Board Sizes For Enclosures

[pyreweb]

Hello, could I make a request for something to be added to the library section please?

I am just setting out making my first pedals. I have assembled a few on vero, and am now looking at boxing them. Would anyone happen to know offhand the maximum board sizes that could fit into the most common enclosures please? I am looking at 1590A, 1590B and 125B.

I have a feeling that this information must so obviously have come up before that it exists somewhere on this site already, but I was unable to find it.

Many thanks.

[notnews]

I recently ran into this same issue, it's a bit more complicated than any enclosure having a max board size.

When you're fitting a vero into an enclosure you have to consider all of the other innards you plan to box up with the vero... i.e. battery, how many jacks, power jack, spacers, etc. I bought an enclosure based just on the size of the vero, then went to add jacks and couldn't find a way to fit them with all the space taken by the vero.

I'd say there are two options:

1) If you plan to build a few pedals up, your best option may be to buy one of each enclosure size. That way you'll have exactly what you need when you need it. This is what I did, and it definitely came in handy.

2) there are to-scale images on google of all the enclosure sizes. if you're engineering-inclined, measure up the size of the vero, the jacks, etc. and place to-scale images inside the enclosure and you should be able to model things up that way.

[nocentelli]

It depends whether you want the veroboard to lie across the box (I.e. copper strips running left-right) or lengthways. Whatever, each vero hole is 0.1 of an inch, or 2.54mm apart. This means a board of approximately 21/22 holes wide will fit widthways in a 1590B or 125B (21 x 2.54 = 54mm or so, gives a few mm clearance in the 60mm wide box). A 1590A is 30mm wide, but requires much more careful planning since you'll have to work allow space for the pots, jacks, footswitch etc.

[Beaker]

As the guys say, it's not that simple I'm afraid, as it totally depends on where and how you fit your sockets and switches and battery if you use one. A simple toggle switch can and will cause havoc if positioned wrong, and can easily half the maximum board size you can fit into a pedal.

If I am in any doubt whether a board will fit or not, or if I need to to be careful about where to place a switch, I just cut a piece of card from a cereal packet the same size as the board, then use it as dummy in the enclosure to check exactly where everything else needs to go.

[nocentelli]

125B is the easiest for low hassle boxing: a 21 x 9 hole vero (2"x 1") will fit widthways flat across the bottom of the box with room to wire two/three pots, jacks, footswitch and LED with room to manoeuvre. Up to 21 x 21 holes will sit happily on 4/5 pots and still have the electros clear the bottom plate of a 125B. More than 21 x 25 holes and you should probably be thinking pcb or a bigger box for vero. Switches, additional LEDs or more pots requires very careful measuring and maybe even making mock up prototypes with cereal packet cardboard or buying a bigger box to be safe.

[Marbles]

Those boxes still can be pretty hard to box too. Like the others said: Battery, jacks.
If you have more that 2 or 3 pots, and even worse, a switch (man I hate those...), you'll find that the positioning of the holes can be very unforgiving.

For your first boxing, I would even consider a 1590BB. It's a lot less frustrating.
The new boxes from Devi, or ehm, 'Fuzzgoddess' now are that size as well I think. The way she uses the artwork makes it look a lot less odd to have just 2 knobs on a big box.

And there is always the Harmonic Transformer...

[Muadzin]

+1 to the 125B for easy boxing of most pedals. The 1590BB may be a little wider, but the 125B will give you extra height, which in my opinion, unless you're going for really large veros, is far more useful. Generalguitargadgets has some excellent drill guides for anything up to 6 knobs, Also several interesting ones for the 1590 B and BB. And unless you're actually planning on using batteries don't bother making provisions for them. It's just extra stuff that can go wrong, and its so easy to get an adapter and a daisy chain.

*OCD alert!* And the fact that the 125B allows for top mounting of jacks (which saves pedal board space) is just icing on the cake. I had to redo several old builds because they were still side mounted. Might as well do it right from the start. * End OCD alert!*

[Beaker]

I agree about the 125B. As mentioned, the extra height makes a huge difference. You have the ability to either side mount or top mount the jack sockets directly above the pots (you can also do this with 1590BB builds as well). This can free up a lot of extra space that is not otherwise available in a 1590B. Switches are less of a problem too, as it is possible (due to the extra height) to mount a board on top of a toggle, and even the 3PDT footswitch.

This means that with some builds, it may just be possible to use the entire length of the box, like in some Boss pedals.

If in any doubt though, go for a 1590BB, unless you are either a masochist, or overly obsessed with saving space.

Personally, I don't like anything more than three pots in a 1590B. Any build with four or more pots goes in a 1590BB, regardless of the size of the circuit board. But that's just my opinion.

[pyreweb]

Thank you, that information is all very helpful and useful to know. I think I will order one of each enclosure and see what fits, but perhaps omit the 1590A which seems impossibly small. The 125B sounds very useful for its extra height. Most of my pedals will be without batteries, I think, which should make things a little easier, but I will keep a very close eye on those that do include them.