"Tidy', Pretty Quick Raco Wah !!!

[petemoore]

  Started with a regular sized RACO box.
  Put the pot in the middle, shaft facing one side, middle of shaft aligned with the middle of that sides punchout holes, punched out that sides holes.
  I made the pot bracket from old computers PS bracket, cut with big snips, drilled like soft aluminum, I used the two screws and threaded holes provided to mount it to the top of the box. Works out good because it takes up little of the limited space in the Raco, right in the middle of the top. It will get a power adapter and stompswitch.
  simple hinge, raised and %^&*ed [so the pedal can go full toe down/up, pedal is about 3 and 1/2 inches long.
  here's the sweet part..
  I found a bit and screw that made tapping a hole in [through] the potshaft easy, and used the screw to mount the large [don't fret about zipties, it's real strong this way] zipties to the potshaft. The ziptie 'clamp ends' were cut off, using only the ziptie ribbon part.
  The screw goes through, and mounts, two offset ziptie ribbon sections to the potshaft.
  The hole in the potshaft was drilled so that when the pot's at 1/2, that hole is facing right at the top of the box, this provides enough takeup on the reel for full pot travel without overlapping the ties.
  Then it was just wrap the tie 1/2 times around the potshaft, pull the toe all the way up, pull the toe up pulltie fairly hard to it [wrapping it around the top for easy of drilling] and drill a hole right through the ziptie And the pedal, install ziptie to pedal [toe] screw.
  then basically do exactly the same thing for the heel of the pedal and the other ziptie [heel takeup ziptie].
  The zipties softly crossover, and touch each other a bit as they do so,  forming an X in the box as they come off the potshaft and go to their respective tie-end mounts at toe and heel. 
  Done.. Almost no play, full travel, nice even sweep, amazingly stupid and PDarn Easy [comparitively] to do implementation of common mechanical components, not one trip to the store for anything !! Quick, I'm going to say reliable, I don't see anything weak about it at all, it does rely on the pot to align it's shaft against tension, time will tell, looks perfectly able to withstand these stresses. I mounted the zipties to the shaft near the threads.
  All fits in a RACO, just the right ratio [if you like lots of pedal travel] for excellent sweep control/ease of movement. It 'stay's nicely too.
  I got to try out the Parapedal. Hafta say it sounds really good too. Nice voweley wah/filter type sweep, very cool.
  Needless to say I'm quite pleased at the ease, quickness, and the way this pedal turned out !!

[GFR]

Please, show us a picture - this seems very interesting.

[troubledtom]

cool!
  -tom

[petemoore]

  Quick, Dirty, Ugly, 'Small' [about less than half the size of a wah] and functional...has all the attributes I look for !!!
  It is the easiest, least demanding [in terms of parts accessing and time] wah case I've done so far.
  Actually I 'lied' a bit, there's about 4% of the travel not used, could pretty easily be adjusted for to go full heel, but isn't necessary because that portion of the range isn't necessary...that 4% just goes from dull to almost imperceptably more dull.
  Just got back from a 'floortest'...one wicked sweep on this baby. Works great alone.
  Stuck a ZW in the testjig for pre-distortion test...Shizzamme...nice vowelley wah sound, not to muddy not to sharp, with a moving filter 'zing' [she au ouW Www], as the high end clipping tone moves around very fun to play, pronounced effect, does the 'many attacks through slow sweep' lead thing really nicely.
  The hinged [small] pedal, placed under the toe knuckle, is easy to get a smooth rocking motion using the achilles tendon, unlike smaller rotation of a 'flatwah', the wide range makes it easy for 'fine tune finding', works great but is different than placing a shoe across a long pedal, took only a little getting used to, the knee rises and falls about 6'' from toe up/down.

[petemoore]

HERE"S the PIC ...
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/000_0757.jpg
  And the other Pic
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/000_0756.jpg

[Paul Marossy]

Got any pictures of the exterior?

[KORGULL]

I'll second the above request.
I would like to see the treadle and how / where it attaches to the case.

[petemoore]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/000_0760.jpg
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/000_0759.jpg
       http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/petemoore/000_0759.jpg
  Pretty simple, starting from the pot, mounted in the box, figure out where center position is on it, then drill a hole straight through it.
  Grab a couple HD zipties, cut the 'heads' off them, and drill like sized holes through them too, at the ends, but to the side instead of center so where they cross, touch, and move there will be less friction/twisting.
  Turn the potshaft so that the two zipties can be screwed to the potshaft, so that when the pot is centered, there are two zipties mounted, one sticking out <way the other sticking out >way, the head of the screw through zipties and shaft, facing the top of the box.
  <  >
     0 
  Then wrap both zipties around the bottom, most of the way around the top of the shaft. the > ziptie should wrapped almost 1 full turn around, and then out the > punched out hole, the < ziptie wraps around the opposite direction [same thing but symmetric and opposite] and comes out the < punchout.
  Pull the heel all the way back, pull the toe up ziptie tight, drill another hole through the ziptie and pedal toe, insert screw through ziptie and pedal hole, that side is done.
  Push the toe down, tighten the heel ziptie, drill and mount ziptie to heel. Done.
  There may be something I'm not hitting on that could cause a problem with yours...such as pedal length Vs where the ziptie mounts and how much throw that translates to for the potrange movement...worked out perfect on mine.
  the hinge must be mounted in the center of the pedal, so the toe and heel pull the same distances on the zipties, my pedal is 3 and 1/4'', but 3.5 would get the last 4% of pot travel [not necessary for the Parapedal IMCase], and if 'overtravel' occurs, this can be prevented with a simple pedal stop that rams into the case instead of trying to overtravel the pot.
  The wood pedal IMCase is super dense mahogany [or Teac some are saying], otherwise softer woods may be used if 'through bolts' are used to the hinge, I always soak fibers near screw holes in wood that are going to try to work loose with Elmers Glue All.
  oh yes...I self tapped into the hinge and found tapping screws that are 'just' the exact right length to let the hinge close completely...actually I had to drill holes in the bottom leaf of the hinge to allow the self tapping screw to stick through it so it could close completely.
  The hinge is on a 1/2'' block [to raise it from the top of the pedal to increase pedal travel] and the block is also 'bevelled' so that the hinge, when closed is 'aiming' at the heel of the pedal...this way the closed hinge doesn't stop the pedal heel from touching the case

[Dragonfly]

dang pete...thats pretty darn inventive. it'll be cool to see what further revisions are made (by you or anyone else !)

[petemoore]

  I must have 'thunk through' every concievable wah mechanical arrangement, 1,ooo times [except this one].
  Advantages
  Tight...Fitted in RACO standard size.
  Quick...er than any of the other types I've done
  Available 'stuff' I had laying around to make it with...
  Dis advantage[s?]
  IF you make it so tight [leave no slack and have major tension on the pot] I still think the pot will work right...I figure as long as the bushing in the pot doesn't fail [would take LOTS of pressure I think], and the wiper is touching the wafer...there should be N/P.
  Pedal travel must be more than a typical Wah case to range the pot fully Cw/Ccw
  You have to kind of 'figure it out...[no more than the average DIY mechanical wah].
  Doesn't make sense with an existing Wah Case.
  [there could be more, none have occurred to me though...doubtful]