Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Ok, I'm at the end of my Green Pony build. Tried both a 9 Volt and plugging into a reliable power source. Noting. Dead as a doornail.

I seem to be missing one capacitor that I can see (lower right corner, 100K). Other than that, I'm scratching my head. Took my sweet time building this thing, tried to make sure I had everything cleanly matched 100%. I want to understand what I did as I have two other kits from BYOC I want to start on the (RAM, etc.).

Any tips or thoughts appreciated!

It's a resistor, not a capacitor, and you'll need it for the pedal to function correctly. So if it was missing from the kit, contact sales@buildyourownclone.com and they'll send you one at no cost. But IMO, that's not your biggest problem....


Candidly, the quality of your soldering is very poor. You clearly aren't getting sufficient solder flow, indicating that either your iron isn't hot enough or your solder is of poor quality. What kind of iron are you using? Is it temperature controlled and, if so, how do you have it set? What kind of solder are you using?

The poor flow is evident from the fact that almost none of the eyelets on the PCB show solder "peeking through" from the back side, which should happen if your solder flow was adequate. Also, the solder pads for the switches and pots on the component side of the PCB are not filled with melted solder, as they should be. I would strongly suggest that you work through THIS PROCESS as your first step following getting that 100K resistor in place. I would also suggest that you read through the following threads before doing that, as they will provide valuable information on good soldering technique and a variety of other tips for pedal-building:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6401

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=52211

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

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

Gotcha, I will contact them. I'll check out your soldering tips as well. As I have not soldered much, I have to work at this a bit. I have no one to show me the correct way the PCB and soldering should look (in person).

Marc

PS My soldering iron and temp...

my solder.

Your solder station and the Kester solder (same stuff I've used for years) look great, but you're running the station at too low of a temperature. Dial your set temperature up to 375 C (~700 F) and you'll get much better solder flow and far higher quality joints.


Those two links I posted contain plenty of photos showing how good quality solder joints should look. And there are numerous "how to" videos on YouTube demonstrating good PCB soldering technique.

_________________
“My favorite programming language is SOLDER” - Bob Pease (RIP)

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

That 100k resistor just sets the output impedance, so the pedal will "work" without it. But....yeah....Your soldering is, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. Don't be afraid of the heat. Anything that's sensitive to heat is going to have a socket, and the socket really can't be damaged by heat.

_________________
*patience is a virtue*

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

Thanks Matt. I love building these things (and playing even more), I'll pursue the links asap. I have a ton of pedal ideas and I know soldering is key.

marc