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Hey Guys,

Built the Deathklaw and I notice that the delay pot really only is functional on the first half of rotation.  Everything else seems to work.  About half way up the delay time gets to be pretty long and a bit distorted, which I think is probably normal, but at the half way point it starts to click and makes a crazy knocking sound.  I double checked all my values and made sure all the resistors were correct and they look right, voltages are a bit different than the BOM, but not really too far off as I think it has to do with my 9v adapter which measures at exactly 9 volts whereas the voltages in the BOM is from a 9.25 or something like that power supply.  I also switched out the ICs to make sure they were not the problem. 

Is this a function of the delay?  I would assume not.  I checked the resistance of the pot too and it seems to be working fine.  So a bit of a loss here as to what might be happening.  Everything else works, including the ghost switch.  I did use 550c transistors, but I don't see how that would affect anything other than the volume of the delay. 

What do you guys think?  Cold solder joint somewhere?  I re-flowed most of it.  I can include pictures if it helps.  Thanks in advance. 

I've been on a bit of a building bender lately.  I can't help myself!  Just finished up the Aquaboy. 

The ghost switch does not seem to work though so I removed it.  I couldn't hear any difference with the switch on or off.

I accidentally used 0.1 uf electro caps instead of 1 uf, but caught the mistake before putting on the pots.  I had a bit of an accident removing the old caps and one of the traces lifted off the board right at the hole, but I was able to correct it by soldering the lead onto the trace. 

Here are some pics of the board, with a strange assortment of knobs I just used for biasing it.  I still need to tweak T1 a bit more to dial in the self oscillation which it kinda a fun feature bringing the delay into oscillation and then messing with the delay knob to bring it into complete mayhem.  Gonna have to box this guy up.

 

I've been playing my Epi Gold Top with P90s a lot lately, I swapped the stock ones out for some Nordstrand pups and wow what a difference that made.  Have you considered adjusting the bass side poles to get get them a bit closer?  Might help a bit.

Finally got around to boxing this thing.  I ended up not using the flats switch.  The etch image is stolen from Ironfire Brewing Company's Six Killer Stout, an amazingly good beer and a great brewery.

For some reason boxing this up was causing me so many problems today.  Wires were burning, then I realized my solder iron was too hot must have bump the stupid little temp wheel on it, which I do all the time.  Then I had a bad switch, then I had the clipping switch the wrong way.  Oh well, its good experience right?  The rest of the build was really smooth, especially etching the pcb and drilling the holes.

I like this pedal a lot.  It's going on my pedal board for sure.  I like that its a smaller version of the Fulldrive and gives me exactly what I need.  I love the way single coils sound through this thing, it really lets them shine through so you can totally hear you are playing a single coil.

All in all great pedal.  Totally loving the Etcher's paradise projects. 

Finally got around to building this and it is verified.  I didn't have a right angle pcb mount 20KW, so I used a solder lug one, and I think I might just use solder lug pots on etched pcbs from now on.  I accidentally damaged the connection of lugs 2 and 3 on the drive pot so I had to make an extra connection with a jumper.  I think the nice thing about using solder lug pots on these is you have a bit more leeway to move the pots around after the fact, where with the right angle pots you can easily lift the copper right off the board. 

Sounds great I'll have to box it up soon.  Ignore the extra little wire piece near c3.  To lazy to take another picture   Thanks for the layout.

All of this sounds freaking sweet!

Thanks everyone for the complements and tips.  I got the FR4 board off Amazon, works pretty good.  I have since changed my etching technique and now I use ferric chloride, which is safer (thanks m-Kresol) and easier to control.  I also use a joint knife to make sure my transfer is flat, so I iron for a bit, use the joint knife and repeat for a while till I see the toner through the paper.  Then I let the enclosure cool on its own before soaking it in water to get the paper off.  When it dries I touch it up with a Dykem action marker.  And yeah now I move the enclosure around a whole bunch while etching and check its progress Playpunk.  The etches come out way cleaner than before.     

Built a Crazy Tubes Ziggy Overdrive from Perf and PCB Effects Layouts http://effectslayouts.blogspot.com/2016/05/crazy-tubes-ziggy-overdrive.html

If you haven't checked out the site you should totally do so, some great layouts on there and drill templates.  Thank you for a great site.

I'm super impressed with this community, so many people willing to share knowledge and experience.  Gotta throw a shout out to Madbean too for all the work he has done to educate and provide resources to people.

I etched the enclosure using some tips and tricks from this site, thanks to all those who posted all the great tips and special thanks to m-Kresol for saving my lungs and health by switching me over to ferric chloride for etching.  I have found that you can get so much more control and quality out of the etches. 

Alright enough of the love.

Had a little bit of trouble with the pcb only because there was a little bit of solder that overflowed to ground and it took me a while to figure that out.  But... this pedal sounds great!  The gain and tone controls are really usable and I can get some really cool sounds.  And, you can totally dial in that Ziggy Stardust sound if you want to, which was the inspiration for the etch.   

Wow, looks amazing. Did you etch the letters in or etch away to top of the enclosure so the letters are raised?

I've been wanting to do a multicolored enclosure like this. Inspirational! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing this technique. I really want to try this. I'm really digging the final results. I've been getting into etching lately and filling in the tech with black paint to make it pop.  I wonder if the dye could go over that? Or do you think the dye would cover the paint?

Thanks guys.  Great tips m-Kresol and thanks for the warning.  I'll look into ferric chloride, building effects is fun, but not worth risking my health! 

I filled in the red and black with acrylic paint and let it dry.  Then I wet sanded with 600 grit sand paper, very gently to bring back the definition.  The worn out look is not what I was going for, but I do like it.  I would like to get to the point where I am doing that relic look on purpose. 

Finished off my Cosmopolitan build using the layout from the Etchers Paradise.  Etching both PCB and enclosures is still new to me.  Those of you who etch, any tips on how you get the enclosures so clean?  I used a combo of hydrogen peroxide and muriatic acid.  Maybe its just too strong of a solution, it always eats through my transfer and my Dykem Action marker.  For the PCB I used sodium persulfate.  Would this work on enclosures too?  The acid is pretty fun just because it sizzles so much.

Anyway, this pedal sounds awesome, I think everything that Skreddy makes is rad.  I love that this gets really fuzzy, but also serves a really nice overdrive. 

Here it is:

Awesome work on the pedal!  Looks amazing.  I built this too and it sounds really good.  Etching is new to me but this worked out great.  In fact it was your site that got me into etching and I built a Tonebender from your layouts, and my friend who I built it for is going crazy over it.  Thanks for verifying and thanks for all the work you do on the effects layout site. 

Here is my Rabbit Hole build.  It's a Skreddy P19 clone, but tiny... hence the 1/2.  I prefer the Mid Hump, so its hardwired in.  Text is using my cheap-o Brother Label Maker, which works but sometimes is noticeable depending on the light.  Sounds pretty great.   

 

Damn... looks so good.