Yeah, but a 2mm will also fit of course. I meant that what’s really important is that the transistors have to be screwed tight against the base. Now looking at Led Zebra’s photo I see that he placed a bigger washer on the front side of the chassis. That’s all just fine imo.

Elrondo wrote:

Mischa wrote:

Yeah, but a 2mm will also fit of course. I meant that what’s really important is that the transistors have to be screwed tight against the base. Now looking at Led Zebra’s photo I see that he placed a bigger washer on the front side of the chassis. That’s all just fine imo.

Yeah

I hope i can start tolexing my housing tomorrow. "You shouldn't do things like that. It's sunday" i bet i can hear me wife telling me that

Haha! Nothing wrong with a good sniff of glue on a Sunday!

Led_Zebra wrote:

for clarity sake; i did not take that picture. all credit to SurfHusker. what i did was draw in the light blue box, arrow, and question mark.

to put in caveman terms; i will be making a circuit board "sandwich". the bolt, nut, and washer will tighten and hold the circuit board against the tool box top. the transistors will be in direct contact with the red tool box (blue tape will be removed prior).

as silly as this sounds, i wish the directions stated something like that. when i look at build pics all i see is the circuit board "floating" and i never know how exactly that happens. i can tell there is some distance between the board and the chassis because the wires have clearance. i've never built a pedal before so i don't have the experience of mounting circuit boards. i've wired strats/pickguards the hardware is all there. also built PCs but the circuit boards all fit snug and are designed to do so.

i need a bolt between 2mm and 3mm. the directions say drill a "2.5mm" hole. 3/32 seems like a good place to start. i just need my drill bit to match my bolt/nut.

Ha, that explains a lot. The cavity is somewhat like 1 cm. or so between the chassis and the base. This happens automatically when you attach the chassis to the base since the transistors stick out a bit. This is on purpose to make sure they make contact to the base. I would not worry to much. Take your time. If you are going to use a screw and bolt and they are 2mm for example, just drill a hole that is slightly bigger than 2 mm. Measure twice if it is the right spot, you want to avoid that parts will not fit after you drilled the hole. Aluminum is very forgiving material so if the hole is a bit too small just screw in the screw slowly and you will find that the screw finds it way through the aluminum, this is good since it will give extra firmness to your construction. Hook the chassis in there, place the washer and bolt and tighten it up, not too loose and not too tight. I’m sure you can do it!

Question. Which of these is right for wiring the reverb and tremolo together, so it can use a 1/4 inch jack footswitch? Or are the both wrong? I would like to try and do it right the fist time.

Thanks!

Last edited: Jun 09, 2018 17:13:26

Elrondo wrote:

futilitarian wrote:

Question. Which of these is right for wiring the reverb and tremolo together, so it can use a 1/4 inch jack footswitch? Or are the both wrong? I would like to try and do it right the fist time.

Thanks!

I don't know if they interfere to each other using a mono jack. I would use a stereo jack and a 2 switch foot switch. Using common ground/shield and 1 cable for rev and 1 for trem.
If you look at the pic of your footswitch it's got a stereo plug to it.
Edit:
If you like i can do a little drawing how to wire a stereo jack

Last edited: Jun 09, 2018 17:33:41

futilitarian wrote:

Thanks Elrondo. I was trying to use some stuff I already have.

At a closer look it seems to me the jack could be stereo. I see 3 solder pins. So one has to be ground, one the tip and one the part behind the tip.
Ground of the 2 boards go to ground of the jack. Tip and the other to each hots of the boards.

Dang it's hard to describe technical contents in a foreign language...lol

Last edited: Jun 09, 2018 17:43:21

Led_Zebra wrote:

Please help!

i need some chassis/hardware help. i've got the surfy bear and the red 17 inch tool box from harbor freight. i do not like the mounting screw included with the kit.

what size screw can i substitute? do you guys use risers? how do i get some tiny space between the circuit board and the tool box? what size washer? do you use a lock washer? what size drill bits are used/common for this kit?

any hardware help would be great!

i hope to have it look like this.

Hi, Led_Zebra!

I drilled a hole in the top of my toolbox with a 1/8" drill bit and used a 1/8" screw to mount the motherboard. I poked a hole in the tape between the transistors and ran the screw through there.

Hope that helps.

Led_Zebra wrote:

or per SurfHusker i could just bypass the foil removal and punch through.

IMO the instruction manual is not clear (enough) on this part.

The white double sided tape is not just ordinary tape even though the manual only speaks about 'isolation from ground'

It is 'heatsink tape', an alternative to thermal paste or grease.
Even though in this case it also isolates the MOSFETS from ground, another important purpose is to transfer heat to a metal surface. At least that's how I read Björns earlier replies in this thread

If you leave the blue foil on, that might impact the heat transfer in a negative way.

Last edited: Jun 15, 2018 10:05:56

Hey Björn, that would be a good idea and it would remove some confusion.
I guess the two most important things in the instruction are: correct polarity and proper cooling.
All the rest isn't detrimental if you mess up.
Avoiding the use of synonyms can help:
"Remove the protection foil from the isolation pad. Important: this tape isolates the MOSFETs from the chassis (ground)"
foil, tape, pad

For example:
"Remove the blue foil from the white double sided tape. Important: this tape conducts the heat from the MOSFETS to a metal chassis which serves as a large heatsink. This tape also electrically isolates the MOSFETs from directly touching the chassis (ground) to prevent a short circuit."

"Drill a 2.5mm hole in the chassis and screw the board to the chassis. Make sure the white double sided tape is in contact with the chassis."

I put a Surfy reverb unit together! So far, I got it going yesterday, the sound is really nice. It's not as aggressive as I thought it might be, it's a very usable sound and the tone is sweet.

I am a lo-fi in the tool department. I built a pine box with dovetail joints. It's 100% hand cut. Using a $10 japan flush-cut saw, a chisel, a cheap drill, and a rough hand file. I cut a brass face-plate with a coping saw. Also I used a hack saw to cut the metal chassis box from scrap.

I put the MOD "B" tank in there (looking for darker sound) since I also play an esquire.