New enclosure I'm working on.

[Rob]

Here is a 3D rendering for a pedal project I'm working on.
It's basically going to be a Kalamazoo with two boosts one before the Kalamazoo for more gain and one after for more volume. The idea is to make the most simplest drive for all needs without having to do too much tap dancing.

The logo is going to be an illuminated piece of plastic that slots into the laser cut enclosure. It will work as an indicator I want to try make it bi-color.

Let me know your thoughts

[GoranP]

Very cool!

Are those wooden sides? I thought about doing something like that but never found the time to tinker with it.

Also, how are you going to be labeling the top row, those knobs seem rather close together?

[IvIark]

Very nice

[Rob]

Hey thanx a lot! Yes those are wood sides I think used oak in the program. fortunately I've got some spare mahogany and oak lying around so thought it would be a classy touch.

As for labeling I was just thinking to put single letters on top of the knobs like G for gain etc. I think it's pretty obvious which switch does what just by looking at the knob placement so I won't label that.

Here's a photo of an old enlosure. I tried a moogish kind of look and it was rather easy using wood.

[GoranP]

Exactly what I was going to go for, Moog-ish. If I can't replicate the innards, at least I'd "borrow" the enclosure ideas.
I'm assuming bent aluminum sheets? If so, what thickness?

[Madferret]

Both the 3d mockup and the old enclosure look excellent! How are you getting the lettering cut, do you have access to the machine or are you getting it done by a separate company? Can't wait to see some pics of the finished article.

[Dave]

Looks very cool, don't forget to shield the sides internally to avoid unwanted hum!
Thanks
Dave

[Rob]

haha GoranP my philosophy is if you blend enough of every ones ideas nobody will know what you are copying . I just assumed 3mm aluminum sheet should be fine but i'll still do a stress simulation to see if it will stand up to even the heaviest of enthusiastic tap dancers.

The one in the picture I actually made from an old computer case I cut up probably about 1mm thick steel.

You must give the enclosure a try I'm keen to see what other people come up with.

[Rob]

Madferret I'm still scratching my head  on that one the laser cutting company who is going to to do the enclosure apparently can cut plastics as well yet I'm not to keen on melted plastic or burn marks.

My other option was to stick a piece of plastic to the bottom and fill it from the top with a translucent epoxy or resin and then sand the whole face down till its smooth.

any ideas?

[Rob]

Dave thanks for the heads up. I was actually just planning to make an inner aluminum frame and just laminate some oak to the outside for aesthetics.

Would stainless steel work well for an enclosure material?

[Dave]

Yes, any form of conductive material would work well as it will block things like radio frequencies. If you wanted to go with wooden sides, you could either paint the insides (wooden bits) with conductive paint, or use copper foil (the sort with conductive adhesive). Just remember you want a continuous surround for the circuit which will connect to ground via you jacks. Hope that helps
Dave

[Rob]

yes definitely helps thanks Dave!

I was thinking even for another nice cosmetic touch to countersink the jack input and and output into the wood and then just make sure all the grounds are connected with the chassis as well.

[Yehudi]

A while back I've decided to make a birthday gift to a friend of mine, I decided to have it laser engraved, and since I was at it, trying something out like that. here´s the finished enclosure.

The problems with the laser cutting through are: your lettering needs to be right (you can't have a very detailed font). The pieces that will hold the letters interior will be very sensible to breaking if they're to thin (it happend to me if you look carefully at the E on "death"), and this happened cause: the company that made it never had tryed this before and the machine was not powerfull enough to cut 2mm aluminum, so they had to cut it doing multiple passages and the laser didn't come through, so I had to machine the interior to thin that wall to aprox. 1mm. Then and since there's multiple passages the laser cuted the letters in a uneven way making the top right and the bottom thinner wich led me to try and open some of blocked cuts and breaking the top of the E.
Hope that this was of  help.
Cheers

[Madferret]

Still looks great if you ask me Yehudi :)

[Madferret]

Rob - I like the plastic glued to the enclosure idea, maybe something like this to fill the lettering: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Water-Clear-Casting-Kit-resin/dp/B004GK7WTM/ref=pd_vtp_diy_2 I don't think you'd need a kit that big but there may be a smaller one.

[Yehudi]

Thanks Madferret!
Regarding lighting the lettering: I've tried it also (with less than desirable results - I ended up with 3 LED's inside the enclosure and a not that good light dispersion across the letters), the best solution is using acrylic glass edge with LED (probably UV, since it reacts with the acrylic).
Rob, you refered that the company also cuts plastic... Acrylic glass is usally cutted with laser so they can probably do the job for you. Making the acrylic light evenly is another story since you'd have use an edge to accomplishe that... uhm. it's a matter of further investigation to get something like this

 http://www.instructables.com/id/Edge-Lit-Acrylic-Sign/#step1