Flintlock Flanger not Sweeping

[matopotato]

Some months back I completed building Flintlock Flanger by Lectric-FX. (https://lectric-fx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Flintlock-V.1.3.pdf)
Just recently I got time to finish the "artwork" and box it, and then it does not sweep anymore.
It seems as if the other controls are doing what they should, but since the sweep is static/stuck I can not 100% sure.
I probed it and I get signal until the "north" side of IC10 (MN3007) pins 1,3,4,7,8. But nothing leaving it on pins 2,6.
IC9 is also silent. There is some kind of faint and awkward noise different from silence, but it was definitely nothing close to the signal.
Si I am suspecting IC9 or IC10 to be broken, more likely IC10. But since it is not so cheap to replace, I wanted to ask if there are some tests etc I could do to rule out other faults/faulty parts. For what it is worth, it was working properly at one point in time, so even if my solder points could be flawed by now, there was a point when they were good enough at least.
The calibration is as I left it and checks out according to specs.
I am happy for any help I can get before ordering replacement part(s).

I took some readings on the ICs and I try to write it as per:
pin1     pin8
pin2     pin7
pin3     pin6
pin4     pin5
Although some 8-legged are straight.

IC1 (4558L)
7,20
7,20
6,356
0
8,32
8,38
8,38
14,33

IC2 (4558L)
4,83
4,83
4,83
0
7,19
7,26
7,17
14,71

IC3 (4558L)
6,36-7,68 (sweeps)
7,16
7,15
0
7,19
7,26
7,17
14,71

IC4  (LM1458)
6,39-7,19      14,9
8,12              1,97
7,42-7,88      6,97
0                  6,96

IC5 (CD4007)
1,35    15,10
1,34    15,10
0         0,15
0,65    8,07
0,65    6,41
0        0,02
0        0,96

IC6 (CD4047)
14,92     15,10
0,15       14,96
8,07       0
15,10     7,56
15,10     7,53
15,10     0
0            0

IC7 (7815L)
D: 7,19
S: 7,20
G: 4,24

IC8 (4558L)
7,45
3,97
3,96
0
5,96
5,97
6,41
14,72

IC9 (CD4049)
15,10      0
7,52       7,52
7,53       7,53
7,54       0
7,53       7,52
7,53       7,53
7,54       7,52
0            7,53

IC10 (MN3007)
14,94    6,68
7,52      6,71
8,39      7,52
1,02      0

IC11 (LT1054)
0        9,17
4,43   6,19
0        3,45
0        0

IC12 (4558L)
7,20
7,20
7,20
0
7,18
7,20
7,20
14,35

IC13 (4558L)
6,22
7,20
7,20
0
7,14
7,21
7,21
14,33

Some pictures although I suspect they might not help in the troubleshooting

[ElectricDruid]

At first glance, IC8 is the one that looks least happy.

Since that chip is providing the mixing of the sweep and the manual control to the 4007, which then drives the clock, something going wrong there might stop the clock and kill the delayed signal. It doesn't have to be the expensive BBD that's dead. It won't run without a proper clock signal.

You're probably looking for bad joints or a bit of loose solder stuck somewhere, especially if it worked earlier and now doesn't. That implies that not much is wrong, but something is a bit dodgy.

[matopotato]

At first glance, IC8 is the one that looks least happy.

Since that chip is providing the mixing of the sweep and the manual control to the 4007, which then drives the clock, something going wrong there might stop the clock and kill the delayed signal. It doesn't have to be the expensive BBD that's dead. It won't run without a proper clock signal.

You're probably looking for bad joints or a bit of loose solder stuck somewhere, especially if it worked earlier and now doesn't. That implies that not much is wrong, but something is a bit dodgy.

Thanks Tom, I'll check for signal and for continuity around that area.
Fingers crossed.

[duck_arse]

IC7 (7815L)
D: 7,19
S: 7,20
G: 4,24

something about those build docs puts my machine to sleep, so I'll not be cross-checking anything in them.

your 15V regulator won't do anything good if it doesn't have more than 15V at its input, and more importantly 0V on the ground pin. what's going on with yours? there are 78L15 and 7815L, I'm led to believe they are different pinouted.

[matopotato]

IC7 (7815L)
D: 7,19
S: 7,20
G: 4,24

something about those build docs puts my machine to sleep, so I'll not be cross-checking anything in them.

Sorry about that. Is there something I can do to make it work? We've had this problem before. The schematic is very hard to read pin numbers, but I can try enlarge and snap for you.

your 15V regulator won't do anything good if it doesn't have more than 15V at its input, and more importantly 0V on the ground pin. what's going on with yours? there are 78L15 and 7815L, I'm led to believe they are different pinouted.

I will check and come back. On another thread for Countdown phaser the regulator is as you describe it.
I wrote the number off rhe spec but will examine the component.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

As duck said. You need to have about 17.5-18VDC going to the Input leg of the 78L15 (looks like that is what you have from your pics) in order for the regulator to output ~15VDC.

Middle leg should be tied to GND.

[matopotato]

The regulator is marked
L78L15


If you look at it as a standing capital "D"
It measures
15.10
0.0
16.60
No idea how I got the other values.
I should re-measure all the rest in case anything was crossconnected before...
Trying again in context and there is definitley something glitchy going on. Too few hands to hold all wires in a "nownit sounds more innaresting", strum and turn knobs at the same time.
So thanks for the ideas. I have some tracing to do for sure.

[eh la bas ma]

I would try to unbox it and check if it works again outside the box.

I suppose you 've put something on the back of the pots, to prevent them from shorting the board ?

[matopotato]

I would try to unbox it and check if it works again outside the box.

Thanks. Yes I did.

I suppose you 've put something on the back of the pots, to prevent them from shorting the board ?

Yes.

[eh la bas ma]

From your voltage readings, it looks like you still have 15V and 7.50V at the test pads.

With your DMM, can you still read at the clock frequencie test point the sweep between 69.6Khz and 2.6 Mhz ? That should tell you if the clock is allright.

Check the Mix trim : before a certain point ( i'd say in the first quarter of rotation), the modulation won't work. Around the middle of rotation should be fine.

I'm not sure but maybe the Bias trimmer can cut the modulation too.

Did you try to restart the whole calibration process ?

Did you try to take off IC11 and power the circuit with an 18V power supply ?

Did you carefully check your Q1 transistor pinouts ?

Is that flux residue on your board ? Not sure if it's the light but it does look like a lot of it... Maybe a good cleaning with some isopropyl alcohol solution will fix the issue, if these residue can somehow create a short ?

If i'm not mistaking, these flux residues can oxydate with time, and cause all sorts of trouble.

("Always use latex gloves and goggles when working with isopropyl alcohol. Make sure the working area is well ventilated")

Edit : probably nothing, but on your first picture, there are some suspicious things near the Speed pads on the component's side. A piece of plastic and some remains of solder, that could possibly create a short with a pcb trace ?
I also spotted some solder residue under R6 (near C-S-T expression pads).

[duck_arse]

something about those build docs puts my machine to sleep, so I'll not be cross-checking anything in them.

Sorry about that. Is there something I can do to make it work? We've had this problem before. The schematic is very hard to read pin numbers, but I can try enlarge and snap for you.

do the docs "work" properly on your machine? I just tried to open it in openoffice - the machine just sits there and looks at me. 10 minutes I won't be getting back. if you can extract the circuit diagram into a single page .pdf, that would be good. maybe opening the orig docs and then exporting them to a different file would fixxe them, idk.


can you remeasure and post IC's 2, 4 and 8, please?

[matopotato]

something about those build docs puts my machine to sleep, so I'll not be cross-checking anything in them.

Sorry about that. Is there something I can do to make it work? We've had this problem before. The schematic is very hard to read pin numbers, but I can try enlarge and snap for you.

do the docs "work" properly on your machine? I just tried to open it in openoffice - the machine just sits there and looks at me. 10 minutes I won't be getting back. if you can extract the circuit diagram into a single page .pdf, that would be good. maybe opening the orig docs and then exporting them to a different file would fixxe them, idk.

See if this works https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h-MUHV5AbzBCSOSD9hC4_BePrmpZCuWr/view?usp=share_link

can you remeasure and post IC's 2, 4 and 8, please?

Will do once I get home tonight.

[duck_arse]

excellent fellow. yes, works ggoodd.

[matopotato]

Great, will that in the future. Still quite small print though especially pin numbering.

[matopotato]

can you remeasure and post IC's 2, 4 and 8, please?

9,17 from the wall wart
the 15V tp measures 14,65
And the  ~7,5 TP measures 6,97

The IC7 is now
14,66
0
16,17

IC2 (4558L)
4,69
4,69
4,68
0
6,96
6,98
6,98
13,93

IC4  (LM1458)
5,1 - 7,7     14,48
8,10            1,99
4,19            6,89
0                 6,88

IC8 (4558L)
9,14
3,83
3,85
0
5,79
5,81
5,21
14,28

They seem to quite similar to first read, adjusting for slightly lower TP readings.
And since IC7 is behaving better now (or I just did something really wrong...) I thought they'd be different.

I re-soldered a wire that might have been suspect glitching

[matopotato]

From your voltage readings, it looks like you still have 15V and 7.50V at the test pads.

Many thanks for all your suggestions!
Yes, first time I measured they were very close to 15 and 7.5. This second time they had dropped a little bit-

With your DMM, can you still read at the clock frequencie test point the sweep between 69.6Khz and 2.6 Mhz ? That should tell you if the clock is allright.

Yes, surprisingly they stayed the same during the waiting. I still wiggled a little and reset to the proper values.

Check the Mix trim : before a certain point ( i'd say in the first quarter of rotation), the modulation won't work. Around the middle of rotation should be fine.

I'm not sure but maybe the Bias trimmer can cut the modulation too.

OK, I had Mix a bit low perhaps, but cannot remember touching it between working state and now.
Tried turning both around a bit, but no sweeping

Did you try to restart the whole calibration process ?

Sort of, see above

Did you try to take off IC11 and power the circuit with an 18V power supply ?

No, and I am not sure that would have an effect that would explain why it used to work with IC11 in. If it had never worked, that might make more sense to try.
I'll keep it in the list of things to try later on.

Did you carefully check your Q1 transistor pinouts ?

Yes, and this is a bit odd. The build did work once as it should. I haven't changed the Q1 in any way. The PBC silkscreen matches the pinouts I found.
But using my component tester it had D and S reversed. I can try and flip the legs, but would need to understand if there is any negative risk with this.
And it would also make less sense if that suddenly made it work again. As if the legs had crossed over by themselves getting bored waiting for the boxing day...

Is that flux residue on your board ? Not sure if it's the light but it does look like a lot of it... Maybe a good cleaning with some isopropyl alcohol solution will fix the issue, if these residue can somehow create a short ?

Yup, that is flux. I tried to wash some off, but it is not my best discipline, so there is some cotton and what not in the mix now. Any tips on how to clean it well?
Pics below

If i'm not mistaking, these flux residues can oxydate with time, and cause all sorts of trouble.

("Always use latex gloves and goggles when working with isopropyl alcohol. Make sure the working area is well ventilated")

("Yes, of course")

Edit : probably nothing, but on your first picture, there are some suspicious things near the Speed pads on the component's side. A piece of plastic and some remains of solder, that could possibly create a short with a pcb trace ?
I also spotted some solder residue under R6 (near C-S-T expression pads).

They were dustballs from the wait, and some kind of dirt, like some kind of fat or something. Gone now.

[matopotato]

I tested swapping out the LM1458 for an MC1458, not change that make things any better although the sound changed a little bit.
I realized the Countdown phaser also have CD4007 and CD4047. Easier to swap and test than buying an MN3007 on a hunch.
The 4007 is fine in both, but the 4047 in Flintlock seems to be faulty in some way. If I put the other one in I get some sweeping or perhaps more like pulsations that vary with the Sweep, so that is some kind of progress.
However it kind of "thumps" or "soft ticks" at each cycle change. I tried the trimmers and pots to dial it out, but it seems to be there regardless, and if I manage to minimize it is is only with a few pots at the extremes, so wouldn't be a solution anyway.
I then tried to probe around a bit. It seems the 1458 might be sensitive to how it sits in the socket. But at some point I did get a variation on the MN3007 pins 2 and 6 as well as the CD4049.
Probing the out there is clearly a passthrough signal unaltered and a modulated vibrating one coming out. The Mix trimpot confirms this.
But I wouldn't call it flanging.

My thought right now is that I must have fried something when boxing it a while back. It is likely to be the CD4047 (IC6), but possibly something else that makes it "not flange" but sweep. I think the pots now contribute although Manual and Threshold felt less so. (Threshold carried the probe signal though).
But at least the previously non participating Enhance and Sweep are back in the game.

I could measure all them ICs and post/compare with initial readings.
Other than that I do not know what to try next.

[eh la bas ma]

There is a lot of flux residue on your board, it could be what's causing the issue... i'd try to clean it with a dish-towel, or an old T-shirt, and alcohol. If this doesn't work :

I would reflow all suspicious solder joints, if it looks a bit bubble-shaped I would reflow illico presto.

Clean all the tiny spaces batween pads with the iron. Then clean the board with a dry toothbrush.

You can perform some continuity tests on the dirtiest aeras to make sure there are no shorts. I am concerned about the pcb traces covered with flux residue...

Remember to take off all socketed parts before heating the pcb with the iron.

If it's still doesn't work, I'd suggest to post the voltage readings.

Edit : Did you try without the expression jack ?

[matopotato]

There is a lot of flux residue on your board, it could be what's causing the issue... i'd try to clean it with a dish-towel, or an old T-shirt, and alcohol. If this doesn't work :

I would reflow all suspicious solder joints, if it looks a bit bubble-shaped I would reflow illico presto.

Clean all the tiny spaces batween pads with the iron. Then clean the board with a dry toothbrush.

You can perform some continuity tests on the dirtiest aeras to make sure there are no shorts. I am concerned about the pcb traces covered with flux residue...

Remember to take off all socketed parts before heating the pcb with the iron.

If it's still doesn't work, I'd suggest to post the voltage readings.

Thanks, I guess cleaning it up will not hurt. But I would be surprised if it once worked, then stopped working and this was due to flux. Anyway, I should clean it regardless.
Also the CD4047 (IC6) was broken. I moved the suspect into the Countdown, and the Countdown failed as well, so the 4047 is part of the problem (and solution)
But I fear there are more things that seem shaky.

Yes, I keep trying without the expression pedal in the jack, but you mean I should short it?
I think I did that while setting the Hz, and they are still OK last time I checked.

Readings below

[eh la bas ma]

so it doesn't work even with the countdown's chip ?

I was thinking about an issue with the expression's jack wiring. I'd unsolder it to make sure, until everything else is fine.

Edit : make sure you have 15V at test point before trying any other 4047 IC, max voltage is 15V on this chip :

https://pdf1.alldatasheet.fr/datasheet-pdf/view/80423/NSC/CD4047.html