Battery covers

[RickL]

Anyone have any clever ideas about DIY replacement battery covers for older pedals (Arion in this case, but, really, for anything that uses a detachable cover)? Generic Arion battery covers are available at fairly reasonable prices but the shipping is four times the cost of the cover.

[GGBB]

3D models are freely available to print your own (or have a friend do it).

[mozz]

What is the pedal? I may have a distortion battery cover here, for some reason it was on a tuner pedal in a box of junk i bought.

[RickL]

In this case a chorus and a flanger, but the point of the post was to start a discussion on DIY replacements for a commonly lost part of older pedals. I'm betting that someone has found a clever way of replacing these types of battery covers.

I'm considering cutting some pieces of thin wood and screwing light metal sides onto them. Better than duct tape I'm thinking  .

[mozz]

"DIY replacements for a commonly lost part of older pedals."

3D models are freely available to print your own (or have a friend do it).

Doesn't get more DIY than this these days. He means 3d printing.

[Christoper]

I second your wood idea. If you are referring to that weird looking digital chorus flanger they made, I would say a blue on black ceruse would look pretty slick.

Wood would cover the battery, but you'd have to be pretty good with working it to make it not want to fall off.

[amptramp]

Make a cover out of wood or plexiglass (acrylic) but attach one side of the cover with a small hinge so you don't have to figure out some way to make locking tabs fit.  Bonus: you can't lose it if it's permanently attached.  Use a small magnet to lock the side opposite the hinge.  One magnet and one piece of steel should do the job.

[GGBB]

"DIY replacements for a commonly lost part of older pedals."

3D models are freely available to print your own (or have a friend do it).

Doesn't get more DIY than this these days. He means 3d printing.

For fun I uploaded https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4187191 to https://printathing.com/order/ - the total including shipping to Toronto was $16.67 (not sure if that's USD or CAD).

Plenty of online 3D printing services nowadays.

[Mark Hammer]

I don't know about where Rick lives, but we have a public-access 3D printer in our public library and I would imagine a community of Rick's size would have one too.  Alternatively, there is always some sort of local Makers group if the community is big enough, and such persons would likely be eager to make something like this, especially if they knew it was something with enough demand that they could make a couple of extra dollars selling them to people.  You know, the thousands of folks who also lack a battery cover for their DOD pedal.

Personally, I wold not make such a cover out of wood.  My experience with those battery covers, be they for DOD, Rocktek, Arion, or similar, is that they snap into place and are held by a little tongue that sticks out.  That material has to have a bit of flexibility to snap into place.

[Phend]

Don't use duck tape, that's for hvac and other, use electrical tape, that's for, well, electrical, comes in many colors too.

[RickL]

I never even thought that the library might have a 3d printer. It does and I've sent the Thingiverse file to the email address on the Vancouver Island Regional Library site according to their instructions.

I'll let everyone know how it works out.

[Mark Hammer]

Us grey-hair-toting folks mistakenly associate libraries with books.  Not any more!  Looking forward to hearing back.

[RickL]

I'm told that delivery time to my nearest branch will be about two week. Estimated cost is $1.60 for the two I asked for. Interestingly enough the Greater Victoria Public Library doesn't provide this service but the Sidney library, about half an hour north of Victoria (part of the Vancouver Island Regional Library), does. They're printing them for me even though I can't join the VIRL.

[Mark Hammer]

Did you indicate the colour you wanted?  When I see 3-D printer filament spools, they come in all kinds of colours.

[RickL]

I was boring and asked for black, but said any colour would be okay. But lots of colours were available.

If this works, and I expect it to, it opens up the possibility of cheap versions of a whole bunch of little things for pedals or guitars. But I hope that we, as a group, don't kill the golden goose by asking every library on the continent to print out pedal parts for us, especially not in groups of 10 or 50.

[mark2]

If anyone in the US needs one printed, I can do it for the cost of shipping (~$5, or $8ish on the west coast).

[RickL]

Well they came in today, about 3 weeks later than they said they would, but they didn't charge me for them. I wouldn't have complained even if they did and I offered to pay, but they said "no". It might have cost them more to collect the $1.60 than they would have netted.

They aren't drop in replacements. In particular the end walls were too thick and I didn't want to risk breaking the tabs by forcing them. A little work with some files and an Exacto knife and they fit acceptably. Certainly better than duct tape.

I'll use some stick on letters to somewhat replicate the pedal names, model numbers and jack identifiers. Or maybe try out some of the inkjet sticker paper that I bought a while ago.

If you're not in a hurry or know someone who will make them for you and you're not a stickler for authenticity, I'd say give them a try.

[Transistor-Transistor]

I  wouldn't mind waiting three weeks if it meant my order was free 

If you're not in a hurry or know someone who will make them for you and you're not a stickler for authenticity, I'd say give them a try.

On that note, 3d printers aren't that expensive and can be used to create a great many things if you put the time in to learn. I've had my cheap Ender 3 for about 2 years and I love it.

[Mark Hammer]

Well they came in today, about 3 weeks later than they said they would, but they didn't charge me for them. I wouldn't have complained even if they did and I offered to pay, but they said "no". It might have cost them more to collect the $1.60 than they would have netted.

They aren't drop in replacements. In particular the end walls were too thick and I didn't want to risk breaking the tabs by forcing them. A little work with some files and an Exacto knife and they fit acceptably. Certainly better than duct tape.

I'll use some stick on letters to somewhat replicate the pedal names, model numbers and jack identifiers. Or maybe try out some of the inkjet sticker paper that I bought a while ago.

If you're not in a hurry or know someone who will make them for you and you're not a stickler for authenticity, I'd say give them a try.

Congrats.  Glad it worked out.