I was really intimidated, but I liked the challenge as well, so I figured why not take a shot at it. This is my first SMT project, and right now I'm just bouncing off the walls cause it worked, the first time I fired it up. It is a damn versatile pedal too.
I took my time and tried to be methodical. No where near as clean as the masters work, but I'm still satisfied.
First I did the resistors, they were the smallest components, so I figured if I could do these, the rest would work out.
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/bitracer/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/3FC851C9_zps944fc5f3.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/bitracer/media/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/3FC851C9_zps944fc5f3.jpg.html)
Then the capacitors
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/bitracer/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/9D7FAD0C_zps434a5515.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/bitracer/media/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/9D7FAD0C_zps434a5515.jpg.html)
and the rest, here is a pic to give you some scale.
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/bitracer/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/CD80B0E9_zpsc67fbf90.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/bitracer/media/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/CD80B0E9_zpsc67fbf90.jpg.html)
I made some little pot mounts from strip board, like in Brians build doc, very handy.
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/bitracer/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/60CBFAA2_zps3b479f41.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/bitracer/media/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/60CBFAA2_zps3b479f41.jpg.html)
I really took my time drilling, one hole at a time, eventually I got it wired up, and put in that one last tranny.
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/bitracer/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/84B7AAB4_zps18c97678.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/bitracer/media/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/84B7AAB4_zps18c97678.jpg.html)
I have to decide on which knobs I will use on the sides, big ones or small ones? Right now I'm leaning towards the smalls.
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/bitracer/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/6A26010B_zps6e751369.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/bitracer/media/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/6A26010B_zps6e751369.jpg.html)
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/bitracer/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/DA551B16_zps3af2f161.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/bitracer/media/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/DA551B16_zps3af2f161.jpg.html)
I have to get it labeled, but it all fits nice... I have a lot of boxes in need of graphics right now.
Thanks Dave for the inspiration and the great board.
Hey, great job. SMT is a different style of build, but it isn't as bad as some people fear and it gets easier as you do it.
As far as the box goes, I prefer smaller knobs on the side (although the big knobs have a Princess Leia vibe to them).
For the side knobs, I always use the small MXR style knobs. They still stick out too far, so I do two things:
1) take a 1/4 drill bit and drill out the knob a bit. I don't go through the top if the knob, I just take out the cross-brace on top that prevents the knob from going lower. I twist the bit with my fingers. No power needed.
2) I also file down the pot shafts. I've tried cutting them down on a mill and grinding them down on a grinding wheel, but I've had better success just grabbing a metal file and working them down. It is a pain, though.
Thanks for the tip Dave. I bought two small mxr style knobs, no skirt. I thought they looked just like yours but I had the problem you are describing. I'll try the technique you described to see if I can get the smaller knobs on.
There is a surprising amount of room in the 1590A when your board is smt and you use the tiny ribbon cables. I'll bet I could fit 8 pots in there with an smt board.
Definitely have me interested in more smt stuff.
Wow,those resistors are so tiny. I had to squint to see them on the screen. I like the little knobs too. Big ones are kind of unique,but not practical on a pedal board,they'd just get in the way.
Quote from: aballen on May 03, 2013, 07:46:29 PM
Thanks for the tip Dave. I bought two small mxr style knobs, no skirt. I thought they looked just like yours but I had the problem you are describing. I'll try the technique you described to see if I can get the smaller knobs on.
There is a surprising amount of room in the 1590A when your board is smt and you use the tiny ribbon cables. I'll bet I could fit 8 pots in there with an smt board.
Definitely have me interested in more smt stuff.
Yeah, you could fit 8 knobs in there, although there is a bit less room on the left side due to the the body of the output jack.
Great work! You're a brave man. :)
That picture with the battery in it was a perfect reveal -- everything looks HUGE until that picture.
Thanks Jon, that means a lot coming from you, your one of the 1590A masters! I've never even considered 0603 sized components before... I think next time I can do even better.
Quote from: midwayfair on May 03, 2013, 08:01:16 PM
Great work! You're a brave man. :)
That picture with the battery in it was a perfect reveal -- everything looks HUGE until that picture.
Nice job!
You hero!!! It all looks so clean, like you've been doing that for ages.... Congrats dude, that is so f*^&k*n cool! Knob-wise, I prefer the big ones....
Paul
Very, very slick. Great job! :o
Does anybody know a good tutorial on smt?
There's a whole lot of good info right here on MB, but I forgot where.... :( Search, and you will find!
Paul
Quote from: DutchMF on May 04, 2013, 12:07:25 PM
There's a whole lot of good info right here on MB, but I forgot where.... :( Search, and you will find!
Paul
Thanks Paul. I'll do some more looking. I have found some tutorials but a lot of them seem to need specialized equipment. I was hoping to find a step-by-step tutorial geared more for folk like us.
I like the smaller knobs on the sides as well, the pedal kind of looked like it had some big dorky ears. I was able to cut the pot shafts off with a dremel cutting wheel. Pretty easy actually, I also bored out the knobs a little and switched to a red 3mm led, which I think looks nicer. I'm pretty happy with the "form" now, just have to figure out graphics... really tiny graphics.
(http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb321/bitracer/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/1E6A4C45_zps6f0a4a0f.jpg) (http://s1200.photobucket.com/user/bitracer/media/Pedals/SonicScrewdriver/1E6A4C45_zps6f0a4a0f.jpg.html)
That looks good to me. :-)
tiny little box of noise, that board looks great. I have try one of these someday
Cool, I've never tried SMT but I'd be really proud if that was my first attempt.
You should try it. Really the only thing I needed that was different from my ordinary builds was a fine tip for my soldering iron, flux, tweezers, and some finer gauge solder.