step sequencer vero help

[daverdave]

Hey all, I made a layout for a sequencer using a 4017 ic and a tl072 opamp. I've been using it to control the pitch of a 555 oscillator. The sequencer is working and running through the steps as it should but steps 4 and 5 don't seem to work. I have the steps of the sequencer running in to an led, then a 120R resistor, and then a 1M pot. I've checked the leds are the right way round and the solder joints are all intact and everything seems to be wired as it should. I just can't see why those 2 steps aren't working and the rest are, does anyone know any reasons they might not be operating with the rest of the steps? Or if there is something I've overlooked in my layout?

Here's the layout anyhow, as I said, everything works apart from the 4th and 5th steps.

[oskar]

Well I don't get your description of how the 4017 outputs are set up with the pots and LED's.
Please draw some more!
If the current sourced from one of the outputs is to high you can probably blow one of the outputs so that the rest will still work. I melted a hole in the top of one of those chips by current alone and it actually still works.


oskar

[frequencycentral]

Are you sure that your vero is completely cut between pins 7 and 10? Check for continuity.

[daverdave]

Frequency Central you are a genius!! Yep, that looks like it's the problem, didn't cut the track properly. Boy is my face red 

Thank for the replies guys. 

[frequencycentral]

Frequency Central you are a genius!!

Well, I've been saying this for years..............

Yep, that looks like it's the problem, didn't cut the track properly.

And that, gentlemen is just one of the reasons why I hate stripboard. And that you waste so much space with cut tracks, and that it makes you work only in one plane, and that striboard layouts are huge compared to perf, and that blah blah blah, and that blah blah blah,

[oskar]

Frequency Central you are a genius!!

That was clever...     
And I suddenly feel much older than I am...   

[daverdave]

hehe, yeah. I feel older and wiser after spending all the time I did trying to figure out what was up with this thing. 

Only to find it was the simplest of things, well, live and learn I guess. Stripboard can be a pain sometimes but I really like using it for simple stuff, and it's fun doing layouts. I don't know if I'm looking in the wrong place but perfboard doesn't seem that common in the UK.