all night long...

[echodeluxe]

thanks guys!!!

 

check out the website for info on them:

 

wattson-fx.com

 

i slept for an hour and a hlaf after building all of those, then went to rehearsal for 5 hours.

 

{censored}.

[jorhay1]

well done!

[echodeluxe]

no U

[echodeluxe]

AHEM

 

http://wattson-fx.com/forum/index.php

[amp_surgeon]

Ok, reality check time...

Three of those pedals were already built, but needed the C12 cap changed. The other five already had PCB's stuffed, but were waiting for test. It would be misleading to say that we cranked out 8 pedals in one overnight shift because, the truth is, we can't build them that fast yet. Echo worked his butt off in that overnight pedal fest, but even Superman couldn't have built 8 of these pedals that fast.

With our current production processes, it takes a little over two man-hours to finish a single pedal. This includes hand-stuffing and soldering the PCB, testing the PCB against a rigid performance specification, mounting the PCB and other parts in the chassis, wiring up the chassis, testing the finished circuit against another rigid performance specification, bolting the chassis closed, and finally testing with a guitar and amp. The PCB's and chassis also have to be serialized by hand. Every step has to be recorded in a log.

In addition, our current batch of chassis boxes need some additional work before we can stuff parts into them. The interior surface where the pots mount wasn't masked before painting, so the paint has to be removed with a Dremel in order to ensure that the pot cans and chassis are properly grounded. It's also common for one or more of the holes in the lid to not quite line up with the PEM nuts in the bottom chassis, so these holes have to be elongated with a Dremel. We'll have these fixed with the next batch of enclosures we get from the sheet metal shop, but it's currently adding another 20 minutes to the build time for each pedal.

After the first batch of pedals is finished, we'll have a couple of weeks before we'll be resupplied for the next batch. Echo and I are going to use this time to try to improve our build process. We need to get our capacity up to 20 pedals per 8-hour shift without adding any more manpower. Until we can do that we won't be able to sell them wholesale, and we've got distributors waiting...

Building pedals is fun, but dealing with these details sucks some of the fun out of it. The real gratification comes when you see someone jack into one of our pedals and plays that first chord, and then grins from ear to ear!