Figured I'd start this thread now, while I'm still getting the various bits I need together. I have some soldering experience gained over the last 8-ish years modding guitar wiring and putting together partscasters. But I've not done any work with printed circuit boards or any other electronics, so I really consider myself a fresh-faced newby to the world of pedal making. Anyhow, I'm starting this thread to document my experiences (good or bad) as I attempt to put together a RAT clone type pedal from a kit. Probably seems ridiculously straight forward to those with more experience, but at this point the idea feels a bit daunting to me. We'll see how it goes though.
So far I've bought/ordered a couple of things:
Variable temperature soldering station from Maplins:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/60w-mains-lcd-solder-station-a55kjand the kit itself, from Fuzzdog's Pedal Parts:
http://shop.pedalparts.co.uk/Rodent_distortion/p847124_7398084.aspx- I'm going for a 4 control version with the Ruez mod option, and a switch for vintage (silicon) and turbo (LED) clipping modes. I've opted for a black powder-coated enclosure, and some nice orange control knobs, which should look cool and a little different, not that this is all that important.
I did consider also buying kit for a Klon buffer unit, just to have something fairly simple to start with and gain practice on, but I do already have a decent buffer on my pedal board, and I don't really need another. I may get myself a bit of strip board, and practice my soldering technique a bit on that before starting on the kit though.
A few other bits of kit to buy, which I hope to get sorted this week, but no rush, and I'm going to take my time and try to do as good and careful a job as I can, and hopefully have a nice working pedal at the end of the process.
Comments
This isn't mine, and clearly isn't for a pedal, but the principle is the same:
I can kind of understand why people suggest starting with small kits, but there isn't really any difference between building a small kit and a big one except that the process of "find component, place component, solder component, repeat" goes on for longer, and has more potential for dry joints and misplaced components.
Go slow, double check everything and it should all go smoothly.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
It's almost always made very clear in the component markings or design (polarized capacitors are labelled, modern-ish transistors are usually flat on one side, older ones often have a little tab on the side, diodes have a stripe at one end) whether it's important to orient them correctly, and if so which end is which. Most of the kit makers design their PCBs so that it's obvious which way round components should go too. They'll often have one round solder pad and one square, "+" and "-" symbols or a little visual depiction of the component- a diode as a rectangle with a line at one end to indicate the stripe on the component, or a transistor shown with one flat side.
Again, go slow, pay attention, double check before soldering and it'll all be peachy.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
Soldering - keep the tip well tinned, but without have a glob of solder on the tip - I've inadvertently managed to drop solder and close holes because of this. Also increases the chances of bridges between adjacent points.
Also, apply heat to the solder pad and component wire, then apply solder to other side - that way you get a quick and well formed connection without too much solder.
Already have one - not a particularly posh one, and it doesn't do capacitance, but hopefully OK for what I need?
I lifted pads off my Harmonic Percolator build when attempting to desolder some components - things started to get very messy after that... This and inadvertently dropping solder and closing holes have been the most annoying mistakes recently.
I have burned a couple of holes in Mrs_bob's tablecloth though, which is arguably worse...
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.