My Final Prototype is Complete

[LyleCaldwell]

As some of you know, I've been working on a pedal based on the preamp from the Korg SDD-3000.  The pedal will be called the Triad, and it features three stages.  They can be preamp (from unity to boost), second boost stage, and third boost stage, or preamp, series/parallel fx loop, and third boost stage.  Both the second and third stages have their own footswitches and adjustable levels, and the third boost stage has a dedicated tone control.  The second stage, when using a delay in the fx loop, offers delay trails.

The pedal takes 9vac but has a 2.1mm 9.6vdc output that can power up to 900ma worth of daisy chained 9vdc tip negative effects.

Here are some photos:


Still gotta even out the three LED levels.  The connected delay is powered by the Triad's 9.6vdc output.



The first prototype is on the right - it lacked the tone control which is needed with some amps when the Boost is cranked.



On the first prototype I ordered the wrong pushbutton switches (they come out too far) and on the second Digikey shipped the wrong pushbutton caps.



A tight fit!  Those are the 3PDT switches that Aron sells and I haven't had any problem with them at all.  Thanks, man!

[343 Salty Beans]

nice squeezin into that box 

[LyleCaldwell]

Thanks!  Those 4 big caps are 20mm high.  The first prototype had 25mm high caps, which cleared the top of the enclosure by less than 1mm.  Whew!  Fortunately I found these which have a little wiggle room.  There's about 2mm between the bottom of the pots and the jacks on the board.  That plastic dipswitch almost touches the cover when closed (that dipswitch won't be present in the production version), and the leading edge of the PCB by the jacks comes within 1mm of the cover.  That's why I put those wires over the top rather than soldering to the bottom - the wire insulation prevents the PCB from touching the cover when closed.

While I was lazy on this prototype and left the heatsinks standing at an angle, I will have the final version's regulator heatsinks layed flat on the PCB with a screw through the holes and a nut.  I'm hoping I can get screws exactly long enough to contact the bottom cover while still letting it close.  That will make the entire enclosure a massive heatsink.

[JimRayden]

Hmm, I'd advise you to fatte nup those traces. Looks like there's quite some room. It'll reduce the possibility of errors that might occur during the production. And it'll reduce the resistance of the trace, be it small as it is. Better safe than sorry.

-------------
Jimbo

[LyleCaldwell]

Jim,
Thanks.  That's about as large as I can get away with without going to a much larger board.  The board has traces front and back, going between IC Pins and component pads.  It's denser than it looks from that side.  But it's performing very very well as is.  The power supply traces are twice as thick as the audio traces, and the power and audio are both separated by ground and also have separate ground paths to a common point.  In general, I use as thick a trace as I have room for (without going to planes).  In this case, the traces shown are as big as I can functionally use.  In fact they are larger than many respected high quality effects use.

[hairyandy]

Lyle,

One thing that I've been doing lately is using the soft, fuzzy (female?) velcro to insulate components from the enclosure cover.  It works great, is easy to cut and is self-adhesive so you can stick it right on the cover.  The added plus is that it gives a little bit if it's a real tight fit.  If you can find a good bulk price somewhere I'll bet it would be fairly cost effective as well.

Just an idea that's worked for me...

Nice work as well!  I can't wait to hear some clips of the finished product.

[JimRayden]

Oops, it was "fatten up", not "fatte nup". Butterfinger.

Well yeah, I guess since it's originally a Korg, your traces are propably many times thicker than the original.
And I also wanna see the component side. I think there wasn't one in your previous thread, at least I don't think I recall one.

By the way, how's the PCB attached? I don't think I see a screw on it... what gives? That large of a PCB and mounted only on jacks?

-----------
Jimbo

[LyleCaldwell]

I'll take some shots of the component side when I open it back up - gonna try a different taper pot in two places, so that will be a good time (a few days from now).

It's held by four jacks.  It has no flex as is, and the jacks will take most of the strain from regular use.  As I test this prototype with gigs, and from sending it gigging with some pros I know, I may decide to put some non-conductive foam under the 4 large caps and between the PCB and the bottom plate.  Or I may decide to use standoffs, but I hope I won't have to.  As many pedals as I've seen that are secured only by jacks or (worse) by pots or (even worse though I've been guilty) by double sided tape, and seeing how many of them have been just fine for years and even decades, I'm not too concerned about it.  If I'm wrong, I'll change it.

But for now, it's held very securely.  I think it'll be fine.

[Peter Snowberg]

Beautiful!!! 

[Maneco]

Nice and clean!!!

Donīt worry about thhe jacks securing the board;if the pcb is double side with metallized holes,it will last for years

 

[pyrop]

Looks good there Lyle!
Well done mate.

pyrop

[Mark Hammer]

Oops, it was "fatten up", not "fatte nup". Butterfinger.

Years ago, my kid comes home from daycare and says "Daddy, what's a nacelle?".  "I don't know", I reply, "Why do you want to to know?".  "Because Keegan called me a @#$%eh nacelle".  Think quickly, think quickly, think quickly.  "Well, let's look it up in the dictionary".  Happily, "nacelle" turned out to be part of an airplane fuselage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nacelle), and my son was able to walk away thinking that his daycare buddy was a bit of an arse for calling someone part of an airplane.  Yup, mis-parsing speech is an interesting beast. 

[RedHouse]

What type of box is that?
(Hammond, Bud)

[BDuguay]

Nice, nice and, nice!
I'm jeleaous, jeleaous and jeleaous!
B.

[LyleCaldwell]

What type of box is that?
(Hammond, Bud)

Hammond 1590DD.

[LyleCaldwell]

Andy - that's a great idea.  I've used the same stuff to keep rack drawers from sliding out in transit. Thanks, I think I have some in my drawers (er, my nacelle).

Lyle,

One thing that I've been doing lately is using the soft, fuzzy (female?) velcro to insulate components from the enclosure cover.  It works great, is easy to cut and is self-adhesive so you can stick it right on the cover.  The added plus is that it gives a little bit if it's a real tight fit.  If you can find a good bulk price somewhere I'll bet it would be fairly cost effective as well.

Just an idea that's worked for me...

Nice work as well!  I can't wait to hear some clips of the finished product.

[hairyandy]

Lyle,

I just found a guy on Ebay that is selling two 15' long, 2" wide rolls for about $22 shipped.  Normally he sells one roll each of hook and loop but he said he'd sell two rolls of just the fuzzy loop which is better for insulating.  Here's the URL to his auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7606200147&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

If your box is 6" across then 30' would do about 60 pedals for $22.  Not too bad I guess, although I wouldn't keep it in my nacelle...

[TheBlackCrayon]

As some of you know, I've been working on a pedal based on the preamp from the Korg SDD-3000.  The pedal will be called the Triad, and it features three stages.  They can be preamp (from unity to boost), second boost stage, and third boost stage, or preamp, series/parallel fx loop, and third boost stage.  Both the second and third stages have their own footswitches and adjustable levels, and the third boost stage has a dedicated tone control.  The second stage, when using a delay in the fx loop, offers delay trails.

The pedal takes 9vac but has a 2.1mm 9.6vdc output that can power up to 900ma worth of daisy chained 9vdc tip negative effects.

Here are some photos:


Still gotta even out the three LED levels.  The connected delay is powered by the Triad's 9.6vdc output.
 


The first prototype is on the right - it lacked the tone control which is needed with some amps when the Boost is cranked.



On the first prototype I ordered the wrong pushbutton switches (they come out too far) and on the second Digikey shipped the wrong pushbutton caps.



A tight fit!  Those are the 3PDT switches that Aron sells and I haven't had any problem with them at all.  Thanks, man!

Lyle it's A.C. from The Black Crayons. Just stopping by to say you're my hero bro. Your Triad is amazing!!! You've inspired me to get into building some boxes. I'm gonna start with either a Green Ringer clone or a  Lovepedal Eternity. I hear they are easy builds. Maybe you can suggest something else that's not too hard, I appreciate any help from the master.