Some recent builds of mine

[Widows]

I've recently been getting a lot of my builds painted up so they look nice rather than just the boring old grey unpainted box. Here's three that I've recently got done, the first two on this list would not have been possible without the help of some of the folks on here, so I thought I'd share the end results with everyone:

FuzzBeard 'Dirty Rat Bastard':




FuzzBeard 'Murk Box':




BYOC Big Muff Pi (Ram's Head):





Cheers to all who helped with my circuit queries and painting quandries :-)

[ajstahl]

They look awesome! Especially that fuzz beard design. Are the first two waterslides?

[seedlings]

Great builds!   

Where do you find these DC jacks?  I need some that mount from the inside.



CHAD

[Jopn]

I get DC jacks like that from Tayda, bitcheslovemyswitches has the same style as well.

[seedlings]

I get DC jacks like that from Tayda, bitcheslovemyswitches has the same style as well.

THANK YOU 

I didn't even notice that Tayda has TWO jacks... <facepalm>

CHAD

[Widows]

Unfortunately I had to replace that DC jack as I realised upon testing that I'd bought the wrong sized one and my power cables wouldn't fit it so I had to resort back to an externally mounted one with the nut on the inside of the case :-/

But yeah, Bitches Love My Switches have all the right stuff

[Widows]

AJ: The top one is printed on a clear sticker that went staright on the painted case and was lacquered over.

The other two (black n pink) were screen printed onto a pre sprayed enclosure


Glad you like em guys ;-)

[closetmonster.]

I love what you did with the rat graphic. Mind going into a little more detail on the process there?

[Widows]

Sure, the pic is a design drawn by a friend of mine (I can't do art, even my stick figures are sh*te).

- I drilled the box out so all holes were the correct size.
- Photocopied the face of the box so the designer had a visual representation of where all the holes would be on the real thing, and the area he had to fit the artwork in.
- Labelled each of the holes on the photocopy so he knew which hole related to which part (pots, LED, switch), and where to place the the labels for each control pot. This meant he could draw the design in
 such a way that it would not be interfered with by the pots/LEDs/switch etc.
- The artist then drew a number of different designs, all based around the same idea (a mobster/mafia rat), and we selected our favourite from the group. The design included the locations of the drilled
 holes so we knew how best to line it up when placing it on the case.
- Design was then printed onto a clear sticker and the holes cut out of the sticker using a blade (although I'm sure there must be a neater, more effective process for this).
- Sticker was mounted on the box using the box/sticker holes as a guide to align everything properly.
- Layer of clear lacquer applied to protect paint, seal the sticker to the box, and keep sticker from peeling off in the future

The dude I made it for wanted a battery clip included so he had the option to use it even if he was already using all the outputs on his power block already (he has a pretty big floor rig), so I ended up using a deeper box than I normally use for my projects. This gave me room to mount a battery holder on one of the inside walls of the box, as well as mounting the board on a pair of adhesive backed plastic standoffs.


Two things I learned for next time:

Consider both the artwork designer, and your own sanity (when it comes to boxing everything up):
Drill the stomp switch and LED holes to one side of the pedal, placing them toward either of the bottom corners.
- This will give the artwork designer waaaaay more room to work with meaning larger, potentially more detailed designs. There is always the option to work the pots, switches, LEDs etc into the design (for
 example; designing the rat's face around the LED so it looks like an eye etc) but this more often than not can get in the way and interfere with a great design.
- It also means that you are left with a whole area of unoccupied space on the inside of the pedal's upper surface where you can now mount your board on sticky standoffs without the stomp switch and
 LED getting in your way. It also means you can use bigger boards in the same sized enclosure ;-)

Use some kind of hole punch to cut through the sticker:
This would no doubt be much neater, simpler, and quicker than using a blade or scissors or whatever other arts n crafts method that relies on a steady hand that most of us probably don't have.
Just make sure you can find a hole punch with numerous sizes. I'm not sure if using a drill would be an effective method (vari-bit or regular bit) or if you'd run the risk of unwanted tearing/shredding.

If any of you use stickers in this way I'd be interested to hear your techniques for cutting the holes out. Generally I've moved on to screen printing stuff now but I've no doubt that I'll be using stickers on something again in the near future so it's always handy to have some info ;-)

Cheers

Here's a link to my blog where I write up my builds: http://www.fuzzbeardpedals.wordpress.com

[closetmonster.]

Excellent, thank you.

The decals seem to have taken exceptionally well to the enclosure. In a few builds I've seen using stickers, the edges are slightly raised, but I assume that has to do with the clear finish or lack there of.

I am doing a rat build in the near future for the other guitarist in my band, and I am most likely going to do acid etched with some minimal paint for effect. I am not an artist either, so I know it can be challenging trying to make enclosures look 'pretty'.

Some great inspiration, cheers.

[Widows]

Glad you liked it. Yeah we had a bit of a nightmare with the paint as it kept cracking as it was drying, my guy ended up using a different brand n the paint set really well. He also had similar problems with the clear coat yellowing as it dried, Im not sure what happened but again, a different brand solved the problem. Must have been a reaction to something that was in the first clear coat which wasn't present in the other brand.

I know what you mean about the raised edges though. I've seen quite a few builds were the stickers were curling up at the edges. Sealing them with some sort of lacquer is always advisable, and it should help protect the paint too.

[closetmonster.]

I know what you mean about the raised edges though. I've seen quite a few builds were the stickers were curling up at the edges. Sealing them with some sort of lacquer is always advisable, and it should help protect the paint too.

Yeah, it's always a good idea to protect your work.

I am curious how rice paper decals would adhere to an enclosure. I know they get used on surfboards, So I'd assume it would be the same principal.
Stick it on, clearcoat it then add whatever paint you'd like, clearcoat again. Going to have to try it out.

[Widows]

I've never heard of rice paper decals being used on pedals.....but then I am new to this ;-) Great idea though.

The guy who did the artwork for my band's album does a vinyl wrap design for pedals too. Basically give him your dimensions, tell him where the holes will be, and if you have a design then send it to him. He will work out placement of everything and print it out on sticky back vinyl that will then wrap around the case. Another great idea as it saves the hassle of painting and screen printing etc.

This is an example, although not of his work specifically: http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/productimage.php?product_id=17740
I believe it's one big sticker on the face of the pedal (as with my rat) rather than several small designs placed individually, however you could completely eliminate the need for a base coat of paint on the enclosure by wrapping the entire thing and using a colour of your choice as the background rather than using clear vinyl.