Using epoxy resin to coat pedals

Hey all,
I've been experementing with new ways to protect paintjobs, seeing how pedals get kicked around and generally brutalized. Acrylic laquer wasn't cutting it. enamel was a bit better but sometimes it's nice to find alternates to spraycans.

I found epoxy resin at Omer DeSerres, the art store around town. it's their own vitra-laque brand (and there are other brands too). it's pretty expensive. around $30 for the kit of two bottles (epoxy + hardener) but I bit the bullet and gave some a try. mixed up a small batch and oozed it on a boost I just built.




the result is really fantastic! it does take around 2 days to harden enough to call it done, but it feels far stronger than anything I've tried. it feels like glass to the touch and shines like it too, and feels like it can take a beating. anyways if you can afford it, I reccomend it. there's probably 6-8 pedals worth of epoxy in the vitra-laque kit.

xxx photos of finished pedals? xxx

....i finally got around to building the red llama clone from the first workshop.....sounds real nice......would love to see what other folks have been doing.....would be nice to have sound clips somewhere as well to listen to these things......

workshop # 1 pictures and more..

Right, I'm going to give this blog thing a shot. A couple people have expressed interest in a couple of the pedals that were brought-in! The first of which was a feedback looper, the bypass looper that put all of the effects in its loop into crazy oscillating madness! It's a fairly simple project and doesnt involve any circuitry! If you've managed with the fuzz project or the ringmod, this will be a piece of cake! It's just a couple switches, wires, a potentiometer (and knob) and the enclosure of course. It's a great little box you can quickly build in-between workshops and have fun decorating!

Instructions for it can be found in this forum thread below. If you have any questions, you can email me as well.

thread on experementalistsanonymous.com

A couple other people have also expressed interest in that crazy 20-knob sequenced tremolo-thing! It should be considered more advanced, but I think I've compiled some good instructions. I should also warn that it doesnt work perfectly. There isa bit of ticking noise when its playing, and some values could be optimized, but at least it works! All parts can be found at Addisons. Again, if there are any questions abotu it, email me and I will do my best to answer!

voetsek_instructions_1.gif
voetsek_instructions_2.gif
voetsek_instructions_3.gif
voetsek_tremolo_diy_instructions.zip

Here are some photos from the first workshop

fuzz face details

Hi

The following may help you complete your fuzz face.

First off as most people know from coming out last week, one of the transistors on the layout sheet is facing the wrong way. It is the p channel fet that was given out on that sunday. the orientation should be rotated 180 degrees. see the photos below.





Next up, germanium orientation. If you look closely at te bottom of the germanium transistors youll see the leads are not really in a straight row. instead they form abit of a triangle.



flip the board so that teh component side is facing you.

rotate the board so that the pots are in what you would consider the "lower right corner".

the input jack should be on the left and output on the right.

now populate the BOTTOM 3 PINS of the socket with germanium transistor such that the MIDDLE LEAD is closest to the RIGHT SIDE off the board. The orientation is the same for both germaniums.



Before the next step you may want to test your pedal to see how you like it. I spent some time with Maria's pedal and found the output was not that high and sort of nasaly sounding. The current gain of the transistors we have is not quite as high as the ones specified. but luckily it is easy to compensate. heres how.

Instead of a fine tuning mod we will use the trim pot as a large gain adjustment. Simply cut the trace from the output cap to the trim pot and solder a wire from the cap to the other side of the trim pot. Look at the photos.



Heres the mod on Maria's. ONLY AD THE YELLOW WIRE. teh other wires were added to replace lifted pads and may not be required. (definitely not required for the "mod")



Now play with the pot until your desired output level is achieved.

IF you still have questions please either make a post or make a comment. if you are confused it is likely other people will be too so it is more useful to ask in a forum accessible by everyone as opposed to through email. THANKS

workshop #2

workshop #2 is full!

if you have booked a spot, we will be in touch with you soon about payments/details.

thanks!

do not hesitate to ask if you are interested in future workshops (there will be more!) or have any questions, comments, etc...

talk soon.

tyler and scott.

tylerbcrawford atttt gmail dot com

The magical missing diode

HI


the following information is in regards to the last diode which populates the added holes with no traces.

look at the picture



what a mess but it should help . look where it says "hexfuz" backwards. place the end of the diode with the stripe (cathode) into one of the holes with no trace and teh other end (anode) into the unpopulated hole that should be above the "z". if you can make out the semi retarded red diode in the picture it shows correct orientation.

NOW the last wire that you didnt connect on your stomp switch goes into the other hole with no trace (labeled MILB on the diagram). solder the anode (striped end) of the diode to the new wire under the board to simulate a trace. this is depicted in my diagram by a neon green "u" shaped blob.



congratulations thats the end of this procedure.

Completion....

Hi

when you have a moment please "vote" for yourself on the new poll if you have completed your pedal so that we can get an idea of whats going on.


please do not vote for people other than yourself.

Led Wiring DIagram

Hi

A lot of people are reporting not getting an email i sent out on march 20. So if you did not get it please read all the recent updates on this site. The LED is here now and you can call me to arrange meeting up. I live near sherbrooke or st laurent metro and i am at concordia everyday in the week as well.


and so...


Here is some info on how you will wire the LED to get it red in one mode and green in the other.

You may or may not have already put 2 wires in the holes i have circled and labelled A and B. If you haven't you should do so now.



Wire A will go to the Middle pin on the LED.

Wire B will go to the middle pole on the unused side of your switch.



Now, the final touch is to connect each of the outer pins on the LED to each of the outer pins on the same side of the switch that wire B is connected to.

and thats all.

if you reverse left and right all that will change is which position of the switch is which color. it will work either way.

Bypass / offboard wiring

for the info regarding the wiring of the switch and jacks, please refer to:

http://tonepad.com/getFileInfo.asp?id=76

Use offboard wiring #3 in that document.

Lost & Found

2 pairs of wire strippers were left at the pines. They appear below. I have them at my house now and also someone seems to have perhaps left with one of my third hands. If these are your tools or you have mine please let me know.

Bypass Component Orientation

Hi

I am aware there is some confusion about the orientation of the bypass components

these pictures should help clarify

Where there is an led on my board solder 2 wires in preparation for your LED.

The flat side of the 2n7000 and 2n3904 (or 2n2222) face the closest edge

also there SHOULD be 2 holes on your board that do not have copper traces on the bottom. these will be explained later when you get the LED. we had to add an extra diode (which i will also supply with the LED) to suppress teh large amounts of noise that this pedal generates when there is no input. if you are confused dont worry it will work fine!

Also in one diagram i circled the square pad that is the entry for the 9V.

The diode is POLARIZED please take note which way you put it on the board. look at the pencil diagram to see which side the stripe is on. you should be able to see the stripe on the diode as well. Just match them up and you will be fine.

FINALLY i know some people took pictures. if you would like to share them with me it would be appreciated and i would like to post one or 2 on the site.

pcbs in progress...

just to update, we have etched the pcbs for the first build. they are not all drilled yet but here are some pics from the process.

Red Llama Information

Hi

Since this is what has been selected for the group build here are some relevant links.

The tonepad file with schematic and pcb can be found here.

A similar circuit can be found on this page, if you scroll down to "Calavera"

and here are some user reviews from harmony central (the most credible review source).

sample post...

Heres a picture of a pedal i made which is a clone of the ampeg scrambler.



more info here