Hi all,

nearly built my neo.. just tye light shield to fit now...

I am toying with the 2 options - Kodak film canister or copper light shield with tin foil interior.

Why, in the original is the interior shiny and in the film canister version totally black - which is better.
Will it make a material difference - I want the deepest effect possible from the unit.

Ive also noticed that some builders have used other solutions - screw cap bottle tops to hide the LDRs and light - just wondered what has worked well for other people.  Can wait to finish the unit as its my first non-distortion build of 7 pedals !!!

Regards
Pete

That's four LDR's and one LED in a shield...
 For my LED/LDR's I use printing paper inside and electrical tape 'outside'...works great for me. thats for 1 led and 1 ldr per closed unit.
 I don't know whether I want to get darker in there [black interior] of more light to hit the LDR [white interior]...light rhymes with white and it does work...
 I would think the film canister or film canister with al foil would do the trick and werkin with plastic must be easier than with copper or metal.
 Main thing I think is preventing outside lumination from contacting the LDRs, and getting the LEDs luminosity to directly hit the LDRs.

thanks Pete,

I'm talking neovibe rather than easyvibe which I think youre referencing.

I'm using one filament bulb (12v 60ma ) with 4 LDRs in the neo..

The original univibe appears to have 4 ldrs laid faces upward towards the top of the enclosure , rather than directly facing the bulb like the film canister plan.

Any thoughts
Rgds
Pete

Pete,

I am working on a Neovibe myself right now. I used the metal box for the light sheild so that I could stay as close to the original. The inside has the aluminum foil so that the light will reflect onto the LDRs (that are lying flat against the PCB). With the film canister, the LDRs are point directly to the lamp, as close as possible.

I used aluminum flashing, real easy to work with.

I haven't tried the film can way, so I can't say which is better. But the metal box light shield works really well. Also, the type of lamp seems to matter to. First time around I used a 12v/50mA Radio Shack buld. I just switch it yetserday with a 12V/25ma buld. Whole lot more depth! The lamp came with 2 wires instead of the bi-pin package, so I had to remove that to get it to fit right.

in my uni, Ive got hold of a plastic cup small enough to be used.... pianted the inside with CHROME ....and BLACK outside....works fine for me....

One heck of a phaser/vibrato....

For the Box part.
 I would sau bulb alignment probably makes A difference...Mine seemed to go completely dark at a point in the LFO cycle, I figure that getting enough light would be the parameter I could change and opted for a light or reflective inner surface...I haven't heard any A/B's on the type of box or lining [sealed box+no matter IMO] other than either way works.
 Im not familiar with what the resistance requirements or performance are on this...what you said about replacing bulbs/more depth makes me think more light on the LDR in this case is a good thing.

Jason,  25ma bulbs are hard to come by.  Where did you find yours?

I got the 25mA Bulb from Radio Shack. It had two wire leads on it. So, I had to cut them off and I cut the plastic surrounding the base with an exacto, and then melted it with my soldering gun until I got down to the l thicker leads that come straight out of the glass bulb. Probably not the best way to go about it, but it works.

The Radio Shacks around here seem to be carrying less and less electronic parts. I think there were only 1 or 2 more 25mA bulbs. They do give a brighter flash than the 50mA bulbs in the Neovibe.

If you really want one let me know.

Quote from: RobBJason,  25ma bulbs are hard to come by.  Where did you find yours?

Hi Rob it's George from Sydney.

You can get 12V 0.36W T1 lamp from Farnell for AU$3.39 - this would be equivalent to 30ma.

The catalogue description is LAMP T1.1/4 BI-PIN 12V 0.36W  

This is the one I think I'll get when I get my act together enough to build one of these things

HTH ...

Thankyou both.  The Farnell bulb should do the trick when I finally get around to the neovibe project.  30mA will be close enough.

Hi everyone,
thanks for comments to my original post..

I finished the build last night and worked good first time - to anyone building this I suggest you stay patient and check everything during the build as you go to save debugging - worked for me .

Ive used a black plastic square enclosure from a %^&*tail stick box !!!! seems to work fine.  I tried 3 different bulbs - all 12v but various millies.....
Best for me so far is 12v 60ma miniature bulb ( UK builders - RS components part no. 360-7913. I havent found a smaller current rating yet to try but will seek some out.

Only bug I have is that the I cant get a slow deep effect yet - effect is deepest at high oscillator settings which is not what I'm after - I wonder if anyone can help me fine tune the osc and driver circuit to get the deep slow Trower power stuff happening !!

I think I need a LINEAR pot for the speed - the log pot is all happening in the last 10% of the dial

Any thoughts / help

( PS : Great sound - build one soon )