duhvoodooman wrote:
It just simplifies the installation and you don't have to worry about the cap leads overbending/breaking or shorting against something on the PCB. And it looks a lot neater/more professional, IMO.
Completely agree on the professional/neatness factor. I'm
a bit of a total perfectionist and I like things to be tidy, so I'm with you there.
duhvoodooman wrote:
The challenge with a top mount is having enough room between the bottom of the PCB and the top of the enclosure to install the switch so that the lugs don't short against the solder joints on the PCB. I'm not sure that a SPDT will offer any advantage in this regard, because I'm pretty sure the total height of the lugs and switch body is the same--1/2" for the mini-toggles I've always used. That's just about how much room you'll have between the PCB & enclosure. I wouldn't try to shoehorn the switch in between the Level & Tone pots, but would mount it to the right of the Drive pot. If you go with this top mount, I would mount the caps straight out from the switch lugs rather than bending them up 90 degrees as I did, and then install the switch so that the toggle moves vertically rather than horizontally. Insulate the bottom of the PCB immediately above the switch with electrical tape.
Thank you so much for your insight. The clearance is the issue I'm encountering now. Unfortunately, being new to this hobby, I didn't make the connection that the previous top-mounted toggles I'd done were PCB-mounted, so I foolishly drilled the hole in the enclosure already without taking the additional clearance into consideration. Won't make that mistake again! So now I'm trying to make it work anyway. (Hole is to the right of the Drive, as you mentioned.)
I discovered that if I added a couple washers on the pots on the inside (there's still enough thread on the outside to tighten the nuts), and then bent the solder lugs on the SPDT* down slightly (maybe that's ill-advised?) then I
think I can manage enough space. Especially with insulating the bottom of the PCB.
*Don't have a DPDT switch on hand. Planning on grabbing one later today to see how it works with the space.
Plan B (or maybe C, at this point, ha!) is to go with the side-mount switch as I should have done all along and fill the extraneous top hole with a second LED.