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DIY Stompboxes => Building your own stompbox => Topic started by: Sic on April 21, 2004, 07:26:34 PM

Title: Wow, i must be an idiot
Post by: Sic on April 21, 2004, 07:26:34 PM
I can't seem to get Joe Davison's METRONOME (http://analogalchemy.com/pedals/metronome.gif) to work, i have all good soldering joints, i had to wire up two 47k resistors in series to equal as close to 100 as i could... and i measured it and got about 97... the transistors i am using are 2n3904/2n3906 for the npn and a few different ones i got in a variety pack of pnp transistors...


it doesn't work...


what a simple circuit, and i can't get it working... how lame
Title: Wow, i must be an idiot
Post by: Sic on April 21, 2004, 10:44:44 PM
well, it turns out that a few of the transistors that were in the npn pack... are pnp...

after a while of sorting them out, i sort of got it to work... for a while i got a cool constant noise... which changed pitch when i turned the pot... then i realized i missed one connection...


after i got that sorted out, it metronomed!!  it didn't function properly with the pot... then i realized i used a 0.22uf cap instead of a 22uf cap.   i changed out the cap to a 22uf one... and now it does NOTHING!

i even started it over... i said screw it, lets put it on a new board, real transistor sockets instead of the single pin ones... got it looking quite nice... but NOTHING again.


anyone mind taking a loot at the schem and see if they see any "Here-comes-a-mistake-most-n00bs-are-going-to-make"

even someone posting, "tough, fix it" would help

i know i can do this :(
Title: Wow, i must be an idiot
Post by: Sic on April 22, 2004, 12:22:36 AM
Wooo Hooo... i fixed it! heh


so happy over something so small.
Title: Wow, i must be an idiot
Post by: Peter Snowberg on April 22, 2004, 12:36:26 AM
Congratulations! 8)

What was the problem? Don't feel bad.... we all make wiring mistakes and grab the wrong component from time to time. People who make no mistakes also build nothing. ;)

Take care,
-Peter
Title: Wow, i must be an idiot
Post by: javacody on April 22, 2004, 12:41:24 AM
Oh come one Peter! I haven't made a mistake like that in at least 3 months. Oh yeah, I haven't built a pedal in 3 months.  :) Never mind...
Title: Wow, i must be an idiot
Post by: Sic on April 22, 2004, 12:45:32 AM
after messing around looking for transistor pinouts, and testing the transistors with my DMM to MAKE SURE they were pnp and npn (cause the multi-pack i got wasn't what they were supposed to be). I got them setup correctly.

Then i realized on the second board i made, i didn't connect the base of the second transistor to anything... that didn't help.

Then i realized the 1st and 2nd lugs on the pot should be connected... (guess my second monitor (the one i had the schem on) needs to be cleaned... didn't see the dot.

after all that it would only work if i was holding the pot... so then i made a ground connection from the back of the pot to the ground.

works well now =D

What i like to do when i am having a problem and looking at the schem doesn't help... i do it backwards. I look at my board and draw a schem from that... then i compare and see where i made a mistake.

Also, when i start something i always redraw the schem by hand so i can get a feel for where things go.

thanks
-sic
Title: Wow, i must be an idiot
Post by: Transmogrifox on April 22, 2004, 12:50:23 AM
I don't have very many perf board circuits without clipped-out wires, components that aren't being used, or some other maming to an otherwise beautiful circuit...however, I did get the acoustic guitar preamp that I made for my brother to work the first time.  That was an anomaly. I had to go to the doctor to make sure I hadn't contracted some strange illness :wink:  ...just kidding