True confessions Unfinished gear admission thread , Bad Dog, bad !

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

okgb

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Messages
5,884
Location
Winnipeg Mb Canada
I got a problem , first step is admitting it right ? Or poke a little fun at one's self , starts like this
with a romantic notion  , That fat sounding neve eq would really compliment my overdriven tube gtr sound
How blissful I would be feeling like I'm playing  on my fav records . Better buy two kits for stereo because
that's even better , or for the becoming increasingly rare group buy , it may not happen again , even to speculate
I'd better jump in while I can , What ? they don't cash cheques , wash the dishes or play my gtr for me ?

my antidote , move it somehow , build it & use or sell it but try not to sit on it 
[ checking out my B.M. thread reveals some of my unfinished demons ! ]

What are your rationals for keeping things ?

I have to wait to do a mass order of parts ?

I might need the different preamp colors for different styles

I like the distraction of not getting things done

I'm too important & busy so don't have the time



 
I'm glad you brought this thread back in new form.  Ain't entropy grand?

For most people it's more fun to start than to finish. 

If I spend time making a list, it'll waste time I should be using to finish!
 
I have worked really hard over the last few months to finish a number of projects that have been sitting around.  I must say it felt really good getting caught up.  Now I am starting more projects.  I'm gonna do the best I can to finish what I start.
 
2832105_o.gif
 
Code:
If I spend time making a list, it'll waste time I should be using to finish!

Yeah , another mind trap !
no less valid  though , I've been putting together kits  or custom stuff for other people
[ making money ] and that burns me out a little for my own stuff ,
Pick the resister , measure the resister , find the spot for the resister , bend the leads
insert & solder x 100's
 
god, for me it's all the stuff AROUND building that turns me off.

Okay, plug in the soldering iron. Dammit, new puppy ate my sponge, oh, and my tip is worn out. Where are my wire clippers? I can't find a thing in all this clutter. You know what, I should clean up real quick, it'll be just a minute. (discover 3 more projects I forgot about, get caught up organizing my parts shelves) Wife calls me to do something. Waste 10 minutes with that. Now what the hell was I doing? Hey look, an old transformer. I don't remember what it's for. Let's measure the turns ratio! YAY! Okay, seriously, what was I doing?

This is how I live my life... :(
 
I find finishing more fun than starting.

Just a few weeks ago I changed a lock/door knob on my laundry room that I misplaced my key to a long long long time ago... I bought a replacement lock set, and it was sitting around for years... Nice to check an old project off my to-do list.
=====

Of course now I have another new project... Trying to fix a battery charger for my 84 YO neighbor's battery powered chair.  Bad news is so far nothing simple. It has a couple t0-220 SCRs inside two cheap quad opamps (324?) for signal conditioning, and one micro controller, looks like a pic. with it's own 5V reg... Should be pretty simple and the PIC looks like it's running. LEDs are indicating, just not charging the battery properly, and saying low battery is charged.

No schematic always makes it a little more interesting to troubleshoot.

JR

[edit] Nailed it.... (I'm pretty sure) I now have the SCRs SCRing etc...  Really odd one. A 1/4W 820k resistor that is the pull up in the circuit that generates the ramp-saw tooth for the duty cycle comparator (1/4 324 opamp) that triggers the SCRs was completely open circuit.

I think maybe only once before in my decades of troubleshooting have I even seen a simple resistor fail completely open circuit that wasn't under any stress of any kind.  The closest replacement I had was a 910k in my old through hole protoyping parts bin, but that looks like it is close enough...  Right now I have it charging 3x 9V batteries in series on my bench, but they aren't even rechargeable so that could end badly.  ::)  Tomorrow I'll put it back together and try it on my neighbor's actual chair battery pack.  The SCRs were not well attached to their heat sink so I need to clean that up too. 

I hope it really is only this. Random resistor open circuits are not very common, but it's always something. [/edit]


 
I've mostly cleared the decks of my long running projects, but my story is more along the lines of

"I must not build more crazy combos out of so called 'leftover parts' "

My particular lunacy is that I hate having unused modules and parts left over from other builds.
So I think "I can just put that with this and add  him over there and .. and .. "

I end up with a really mad build which takes forever to get stable and working right.
And they wind up costing as much as a planned build!

Mind you, it's where I do a lot of my learning - mostly by noting the way NOT to do it.
None the less, the lessons stick and questions get asked and answered.

To be fair, only one is currently on the 'crapper pile' with one long standing denizen recently moved to the land of the living, after 12 months languishing in  shame ...

And the 5 or so done that way do get used quite a bit, even several years later not needing hardly any maintenance.
Mind you, my real talent in career engineering was that things would mysteriously work when  I was around (and not when I was gone!)

BUT - I do resolve, that AFTER the next 2 or so frankenbuilds, I WILL stop!

Serious.

Anyway, I only have a few more builds left on my list in total and they are all 'off the beaten track', but  not triple insanity!

Good news is I spend a lot more time using what I've built making my own music and I think I'm really starting to get it together. What with the computer and the editing and the playing and the mixing and the ARRANGING which is the hardest part.

Trying to focus on what I'm saying musically rather than the myriad of ways it can be said.

Hoping your 2013 will be GREAT as well as productive.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY

Alex
 
If you look at the last thread of this type I reckon my list would be a slimmed down version of the last list I posted.  All slowed down at least another 2 months because my right hand is in plaster after coming off my pushbike on the 27th Dec .............
 
I have to confess there has been worst years for me around DIY.
This year  was a bit difficult but i managed to assemble most of my projects.
Not completely finished but i almost there..only need racking... on most of them!

Anyway i hope we all enjoyed the 2012 doing diy.

Best wishes for 2013!
 
Hey J.R. , certainly with the manufacturing background , you must have good experience
in organizing a flow chart and managing delays ? Do you have a common check list  or
flow chart ?
 
okgb said:
Hey J.R. , certainly with the manufacturing background , you must have good experience
in organizing a flow chart and managing delays ? Do you have a common check list  or
flow chart ?
;D ;D ;D
DIY projects are not supposed to resemble work, while the lines can blur.

I've read books on the subject of project management and been tasked with high level responsibility inside a decent sized company.

For very complex tasks where it gets broken up into sub tasks performed by different groups, there is software that allows you to manage the dependencies between multiple tasks. I.E. the schematic must be finished before the PCB layout, parts purchased before assembly, etc. For a one man DIY project a lot of this is self organizing since you always have some work to do and it isn't that difficult to see the order they should follow. This project software is most helpful for managing numerous projects simultaneously, so workers in the bottom of the ship, can know what to work on first so everything comes together at the output end on time. These charts get managed say once a week so outliers can be identified and adjustments made.

I friend of mine does this for a living on construction projects. lots of sub-contractors that need to have their feet held to the fire to do what they say, when they promised, etc. Or else the building or highway is not finished on time. That said workers have been working on two interstate overpasses near me, for the last few years. Somehow I think the government is involved in that project. Maybe they are growing their own cement and rebar on location.  :eek:
-----

FWIW, the biggest source of delay when I was trying to manage real new product development inside a real organization was lack of firm design end-targets, or more specifically how the man with his name on all the buildings would love to change features or some other key elements in mid-stream, then expect all the original time-lines to still be met, even though it required start over for numerous mid level design functions.

Some amount of change is unavoidable, when say the competition or market changes, but discipline is required to commit to a design direction and stick with that. I would schedule meetings with representatives for all these sub-functions so we could get commitments from the top decision maker on these end targets for all projects in the flow at the same time. As is the luxury when you own the compnay, this top decision maker declined to attend these meetings after the first one or two. Then he didn't understand (or care) why I stopped scheduling them when he was never there.  :'( 

For DIY projects after you finish even one you should learn what was your personal source of delay.

I still have notebooks full of ideas for projects that I will never seriously address, and my current pending DIY project is a smart local heater based around my old simple fixed 850W heater. I need to order at least one more unique part (an opto-triac) to interface between a low voltage micro controller and high current mains switch (I already purchased weeks ago). Being cheap, I hate that I have to pay so much postage/shipping for a $1-$2  part. So I drag my feet hoping I can combine the order with other parts.

Since DIY projects are entertainment and satisfying your desire to express some creativity (or perhaps different things for different people), why want them to end sooner? Then you would be even worse off with nothing to do. 

If your problem is finishing stuff there are several strategies. One from that old Covey book was about how to manage tasks in finite time. Imagine you have a pile of different sized stones (tasks), you need to fit into a bottle (the limited time). You will fit the most stones inside the bottle if you put the biggest one in first. So for time management tackle the largest first.  Another is identify if there is one task you hate to do, so you procrastinate around that. In that case you must grow the self discipline to make yourself do it.

I have more stories, but that's enough for now.

JR
 
Thanks , reminds me of the effectiveness of simply writing it down [ as a commitment  ] breaking
into tasks  [ and prioritizing those  ] and commiting to a date  / time line on those .
[ and as previously mentioned not letting THAT become the only task to get done ]

Another trap I get into thinking I need to wait to order multiple project parts at once to save money ,
I've learned though to just order the amount I need even if these is a price break , because I often
get more than I can use but less then I need for the next project and have to order again anyway
 
Ahhh John. You describe any product development!

Feature Creep is a very real thing, and can destroy projects, timeline and team moral! (sadly, I'm usually the source...)

As for saving money for a project by waiting to make big orders. I used to be real bad for that. I'd also order WAY more to get a lower price per unit, telling myself "oh,i might use some in the future". Mouser now does shipping for $5. The way I see it, $5 is a small price to get on with a project. Even if your only ordering $3 of parts. If you consider the value of what your working on, and your hourly worth... $5 should not factor into it.

Cheers

/R


 
Rochey said:
Ahhh John. You describe any product development!
Probably describes more organizations than it doesn't...
Feature Creep is a very real thing, and can destroy projects, timeline and team moral! (sadly, I'm usually the source...)


Cheers

/R

I can understand feature creep and one-upsmanship... if the competition has 60W make ours 75W***, and some of the best product ideas come from messing with the crude prototypes, but the man in charge needs to be held accountable for the cost in time and money, his lack of discipline creates with mid-stream changes. FWIW making the development cycle shorter, reduces opportunity for changes.

I quit in frustration from arguing with the man who's name was on the buildings (about different stuff). Of course it is his prerogative to make up his own rules, but I don't have to play along. Ever since I got out of the army (honorably), quitting any other job I don't like has been a viable option. 

JR

*** In one clever twist revealing my much darker marketing side, I once changed the model number of a product from blah blah-150 to blah blah-200... a lot cheaper,faster, and easier than putting the bigger power amp inside. It's not my fault if the consumers ASSume it has a 200W amp, the spec sheet clearly says 150W.  8)  8)
 
To this day though , they are consistently " off  " or a little out of touch like a poor translation
you'd think they could do sooo much better in sales , I guess they don't care or it doesn't matter
Reminds me of being glad some managers are ass's because they could suck in so many more people
by pretending to care , at least they don't use surgery words to the extend that Mesa does , gotta start
a thread of that  , Liquid sustain , one of my fav's ! k, gotta go eat chips
 
I find the conundrum to be the metalworking/casing.  If it weren't for this, the myriad of projects neglectfully sitting on any free available space in my apartment would be finished and ready to be moved out of these areas. Curiously these are the same areas in my apartment most rational people would deem to be conventional living areas rather than makeshift DIY project storage facilities.

It's actually the fear of cutting holes/shapes that come out so horribly messier than I had hoped for which keeps me in this constant state of procrastination. This in turn results in an obsessive and psychotic display of measuring cutout sizes, remeasuring them, then measuring again, only to be faced with the same fear and procrastination as the apprehension of committing power tools creeps back in. And the continual fear of making horrible and irreversible mistakes in the metalwork means the casing seems to always hold up the fun part, the circuit building and finalising from ever being finished.

I know the alternative is to buy ready made cases like the offerings on the whitemarket, but this seems to drive the costs of the projects up so much more dramatically than anything else (especially when its shipping comes from the other extremity of the globe), and my rational brain convinces itself that a few holes and cutouts cant be that hard to pull off. Moreover my ego gets the better of me when self talk enters my head along the lines of:  "good builders like some of the guys on this forum can do them, so I can too".

Oh how naive and over project laden I am:)
 
Back
Top