# Making the "Ultimate" Prototyping Breadboard - A BtR Creation



## BuddytheReow

Hey Folks,

I'd rather just write my thoughts down than lose sleep over this. My original breadboard was 2 breadboards mounted on a few pieces of cardboard. Then a protoboard fell into my lap last year. An excellent upgrade indeed! The protoboard is great, but I think it needs some additional tasty goodies.

@fig was kind enough to give me a bench power supply to REALLY start tinkering with some circuit legos and unleash my inner mad scientist!

So....I think it's time to make my own "ultimate" protoboard. Don't get me wrong; I loooooove a good solder session! It's actually quite therapeutic for me to shut my brain off for a while and not think about the outside world. Here's what I'm thinking.

The protoboard uses 2 800-hole breadboards. I rarely use the second one for builds so I think this is a good amount or real estate. Any more and it's overkill and will take up too much space on my bench. I have to store it somewhere, ya know?

I need to connect the bench power supply to my board. But, I also need to have a DC power plug for a battery or to steal from my pedalboard's power supply if needed. I want it controlled with a switch and have a LED indicator to tell me which power supply I'm using.

Fig also sent me a digital voltage meter display. Here's an example of one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079N98PY4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A30QSGOJR8LMXA&psc=1 I can use this to test voltages on certain components. I'd have to get a probe too and control it with a switch. Maybe later if I'm using just 9v input such as a battery I may want to utilize a charge pump or step down converter for other voltages.

Audio signal will be a separate section. I want a switch attached to an audio probe for further testing. Could I just use the output jumper? Sure, but I'm dreaming here and I want it!!! I would have to ground the enclosure to mount the in/out jacks.

I have some bluetooth chips. Should I make input/output bluetooth compatible? On the fence right now.

I don't have metalwork tools or experience, so this is going to be mounted on wood. Maybe not a single piece since I may need to hide some grounding wires/jumpers underneath, so I think I'll put a thin top. I may paint the darned thing once I'm done.

If anyone else has some ideas just let me know!

BuddytheReow


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## fig

All of that....and more!

A protoboard and testing unit...

Add a built in wave generator...it's a stripboard circuit, or a breakout board already built.
Also, the bluetooth in can use phone apps for audio source...along with the 1/4" guitar input (of course).
The voltage display should be wired to the probe tip, and activated with a switch from audio to voltage...eh?


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## BuddytheReow

Oooh, I think a voltage "sag" control would be nice. Especially for fuzz circuits. I wonder how a muff would sound with lowered input voltage...


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## BuddytheReow

Is an onboard component tester wishful thinking at this point?


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## RetiredUnit1

Interactive voice control.  "Did you want me to make a cup of coffee while you test components?"
"Yes Kitt, don't forget the half and half this time"


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## BuddytheReow

RetiredUnit1 said:


> Interactive voice control.  "Did you want me to make a cup of coffee while you test components?"
> "Yes Kitt, don't forget the half and half this time"


I think an Arduino can solve that


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## spi

I love my protoboard but I'd add:  

a 2-color LED, on when powered, and one color when in bypass and the other color when engaged.

I'd move tall components (like the fuse and capacitors) away from the jacks, so you can put your finger on the back of the jack when inserting the connector.

A couple of switches you can tap like you can pots.


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## BuddytheReow

I'm gonna do it!!!!!!!

So, I found some scrap wood that was in pretty good shape and cut it oversized at this point. I can always trim it down.

I've got an extra 1590BB that I'll use as the main enclosure. Within it, I'll have my guitar signal going in/out with a LED to show active or bypass. A separate switch to engage an audio probe. There will be two power inputs (switchable of course) of either my bench supply or DC plug (think battery here) with a LED indicator telling me which one is active. Another switch to turn power on/off to the main boards. I then had another idea to use the small volt meter display to show me how much voltage is going to my boards. It also serves 2 other purposes: it will let me know if power is on and to tell me that I may have a dying battery in my future. I don't use batteries a whole lot, but it's still pretty cool. My woodworking router was a good friend to get this done.

The stripboard breakout boards are an old creation I'll probably transfer over to this new project.

I've also got a binding post on the right hand side where I'll probably plug in an extra multimeter lead. The jumper going to the main box will go underneath the top sheet, so I'll need to use a router to make a channel going to the 1590BB.

I've also got another small breadboard power strip on the right to act as an alternate power source. So, if I've got only 9v plugged in and I want a second, alternate voltage source I can use it here. I need to pull the trigger on a buck DC converter and also build a charge pump


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## BuddytheReow

Alright. Further testing is required.

Since I have a bench power supply that can go up to ~30V, I want to make sure that I can light up a diode and not burn it out. A simple 4.7k CLR as protection confirms that I'm good. I've also read that while this may be ok for now, the LED might burn out due to getting too hot. So, I left the power on for 10-15min just to make sure. I'd rather sacrifice a red LED before I get some Bi/Tri-Colored LEDs from Tayda and have a goof.

@fig also sent me a voltage step down module which will take any (I'm limited by my bench supply) voltage and reduce it. I was toying with the idea of just wiring up a potentiometer to act as a voltage divider, but for some reason my volt meter display gauge (not my multimeter) doesn't like that. So, solder a couple of +- wires to the in and out. There's a little screw on it to act as the pot which is kind of annoying, but I can work around it. It works! But, is it accurate? A simple check with the multimeter confirms it is pretty accurate to within 0.02V, so I'll take that.

This was a successful experiment. So far so good....


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## fig

You could ditch the buck converter, and add a breakout board with a 3.3v linear VR, and a charge pump with -9vdc, and 18vdc to have on tap apart from the Main PSU.

I was thinking for probing circuits, I'd wire the test probe as such with a switch to be able to quickly check audio or voltage. Forgive my crude circuit drawing. 🤣


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## BuddytheReow

Ok. So, before I go any further on this I took some time to lay things out on my Mega-Bread (the name will come to me at the most inconvenient time) just so I can see what I'm working with here. The bare board seemed a little big, but once I start populating it with some goodies...

Anyways, here's where I stand.

On the left is my main box. It will have 2 separate power sources: one for bench supply and one for a 9v battery or plug in power supply. The LED bezel sitting on the left will tell me which power supply is active and going to the breadboard. Those 2 stomp switches are placeholders until I get some 3pdt toggles from Tayda hopefully next week. The top one is to switch between the power supplies. The bottom one is for active/bypass of the guitar signal. The other pole on that switch goes to a LED to tell me which is engaged (thinking a Red/Greeen LED here). There are 2 other dpdt switches. These will engage the audio probe (the banana plug terminal you see toward the top right) and engage the LED right next to it. The other switch toward the top of the box will simply turn the power on/off to the breadboards. Those red and black speaker terminals at the top are just placeholders until I get smaller ones from Tayda.

9v battery to the right of the box that I will need to put a DC plug on it. Below the box is a banana plug will represent a terminal for ground only. I figured if I have to check voltages I can just pull out the DMM, throw the black lead in there, and test away. Also some extra space at the bottom for some tweezers (more handy than you think when breadboarding).

In the middle starting at the top is an older stripboard build with terminal blocks for pots and some dpdt switches. Switches are a PITA on a breadboard, so they'll be externally mounted. Below that are 2 main 800 hold breadboards. Below that is another terminal block stripboard build for pots and a rotary switch mod board (half of it is cut off in the pic but it has a knob on it) from GuitarPCB.

Back to the top again, but this time more to the right is a terminal for a multimeter probe to act as the audio probe with a LED bezel right next to it to tell me if it's on or not. That will be wired to the 1590BB. Right below that is a dip socket for the output signal where I simply throw the breadboard jumper in there. I'm a little hesitant about using it since it may wear out after a few uses, but we'll see. *What do you think?*  Right below that is an alternate breadboard power strip for my second voltage if needed. Below that is the good 'ol pink styrofoam from Tayda where my other voltage meter will be mounted.

To the right of the power strip is a DPDT that will throw the original power supply to either a stripboard build charge pump (still need to test it for 9v, -9v,18v, maybe 25v on a breadboard before I build it) or the buck converter. The buck converter will give me nearly any voltage below the original voltage. I think it stops at 1.5v? I should probably check that, but the volt meter needs a minimum of 4v to activate. This will act as a sag control and give me some other voltages. I know a PT2399 needs 5v. To adjust the buck converter I need a small screwdriver, so I will mount a cable tack upside down to hold it. Those things always disappear.

The top right corner I will leave blank for other goodies, such as my TC-1 tester or transistor sub box you see below.

So, I think that's it? Dang, this it turning out to be more complicated that I'd like. But, I accept the challenge!!!!

Thoughts and comments appreciated.

BuddytheReow


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## BuddytheReow

fig said:


> You could ditch the buck converter, and add a breakout board with a 3.3v linear VR, and a charge pump with -9vdc, and 18vdc to have on tap apart from the Main PSU.
> 
> I was thinking for probing circuits, I'd wire the test probe as such with a switch to be able to quickly check audio or voltage. Forgive my crude circuit drawing. 🤣
> 
> View attachment 37713


This is what I really wanted, but the volt meter display doesn't measure well when resistors are thrown into the mix. I think I'll just use my DMM.


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## fig

Are you telling me a 50 cent display can't do what a DMM does? 🤣


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## andare

It's all fun and games until your breadboard goes "I'm afraid I can't do that, Buddy".


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## BuddytheReow

andare said:


> It's all fun and games until your breadboard goes "I'm afraid I can't do that, Buddy".
> 
> View attachment 37714


If I threw an arduino unit on there this might actually happen....


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## BuddytheReow

fig said:


> Are you telling me a 50 cent display can't do what a DMM does? 🤣


50 cents? Where did you get them? I need to pull the trigger on another one. Amazon has sets of 3-5 for $8-15


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## BuddytheReow

Working from home on Friday's allows me to dip out for a few minutes and get something done around the house. At work I just check this place out and wander around youtube for a bit. I took 10-15 min in my woodworking shop, aka garage, to mount the top panel, make both boards flush with each other, and took a router to round off the bottom edge so I can grab it easier. The pic doeesn't show it very well, but it's there. Maybe at the end of this project I'll throw some rubber feet underneath. Who knows? I may take some time on my lunch break today and prime the enclosure. Warmer days are fast drawing to a close for rattle cans.


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## BuddytheReow

Lunch break today I primed the enclosure. Just need to pick a color out of my rattle cans. Also took a drill and router for the channels. It doesn’t look the prettiest since I did I freehand, but, like a stripboard build as long as it works who cares what it looks like underneath.


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## BuddytheReow

Still waiting on my Tayda order to come in hopefully next week, but I can still chip away at this. I used my router to clean up the channels, make them bigger, and neater. An edge guide really helps here. I also took the afternoon to wire up some things like the second power supply, the regular signal output, and the audio probe diode. The regular output wire is shielded cable which I have like 15 feet so I might as well use it. I also had a bag of LED bezels which I don’t really like to use on my pedals since they don’t look very good. I used those on the hardboard to make where the cables come out a bit cleaner. Than the wiring itself. I had to go back and forth to my garage and route out the channels just a touch more each time. A hot glue gun tacks down the wires pretty nicely.

Not bad considering I’m doing this project on the fly. I do enjoy the problem solving part quite a bit.


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## BuddytheReow

I also tried out a hammered finish rattle can. Looks pretty good. This will be the main enclosure.


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## Feral Feline

Can't wait to see it semi-finished! 
('cause like a hotrod, they're never fully finished — there's always a tweak here and a new idea there...)


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## BuddytheReow

Over the weekend I had a few hours and was super excited to work on this a bit more. Here's where I stand.

The enclosure has been painted and mounted on the board. It's screwed in to the top hardboard only. I realized the other day I would have to do it this way since there will be multiple wires coming in/out of the module. A few minutes measuring and a few minutes more with a jigsaw/hand drill and BAM. Hole is cut out. Then came the task of drilling the holes correctly so I can mount the screws into the enclosure and through the hardboard. The end goal for this project is to be able to (assuming for troubleshooting or disassembly only) remove the top hardboard piece to get at any of the guts. So,, the datasheets provided me the measurements I needed to drill out the screw holes and I was pretty darned close. Not perfect, but good enough. Now you know why in a previous post I mentioned I have a spare 1590BB lid.

I'm still waiting on some binding posts to come in the mail. Once those are installed (one for ground and one for audio probe) I think the main board will be done. Then I need to start hooking up the robot porn inside the enclosure.

I had an idea regarding the charge pump. The stripboard layout has 3 different layouts: 18v, 25v, and 33v. Using the same chip (MAX1044) you can also get -9V. I'll have to breadboard this to see if I can get everything at once and install a rotary switch to select the voltage. I have a "garbage" 1590A that was drilled incorrectly for the in/out jacks that I may salvage and put the charge pump in there.








						Charge Pump Extravaganza
					

Collection of vero (stripboard) & tagboard layouts for 100s of popular guitar effects, with over 500 verified designs. DIY your own boutique effects!




					tagboardeffects.blogspot.com
				




The MAX1044 is a sensitive chip that can't take more than 10v. To counter than I'll have to add a faux voltage regulator with a zener diode. I wrote about it in my circuit design thread. Once I put my thoughts down to keyboard it makes a lot more sense now. I'll have to design a layout once I confirm the circuit does what I want.






						Buddy's Breadboard and Circuit Design Notes - You May Learn Something
					

A lot of the guys here, including Robert, use DIPtrace.  There is a free version for non-commercial used.  I've fooled around with it a bit, but since there are others here who are already good at it, I usually defer to them.  Fig knows where to order boards.  DIPtrace you say.....Im going to...




					forum.pedalpcb.com
				




This then leaves the question if there's enough real estate for a second voltage indicator. The short answer is yes, but I may need to adjust the wiring underneath a bit.

2 other goodies are thrown on here just for the nice picture, but one of them may have a more permanent place on this board. Wiring is still a mess, but that's because nothing's hooked up yet. I'd rather trim down some wires than extend them..


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## BuddytheReow

So, the 1590A is actually too big for this. Really? A 1590A too big? How absurd!!!

So, back to the drawing board. I took the time yesterday to breadboard a charge pump and convert it to stripboard.





						Buddy's Breadboard and Circuit Design Notes - You May Learn Something
					

A lot of the guys here, including Robert, use DIPtrace.  There is a free version for non-commercial used.  I've fooled around with it a bit, but since there are others here who are already good at it, I usually defer to them.  Fig knows where to order boards.  DIPtrace you say.....Im going to...




					forum.pedalpcb.com
				




The layout is verified and works pretty well. 





						Buddy's Stripboard Builds
					

More and more I like stripboard because I am always wanting to try different ideas and fit them into a 1590B!  PCBs are a luxury and make building something you know you will like easily, reliably and quickly. And to me Vero/stripboard is kind of the next step for those of us who want to take...




					forum.pedalpcb.com
				




OK, step one of this mini project is done. Step 2: make a box for it. Hmm... a 1590A will take up too much real estate on the board. This leaves me with 2 options: find a small plastic enclosure to put this in or make one out of some scrap wood. I chose the scrap wood approach. I found a small sheet of 1/4" plywood in my garage and cut it to size. I'm also going to put a rotary switch to toggle between 9v, -9v, 17v, and 25v. A dry fit with some masking tape looks pretty good to me. I'll probably need to reinforce the butt joint so it doesn't break, but if this gets dropped when it's on the final project I think I've got bigger problems.... The enclosure is about 3"x1.25"x1"


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## BuddytheReow

I'm having a dilemma. Usually about halfway through a jerry rigged project I have a moment of panic. Why? Because it's usually at about this point that I realize that I can do things differently in possibly a better way. I keep looking at the above pictures with all the components in a "dry fit", small boxes I'm making, etc. and I realize I'm wasting a lot of real estate space. Is it possible to put nearly everything I want into one enclosure. Behold the 1032L








						1032L Style Aluminum Diecast Enclosure
					

Tayda Electronics - Get It Fast - Same Day Shipping




					www.taydaelectronics.com
				




I think this will fit everything I need into one enclosure (audio probe, step up/down, bypass switch, power selector switch, etc.) and is basically the size of (2) 125b enclosures lined up. What's the drawback? It's a half inch higher than a 125b and I found a 125b to be a bit too tall on this rig. This would mean the thickest part of this platform would be 3 inches plus tall!! Plus, it may block some of the light coming from my bench onto the breadboard itself. Besides fitting everything into one unit, it will also save me real estate on the platform itself for my other goodies like a component tester, substitution box, and pot mounting terminal blocks. Do you see my dilemma now?

So, do I keep going with my original design or start fresh with a new layout? The only extra cost at this point would be for the 1032L enclosure.


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## BuddytheReow

The 1032L enclosure is the way to go for this project. @fig had an extra one laying around and is donating to the cause! Thanks fig!

It’s time for a complete redesign with one of the last scrap plywood piece I have left. 

Here’s a preview of what it will look like. I’m toying with the idea of a wave generator (sine, sawtooth, and square with frequency knob) and it may be an add on further down the road. Those are what the switches and knobs in the very middle are. When I get some more time in front of an actual keyboard I’ll do a better write up of what does what.


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## BuddytheReow

So, I stared at the above picture for quite a while last night. In my head I was saying "THIS should go here instead. THAT should go there...". Which means I adjusted the layout this morning. Here's where I stand. I will explain what switch does what starting from the left.

I should mention that the stomp switches you see are placeholders until I get some toggle 3pdt in my next Tayda order (still waiting for it to hit the US), but the footprint should be the same.

All the way on the left is a 3pdt to select which power supply is the "active" one. If you look above I have terminals and a regular DC jack. The switch controls which one I want to use. The third pole is for a LED indicator telling me which one is active/on. The dpdt next to it throws the power to the rails (I think ground will always be "active" on the board instead of severing the connection). THe next 3 controls are all related to the right power rail for the breadboard. THe middle dpdt will select whether I want to step down or step up the voltage. The left knob is the step down section and the right rotary is for the step up section. The two switches you see in the middle are for the test probe. The 3pdt will sever the connections to the audio output and the right LED meter and throw them to the dpdt before the empty space. THAT switch will control whether I want the probe to test audio or voltage and will have a LED indicator.

All the way on the right is signal active/bypass with LED telling me which one. This was a needed upgrade from the protoboard itself.

That empty section toward the right is for a potential signal/wave generator to act as audio input for testing. I say potential since I still need to test a few schematics and see how they work with my speaker and simple breadboard fuzzes, boosters, etc. I'll need a small rotary switch to complete it, but that may be a future Tayda order.

The 2 LED meters will show how much voltage will go to each power rail on the breadboard itself. I've got extra real estate space on the platform itself, so I may throw a more permanent component tester on there. The transistor box is just to show off a goodie I have and to see how much platform space I'll need.

In the event the power test probe isn't very accurate, I will most likely install that black speaker terminal all the way on the left just for ground. I can throw the DMM lead in there and test away. The audio probe terminal on the right isn't dependent on another device to make it work since it's just a simple wire with a cap thrown on it.


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## BuddytheReow

While waiting for my goodies to come in the mailbox, I took the time to cut out the new board and round off the bottom edge. Don't worry, it's just the angle of the picture to potentially show the rounded corners. It's a rectangle, not a trapezoid. I also made a voltage divider through a buffer to help with the LED meter. I'll also post this in my stripboard build thread. Yes, that's a Buddy hair on the pot and was too lazy to clean it off before the pic


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## BuddytheReow

Still waiting on my fig care package, but took the time to cut out the holes for the LED meters and power/signal wires. The later is plugged with some plastic LED bezels. Looks cleaner, right?

Also, took a router to the main cavity for the voltage meters and signal/power wires


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## BuddytheReow

And the router work. I’ll still need to work it a little bit more for mounting the enclosure and the speaker terminals


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## BuddytheReow

She’s a thick girl!


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## BuddytheReow

Painters tape applied. Switches and pots are marked. Hard to tell in the pic, but they’re there. Take a deep breath, Buddy. You got this. Time to drill…


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## BuddytheReow

Pilot holes done


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## BuddytheReow

Not bad for doing this by hand. Hand drill and a ruler I mean. Still waiting on my 3pdt switches to come in this week. USPS tracker is finally moving.


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## BuddytheReow

Installed the rotary switch to the charge pump and attached the input voltages of that and the step down module to the selector switch. Not much progress, but progress nonetheless. I feel like I’m putting an amp together!


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## BuddytheReow

Tayda order finally came today with some switches, Bi/Tri-color LEDs, and binding posts to tack on. Geez, this is going to take longer than I thought, but I'm having fun and that's the whole point of this project.

Wire has been tacked on to the hardboard to transfer from the breadboard to main enclosure. Volt meters too. Could I get this done by new year's? I think so. I'm off from work all next week which is nice.


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## BuddytheReow

Since I have a bunch of vero I might as well use it. Stripboard will act for star grounding and power. There are 2 separate power rails for my platform so there are 2 strips for power, though one feeds into the other. Another row jumpers the main supply into separate CLR for the individual diodes. Could I have done it differently? Sure, but this is the route I chose.

Probe selector and half of the power selector all soldered up. This is where the REAL fun is…


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## BuddytheReow

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!

Barely had any work today and finally put it all together. Robot porn coming shortly. Everything on this is functional, but not perfect.

My charge pump isn't cooperating when its in the enclosure. Tested outside the enclosure on its own it works fine. I've got my feelers out how to fix it. I'm suspecting there's loading happening on the pump and throwing off the output voltages.

I breadboarded a simple circuit and there is a noticeable amount of noise. I think the best course to fix it would be to add some shielded cable for the audio portion.

Good gravy, I want this to be perfect!!!


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## BuddytheReow

This has sat for a few days unattended (mostly due to the holiday weekend). The more I thought about this as is, the more disappointed I am. The way the power is set up I can only allow 2 separate voltages on the board at a time without additional breadboard work such as a voltage divider/regulator. The protoboard has multiple voltages to plug into at once and I think I may go with that. The charge pump and SAG control will be moved onto the platform itself to have “plug and play” abilities with some jumper wires. This frees up three holes already drilled in the enclosure. In addition, the more I thought about it the more I realize I don’t need 2 volt meters. I may just keep one for voltage testing only. What does this all mean? Another redesign….. 

I need to test a few circuit ideas before committing to something to put in there.

Sigh….at least I can play around with my new soldering station.


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## fig

BuddytheReow said:


> Sigh….at least I can play around with my new soldering station.


Cool, what kind did you get?


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## BuddytheReow

Here’s part of my haul this year. It’s a Weller WE 1010


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## BuddytheReow

With the mkIII under way I thought it would be a good idea to share what's going on for those that have been following.

The protoboard has a wonderful feature of "plug and play" for various voltages that I will blatantly copy, but with a few added tweaks. First, the charge pump goes up to ~26V instead of capping at 18V. THe other feature is a SAG control for stepping down the input voltage to 1.7V-8.3V. An excellent control for all your fuzz needs.

Schematic and vero layout included. THis has been verified this afternoon by Buddy. The fuse is a resettable fuse that's already included in the protoboard and a good safety feature in case too much current goes through. Charge pump is a TC1044SCPA (i bought extra when making my protoboard many moons ago). You can use a 2n3904 like I did or any other common BJT. Mind the pinout of course.


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## Danbieranowski

For some reason, I really enjoy going through iterations while getting my own work stuff setup. It sucks that it never feels complete, but it's nice to learn and adapt and continue to grow in a tangible way.


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## BuddytheReow

I need a signal tester on here. Not a guitar pickup simulator, but just some audio that I can quickly inject into the circuit to test to see if it's working or to help with troubleshooting. Breadboarding a few schematics out there I settled on using a 40106 schmitt trigger and a BC547. One output is square waves and the other triangle. I don't have an oscilloscope so I cannot verify the true shape, but they sound different enough to me to allow it. I just finished the schematic and vero layout. Now I need to fire up the iron to try it out. This circuit will always be on (or maybe I can choose to have an additional pole turn in on), but the output switch is a ON-OFF-ON. I'll circle back with my findings.

Edit: This layout is verified


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## BuddytheReow

Gosh, I’ve spent nearly all day (ok probably about a solid 6 hours) on this and it’s nearly done. The main power supplies, signal injector, multi voltage module, and probe are all hooked up. Tomorrow if I have time (probably will) I’ll put together the battery circuits. A 9v battery, mounted externally, will power the volt meter and also a low battery indicator circuit. I have a vero layout ready to go and will finish that tomorrow. This is starting to come together nicely and I’m happier with this version. All hooked up components have been tested.


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## BuddytheReow

Here's the low battery indicator. There's an extra hook up for 9V to power up whatever your needs are in the top row. There are also plenty of ground connections. Will try this out tomorrow.


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## BuddytheReow

Another afternoon working on this. This is about 95% complete with the exception of painting the enclosure. The stubbornness in me REALLY wants a volt meter on here, so I tried hooking it up with a battery and the low battery indicator. The indicator works nicely (set it to around 7V), but the volt meter does not read voltage. I had to scratch my head for a few minutes and then it hit me. The meter needs the same power to test voltage (common ground). The battery work work in this application, so tomorrow I’ll hook it up to the bench supply only.

Why a volt meter? @fig was gracious enough to send me a few in a recent care package and thought they were pretty cool.  Chuck asked why don’t I just use a DMM like everybody else? I don’t want to be like everyone else, lol! The volt meter would be for just troubleshooting and not playing through the circuit.

I’m getting excited. I’ve spent nearly a month on this and it will probably be done tomorrow with maybe a half hours time if I’m lucky. Just in time for a New Years build report? We’ll see…


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## BuddytheReow

It turned out to be closer to an hour and a half. Trying to solder two wires together when you’re a little cranked on coffee takes longer than you think. In any event, she’s done! This took about a month from a simple shower thought to designing, then redesigning, then redesigning yet again. A more in depth build report is coming for all you circuit nerds out there. Once finished I whipped up a Bazz Fuss real quick as a test drive. The inaugural circuit? A TS variant - an EQD Plumes

Happy New Year, y’all

BuddytheReow


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