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A Song of Fire and Ice - GRRM

I was into book four and just stopped for some reason last year.  I haven't really listened to any audio books since.  An occasional podcast, though.  My favorites are Around the Horn and PTI from ESPN.

I started playing guitar in high school, and played with a couple bands on into Junior College.  Pretty much quit when I transferred to University, but always still played around with the acoustic for my wife (she sings, I play, for church specials and the such), and I ended up selling the majority of my gear, keeping only a wah pedal and my Mesa F-50 amp, which was a much-needed size downgrade from the Peavey 100W half-stack I had been playing, but also an "oops" moment because I bought it as part of a silent auction for a benefit fundraiser for someone who had a health issue.  Turns out my bid, which was the first bid on the opening day of the auction at the music store, ended up being the only bid.  It was low enough I didn't seriously think I'd win the thing.  Luckily I was able to quickly sell the half-stack to cover myself, lol!

Then last year we started going back to my wife's home church, and were asked to be on the worship team.  I got my electric back out and noticed that I really needed a delay pedal... and an overdrive.  So I bought a TS-9 and started researching delays, only to find out the prices of the ones I liked were $300+.  Ugh.  I was still looking at internet articles about the TS-9, even though I already bought it, and stumbled across all the mods, and then the clones.  More research, and I stumbled across MBP.  The cost is low to enter into this kind of hobby, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  Besides, if I can build my own pedals I can save a fortune! Haha!  Ha ha...  ha. 

So I bought some copper clad and chemicals, learned to etch boards, learned to solder better, then bought a better soldering station ($$), a crap ton of components and hardware from Mouser, SB, mKlec and BLMS ($$$), and a powdercoating gun from Harbor Freight with powders from Columbia Coatings ($$$), some drill bits off Amazon ($), and sunk in a ton of time learning about all this stuff.  I think it's just now starting to all come together, about 10 months after entering into the DIY world of guitar pedals and giving the equivalent of maybe 2 to 3 hours per week to actually doing something physical with the stuff.  I built and boxed a Green Bean, and put the TS-9 up for sale "to fund further projects."  Now I have 2 Snarkdoodles ready to box up and JMK's testing rig (just need to clear coat the boxes).

So, yeah, I wanted a delay pedal but I still really got here because I'm the proverbial "I just wanna build a tubescreamer" guy.

What i did was put together a shopping list of about 5 projects and then rounded up, that put me in a good spot.

Same here, though I think I put together the BOM's of about 10 builds I wanted to tackle, then rounded up.  Even on the lesser used parts values, I won't just order one - if it calls for one, I'll get three.  If it calls for 15, I'll get 20.  You get the point.

That works well for resistors, caps, diodes, some transistors, and sockets.  For IC's, more expensive transistors, and pots, get your total and just add one or two extra.

Okay, third time's a charm.  I got some info from HP on decreasing the fusing temperature in my printer and finally got it to work.

Appropriate Settings:
HP CP1525 color laserjet - Set paper to Color Laser Transparency

This might have been one of the first things I'd try, but the Color Laser Transparency setting specifically did *not* work on my eBay waterslide decal paper.  Different results with the Papilio of course.

In honor of my confession here today, this evening I went out in my shop and powder coated a box for my JMK testing rig.  Baby steps, lol

This has legal issues: it requires a purchase. Considering you'd have to wrangle with sweepstakes laws, it's better to just ensure that it's no purchase necessary.

I have half a dozen madbean PCBs right now, and I haven't purchased any of them. Somebody, at some point, purchased them, but it wasn't me.

On the other hand, any contest entry is going to require purchases: parts, perfboard, paint, etc. You can't build a pedal without someone having bought the parts at some point in time. Purchases are always necessary.

Frankly, I doubt the sweepstakes police are going to be all that interested in a contest here. You never know, but I kinda doubt it.

"Purchase Required" means a purchase from the contest sponsor, not just a purchase of materials from any supplier you wish.

* I like the idea of requiring an incorporation of Madbean or affiliated products, but a way to avoid the "purchase required" problem is to allow etchers to fab their own boards from the free Etcher's Paradise Emporium of Madbean Single-sided Layouts.


* take it with a grain of salt - I haven't even completed a build report yet, let alone entered a contest.  Total newb here.

You'll likely find the cheapest price on enclosures (including shipping) from Lawrence @ BLMS

I'm partial to the 125B, because I like I/O jacks in the back, not on the sides.

..i have populated more than 10 pcbs, some are working and some needs debugging...
and i have never boxed any one of them!...that's why i have not post any build reports..haha...

Kinda the same story here.  I've populated an etched Pork Barrel (not working), etched Little Angel (not working well), etched Sea Urchin (not working yet), two etched Snarkdoodles (both work great), a JMK Testing Rig (need to get it done to start debugging the chorus/delay boards) and a MB Green Bean (works great).  None but the Green Bean is boxed, and its box isn't really finished - decal problems, but I'm using it as-is right now anyway.  I like etching and populating boards, but finishing enclosures...  I have great ideas and artwork for them, I just lack the time and energy to execute them.

I'm building a testing rig, and have found that it's somewhat difficult to solder the DPDT switches to the PCB while making sure that everything is (and stays) square.  I use a lump of bluetack for everything else and generally don't have any problems, but the switches are so oddly shaped on top that it's difficult.  As of right now, my Osc/Guitar switch is a little cockeyed, as it apparently shifted to one side after I pressed it into the bluetack and before I soldered the lugs.

What methods do you use to make sure those switches stay nice and flat against the PCB after you flip it over to solder in place?

Wait are you wanting a 125BB or a 125B?

Those are the sizes I'm using primarily.  For the 125BB I just use a 1590BB template since the only real difference is enclosure height.

I can get you artwork templates for both if you need them...   I think I use juansolo's as well.  They're nice because they already include a thick black border around the edges, and placings for the 3PDT, LED and knobs so you can see what a finished pedal will look like, as well as hide the hardware from view and still be left with a drill template.

I got in some Papilio waterslide decal paper since my eBay pack seems to be pretty cheap (won't stick to the enclosures).  My first run, I used the "plain paper" setting for my printer, an HP CP1525 color laserjet, just like the instructions said, and I got two smeared streaks down the paper looking like the printer was too hot or something.

Anyone using the Papilio waterslide decal paper (or anything similar) what are your printer settings for good results?

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.  Only those are huge and very industrial compared to what I have on hand! lol!

Harbor Freight here in the States carries a cheapie one that would likely work well: http://www.harborfreight.com/finger-release-ratcheting-pvc-cutter-66971.html

A bandsaw isn't a bad idea either...  or on a smaller scale, a scroll saw would work too.

Thought of trying a ratcheting PVC cutter?  They're large and cheap, but the blades are usually super sharp and I'd bet it would cut the IC tubing before crushing it.

I worked at RadioShack in college from fall 2002 until just after Christmas 2003.  I witnessed the downfall of the company firsthand.  There was SO much less emphasis on training associates to learn electronics and parts, and more emphasis on pushing cell phones and satellite dishes.  Not that it's the sales associate's fault.. selling cell phones is basically the only way you'd get paid a decent wage unless you worked in an extremely high traffic store.