Completed Foxx Tone Machine build (with pics)

[gbkd80]

Completed my Foxx Tone Machine project, using the GGG PCB layout that I etched myself:







I really wanted to use a cool vintage switch for the octIVE (lol) that had the same on/off washer/emblem like the original, but the switch base itself was huge and really when it came down to it I wanted it to be more reliable anyway, considering I had so much frustration building it.

The Foxx logo emblem itself was the biggest pain in the A, because I was striving for an exact replica but scaled down a bit smaller to fit the 1590BB box, so I started thinking up all these ideas on how to replicate it, and I ended up just making one in Photoshop carefully to try matching as much of the original layout as possible, but also adding the controls in the correct order and in a place that made more sense. 

I'm sure if I spent more time researching, and/or just picking up a pre-cut piece of aluminum or something, I probably could have gotten it perfect.  But in the end I really wanted to try doing it all from scratch, so I bought a small hobby sheet of aluminum, sanded it to rough it up, and tried endlessly to do a laser toner transfer to it.  Each time i did it, using different papers/substrates each time, it came out blotchy and missing areas.  I was asking for trouble trying to lay down a large solid area of toner.  So I then tried using Press n' Peel paper, because hey.. it's blue and the original logos were blue.  That almost worked, and the color was working great except PNP paper was worse with the bubbles and spots that would not flatten out, causing it to again be bubbled and spotty.  So I went out and bought a cheap inkjet printer to make a decal, but then I realized the only waterslide paper I had on hand was laser...    Now I'm getting frustrated, so I just shot a decal out of the B/W laser printer and applied that to my cut aluminum, and it worked out fine.  Clear-coated it a little, and glued it on.  Honestly, I think it looks a little sh*t*y, but I actually think the black works better than the blue would have, against the finish color, and again, I just needed to be done with the task...

And FYI, in case anyone ever needs to make a logo for one of these, the font was seriously just Ariel Black for the FOXX portion, and "tone machine" was Ariel regular.  That was figured out just through trial and error.  I paid close attention to the original and made new layers for each letter so I could squeeze them together properly, and the same with "tone  machine" which has that little extra space...

[stringsthings]

That looks great !    The knobs work very well with the color.  How did you do the enclosure?  ( guess:  blue metallic Rustoleum )

[gbkd80]

That looks great !    The knobs work very well with the color.  How did you do the enclosure?  ( guess:  blue metallic Rustoleum )

Thanks!  Yeah, exactly with the Blue Metallic Rustoleum and the Clear enamel. 

[Ben Lyman]

Great work, you should be super-proud of that one!

[ElectricDruid]

+1, yeah, lovely build.

Tom

[stringsthings]

That looks great !    The knobs work very well with the color.  How did you do the enclosure?  ( guess:  blue metallic Rustoleum )

Thanks!  Yeah, exactly with the Blue Metallic Rustoleum and the Clear enamel. 

I'm going to have to get a can of that Blue.  I just tried the Green Metallic and I really like it.  ( Now I'm wondering why I took so long to try the metallic paints  )