Build Your Own Clone Message Board

hello beginner diy-ers. i was thinking the other day that there are a couple tools i use for "building my own" that are almost never mentioned. i thought i would take a few minutes to share.

this is my list (and description) of tools that are not often discussed, that i feel are extremely helpful when building. i'll start with the more obvious stuff and more forward from there:

pliers. no duh, right? specifically at least two types of pliers, each always within reach: needle nose pliers (for grabbing), and cutting pliers (for cutting the leads on the circuitboard)



wire strippers


forcepts. such an invaluable tool. it's like having an extra set of hands. you can get them from radio shack


razor blade/ box cutter blade. i use this EVERY time i build


a set of mini screwdrivers.


small file. i also use this ALL the time, whether to file down... anything, or to just probe around or move wires around.


a good set of metric wrenches. toggle switches are 8, pots are 10, jacks are 13, footswitch is 14, dc jack is 15.


those little black plastic LED holders. SO usefull!


bumper feet. i strictly use velcro on my pedal board. so why bumper feet? why do i stock up on these guys? because they are great. small, sticky, plastic, non-conductive. i use them to keep the battery from rattlling, use them to keep the circuit board from shorting out... i use them ALL THE TIME!


zip ties. tie wraps. whatever you call them. make builds looks super clean!


sockets. whenever i have mod options and i can decide, i break off a small section of a socket, and solder that on there, so i can swap parts on a whim.


NEW ADDITION:

hot glue gun. borrowed one from my mom yesterday. found it IMENSELY usefull.

i'd like to add one of my most used "outsider" tools: nail clippers.

they are extremely helpful in tight spaces and are smaller than normal wire cutters. very inexpensive and easy to find as well.

Fuzzdawg,

Do you use the sockets shown in the picture for your makeshift sockets or the onse with machined pins? If you use the ones shown, what is the best way to cut them down?

I have a pair of wire cutters/strippers from radio shack I really like. One side is a nice small set of angled cutters. You then flip the handle 360 degrees, and it’s wire strippers. Very handy tool.

your mom is martha stewart??


sorry...i couldn't resist.

what's the glue gun good for? just curious.

Rip Shack is one of those last ditch places to find substandard junk, but now and then they have little gems. Check out these wire strippers. I have had mine for several years and they have withstood constant use and my blatant abuse.

They work great if you take the time to set them up properly and use them within their capabilities.



Linkage to product page in case the image doesn't show up.

Kronus Heavy-Duty Automatic Wire Stripper/Cutter Model: 64-2982


Barry

Did anyone mention a magnifying glass? I have a huge lighted one attached to the workbench so you can easily examine boards, solder joints and markings on teeny components. Any smaller cheap hand-held one would be equally as useful.


Barry

i should use the ones from small bear that are designed for SIP stuff, but unfortunetely, what i usually have is like shown above. i usually use some pliers to cut them up to the required sizes.

well, i was building (or rebuilding) an AB box with build in signal buffer. i has some problems, though. i had accidently drilled the LED holes too big, the circuitboard for the buffer was free-floatin, and while wiring the footswitch part of the insulation on one of the wires going to the footswitch melted a little much and i was worried about it shorting out against the enclosure. i used the glue gun to make sure the LED's stayed in place, to tack down the circuitboarb, and to insulate the exposed wire on the circuitboard. i know someone (stephen, i think) uses hot glue to insulate the range switch on his wah.

These list around $40, Harbor Freight has them for a little over half that & I got mine on sale there last year for something like $15. It's the single most used tool I have for effect building. I use it more than my soldering gun.

I even plan on DIY-ing this thing by replacing the pre-focused light bulbs with high intensity white LEDs. Not only will the LEDs last forever, but batteries will as well if they're only powering LEDs.

Cheers,
- JJ

i like this thread. i'm glad i started it. here's some more!

a unibit/ stepdrill. if you do any switchable mods, that means you will need to drill. that means you need a wide range of drill bit sizes... or one unibit.


common hole sizes:
led: 3/16"
little black LED holder (pictured above): 1/4"
toggle switches: 1/4"
potentiometer: 5/16"
input/output jacks: 3/8"
DC jack: 1/2"
3pdt stompswitch: 1/2"

all those sizes are included in the unibit!


also, a dremel or other rotary tool. can be used for almost anything. drilling, sanding, polishing, cutting, etc. especially usefull for "scuffing up the back of pots" when wiring guitars. get yourself one of them kits that come with lots of attachments.

This is good to know. I just ordered a socket value pack from futurlec, and though there were lots of 8, 14, and 16 pin sockets, there were also some other larger sizes that I thought I wouldn't be able to use. If it's possible to successfully break these down as random sockets, then I just won the socket lottery.

I use this set here because if you have tried using the long thin bit to drill a jack hole on a small thin enclosure, its too long to get the right hole. This short fat one lets me get the right size hole on a small enclosure.

A tackle box

I use one to store all my soldering stuff -- iron, holder, sponge, multimeter, wire cutter, wire stripper, wire, blank perfboard, 2 spools of solder, a knife, de-soldering braid, and more.
And that's in a little one, big ones have those removable trays you could store component parts in.

ha! i use a tackle box, too!

Great minds think alike.

greetings! i'm new, just got my first kits, and am excited about getting into this. i'm going out to buy tools this weekend and am curious... can you elaborate on exactly how you use the zip ties, and how they help "keep the build clean"?

thanks!

The zip ties are used for holding bunches of wires together. For example, the wiring to the DC jack which has a long way to travel in the enclosure, or the wiring to the pots. Even a fairly good wiring job will still look like a rat's nest unless you either zip tie wires together, or use the solid core stuff that you can route like plumbing.

check out this thread for an example of the zip tied neatness.

thanks! i had a feeling it was something to that effect. i can't wait to get started!

Amen to that. I just did my first ever build yesterday morning. It was a 250. The hardest part of the whole thing was trying to read the tiny, faint text on the green caps and focusing on the resistor stripes. I finally gave up and double-checked everything with my meter before soldering. Better light and magnification would be great.

I check components on a meter where practical anyway. The labels are not always accurate, at least for that one time that the build messes up.


Barry

small clip-on heat sink to protect delicate components while soldering

:: Update ::
The new fall catalog from Harbor Freight has these on sale for only $2.99!
The light bulbs cost more than that!
I might get another just because ...

Cheers,
- JJ

Hi,

my addition is similar to the unibit already submitted. Called a 'cone cutter' here in the UK. It is a cone shaped drill used to enlarge holes out to your required size. They are available in a variety of sizes which means that they are shorter than the unibit as shown and a bit more wieldly, very useful for tackling the number of different size holes needed in construction.

Also very usefull to me is a little stand I have that has adjustable metal arms with croc clips on the end. Held in a vice it provides a very useful 'third hand'. Came in a cheapy soldering set from Woolworths.

Cheers

Kaycee