BYOC large beaver rams head need some help

[Zzombie]

So first things first i may have put alittle to much soilder on one leg of a diode and it might be touching the diode next to it should i cut between the legs with a razor to separate the soilder or will i be okay? All the resistors went in easily (i lost or it didnt come with a 1k resistor) now when it comes to the capacitors im lost the picture says add metal film capacitors but the instructions list says to add the other ones so im a bit confused. If you have previously made one of these please help me out again im building a rams spec.

Thanks for the help!

[crochambeau]

Is it safe for me to assume you have limited tools (ie: no multimeter, solder sucker, etc)? Measure twice, cut once.

Barring that:

Whenever I run into a potential solder bridge between pads I usually reach for heat as the first quick fix... I'll clean my (heated and ready) tip, and then drag it through the problem area.. solder more or less follows heat, and unless there's a lot of solder there this will clean up the problem quickly. If you have WAY too much solder there, you'll fortify the bridge, but repeat passes will eventually split a trench, after which it's best to leave it alone. Avoid this method with heat sensitive stuff (like Ge diodes).

No idea regarding your specific build questions, I'd guess absolute value is more important than cap composition, but period correct tone freaks like to tar and feather people like me, so.. good luck!

[Zzombie]

Thanks for the reply i ended up using that method and i think im fine, but today caused a new problem! I put a bc2399 in the wrong way managed to get it out but not the solider so i been sucking at it all morning with some luck, i think im at the point where i have to break out the dremel and drill out the small holes. Any other advice would be great but its just not looking like my skills on the solider sucker are as good as my drilling skills.

[crochambeau]

Do you have a solder sucker or solder wick?

The sucker works best when you're willing to risk melting the tip, tin your iron (yeah, I'm instructing you to ADD more solder) and bring it into contact with the pad with one hand, and have the solder sucker ready with the other. Once you see the solder transition into flow state SUCK THAT SHIT UP, don't bother with putting your iron away first.

If you have wick, it's more complicated. Remove what you can topically (don't add solder for the thermal conductivity, flux works better with wick) then I like to grab a cut leg with needle nose pliers and heat THAT up to punch through the material suspended inside the via/hole at the pad. I have friends that swear by wick, I think it's a PITA.

Either of those methods is VASTLY more responsible than what I used to do, which was heat up the point that needed cleaning with a straw in my mouth and blow that conductive mess all over the place once the material flowed. Seriously, the solder sucker is your best bet.

Use mechanical removal as your last ditch effort, since a lot of the time those pads double as connection points between front and back planes of the PCB..

[KaosCill8r]

Thanks for the reply i ended up using that method and i think im fine, but today caused a new problem! I put a bc2399 in the wrong way managed to get it out but not the solider so i been sucking at it all morning with some luck, i think im at the point where i have to break out the dremel and drill out the small holes. Any other advice would be great but its just not looking like my skills on the solider sucker are as good as my drilling skills.

Some holes I find just don't want to clear with the solder sucker. I made a great tool for clearing PCB holes. I bored a small hole through the centre of a piece of dowel the same diameter as a sewing needle. Don't drill all the way through. You want the needle in there but not enough to come through the other end. The dowel becomes the handle so you don't burn your fingers. Use the soldering iron to heat the tip of the needle then place the tip on the blocked hole. Keep heating the the needle while applying downward pressure. Eventually the solder blocking the hole will will melt and give way. The needle will then poke through the hole. Then pull the needle back out with some pliers and the hole will be clear enough to reinsert the components or wire.
Does that make sense?
Good luck with your Rams Head build. They are my favourite Muff circuit also.
One more thing though, did you get any spare bc239 transistors? The amount of heat you usually have to use to remove components can damage them. Especially transistors and diodes. Get yourself some heat sink clamps. Or make your own. I use small alligator clips with a coil of heavy gauge wire attached. Works well and cheap.

[crochambeau]

Some holes I find just don't want to clear with the solder sucker. I made a great tool for clearing PCB holes. I bored a small hole through the centre of a piece of dowel the same diameter as a sewing needle. Don't drill all the way through. You want the needle in there but not enough to come through the other end. The dowel becomes the handle so you don't burn your fingers. Use the soldering iron to heat the tip of the needle then place the tip on the blocked hole. Keep heating the the needle while applying downward pressure. Eventually the solder blocking the hole will will melt and give way. The needle will then poke through the hole. Then pull the needle back out with some pliers and the hole will be clear enough to reinsert the components or wire.

Holy shit! A dowel handle. That's nice and elegant - probably much easier to manipulate than the needle nosed pliers I have been using for this type of fix. Thank you for the tool idea!

[KaosCill8r]

Some holes I find just don't want to clear with the solder sucker. I made a great tool for clearing PCB holes. I bored a small hole through the centre of a piece of dowel the same diameter as a sewing needle. Don't drill all the way through. You want the needle in there but not enough to come through the other end. The dowel becomes the handle so you don't burn your fingers. Use the soldering iron to heat the tip of the needle then place the tip on the blocked hole. Keep heating the the needle while applying downward pressure. Eventually the solder blocking the hole will will melt and give way. The needle will then poke through the hole. Then pull the needle back out with some pliers and the hole will be clear enough to reinsert the components or wire.

Holy shit! A dowel handle. That's nice and elegant - probably much easier to manipulate than the needle nosed pliers I have been using for this type of fix. Thank you for the tool idea!

No worries mate. We are all in this to build the best pedals we can, so any ideas to help with that goal is up for grabs as far as I'm concerned. Sharing is caring. No building secrets with me.
And yeah the stress of using needle nosed pliers to hold the needle made me think up that one. Way to cumbersome and no control whatsoever.

[Zzombie]

I managed to get the tracks separated, have not done much since i soldered in a bc2399 backwards. Did just get my dremel and bits from other house so tomorrow hopefully i will drill it out and start over. So far everything was pretty easy besides me not paying attention to one bc2399.

[crochambeau]

Unless you devastate the transistor during pull I wouldn't write it off as dead. One of my favorite things to do during design stage is socketing a variety of transistors every which way, for kicks... it's actually quite surprising the abuse they tolerate at standard effect voltages (so long as there's a little current limiting anyway).

[Zzombie]

Im more worried about the silver tracks from having to drill them out i think the transistor is fine i had plenty of length to cut it out and resolider it in, but we will find out soon enough.

[Zzombie]

So i managed to find a small enough dremel bit to fix my problem i think it will be my new go to in this situation. If anyone gets tired of solder sucking just buy a dremel, it fixed it in like 10 secons vs all afternoon trying to solder suck without melting anything. Hope to get some pictures of it finished with in a day or two.

[crochambeau]

Once you suck as much as I do it takes under 10 seconds on average, but, I suck enough I probably shouldn't be proud of the fact.

HAHAHA good to hear you got it sorted.

[Zzombie]

And the verdict is in, i messed up on the switch and its pretty bad dont think i will be able to save this one. Heading to the trash.

[KaosCill8r]

And the verdict is in, i messed up on the switch and its pretty bad dont think i will be able to save this one. Heading to the trash.

Nah dude, debug that fucker and get it working. Just put it on the shelf for a week and then have another go at it. You will learn heaps doing it. Remember it's only a switch and they are easy and cheap to replace.
Just don't give up bro.

[crochambeau]

Seriously, shelves are great for this sort of thing.

If the switch tests as bad, roundfile it; but don't chuck the entire circuit (if that's what you were saying) based on a small obstacle. You can twist some wires together so it's always on, it's a fucking Muff, right? They like that.