freaked out knobs....and some straight ones(new picture)

[sir_modulus]

All the dunlop wah pedals are made of zinc (Says so on the box of my JH-1)

Cheers,

Nish

[ESPguitar]

Well,I went out today and checked out the foundries and they weren't much interested in small runs,of the boxes, though they were definitely keen for me to do it myself in the backyard.They all suggested I go the route of using zinc as it melts at about 450 degrees celsius and can be heated to that in a cast iron pot  using LPG to heat it,which I've already got each of,and that I pour into silicon molds.I also found out about a two pot putty for creating blanks that will take the heat required while the silicon sets around it which the sculpi will not actually do,it burns.But the knobs are a definite go ahead thing as the price is very reasonable in Pewter to start with though as they start selling I'll be able to go to zinc which is somewhat cheaper in large runs with die casting.The aluminium boxes may work out eventually if I do all the work myself and just drop of the mold boxes at the foundry ready for pouring as the making of the boxes with resin sands is the labour intensive part and its actually quite straight forward stuff to do.All this means is that you fellows who are interested will see the first knobs within a month but I'll have to generate sales to finance the somewhat more cash hungry startup into boxes.Meanwhile I'll be chasing up some zinc foundries to see whether zinc will work as a material for boxes and whether or not it even has the sheilding properties associated with aluminium,copper and steel.If anyone knows I'd appreciate the info.

:oops:

What is LGP?

RB

[Jaicen_solo]

LPG is liquid petroleum gas. Basically gas under high pressure.

I'm pretty interested in this idea, but I have reservations about using Zinc for the boxes.
The thing is, zinc is pretty reactive. It'll corrode much quicker than iron because it's more valent.  As someone says, dunlop wah's are made from zinc, but I bet that's why they're heavy duty poweder coated.
Just something to think about.

*b

p.s. I know aluminium is more reactive, but that's a whole other story!

[sean k]

Well I went out again and found a small run casting place that only use marine grade aluminium and they'll do my protoypes for 25.00 each(17.50 US) so I'm definitely in the ball park again.I also got some polyester resin mix to cast around metal bases for the knobs and came accross urethane as well for the same thing but with a firm to soft possibilities of "touch".The urethane will be great for that single knob like drive or volume that we tweak with the edge of our foot.I'm also thinking about stomp DPDT caps that would sit in soft urethane bushes to spread the load on the switch and make them last longer while adding a bigger surface to hit.

  The possibilities are absolutely ASTONISHING and I'm an extremely happy chap at the moment.I'm not too great with the electronics design but with this stuff and designing functionality in three dimensions I am definitely in my resonation zone.

 First prototypes in aluminium should be posted by a week from now!
The beauty of the zinc is that I've already got an old cast iron pot and LPG burner exactly for the purpose and I've always wanted to do my own casting and either pewter or zinc into silicon molds is a great way to start even if its not for this actual purpose.I'm not envisioning myself as a production metal caster at all and will hope to set up others more attune to the task while I get on with designing and prototyping.With the searches I've been on over the past few days I've also seen a great demand for pattern making and thats what I like to do...,if I'm allowed lots of say in design.Now I better go and do some work,market research accomplished.
 But still any valid or even non valid replies are eagerly consumed for any morsels of truth they may contain.Thanks Chaps,this place makes me feel proud to be a human.