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This documentation is for the kit version of the project. If you purchased the PCB by itself, please use the PCB-only version of the documentation instead. The circuit is the same, but the instructions are completely different due to the specialized parts and assembly methods used in the kit. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
INTRODUCTION If this is your first pedal, welcome to the hobby and thank you for choosing Aion FX. You’ve just joined a community of over 100,000 people around the world with a passion for building homemade noise machines using obsolete electronics technology, and we’re glad to have you! If you’ve done this before, it’s great to see you again and we’re confident you’ll find this build experience...
The tip should used to tighten the dress nut to avoid lot of pedals! be no more than 0.1” (2.5mm) wide. scratching or denting it (which can happen with metal tools). CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
Some voltage regulators It’s recommended to use a also look like this. They may also look like this. razor blade to separate have more than 8 legs. these cleanly. WIRE ASSEMBLY WIRE ASSEMBLY HEADER DC JACK LED BEZEL CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
6. Transistors 7. Electrolytic capacitors Not all of these component types are included in each kit, so skip them if they aren’t applicable. Some types of film capacitors are taller than electrolytics, so those can be done last. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
You’ll use this same technique for most of the other components as well. If this is your first time soldering, watch tutorial videos on YouTube and make sure you get it down before you begin. You don’t want to practice or experiment on this board! CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
1N914 1N914 1N914 1N914 1N914 Next, you’ll populate the diodes. Diodes are polarized, so make sure to identify the polarity band (which indicates the “cathode”, or negative side) and match the band to the footprint on the PCB. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
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ICs may have two different orientation marks: either a dot in the upper-left or a half-circle notch in the middle of the top side. Some ICs have both marks. This shows which way the IC should be rotated when inserting it into a socket. The socket also has a half-circle notch to indicate the orientation. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
C9 is usually red, but may read “µ1J100” on the top rather than the side. C20 (100n MLCC) is always yellow. It can be hard to read the code since it’s so small, so it’s easier to identify this one by color. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
They do fit pretty tightly in the holes, though, so press firmly. There’s also a 4-pin header on the I/O board that we will do in a later step. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
(i.e. they will only work in one direction), so note the vertical mark that indicates the negative side. The longer leg is positive and fits in the square pad. These are the last of the on-board components. Now is the time to go back to page 12 and insert the IC into the socket. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
BLUE MARKING Once all three wire assemblies are soldered, set the footswitch PCB aside. We’ll solder the actual footswitch and LED in a later step. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
Red is positive (+), black is negative (-). After soldering, pull it tight. For even more strain relief, you can thread the snap through the loop to form a knot. (not shown) CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
You’ll need to hold the bezel in place when OUTER WASHER tightening the nut. The top of the bezel is fairly MOUNTING NUT sharp, so try using a rubber band for grip instead of pressing your finger against the bottom. CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
MOUNTING NUT LOCK WASHER BEZEL MOUNTING NUT & LED The dress nut acts as a mounting nut, unlike the footswitch dress nut. Use flat- nose pliers on the flat sides of the nut to tighten securely. FOOTSWITCH 125B CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
However, Aion FX projects are designed to be extremely easy to remove from the enclosure for troubleshooting, with no desoldering required—so with these kits, it’s actually much easier to “box it before you rock it”.
Note the use of two mounting nuts on each of the jacks, one inside and one outside. The inner nut acts as a spacer to set the DC jack flush with the outside of the enclosure. The inner nuts should be threaded as far down as they can go. MOUNTING NUT OUTER WASHER LOCK WASHER MOUNTING NUT 125B CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
Be careful not to over-tighten or you may damage the set screw. But if it’s not tight enough, the knob will be more likely to fall off or lose its alignment with the markings on the enclosure. Last, just close the panel on the back using the four screws. That’s it! CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
VALUE PART VALUE PART VALUE 150n 150n 330pF 47uF 47uF 10uF 100n 100uF 10uF 120n 100n Potentiometers Switches PART VALUE PART VALUE PART RC4558P Sustain 10kB SPDT on-on LM741 Tone 10kB 3PDT stomp DIP-8 sockets (2) Volume 100kA CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
Note that IC pins are labeled counter-clockwise from the upper-left, as shown in the diagram to the right. VOLTAGE VOLTAGE 4.52 4.58 4.99 4.58 4.96 (falling) 4.52 4.54 5.01 4.50 9.18 9.18 CORVUS DISTORTION/SUSTAINER...
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“goop” the PCB or otherwise obscure the source. In other words: you don’t have to go out of your way to advertise the fact that you use Aion FX kits, but please don’t go out of your way to hide it.
These kits are intended to be built by the customer. Aion FX is not responsible for language that may be used by the customer in the marketing or resale of the finished product.
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