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How to build and Use a Basic Testing Rig

Started by jkokura, February 14, 2011, 05:06:08 AM

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Om_Audio

Thanks man!
C

Quote from: jeffaroo on January 15, 2013, 08:48:58 AM
that ^^^ is awesome ! a true pedal builders build. love the look.
even with custom cap calculating on the workbench !
Sent via soup cans and string.

Stomptown

Quote from: jimilee on February 07, 2013, 04:37:02 AM
Nice,I sed the alligator clips and for an audio probe,I just grab typically a small screwdriver and clip it to the audio out.dual purpose and it works well.is that a volume pot? I'd love a way add the pots without soldering them until I'm ready to box it.

Good Idea! And yes that's a volume pot. I just made the wires extra long so I can remove it later and cut down to the length I need for the enclosure. I would love to have a bank of pots that I could wire up to terminal strips so I could avoid soldering the pot on for testing. Maybe a test rig in a larger enclosure with lots of pots, an led and true bypass wiring!

AllenM

Following Jacob's guide I went and built a testing rig. Man this thing is handy! Added a toggle for the probe / output gator clip.





And of course my quality control supervisor had to sign off on the build...


AllenM

jkokura

That looks awesome Allen. Curious what you got those black hole things for the clips...

Jacob
JMK Pedals - Custom Pedal Creations
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AllenM

I found those at a local mom and pop electronics shop and use them to plug "extra" holes in enclosures. I did a quick google search "plastic hole plug" and found this

http://www.mouser.com/catalog/catalogusd/645/2667.pdf

The type B look to be similar. I also have some that are metal for larger holes.

For the above project I drilled a hole in the plug big enough to run the wire thru.

AllenM

das234

Ok.  I'm onto this project.  I drew up my own (crummy) little diagram for this so I can build it.  Am I correct that the enclosure provides the ground connection from one jack to the other so I need a conductive enclosure to make that happen?  I have an old cigar box laying around I was going to use but I don't think that will work.  Or can I just add a wire somewhere to fill in the missing link?

Haberdasher

yes, you're right- the metal enclosure automatically grounds the other jack.
my test box is pvc or some other plastic.  I just ran a wire from the grounded sleeve to the other jack's sleeve and that worked fine.
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das234


Outtagetme

Hi everyone, this is a very interesting post!!!
I'm planning to build my own testing rig, along with an audio probe, and I was wondering if I could use a RCA plug as a probe, since I don't have any spare multimeter tip. I have an old RCA connector, with a 3-pin end on one side (red, black and yellow) and 1-pin on the other end. Maybe I could use one of those wires (along with the connector) for my audio probe, what do you think?

Ciao,
M.

das234

It seems to me those plugs would be awfully difficult to probe a PCB accurately.  You'd probably have better luck making a probe from a piece of solid core wire thick enough to hold its shape but thin enough to get into the tight spots, maybe 20g-24g.   

das234

I thought I'd share my test rig that I built using an old cigar box and a lot of helpful tips from this thread.  You may notice I have not installed a test probe.  I haven't needed one yet (knock on wood) but I'll solder one in if the time comes that I need to troubleshoot something with it.


jimilee

Those pictures are tiny, got a better one?
Pedal building is like the opposite of sex.  All the fun stuff happens before you get in the box.

gingataff


das234

Quote from: jimilee on May 20, 2013, 02:44:54 AM
Those pictures are tiny, got a better one?
That's weird.  I took the picture on my phone and uploaded it just like I did with the pfannkuchen pictures and those were fine.  I'll see what I can do to fix it.

das234

This is better. You can see it's got plenty of room to tuck away the leads inside the box for storage.  And the enclosure cost me zero dollars.  That's a good price.