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PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 8:51 am 
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Before I started the build, I read the tips and tried to follow everything to the best of my ability.

The bypass works fine.
The light does not light up.
No sound with the foot switch engaged.
If I mash around on the board, I get some faint static from the area around the 20p/105/472 grouping.

I realized that I messed up the JFET mod: I failed to exchange the two 10Ks for the 27K and 3M9. I got the 10Ks off and soldered in the 27K and 3M9. They look rougher now than they did before.

I reflowed all the solder all over the board.

Same result: no LED light, no sound when on (slight static if I mash on the 29p/105/472 group).

Any thoughts? This is my first time building a pedal or doing anything this complex. Please be gentle with your criticism and thanks in advance for your help!
Attachment:
Green Pony component side.jpg
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Attachment:
Green Pony switch side.jpg
Green Pony switch side.jpg [ 773.97 KiB | Viewed 934 times ]


Thanks again,

James


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 11:35 am 
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Can you provide a pic that shows your input jack wiring? Are you doing your trouble shooting without the DC power adapter jack installed? Do you have a multimeter and know how to take voltage readings?

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 12:29 pm 
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Your build appears to have multiple resistor placement errors. First, it looks to me like you consistently switched the positions of the 1K (brown-black-black-BROWN-brown) and 10K (brown-black-black-RED-brown) resistors, of which there are four each. Additionally, you've got the three "FET mod" resistors misplaced; the most serious of these placement errors is the 3.9 Mohm resistor where the 27 Kohm resistor should be. This will drastically mis-bias the input JFET as well as severely reducing the input impedance of the circuit. These resistor errors need to be corrected, as well as cross-checking your other resistors against the diagram on page 7 of the GP instructions to make sure that there aren't other placement errors that I've overlooked.

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:17 pm 
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duhvoodooman wrote:
Your build appears to have multiple resistor placement errors. First, it looks to me like you consistently switched the positions of the 1K (brown-black-black-BROWN-brown) and 10K (brown-black-black-RED-brown) resistors, of which there are four each. Additionally, you've got the three "FET mod" resistors misplaced; the most serious of these placement errors is the 3.9 Mohm resistor where the 27 Kohm resistor should be. This will drastically mis-bias the input JFET as well as severely reducing the input impedance of the circuit. These resistor errors need to be corrected, as well as cross-checking your other resistors against the diagram on page 7 of the GP instructions to make sure that there aren't other placement errors that I've overlooked.


Really? Huh... Thanks!

I honestly had great difficulty distinguishing the brown and red in my lighting with my eyes. And I'm not sure how I got the 27/3.9 backwards as I looked at that about 15 times before doing it. And looking again at the instructions: 27K is Red/Purple/Black/Red/Brown and 3.9 is Orange/White/Black/Yellow/Brown.
In the instructions, 27K is in the second spot from the edge; 3.9 is in the first spot... Looking at my build. I think I have those right, as the 3.9 is the only one with a white and yellow stripe... Maybe the instructions are wrong? Maybe my eyes really are that bad?

I'll look again tomorrow under some really bright light and see if I can spot the mistakes in the others.

I do not have a multimeter, nor have any idea how to operate one.
I completely redid the foot switch after taking the pics. I'll post a clearer one tomorrow maybe.

Thanks for the help and I'll let you know how I make out.


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:24 am 
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OK, let's go through these resistor placement issues and I'll explain what I'm pretty sure that I'm seeing.

  • First, the 10K/1K resistor errors: In the marked up photo of your build below (enlarged, brightened and vertically flipped), I've circled what should be the 1K resistors (brown-black-black-BROWN-brown) in pink and the 10K's (brown-black-black-RED-brown) in yellow. Look carefully at the four 1K positions and I think you'll agree that the 4th color band is RED, not BROWN, so those are all 10K's. The two 10K positions contain resistors with brown 4th color bands, so those are 1K's. (The remaining two 10K positions are in the "FET mod" section that I've circled in orange, so those two resistors have been substituted with other values.) Which brings us to....
  • You've misplaced both the 3.9M and 27K resistors as shown in the second photo below, a close-up of the FET mod area. Additionally, you've left the 1M resistor unchanged, which is where the 3.9M should be. The third image below is the resistor placement diagram from the GP instructions. Refer to the FET mod resistor placement guidance at the bottom of the page. Per those instructions, when completed, you should have resistor values of 27K (green spot), 15K (yellow spot) and 3.9M (pink spot) from left to right. Your build shows 3.9M, 27K and 1M in those spots.

If you plan to do any more pedal building, a multimeter is a really critical tool to have, for a variety of reasons. If you're having difficulty distinguishing the resistor color bands, a quick resistance measurement with the meter would sort that out.

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GP_markup.jpg
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Attachment:
GP_FET_mod.jpg
GP_FET_mod.jpg [ 74.77 KiB | Viewed 912 times ]


Attachment:
GP_resistors.jpg
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2022 10:34 am 
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duhvoodooman wrote:
OK, let's go through these resistor placement issues and I'll explain what I'm pretty sure that I'm seeing.

  • First, the 10K/1K resistor errors: In the marked up photo of your build below (enlarged, brightened and vertically flipped), I've circled what should be the 1K resistors (brown-black-black-BROWN-brown) in pink and the 10K's (brown-black-black-RED-brown) in yellow. Look carefully at the four 1K positions and I think you'll agree that the 4th color band is RED, not BROWN, so those are all 10K's. The two 10K positions contain resistors with brown 4th color bands, so those are 1K's. (The remaining two 10K positions are in the "FET mod" section that I've circled in orange, so those two resistors have been substituted with other values.) Which brings us to....
  • You've misplaced both the 3.9M and 27K resistors as shown in the second photo below, a close-up of the FET mod area. Additionally, you've left the 1M resistor unchanged, which is where the 3.9M should be. The third image below is the resistor placement diagram from the GP instructions. Refer to the FET mod resistor placement guidance at the bottom of the page. Per those instructions, when completed, you should have resistor values of 27K (green spot), 15K (yellow spot) and 3.9M (pink spot) from left to right. Your build shows 3.9M, 27K and 1M in those spots.

If you plan to do any more pedal building, a multimeter is a really critical tool to have, for a variety of reasons. If you're having difficulty distinguishing the resistor color bands, a quick resistance measurement with the meter would sort that out.


Thanks again for your help and for your patience with me!

After this total disaster, I should probably never again attempt anything like this. I still might one day, and if I do, a Multimeter will be the first purchase.

As for this one, given that I broke the two resistors I took out when I (didn't) fix the FET errors the first time, I have my doubts about ever fixing this one. Oh well. I'll chalk it up as a good experience. Given that the build itself took me about 14 hours, the various (not) fixes took another 4 or 5, and I got a good story to share with coworkers, plus introduce myself as a total noob and not-at-all-handyman to this pleasant community, it was well worth the $80 or so the kit cost, even if I didn't get a usable product out of it.

Thanks again and best wishes!


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2022 11:01 am 
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I smell a faint whiff of giving up here, but be encouraged: you can get this working! Even if you have to pick up a few replacement resistors, they are about ten cents apiece. (Lots of us have a store of these parts and would be glad to mail you a few if that helps.)

You'll be so happy when this gets working. You are in excellent hands with our best moderator helping you. Please stick with it.

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2022 11:43 am 
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sjaustin wrote:
I smell a faint whiff of giving up here, but be encouraged: you can get this working! Even if you have to pick up a few replacement resistors, they are about ten cents apiece. (Lots of us have a store of these parts and would be glad to mail you a few if that helps.)

You'll be so happy when this gets working. You are in excellent hands with our best moderator helping you. Please stick with it.


Thanks for the encouragement! I read this and immediately heated up the soldering iron. I got the JFET bits off without breaking anything and think I have the resistors to set that bit right.

I'm easily discouraged, but almost never give up completely.... I just have a bad habit of whining a bit. Apologies, all!


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2022 12:33 pm 
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A couple of suggestions for you to make the repairs go more smoothly:

  1. Two key tools for desoldering components and cleaning up the PCB before installing the new ones:

    https://www.amazon.com/WEmake-WM-SP4-So ... 0002KRAAG/

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008O9VLA2/

    Use the sucker for initial solder removal and the braid for final clean-up or to get into spots where the tip of the sucker won't fit.
  2. NEVER FORCE COMPONENTS OUT! That's how you damage the eyelets and break PCB traces, leading to even more repairs. The components should come out easily when properly desoldered. With two-lead components like resistors and capacitors, it's pretty straightforward, but this becomes critically important when you have to remove components with three or more leads. But it doesn't look like that should be an issue here.
  3. Patience and taking your time are key!

Keep us posted on your progress and don't be shy about asking questions!

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My Website * My Musical Gear * My DIY Pedals: Pg.1 - Pg.2


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2022 12:36 pm 
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One more thing--when you get ready to reconnect the DC jack, don't make THIS COMMON WIRING ERROR.

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2022 1:01 pm 
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Yep... already messed that up, but in a different way. Language in the manual confused me and I wired it as positive center rather than negative center. I got the battery wire right, but swapped positive and negative. I wasn't used to reading ring/sleeve in the context of power and just sorta spaced out when I was first soldering it together. I won't make that mistake again.


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:40 am 
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Just an update...

I redid all the 1K resistors (had to order some more because I broke a few taking them out). Once done, I tried power again and the light flashed twice, then nothing. It's not not even passing signal...

I'm going to get a solder sucker, take it mostly apart, and redo everything when I get some time. Still feeling quite discouraged, but will persevere.

Thanks again, all!


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PostPosted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:00 am 
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jamesixgun wrote:
Just an update...

I redid all the 1K resistors (had to order some more because I broke a few taking them out). Once done, I tried power again and the light flashed twice, then nothing. It's not not even passing signal...

I'm going to get a solder sucker, take it mostly apart, and redo everything when I get some time. Still feeling quite discouraged, but will persevere.

Thanks again, all!


I would strongly recommend you NOT randomly remove/replace parts. That's one of the worst things you can do. Most people end up lifting a solder pad or trace. I understand the trouble shooting process is slow and frustrating, but I would recommend abandoning this thread and starting a new one. New pics. New description of the what it's doing/not doing. New voltage readings.

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Please do not PM me. email is prefered. keith@buildyourownclone.com


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