# Just ordered..



## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

A BYOC TriBoost kit from Scott at Axe and you shall Receive.
Great guy to deal with.

I have no boost pedal at all.
This gives me three to play with and learn about boosts.

And it gives me something to build.

I'll update with build pics, etc.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I was unaware of that unit. It's adorable! The MOSFet (a kind of ZVEX Super Hard On clone) and the LPB-1 clone should work great right away. The Rangemaster may or may not require some post-build adjustig, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now.

Sure beats the hell out of buying and trying different boosts.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

very nice! i've been thinkin about getting one myself as i am in the market for a boost pedal...

would love to hear a review once you've finished it and played it!


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

I'll definitely let you know how it works out and sounds. For now, here's an update on the build.

Getting organized: I checked the component inventory and found a neat way to keep things neat and allow me to pack the project up if I need to put it away for the day.












It's the box from my Mac keyboard. I just ripped out the inner shell.












Yep, that's a PCB all right.












Diodes and resistors go on first.












Then the trimpot.












Transistors and electrolytic caps are next












The ceramic disc caps go next












Then the rotary switch finishes up the board mounted components for now.












Next steps are mounting the hardware and then start the wiring.
I've just painted the housing, so I'm going to let it dry overnight.


I have about 2 hours into this so far and that includes rounding up my tools and searching the garage for paint.
It's a pretty straightforward build, but if you look closely at the PCB you will notice that almost half of the silkscreen is missing.
That added a bit of challenge to the build because you have to really pay attention and double check the layout in the instructions. It's not difficult though and I enjoyed the extra thought process.
I bought this as a kit for the challenge and satisfaction of the build.


I'm not sure when I'll get back to this. Tomorrow is cooked. Sunday will be recovery day. Then it's back to work for the week.
Honestly though, my challenge is coming up with a design for the housing. So far, it's got an industrial galvanized coating on it that I intended to use as primer, but it's got a bit of sparkle to it that doesn't look like bling.


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## ezcomes (Jul 28, 2008)

nice! looks good so far!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks for posting so many pics and for the info of the build.

Looking good !!

Have you found it fairly easy to work on that size of board? (my eyes are old)
Are you finding that you need to work under magnification...especially for the soldering?

Cheers

Dave


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Cool thread, thanks for posting!


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## ThePass (Aug 10, 2007)

Pretty cool! I like the step by step pics. Nice.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Thanks!

It's going well. I have found the board very easy to work with. I'm more worried about the wiring on the switch that I have yet to do. The terminals are pretty close together.

So far, the only thing I've used magnification for is to check the part number on the transistors. Even then, more light helped much more than magnification.

I picked up some waterside decal paper today and I am contemplating a design. As I mentioned earlier, this will be the longest and toughest part of the build. Mainly because I have to wait around for that burst of creativity to hit me.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

I went through a couple of different design ideas and settled on this:










The alignment isn't perfect there, but I'm going to print the different elements off and trim them to size so that I can line them up right on the enclosure.
So, it's not going to be one big decal anyway.

I need to pick up some eyeball-frying-yellow paint tonight.
Then I can get this creative stuff out of the way and get back to the build.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

have you worked with decal material before? How are you planning to apply it?

My suggestion would be to drill all holes first, and apply the decal material after, cutting the excess from the holes with an X-acto blade. You don't want the drill to tug and twist the decal material.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

double post...my mistake


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Thanks for the tips.

Ive only worked with decals on model kits I built as a kid, but I've done some homework and I did about 50 models of varying sizes and skill levels when I was into it.

I'm actually going to trim all of the elements down to manageable size and then just apply them individually. That will also let me print them closer together on the decal material to save supply.

The layout isn't exactly perfect for a full decal, but I've played with the layout for far too long. With them applied separately, I can wiggle them into place and line things up much better.

I'm going to keep the labels grouped though. So, the Rich, Lean and Tuned will be one piece; the HEMI, 6pack, and Slant6 will another. The PSI will be on its own, and the circle will be one piece.

I plan on "melting" them into place with Micro-Sol.

The holes are already drilled on the enclosure. I'm going to put the first coat of yellow on tonight. Hopefully, I'll get in just a couple of coats.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Update. (Finally!)


I obsessed over the paint for weeks, and I'm still not 100% happy. I've used almost a whole can of Krylon and a few pieces of sandpaper.


I just got the decals on and I'm letting them setup. I have to carve out the holes for the dials and switches. Then, I'll put on a few coats of clear before finishing up the assembly.


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

Holy crap, that turned out really good. I like the rich / lean / tuned motif.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Thanks!
It was fun build until I got to paint.

I'm going to buy a powder coating system for the next one.
I think it would be less frustrating. LOL!


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## JHarasym (Mar 27, 2007)

Suh-weet!
I've got a pedal build in my future and was wondering where you get the decal material, and how you print on it. Will a laser printer do a good job? 
John
PS how's the Tramp doing?


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Tramp is awesome. I'm having tons of fun with it. How's yours?

I got the decal paper at my local hobby store. It's the inkjet type but there is a laserjet type as well. 
It's pretty easy to do. About the only thing I'd caution you about is to make sure you get a good coat of clear on top of the decals before you try to use them. I had the first couple of smaller pieces bleed the ink right out. 
I just took the rest and put another coat of clear on before continuing. It went well after that.


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## georgemg (Jul 17, 2011)

That looks great! Great concept too. Not sure I'm up to building a pedal, but this really inspires me to try repainting my old beat-up Dunlop switcher.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

that looks great.

I'm goign to have to do a BYOC pedal one of these days.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Done!!

Here's the Printed Circuit Board in place just to line up the switches and LEDs to the top of the enclosure. It came back out to add some of the wiring.










Here's everything all wired up.










..and here it is all buttoned up after testing and tuning.

Ready to RAWK!











Now, I just need to learn to play something that'll take advantage of it. 

Demo will probably have to wait until the weekend.

Observations:
It's a pedal that you will stomp on. The paint doesn't have to be perfect. (So says my wife.)
Next time, I will likely powder coat it instead of painting. At least for the base colour.
I will invest in some better supplies for the decals. The paper worked fine, but I really should have used something like MicroSol to melt them into the paint. That was my plan, but I couldn't wait.
No matter how thin you think paint is, it's thick enough to require the holes to be cleaned out before putting jacks,knobs and LEDs, dials in place.
When you're done biasing the clean boost, don't forget to turn your amp back up.


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

Nice job. Looks pro!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

+1

One thing I might suggest - and I'll leave it to you to decide whether it's too late or not - I like to slip a piece of heat shrink over joints between wires and solder lugs to provide a measure of strain relief. For wires connecting the board to the stomp switch, that may not be such an issue. But for the wires from the battery connector, I find they can easily fracture.

So, not a requisite or a fatal flaw. Just a good practice to up the insurance level a bit. But it's otherwise an excellent build. I'm a big fan of that knob style. I like the way they fit relatively flush with the chassis and cover up the nut and washer nicely. Just wish they were cheaper.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Thanks. 

Good idea. I should be able get at the battery wires easily enough. 

Though, I'll probably never actually use a battery in it.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

One of the other reasons I use heat shrink over lugs is because I'm not "pro" enough to make use of the little tabs on pots that oblige them to sit still in one position on the chassis (it would require precision drilling of a second hole for each pot), and and I don't often use PCB-mount pots, whose position is also assured. The result is that pots connected to boards with wires can often rotate a little inside the chassis when tightening the nuts from the outside, such that a lug can short out against the chassis or against another pot back cover. 

Can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen "It worked before I boxed it up. What happened?" posts on-line, and a great many of them were resolved when such a short was discovered. So now I make it a practice, when building, to stick a piece of heat shrink over the pot lug and the last little bit of the connecting wire so that the lug connection is always sort of insulated. I know it's made a big difference in the frequency with which I'm able to build something from scratch and have it fire up right the first time I try it out.

The only caveats are that:
a) You need to keep that little piece of heat shrink far enough back along the wire when soldering the joint that it doesn't start shrinking on you too soon and fail to fit over the pot lug, and
b) If you've misjudged how long a piece of wire needs to be to go from Point A to a pot or switch lug, it's more complicated to shorten the wire sometimes (because you may have to get the heat shrink off the lug and redo).

But as insurance policies go, it's cheap and effective.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Excellent point!
I'll keep that in mind for future builds..... and I think there will be many.


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## JHarasym (Mar 27, 2007)

dodgechargerfan said:


> Tramp is awesome. I'm having tons of fun with it. How's yours?


Some issues with the MOSFET in the VRM, but I guess that's a subject for another thread.


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## JHarasym (Mar 27, 2007)

dodgechargerfan said:


> About the only thing I'd caution you about is to make sure you get a good coat of clear on top of the decals before you try to use them. I had the first couple of smaller pieces bleed the ink right out.
> I just took the rest and put another coat of clear on before continuing. It went well after that.


Could you elaborate a bit - clear coat before printing?


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## JHarasym (Mar 27, 2007)

Also, how'd you do the racing stripe?


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

JHarasym said:


> Also, how'd you do the racing stripe?


I ended up just doing another waterside decal for that.

Once I got all the individual labels and graphics done, I re arranged them to print using the least amount of paper - basically crammed them all together on the page. Then, I drew the stripe along the side. I printed it all out and cut and applied the pieces individually.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

That's an awesome build, congrats.

Cool graphics. Gotta love the Mopar theme.

This is a very cool thread. Informative, thanks for that!


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

JHarasym said:


> Could you elaborate a bit - clear coat before printing?


I just realized that there was another question in here...

After you print, you need to put a coat of clear over the waterslide paper in order to seal the ink onto the decal.
Otherwise, when you dip the decal in the water, the ink will run off. It will smudge when you start to handle it.

I had a few tiny areas smudge while I was placing the decal. That indicated that I didn't have enough clear on there.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Oh, and I just ordered 4 more kits.


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