DIY Effects

[LukeFRC]

just had a tidy up. It's amazing the selection of random ICs I've collected. Any idea what to do with a handful of LF353?! 
Also found a LM4250 I bought to repair a stingray preamp but didn't need, and a MN3207 BB chip! 

[bobbass4k]

11 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

just had a tidy up. It's amazing the selection of random ICs I've collected. Any idea what to do with a handful of LF353?! 
Also found a LM4250 I bought to repair a stingray preamp but didn't need, and a MN3207 BB chip! 

They're good general purpose dual opamps, next time you need a tl072 or a 4558, pop an lf353 in. 4250 might be an interesting choice for a rat circuit.

[Badscrew]

4250 can have a very low quiescent current (in microamps range) - might be interesting for something running on batteries or even on super capacitors.

[tauzero]

14 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

just had a tidy up. It's amazing the selection of random ICs I've collected. Any idea what to do with a handful of LF353?! 
Also found a LM4250 I bought to repair a stingray preamp but didn't need, and a MN3207 BB chip! 

 

I thought I'd seen MN3207 mentioned recently in some kit I looked at, but it was MN3007. However, either can be used in https://aionfx.com/project/azure-analog-chorus/ . Another one for the MN3207: https://aionfx.com/project/blueshift-spatial-chorus/ (100 resistors, 65 capacitors!) And https://aionfx.com/project/xenotron-modulation-machine/

[LukeFRC]

2 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I thought I'd seen MN3207 mentioned recently in some kit I looked at, but it was MN3007. However, either can be used in https://aionfx.com/project/azure-analog-chorus/ . Another one for the MN3207: https://aionfx.com/project/blueshift-spatial-chorus/ (100 resistors, 65 capacitors!) And https://aionfx.com/project/xenotron-modulation-machine/

I think if we get up to 100 resistors and 65 capacitors you have to be considering the TC electronics £40 version of that - with the added benefit of not being my shoddy soldering!!  

Edited July 17, 2023 by LukeFRC

[Badscrew]

3 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I think if we get up to 100 resistors and 65 capacitors you have to be considering the TC electronics £40 version of that - with the added benefit of not being my shoddy soldering!!  

Yes but if the TC was « hand wired », it would be over 500 😆

[LukeFRC]

9 minutes ago, Badscrew said:

Yes but if the TC was « hand wired », it would be over 500 😆

It’s actually quite interesting how you see more and more “boutique” manufacturers moving towards SMD construction 

[Passinwind]

21 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

just had a tidy up. It's amazing the selection of random ICs I've collected. Any idea what to do with a handful of LF353?! 

Use them pretty much anywhere a generic FET dual opamp like TL072 is called.

[Badscrew]

36 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

It’s actually quite interesting how you see more and more “boutique” manufacturers moving towards SMD construction 

Well, it's cheaper to make and has no negative impacts on "tone"

[Passinwind]

9 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

It’s actually quite interesting how you see more and more “boutique” manufacturers moving towards SMD construction 

It can radically cut job shop assembly time and costs these days, even in pretty small build quantities. And most of my favorite opamps are SMD-only, which played a big part in my moving to more and more SMD parts in my DIY builds starting several years ago.

[LukeFRC]

Partly as a “I should try this” I designed and ordered some pcbs last year for a project. 10pcb cost as much delivered as a pint in a city.

learnt a lot, made the mistakes etc but it was interesting even at low order numbers how cost effective getting the boards populated were- it made me wonder about squeezing some projects into 1590a size enclosures 

 

the main downside would be a minimum order number of 10 I think which would cause a whole heap of problems.

[Badscrew]

15 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Partly as a “I should try this” I designed and ordered some pcbs last year for a project. 10pcb cost as much delivered as a pint in a city.

learnt a lot, made the mistakes etc but it was interesting even at low order numbers how cost effective getting the boards populated were- it made me wonder about squeezing some projects into 1590a size enclosures 

 

the main downside would be a minimum order number of 10 I think which would cause a whole heap of problems.

 Not all of them require min order of 10 though

[LukeFRC]

2 hours ago, Badscrew said:

 Not all of them require min order of 10 though

I think the ideal from a cost basis would be to breadboard and test a circuit, work on ways to improve or edit it- then make a small batch for friends/selling - I’m a graphic designer so the fun of packaging and coming up with a look would be fun too.

Issue would be coming up with something original enough to make worth doing 

[Badscrew]

24 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

I think the ideal from a cost basis would be to breadboard and test a circuit, work on ways to improve or edit it- then make a small batch for friends/selling - I’m a graphic designer so the fun of packaging and coming up with a look would be fun too.

Issue would be coming up with something original enough to make worth doing 

100% agree

[LukeFRC]

Anyone want to share postage costs on anything from aionfx? 

[tauzero]

I'm feeling tempted by the Xenotron Modulation Machine, which is even more ambitious than the L4.

[tauzero]

On second thoughts - over 450 solder joints. I've got a better chance of being the next man to set foot on the Moon than make 450 faultless solder joints.

[paul_5]

16 minutes ago, tauzero said:

On second thoughts - over 450 solder joints. I've got a better chance of being the next man to set foot on the Moon than make 450 faultless solder joints.

It's not as bad as you think - get the right solder (rosin core) and a clean iron set to the right temperature and once you've got one done the ret should follow suit.

[tauzero]

10 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

It's not as bad as you think - get the right solder (rosin core) and a clean iron set to the right temperature and once you've got one done the ret should follow suit.

 

I've just managed to solder up a 30cm jack to jack lead and finish up with there being a resistance of 7k between tip and sleeve, so you need to revise your estimate of my soldering ability downwards.

[LukeFRC]

12 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

Anyone want to share postage costs on anything from aionfx? 

Just found musikding will have what I’m after at some point - which saves on postage 

[LukeFRC]

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

I'm feeling tempted by the Xenotron Modulation Machine, which is even more ambitious than the L4.

Quite! Fair play to you if you attempt it!  

[bartelby]

7 hours ago, tauzero said:

On second thoughts - over 450 solder joints. I've got a better chance of being the next man to set foot on the Moon than make 450 faultless solder joints.

 

It's all through hole. A total doddle.

[bobbass4k]

I've got a xenotron and an L4 PCB, just waiting for all the parts to arrive. I'll let you all know how it goes...

[LukeFRC]

38 minutes ago, bobbass4k said:

I've got a xenotron and an L4 PCB, just waiting for all the parts to arrive. I'll let you all know how it goes...

did you order direct? I got put off by the postage!  

[bloke_zero]

9 hours ago, tauzero said:

On second thoughts - over 450 solder joints. I've got a better chance of being the next man to set foot on the Moon than make 450 faultless solder joints.

Check this out though? : https://aionfx.com/app/files/ibom/xenotron.html

 

Interactive BOM checker! I'm tempted now just for that alone! I built a copy of their meatball pedal (not from aion) and it's an amazing creation. Not something I'd use live as it's so sensitive to playing/knob position, but wildly fun in the studio.