freestompboxes.org

ShortScaleMike wrote: It's also probably time you started a thread in the Workbench and moved questions and posts there for the continued debug of your Fuzz Factory. This thread should really just be about the design itself, schematics and layouts of it.

Good point, this thread as been horribly hijacked by about 6 pages of debug, don't want to clutter it up too much so perhaps if a moderator is around they'd like to move this?

As for the helping hand tool, could be an idea, or using my onboard pot wiring as this allows you to not have loads of loose wires flying about and allows for easier tracking of the wiring on the board, in my opinion (plus it's neater in the box) Personally if I need a 'helping hand' I'l lean whatever i'm doing up against a pair of plyers or something or use a crocodile clip to hold something in place, you'll find your own little techniques as you progress and alot of soldering issues I find comes down to having the right iron, my first pedal I used a big bulky tipped iron I found in the house, but after that smudged solder relentlessly I bought a £6 needle tipped one off ebay and Soldering has been soo much easier and neater.

YAY!

for debugging, moved over to here, as advised:
https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic ... 769#p60769

Scruffie wrote:Ah you are right that's still backwards, thought Igloo had sorted it, Drive 3 should go to stab 1 then to Row A25 on the board and Stab 2 & 1 should be connected and go to 9V.

You sure, I have Drive 1, - pots are facing downward, so 3,2,1 right....

I have drive 1 going to stab 1 with 1 & 2 jumped going to 25 on the board, stab 3 going to 9v

I tried switching the jumper on the comp to having it on 2 & 1 instead of 3 & 2, I still get that dead/ splattery spot in the pot I descibed but now full clockwise whereas before it was fully counter-clockwise.

I still have Drive 3 going to Comp 3....

This wiring shown here is correct.

Thanks for that, it works but I'd like to do something.

I like the way the stab sounded the way I had it wired before, I like how it sounds now.

IS the comp supposed to open up in sound around 2/3 0'clock then go slattery? like I said before when I have the jumper the other way on the comp the effect was opposite - slattery cut off fully clockwise, then open sound around 10ish, then compression to fully clockwise.

Anyways, can I wire the stab to a switch where I can switch between the "correct" stab wiring and my wiring?

my wiring is the Drive 1 to Stab 1 that is jumped with Stab 2 going to A25 and Stab 3 going to 9v

The "correct" way is Drive 1 going to Stab 3 going to A25. Stab 2 and 1 being jumped going to 9v

Can I set up a switch to choice between those two? the stab sounded the way I wire it is a lot more high pitched.

ololol! disaster to the max. All wired, into the box, started screwing on the back and... smoke woo!!!

so i took it all out, and i'm now back to it not working again. it was working briefly AFTER the smoke, but not now. i think i just shorted the battery or somet, cos none of the circuit was hot, just the battery.

trad3mark wrote:for debugging, moved over to here, as advised:
https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic ... 769#p60769

Keep it in this thread. Edit - it's locked

Anyway
It seems you have not insulated the case properly and shorted +9V to ground. Check around the stab pot and connections to +9V on the board

ffs. this thing still isn't working right at all. Not only is my fuzz intermittant, depending on the position of the pots (bad soldering??) but also, when i do have fuzz, Stab does nothing...

Scruffie wrote:This wiring shown here is correct.

I tried that wiring and it works but the oscillation is different and volume seems to decline as I roll the stab back, that normal?

Also anyone know if I can do what I inquired about above? - which is wiring the stab two different ways and have a a switch to choose between the two?

trad3mark wrote:ffs. this thing still isn't working right at all. Not only is my fuzz intermittant, depending on the position of the pots (bad soldering??) but also, when i do have fuzz, Stab does nothing...

did you burn up a transistor? Its real easy to do.

no i replaced them all. besides, that wouldn't really explain why the fuzz is intermittent, right?

Well from your previous comments about pot positions changing it, resoldering etc I'd say you have cold joints and bad connections causing the issues but that is merely a guess from what you've said, (cold joints look very dull) are you using lead free solder? (not the best to work with) other than that, not a clue.

no i'm using 60/40. all my joints look pretty shiny. I guess stab 3 joint could be questionable, and there's one or two that have a couple of little black burn like marks on them, but i don't know other than that. I'm going to have another go a bit later. I really want to get this finished so i can move onto a new pedal of some sort.

i'm still at this one. it seems to work and not work, depending on how it feels. at the moment, when it's turned on, it's like it's on true bypass, with volume controling the volume. occasionally, when you move the GATE pot, you get mental oscilating. Like screeching. when it does screech though, playing provides fuzz. Also, sometimes, when it's not screeching, you get a crackle, but it's a fuzz crackle. anyone who's had a similar problem of intermittent fuzz will know EXACTLY what i'm talking about. it's as if the fuzz is trying to break through a crappy solder connection.

ideas?

edit:
as it stands, 1+2 go to board and 3 goes to ground. interestingly, when i use my finger to bridge [1+2] to 3, you get some oscillation and fuzz...

Bad ground connections? Solder bridges on the ground rail, Badly soldered gate pot... i'm at a loss to this one without any good quality images to be honest, keep at it but sometimes a circuit is just out to get you... (although as you say you have 2 so one of them has to work eventually)

Scruffie wrote:Bad ground connections? 1Solder bridges on the ground rail, 2Badly soldered gate pot... i'm at a loss to this one 3without any good quality images to be honest, keep at it but sometimes a circuit is just out to get you... (although as you say you have 2 so one of them has to work eventually)

ok,
1: This is where you'd have like a big blob of solder connecting 3 or 4 wires right? don't have that anyway.
2: Yah possibly this, although i did try 3 seperate pots. Going to see if i can get new, clean pots tomorrow though, and i'll try that
3: if 2 fails, i'll go take some good photos of the solder joints, just incase it's poor soldering.

UGH!!!

For the solder bridges, not quite a big blob, it's okay if the wires are connected, the issue arises if the solder touches even in the slightest way onto one of the other strips cause then it's joining 2 strips that shouldn't be.

Pots don't really die that easily in my experience, you can easily test them with a battery and LED if you want aswell to see if it dims it or not, heat the solder and use a damp sponge to wipe it off the lugs of the pot if you want to clean it up (be careful with this as it can spit solder) but that should clean the lug and make sure you 'tin' the wire and component before connection, I.e just wipe them with a solder coating first then solder them together fully after.

And take photos of the joints and everything else to allow for issue spotting, make sure there clear, in good light and give a good overall picture of the circuit so that I can see what your seeing, even if it'll be a struggle to see due to image quality, sticking it on a piece of white paper is sometimes helpful to help clear things up I find.

I just built up a Fuzz Factory. I used some 2n3904 and 2n3906s for testing. I have some Ge transistors but I didn't want to ruin one inadvertently, so I used the Si transistors first.

Right now I'm getting sound but it's kind of gated and a little sputtery. There's definitely something wrong. I'm assuming that it should work with the Si transistors, and it is to a small degree. Should I assume that this is an effect of have the wrong transistors with the wrong hfe, incorrectly biased.

Give me some ideas, what can I test to make sure that I won't break an expensive Ge transistor before I try them out?

As a starter setting turn Volume to 9 o clock, Comp and Gate off, Drive and Stab at max. This should give you a normal fuzz sound.