Guitar Distortion Fuzz Overdrive Pedal with 50 diodes!

 Guitar Distortion Fuzz Overdrive Pedal with 50 diodes!

Ordinary guitar distortion pedals usually have 0, 1 or 2 diodes. Some have 3. I've started making one with 50 diodes attached to 5 knobs. Each knob will have 10 diodes + 1 off/bypass setting.

They are 11 position, 1 pole, 1 deck rotary switches.

Knobs 1, 2 and 3 will have identical sets of 10 different diodes. 

Knobs 4 and 5 will have identical sets of 10 different diodes that weren't of the type used before.

That yields 50 diodes--that are 20 different types.

This allows for:

Matched pairs on 1 and 2. 

Matched pairs with asymmetrical stacking on 1, 2 and 3. 1 diode on one side, and 2 diodes on the other side.

Matched pairs on 4 and 5. Asymmetrical stacking with non-matching on 1, 2 and 4 or 5.

Smoothing using 4 and or 5 added to 1 and 2 and/or 3.

Here's the diodes wired up. Knobs 1 and 4 have the diodes going one way, 2, 3 and 5 have them going the other way. Diodes need to be opposing in the circuit so they clip the top and bottom of the signal--this is what creates distortion/overdrive/fuzz.

Opposing diodes:

Temporary schematic:

I will be adding a tone knob section (bass/treble) and possibly a selector switch which will short the knobs (diodes) directly to the ground wire which will yield a harder clipping to the voltage through the diodes--more a heavy metal tone vs blues and rock. 

Also, going with a 9 pin footswitch instead of 6 pin: that will make wiring easier. In the schematic I'm not liking the current setup for the footswitch (possibly should swap to top wires on right side around). 

My greatest issue with circuits: potentiometers (aka volume knobs). Sometimes they are used as voltage dividers/potentiometers--but sometimes as variable trimmer resistors (2 wires vs 3 wires). Here they're being used "properly" with 3 wires. 

This is a work in progress ~June 2024!

 

More watchmaking

 

Barrel making on the Taig Lathe:

Double barrel (two) springs needed:

Jewels needed:

P.P. Thornton gear cutters needed:

Knurling tool I adapted to my small lathe:

Watch Barrel Covers

 Starting 2024 by making two barrel covers for twin barrel pocket watch.

21.8mm diameter with a 5mm diameter hub that is 0.5mm tall:

Taig lathe knurling tool conversion

I turned a larger, cheap $25 clamp-style 2" knurling tool into a rear mount knurler for my Taig Microlathe 2.

Cut the bottom of the "T" so it doesn't bang into the motor as the carriage approaches the headstock.

Mill or grind the bottom of the T's left/right cross bar so it slides farther into a Taig tool post. This also let's it fit more easily into the tool post.

Grind the end of the left side of the cross bar so it doesn't stick out farther than the bottom of the tool post.

Mount this behind the work piece, like you do with a rear cutoff tool. 

Mount the tool post so the little square nut just barely is in the t-slot of the carriage.

Tighten the 2 bolts that hold the fingers, this will reduce side wobble of the knurler wheels. 

Pinch the arms onto the work piece and tighten the top knob. Then tighten it some more.

Go slowest speed. 

Easy Schmitt Square Wave Oscillator

The capacitor and pin 7 go to ground.

Put oscilloscope probe near pin 2.

Capacitor is ceramic 100nF (0.1uF).

Resistor is 100K ohms.

Voltage is 2.5vDC.

Here it is running: 

Cardioid curve heart-shaped push latch

This is a Cardioid Curve Latch I made for Valentine's Day.

I made this Cardioid curve push push latch with my new milling machine and drill press. The straightaway is lower than the diagonal path so the pointer can't go up the diagonal, only down it on the return.

Scrap aluminum, wd-40 as cutting fluid. Little Machine Shop manual mill.

Angles milled by just turning the rotating base machine vise and locking it down again for each angle. 

I saw This Old Tony make a similar one (though he used a CNC machine) and figured if I changed the return curve to a properly angled diagonal I could make it with my manual mill.

Cardioid = heart-shaped

I was avoiding a cardio workout from shoveling snow.

Happy Valentine's Day 2022!

Airplane Tracking with Scanner and App

 

·         I hit the superfecta of plane watching:

 

First, I saw an airplane on a free phone app (FlightRadar24) that was headed just over my house in Dearborn Heights:

 

 

 

 

Second, I had visual contact with the actual plane (yes, this is a photo I took):

 

 

 

 

 

Third, I heard on my scanner the pilot calling in his arrival to the tower--and fourth, I heard the tower respond with the landing strip he should use (all on 118.4):