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I hear ya. Knob control temp is preferable. In addition to buttons, the 951 also has that key lock arrangement, which is weird, and frustrating sometimes if you forget which keys do what. Do like the sleep timer.

(I also use a D16 on a T12 knock-off iron).

Glad yours is still working. I think I was driven by emotion to jump right into Hakkoland. My hot air and suction desolderer are both knock-offs. Bought them from Circuit Specialists, who seem to guarantee their wares—maybe I should've bought that first T12/15 iron from them...

That's super cool     Sounds like fun.

Thanks! Yeah, I'm not TED talk material by any means, but it was fun.

Sounds like it went well. On the next one, maybe incorporate some trouble-shooting skills, which is really the most valuable thing you learn with soldering. How to fix instrument cables, broken solder joints on jacks, bad stomp switches, etc. Stuff they will definitely see a benefit to knowing.

That could be cool and useful. I'll have to get their thoughts on soldering (lead, fumes, etc.)

The FX-951 is a little more than I was hoping to spend (I don't build THAT many things needing solder in a given year), so I think I'm in the FX-888 camp.

oh wow, I didn't pay nearly that much... on top of inflation, I looked it up in my email and it seems I got it open-box, too.

The question becomes - what tip to get?

Thankfully the actual tip end shapes are the same, which is nice. My workhorse is the D12 (just a tad narrower than the D16 it comes with), but 0.4 mm isn't going to hurt. It's a good one.

For SMD work I have the BC1, which has a shallower angle of 45* vs the 60* of the CF1, which in theory means you can keep the handle a bit more vertical/closer to comfortable position.

Another question is one of FLUX - this is something I've never used, but this latest batch of goopy solder has me overthinking everything. Any tips in regard to using this?

Depending on who you ask, the answer to "how much flux do I need?" is simply "yes." I've learned a lesson of trying to rely on the flux core of a given solder, and I don't trust it. If done carefully (soldering TH components on the side of the board we don't show off in build reports ) using "enough" flux won't leave nasty, dark-amber rosin residue.

Here's a review I've found somewhat helpful, with nice SMD demonstration.

I've tried genuine Amtech stuff as well as counterfeit, and the counterfeit stuff sputters like mad—hate it. Amtech is just way too expensive, though the syringe is nice.

I've got a tub of something similar to the Weller brand he shows, but I'm going to use one with a lower concentration of rosin next time. As he mentions, it's a trade off between the consistency of the flux and trouble you go to to apply it. IME, in warmer weather paste flux is rather easy to apply with a cheap, narrow, hobby/model paintbrush.

As far as solder, I'm still getting by on an old spool of Kester 66/44  .020 for most things. Haven't had to look for a replacement yet, thankfully.


Anyhow, hope that's helpful.

IME, totally agree with Jimmy

Hakko is expensive (there are two German makes that go even higher...), but it's a worthy investment.

Several types to choose from. I chose the T-15 tip type: FX-951 as it's super easy to change hot tips, but they're much more expensive. Need to get a new workhorse tip, actually, but it's had several years good work.

I tried the KSGR or whatever clone, and it lasted less than a week, with yhe suggested action from yhe seller being "here's a repair solution"—which required a soldering iron...

Others have had better luck, but it's a gamble/wasted time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Change is the only constant, right?

Man, I can't even fathom that next move myself. Kudos to rolling with it all, Gordo.

I have a few fond memories of visiting friends in chi-town, but you're a braver man to take the urban bull by the horns.

Well I think it was a success. Small class, which was nice. Even had one guy stick around after to witness live breadboard debugging

Definitely got lots to improve (the other guitar teacher wants me to come in in the Fall...), but overall it was fun, and they mostly enjoyed it.

I wouldn't worry at all about that since you're really there to display pedal building. Have a screwdriver on hand to open your pedals up to show the inner workings. Have some schematics printed off to show what's going on. Maybe you could even bring a pcb and demonstrate soldering a few components in. That will be educational.
If they wanted guitar playing, some dude with an acoustic could just sit there and play some boring scales really fast. Anybody can see that. Show them the stuff they don't get to see.

Thanks for the insights. I completely spaced actually talking about those details of pedal building. Definitely going to go over a simple -ish circuit in schematic form and maybe I'll bring a breadboard and some parts to play with.

I have a load of empty, bad (designed) PCBs I'll give out just for kicks, since I don't have surplus picks, and they might have some already.

My neighbor heard from my bragging wife that I make guitar pedals and after months of dragging my feet (and recovering from illness and surgery), I'm finally accepting his invite to demo for his high school guitar class. tomorrow

Never mind that some of those kids likely play better than me...  I'm excited and nervous.



(Amp)--------|
|---------(git)

Degenerator; Glass Hole; Fraudhacker; Pork Barrel
Runt; Mudbunny; Sardine Tin; Bumblebee

It may but be a surprise, but this is the first time I've set up a pedal board. Borrowed the physical board from a friend, along with a few pedals that I didn't have ready (Pork Barrel, Runt, and Mudbunny). I've got a good assortment, I think. about all I can fit! I wanted to put a Moodring after the Degenerator and a cupcake at the front...

Hopefully the signal chain is what it should be. I'll welcome any feedback that may come in the next 12 hours 

I can't speak for Brian and I'm certainly no expert.

I've found it to be a balancing act between signal path and my own aesthetic preference. My first pass is usually like a rough draft of a writing assignment: it looks like $#!@, but it's something. Then you can toy with placement, where are your airwires going. Brian illustrates it best in his PCB layout guide: if your airwires cross in all manner of ways, you're gonna have a bad time.

But even when it's crap, I find that routing as much as I can in one layer is the best way to "see" where you can more optimally place things. Again, not an expert, just mucking about mostly

This was the first super-fuzz I committed to fab: more spaghetti than a cheap italian restaurant, lots of vias, scattershot part placement, and it really doesn't fit into a 1590B unless it's one and done (i.e. poorly)



After banging my head against the screen a lot, I eventually got this one. Not perfect; the traces are still a bit spaghetti, but it looked nice on the surface at least.




Brian also did a timelapse of schematic and board layout a bit ago, which is cool:

Just from peeking at the schematic I'd say C8-9 we added to add little filtering. Should be fine to just omit them in your build. Or you can add them piggy-back to R4 and R2 respectively.

Awesome, thanks for for the clarification!

Does the Blue Box use a comparator? It certainly sounds like it could be.

Oh I meant boards that come in JLCPCB's blue delivery box haha. But maybe you went with OshPark.

The first few pcbs I had were totally bogus or super noisy.

Glad it's working for you.

Looks like it's two additional caps...





If the component numbering is consistent, then it shouldn't be a problem. I'm assuming that's the case, anyway.

Nice work! Good to see your first attempt worked out of the blue box

I do not have it in all the docs he sent me.

No worries. Who knows, it might be minor, but I'm determined to not muck it up and my obsession is getting the better of me.