CNC

[IvIark]

I've decided that I can't really be bothered with paint.  It's messy and annoying and so I'm thinking of getting a CNC to etch the front of the boxes.  I think I'd much prefer the end results if all my DIY pedals looked like a Moollon and as an added bonus you can't get easier PCB etching than doing it on a CNC and not having to think about multi part processes and chemicals.

So who know about them and what do I need?

I wouldn't care but I used to sell CNCs, although I don't think I could afford the ones I used to sell.

[Jon the Art Guy]

tried acid etching? Like a PCB/laser etching, only with the enclosure? You can probably buy some asphaltum at an art store, paint up the periphery, then do a dip in the acid tank you use for PCBs. It's just the same thing with used to do in the print lab for etching plates.

[Surgeon]

I use acid-etching for enclosures a lot as I get tires of painting once in a while. I use a simple method: uniformly paint an enclosure, wait about 2 hrs, draw with a nail on it ( the paint is pretty much gelatinous st this point) cure 30 minutes in my pedal oven and then dip in acid.

It would help if i had any artistic talent whatsoever though. The childlike drawing do have a certain cachet.

While fun, I don't think that this will cather to mark's desire to eliminate chemicals...

[Jon the Art Guy]

I'm gonna have to do that. What spraypaint do you use? My art degree could really prove useful
..
Ive been looking into tabletop cnc as well. Theres some diy projects that come in really low-cost. Id love to be able to drop a design into a.program and etch/drill a board so all i have to do is ruin it with poor soldering....

[Surgeon]

Using the same spray-paint I'd use if I was finishing it an opaque color. Up here in french-Canada I use basically anything I can find from the hardware store (Tremclad by Rustoleum works perfectly).

Here are a few examples, I don't etch all my pedals but I do have fun with some of them:

1- For this one (devi ever Hyperion) I put some masking tape strips on, painted, removed tape, etched, painted and sanded:


2- This is a tubescreamer. Flat black coat, drew with a screw, dipped in acid:

finished:


3- Green russian muff:


4- 1590a latching footswitch:



5- TS808 + SHO inabox:


6- tri-wreck:


7- BATW Pharaoh:


None of these look professional by any stretch of the imagination but they look good enough to me so...