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I'm about to start having a go at building some pedals, I have a soldering iron, stand, solder and a pump thingy to suck used solder but I was just wondering what other useful must haves the pedal building chaps on here would suggest having. Any suggestions appreciated, suggestions of any actual products (from UK retailers that either have actual shops or will ship via Royal Mail) even more appreciated.

P.S. I'm aware of the post Johno made a while ago for a soldering set but unfortunately the retailer will only send via courier (which would create a world of pain for me) and they don't actually sell them in any of their actual shops.

some nice side cutters like these glittery mother fuckers!

Awesome, where can I get some? I think it's important to make an effort to look the part with some glamorous accessories when soldering.

johnnyseven wrote:Awesome, where can I get some? I think it's important to make an effort to look the part with some glamorous accessories when soldering.

any DIY or Maplins style place really, don't buy the cheapest ones cause the blades will go wonky within seconds of snipping anything.

You might wanna buy a table clipping little vice or clamp too.

wwrrss wrote:You might wanna buy a table clipping little vice or clamp too.

I don't really know what you mean, can you give me an example?

Some bits I thought were useful

HSS drill bits up to 12mm and a rasp/file to do some tweaking for the boxes. Make sure your chuck in your drill can take the larger bits, I had to get an adapter for mine as it only went up to 10mm

multimeter for testing

insulation tape

long nosed pliers

Some croc clips as heat sinks

headtorch to look like a geek, especially if your get the ones Orbital wear

Nice angle-poise lamp.

Bitsbox or Maplins do a helping hands. You'll need one of them.

Wire cutters (small)
Needle-nose pliers
Proper pliers for jacks, stomper.

£10 multimeter from Maplin.
Antex 30w soldering iron. I didn't use a solder station for a year and a half. Maplins sell these.
Sponge to clean the tip.

Desoldering braid. Is a solder-sucker necessary for pedal work?

johnnyseven wrote:

wwrrss wrote:You might wanna buy a table clipping little vice or clamp too.

I don't really know what you mean, can you give me an example?

I think he might mean "helping hands" like these:



Something like this could definitely be useful.

Here's my desk.

Thanks chaps, that's a great help. NOt going to get drill bits yet though as i'm going to build some GGG kits first and their enclosures are already drilled. I don't think a solder sucker would be good for pedals so i'll get some braid. That helping hands thing looks useful too.

helping hands is a must in my book

Why wouldn't a solder sucker be useful for pedals? I think it would be useful anytime you mess up and need to remove some solder.

Solder Suckers are pretty toss to deal with. On small amounts of solder braid is your friend.

Better still; not fucking up in the first place is a winner.

Tim has this pretty much covered, if you're going to use PCBs you don't need the Veroboard essentials:

- Steel Ruler
- Stanley Knife
- Spot Nosed Cutter

I would add Large Wire Cutters as useful in snapping off the citing nubs on Pots.
Wire Strippers - those ones with multiple size thingies.
Screwdrivers (Normal Phillips and Precision Flat).




Other crap I use (I'll take some photos of my setup ala Tim tonight maybe):

- Small pot to take wire snips and extra bits of component lead
- Self adhesive pads/PCB standoffs for mounting boards
- Insulation Tape
- Heatshrink tubing for lead dressing

Can all this stuff be bought from your friendly neighbourhood electronics retailer i.e. Maplin?

Why are you so adverse to ordering online? Maplin is overpriced and shit.

There's a list of good resources in the Guitar Resources forum.

I would place bitsbox, rapid and farnell far above fukcing Maplin.

I'm not adverse to shopping online, it's just some retailers insist on only using couriers to deliver which will only deliver 9-5, monday to friday which is precisely the times at which i'm never at home. Also if I ask them to deliver to work I don't trust that they'll actually arrive to me as I work in a building with about 3000 other people. If online retailers can deliver via Royal Mail i'm more than happy to use them as I can collect from the local delivery office if nobody's in when the postman comes, couriers usually have depots miles away.

Anyway, thanks for those suggections Mike - i'll have a look into them.

The reason why I asked about Maplin is that I work in central London and there are a load of Maplin stores nearby, therefore it's pretty handy to go in and pick stuff up. I didn't realise they weren't particularly highly regarded.

Just get stuff delivered to work, I'm sure your worries are completely unfounded.

i feel i need to speak up here a little with my own personal experience with this shit.

DON'T EVERR BUY ONE OF THESE FUCKING PIECES OF SHIT, THEY SUCK DEEZE NUTS



instead take the time to teach your self how to use a pair of wire cutters like these to strip wire properly.

Those ones above are poor, but I have a set I have had since university which are great.

the size stuff is the other side of the hinge, for some reason that's a lot better.

Where the hell do you find veroboard or stripboard?


I seriously haven't been able to find any in the states. I could find one person on ebay but they're from Canada, so the price will be too high.