C18Q1 Learn electronics and build a pedal

jakeolly

Hi chaps 
just joined this thread. Am at the beginning of your journey . Which are the best couple of books for learning the basics please.?
 I can solder and have made guitars and amps before but i want to learn the theory for this, and do the breadboarding thing first ( i did a vero board parrot fashion and is doesnt work. Ive decided i need to start at the beginnnig ) 
sorry to butt in, but i cant think of a better place to learn about the stuff. I need to learn 
thanks 
chris 

Danny1969

jakeolly said:

Hi chaps 
just joined this thread. Am at the beginning of your journey . Which are the best couple of books for learning the basics please.?
 I can solder and have made guitars and amps before but i want to learn the theory for this, and do the breadboarding thing first ( i did a vero board parrot fashion and is doesnt work. Ive decided i need to start at the beginnnig ) 
sorry to butt in, but i cant think of a better place to learn about the stuff. I need to learn 
thanks 
chris 

The Art of Electronics is a great book for understanding the theory and operation of analog circuits using transistors and opamps ... which is all you really need to know to design things like overdrive, compressors such. 
The books section on digital gives a good grounding in the basics like gates and clocks but things have moved on a lot in digital chip design so maybe not the best book for that area

Philtre

(@jakeolly - for books, @Danny1969 and others will make better recommendations. Apart from a "Dummies" book I scoured the internet.)

Well folks, it's now April and the end of the C18Q1 challenge and I've learnt a lot from the experts here, and from various other forums and sources. And after building about 10 pedals in 3 months I've learnt a lot - the hard way. ;-)

Here are my top tips:

• Don't spray paint your enclosures. It's not worth it. Buy them already powder coated.
• If you must spray paint an enclosure don't, under any circumstances, use any Rustoleum product (paint, clear coat, lacquer). You'd be better off pouring cold sick over your enclosure. Use Halford's car spray paint - infinitely better.
  
• Buy enclosures, pots and knobs from Tayda
• Buys caps, resistors, semiconductors from CPC, RS, Rapid or Bitsbox
  
• Use good caps (CP0, MLCC, Panasonic electrolytics) and check their physical size as the may be too tall or wide to fit (yellow box caps are good)
• Invest in a good soldering iron (I bought a Hakko FX-888D)
  
• Use white paper sticky transfer paper and an inkjet printer for enclosure artwork - @Adam_MD is the expert in this
• Use Envirotex Lite on the top of the enclosure. Important - ensure you mix 50/50 accurately and mix more than you need, or mix enough to do a couple of pedals at a time. Measuring a small quantity leaves more room for measuring error and the Envirotex may never harden - as I found out the hard way...and had to start again.
• Oh, and the most useful tool that I use all the time? A big blob of blu-tack. It holds things in place when soldering.
  

And here is my final pedal for March. It's an EQD Disaster Transport Junior clone (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/earthquaker-disaster-transport-jr.html).

And thanks to everyone who offered advice. Especially @Adam_MD !

Adam_MD

Philtre said:

And here is my final pedal for March. It's an EQD Disaster Transport Junior clone (http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/earthquaker-disaster-transport-jr.html).

That looks great Phil.  What are the tayda enclosures like?  I’ve never used them any chance of a pic from below so I can see how they look inside?  

Juansolo and Cleggy are the masters of envirotex they’re guides are a must read to easily get it to look right.

aord43

That looks excellent, @Philtre well done!
I think you have definitely beaten the challenge.
Thanks for posting the list of tips too.

Philtre

@Adam_MD Colin, the Tayda enclosures seem to be made of a lesser quality alloy than a real Hammond, and maybe not exactly snug fitting between body and lid in some instances, but mostly they're good enough especially if you're covering the top with artwork and ET. For me, they're great value at $5.49 each (about £3.90).

I agree about the Juansolo and Cleggy guide (http://juansolo.co.uk/stompage/finishing.html) being useful. I differ somewhat in that I don't use the artwork as a drill template. I drill the holes first then design the artwork in Omnigraffle then do a rough print to check everything lines up then stick it on top. I also drill out the hole for the LED in the ET, as I like it to poke through. My next experiment will be to place the 3mm LED through the hole and seal it there first before pouring the ET around it.

Here's some photos of a Tayda enclosure:

Adam_MD

Thanks I’m putting in a tayda order tonight so will grab one or two and check them out.  

Philtre

Adam_MD said:

Thanks I’m putting in a tayda order tonight so will grab one or two and check them out.  

  @Adam_MD I find the white ones most useful.

Andyjr1515

Great thread @Philtre and great tips along the way 

Philtre

Started a new thread with a pedal building diary type thing:

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/128889/pedal-build-diary-blow-by-blow-account

SteveF

@Philtre I've spent a good while reading through this thread and it's been very useful and interesting. Got a whole load of bits and bobs coming for me to get stuck into, although I have gone for a couple of kits for ease to make sure it's for me.  Will stock up on components if I enjoy it (I'm sure I will!). 

Happily, you've covered a few pitfalls that I would no doubt have encountered so thanks in advance!  Hopefully you won't mind, but I'm sure I'll have some questions at some point!  

Philtre

@SteveF Good to hear. Happy to help in any way I can. I'm by no means an expert on this stuff but I've got a lot of "I wish I'd known that before I messed up" knowledge that I want to share so it might save someone some pains. Also, want to acknowledge the help from other forum members here.