Shaka Express Done - Check It Out (pic)

[Paul Marossy]

Well, it's almost done. I just have to wire the switches and the jacks, and then it will be officially done. This is how it looks:



The switch at lower left will switch in a mod that I have made. The LEDs are bi-color types - red & green. Graphics are my usual full face decal. I think this is one of my better builds...

[MartyMart]

Looks great Paul, "Nice one" as they say in Blighty !
Just posted some BSIAB/Tube reamer pics, first two builds and they work!  Boy was i surprised, need to get some graphics on them, but they have "rippled" alu hammerite finish, any ideas ?
Keep up the great work,
Regards,
Marty.

[smoguzbenjamin]

Nice looking build, Paul

[Paul Marossy]

Any kind of graphics would probably be difficult on that textured paint stuff... except for maybe an extra fine point Sharpie. Rub on letters would probably work on that, actually.

[Lonestarjohnny]

Looh's Great Paul,      
Johnny

[Paul Marossy]

I'll post a picture of the inside later on today, or maybe tomorrow.

[thomas2]

Mr Marossy.. you're my idol! very nice looking pedal indeed.. like every other pedal i've seen on your website.. in fact your site was one of the first ones responsible of me getting involved in this pedal building thing..  :lol:

[Paul Marossy]

thomas-

Well, I'm very glad that I could be a source of inspiration to you.  :wink:
I impress myself sometimes. :shock:
This was one of the "last" things that I wanted to build, so it's kind of a "grande finale". I even did the inside neat, too. The paint is a real cool metallic blue color (cobalt blue), which I think makes it snazzy looking. Anyhow, I wanted to build the Shaka Express about two years ago, but I thought it was a little over my head at the time. Kinda forgot about it until recently, so I decided that I could build it and so I did. Anyway, thanks.  

[mat]

Whoa! What a superb looking pedal !! Maybe someday i will be capable of building pedals like Yours, very good looking. Your site has been very inspirational to me too  

mat

Well, it's almost done. I just have to wire the switches and the jacks, and then it will be officially done. This is how it looks:



The switch at lower left will switch in a mod that I have made. The LEDs are bi-color types - red & green. Graphics are my usual full face decal. I think this is one of my better builds...

[Paul Marossy]

Whoa! What a superb looking pedal !! Maybe someday i will be capable of building pedals like Yours, very good looking. Your site has been very inspirational to me too

Well, that's cool. That was kind of the goal with the whole website, to be some form of inspiration while providing some useful information at the same time. Glad you like the pedal.  

[aron]

That is so nice. Beautiful!

[Hal]

how are the LEDs mounted - PCB or glued to the case ?

[Paul Marossy]

Glued in place with none other than super glue. The LEDs have a little black, plastic barrel around them that holds the three legs in place and also serves as a great place to apply glue for securing them in place.

[Paul Marossy]

Ok, here's a few more pics as promised:


General view of the inside. The PCB pretty much is static thanks to the use of a zip tie to bundle the wires from the PCB together. The bottom of the enclosure is lined with that 1/16" self adhesive neoprene foam rubber stuff you can get at the craft section at your local Walmart. It's also on the bottom of the enclosure to help it "get a grip".


Close up of the LED from inside the enclosure.


Close up of the two 3PDT switches. The resistors are current limiting resistors for the LEDs and for my switchable mod.


Here is a better view of the exterior showing the LEDs lit up. I am not concerned with batteries since I am using only a DC jack with this...

[Mark F]

As usual, the pedal looks great Paul! This one looks especially "professional" Also, man you work fast! If I'm not mistaken, you were just inquiring about the Shaka last week and here you're done already! I have to chime in and say your page also inspired me. Great job Paul!

[Paul Marossy]

Mark F-

Yeah, after building at least three dozen stompboxes now, I've got it down to a science. Timeline on this one was as follows: Etched board and populated it last Friday evening. Spent about maybe 4 hours doing that. On the following Saturday, another 1-1/2 hours driving downtown to the electronics store to get a few parts to complete the circuitry - part of this time I "cruised the Strip" with my 3-year old daughter. A few days of inactivity passed because I had no box to put it in, but I spent about 1/2 hour creating the graphics with AutoCAD. Wednesday of this week (yesterday), I got my enclosures at about 6:30PM when the UPS man delivered it. By 9:30 that same evening, the box was drilled, painted with graphics applied and hardware installed. It's hot and dry here, so paint cures pretty fast, although it takes a couple of days for it to completely cure. I have gotten pretty good at keeping the paint in good shape while I am working on a freshly painted enclosure. I got up at 4:30AM this morning (my usual time to get up - the only way I get to practice guitar) and spent 1-1/2 hours finishing the wiring inside instead of practicing. And then a 1/2 hour after work wiring the switch for the mod before I had to go to practice to see it performs. Still tweaking the controls to find the tone I like the best - you can sure get a wide range of sounds with this guy.

So all in all, I spent about 8 hours or so on it from nothing to this beauty...  :wink:

Now I need to go to bed.