How long does it take you to finish a project?

[Andy]

on the average.....

[Peter Snowberg]

I still have a project from 1986 that I'm gonna finish one of these days.  :shock:

LOL!  

[rx5]

on the breadboarding side, it takes me 1 day....if no errors on diagrams... if the project fails, it may take me 2 days (debug and all)....

when project gets done, i (sometimes) add more mods to it....

only does it take long when puuting it in a box...... takes days to make from aluminum openbacks.... cant find Hammond cases here...

still researching on electronic switching on audio signals.... ICs always give audible POPs.... unlike switches...cant find Carling switches...

so , electronics no problems.... making of casign IS always my problem..

[BillyJ]

One to two days average. Then when they don't work.....Hmm....so far at least a couple months one has sat up there. Maybe even a few months....

[80k]

takes me a few days.  i usually do the board in one day, drill the box and paint it the next, and then wire up the switches and pots the day after.

of course, a couple of weeks later i'm opening it up again to increase the gain, or do assymetrical clipping, or increase the bass response, or add an LFO, or swap an IC...

[Mark Hammer]

Varies widely.  My PAiA Hyperflange board is populated and the chassis was all drilled in 1991 or so but but has never been connected to a power supply or jacks.  :oops:  :oops:  I think I may have some things from before then too, but those may be a case of losing interest more than anything else.

In other instances, I've had an idea, worked all evening and gone from idea to board to packaged pedal in an evening.  The frequency with which I hear the word "Dad!" has some bearing on this.

More typically, though, I'd say it takes about an evening to get the chassis the way you want it, painting, baking, drilling, legending and lacquering, and another LONG evening to do the board.  In some respects this can be cheating, though.  For instance, it is easy to populate a board and wire it up in an evening IF you just so happened to have etched, drilled, and tinned the board already.  The few times I've used PnP, I made a sheet with about a dozen or more patterns on it, and went on an etching binge, storing the prepared boards for later use.

There are plenty of simple projects you can build on perfboard in an evening though.

Building is one thing, and troubleshooting another though.  Sometimes it can easily take months to figure out what the hell is wrong with a pedal it took you a short weekend to put together.

[nightingale]

yeah~
i used to do the one night thing on perf. i would drill, paint, label... the whole thing in one night! now since i started making PCB's, i take my time, only working 15min or so a night. i seem to have more grace, and patience if i just do a little at a time now. usually about 4days or so, if i'm at home.
best,
~ryanS

[Rodgre]

My problem is impatience!

I even catch myself sometimes.... I will take my time at first. Etch and drill a board.... stuff it carefully. Keep everything neat and clean.... Then when I get to the home stretch, say wiring the jacks or the switch, or painting the box, I get so impatient that I sometimes rush through those steps and neatness goes out the window.

It's so frustrating to me that to finish a box the way i want to really takes days..... drilling, priming, painting, baking.

making the circuit itself usually takes me an hour or so. Doing a mounted box that I'm happy with, I'll see you at the end of the week!

Roger