Mine absolutely screams with a12 +/-
1 Like
That’s it. I switched to two 9V batteries and it works.
(Works with the capacitor to ground or to LED+.)
1 Like
Am I missing the shot of the bottom? There could be an errant bridge or cut from what I can see so far.
1 Like
Also the LED isn’t needed, you can just connect the transistor straight to ground. I think Kerry Wong used it because he was at low frequency and was looking at the LED flashing instead of listening to audio. Anyway LEDs are cool.
1 Like
Power seems to be coming into the board, I can measure from ground to the pot-transistor and see the voltage change when a rotate the pot.
Here is an embarrassing shot of the bottom, I messed up and have moved things around a few times.
You want me to show you my mess of soldering jobs? lol, what matters it that they work in my book.
2 Likes
Haha. But it doesn’t work 
2 Likes
I fall back on the Jack White method around now.
“Pick a fight with it and win”
1 Like
Before you cut them, the positive side will be the longer leg.
I dont use that flat side method to determine which is anode (+) / cathode (-) cause i dont always see that flat bit. I look at the internal gubbins if i already clipped the legs.
3 Likes
I’d run a hot wedge-tip down the spaces between all the pot’s strips and their neighbors. It looks like there might be just a little bridging there. Another thing I’d try is making sure you have the right jack connections by putting some headphones into it, then applying a voltage to the pins you have soldered up there. If you don’t hear a crackle, you don’t have the right ones.
2 Likes
Things tend to not work, right up until they do. I have rebuilt entire circuits cause i couldnt figure out what went wrong, and its worked after that. In fact, right now im rebuilding a VCF (voltage controlled filter) that i just couldn’t figure what was going wrong. No idea if it will work afterwards, but we will see.
As some mentioned, the super simple oscillator is hungry for that power, and due to some manufacturing differences may need up to 18v to oscillate.
2 Likes
Its a good time to learn about continuity tests features with the multi-meter too.
Look for that symbol, the multimeter will send some small voltage through the leads, and will beep or otherwise notify you if the circuit completes. You can use this to test if there are bridges (unintentional connections), or breaks (when you want a connection, but dont have one).
2 Likes
Thanks!
I’ll try the two 9v battery method. And I’ll see if I can clear up any bridging next
2 Likes
If all else fails, try another transistor! unless you are in short supply.
2 Likes
Failure is part of the fun for me. A year ago I scored a job lot of Rackit kits on eBay. “Unwanted gift,” is a superb search term. The apc’s and the baby8 worked fine but the crackle box still won’t work for me and it’s a pi$$ easy build. I think I have disassembled it 5 times now to test everything but no joy. I have had the same issue with all capacitive and resistive touch circuits I’ve ever made. A jinx perhaps but I learned more about testing and tracing from these than any other build. Go build another from scratch and remember you will win. We’ll all see to it 
4 Likes
I can cheerfully report that I was able, by messing around with this circuit, to burn out a transistor and an LED.
7 Likes
Ah Blue Smoke!
As we Scots say "ah love the smell of nae plan in the morning! "
4 Likes
I believe the colloquialism down here in the southern united states is: “smells like the north end of a south bound skunk”.
4 Likes