than the last layout I posted here. It won't be easy to build a projects that need multiple IC's on that, but it will be perfect for boosters and most distortions.

I'll doodle some layouts.

[peavey_xxl]

Teemi can you shoot me your email address? I have some ideas

[Teemi]

I sent you E-mail.

[Heath]

Why not make the bottom portion like the original "no battery" layout, but make it "snap off" for those who want to use a battery?  That would accommodate larger circuits, be agnostic with regards to battery use, AND provide a nice neat little very usable scrap board for adding a daughterboard or off-boarding something like a voltage doubler, diode array, etc.

[IvIark]

Heath wrote

Why not make the bottom portion like the original "no battery" layout, but make it "snap off" for those who want to use a battery?  That would accommodate larger circuits, be agnostic with regards to battery use, AND provide a nice neat little very usable scrap board for adding a daughterboard or off-boarding something like a voltage doubler, diode array, etc.

That's a great idea

[Teemi]

First I want to apologize for not being too active with this idea, I have been quite busy with commercial PCBs and haven't found the time to update this thread. I have by no means abandoned this project, it's just taking some time.

I agree with IvIark, that is a great idea. However, I was planning to order the PCBs from a manufaturer that has great quality and super low prices, but unfortunately very strict rules about what they allow on the PCB. I am afraid a snap off might be against their PCB design rules, and I would have to order them from somewhere else, which would raise the price estimate.

I'll send my PCB manufacturer E-mail and check if that idea is possible. It would be really cool to make that happen.

[Teemi]

Great news! I've got a reply that this is possible, but they have to see the gerber files before allowing it. I'll start working with the PCB.

[Dave]

I like this idea but my concerns would be:
1. The jacks, as summarised by Mark.
2. Drilling the enclosure. If the pots are board mounted, you are going to need a template to drill the enclosure so that everything will line up, otherwise you could easily ruin an enclosure due to the board not fitting properly. Are these templates something that you would be providing?
I think it is a nice idea and look forward to seeing how it develops.
Cheers
Dave