Wedgies Anyone? A 1590B tutorial

[duck_arse]

I'm no metal worker either, but I do own a hammer, and I love watching (community access tv) programs where the bloke hammers a flat sheet until he has a new bonnet for an FJ, or something. if yr Al box has those real big crystals of aluminium showing, I think they'd be more crackable than bendable.

maybe it's just the crummy cases I've seen is the problem.

[Cozybuilder]

How appropriate that Mister DA posted just before this!

As promised, here is the completed build using the wedgie. Circuit by Sam Hay, just a couple of mods. Thanks to Michael (Whiskey Made Me Do It) for a lot of help in pulling off the graphic.

[davent]

Super job Russ, came out great!

Thanks for the tutorial, makes for a very cool little box in a flavour different  from the norm.
dave

[bloxstompboxes]

Holy crap! That's a lot of jumpers. lol. Good job.

[Perrow]

If you start off with a 125B enclosure you'll have five extra millimeters of height to begin with.

[Cozybuilder]

Pelle-
Agreed, 125B would make it a lot easier- you could fit open frame jacks in the back along with the 9V Jack, and use the large blue 3PDT switch. I hope to see other builds  

[Crowella]

Bookmarked this thread. That's a really tidy job that I feel a lot of people can do easily. Kudos. 

[duck_arse]

cozy - I never thought I'd read a comment like that. outstanding looking thing there, even without a footy.

[change yr name to purple fuzz in a week's time, and I might have something to show after one of your posts.]

[plexi12000]

nice work-- looks cool!

[peterg]

Russ - looks good! What's next? A 1590a box wedgie?

[deadastronaut]

nicely done...

[Cozybuilder]

Heres another in the Wedgie enclosure. Its a modified Axis Face.

   



I almost feel guilty that there is so much room in there!

[davent]

Ah... room to breath, nicely done Russ!

[Luke51411]

Nice pink wedgie! I'm still waiting to see you turn a 1590A into a wedgie...

[Rob Strand]

I can't say I would have going to the trouble of doing that!    Some of you guys are so keen, it's amazing.

[Cozybuilder]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

I built 2 of these, with a couple of changes in the coupling caps, and the reverse polarity protection. You can use a 1N4148 or other diode (forward voltage drop about 0.7V) or a BS250 (P-channel MOSFET, forward voltage drop about 0.03V).

Here is the schematic and the perf layout. This layout could easily be done as a PCB.

 

[Cozybuilder]

After seeing a 1968 Vox ToneBender V828, this looked like a reasonable next step in the development of a practical Wedgie from a 1590B. I wasn't trying to duplicate it, but rather capture the essence of the original.



This project started with the steps outlined in the first posting, making a wedgie, with a couple of additional steps, and a method to assure the bottom pieces are in the same plane and end up with a usable box.

1) Here is the basic layout. I adjusted the pot location from the pictured build to better center the knobs in the graphic:



2) Before making any cuts, drill for the 9V and I/O jacks first. Its much easier to clamp the rectangular box than the wedgie. The other holes are easily done later. The basic wedge box is formed with the cutout of the wedge, then the top. Best to cut the bottom (angle) of the wedge shape first, then the parallel cut to the top, then cut across the top. Band saw preferred, hacksaw a little more work but very doable, last choice is a dremel cutter. Once the top has been cut off, file or sand the two pieces to a good fit.



3) Mark your lines top and bottom. My build divided the width by 4 (0.58"), and cut that amount. I think thats excessive, and would recommend a smaller dimension, maybe 0.40" - 0.45", instead. On the bottom plate, measure the distance the screw hole center is from the edge, and mark that on the edge. Draw a parallel line to your cut line, and measure up to it.you will align the side piece by screwing into the boss.



4) Now cut the angle piece from the top, side, and bottom on ONE SIDE ONLY. Be sure the bottom and top are on the same side. Cut and fit the front and side piece to match up, and use a dremel to do the relief cuts on the bottom lip so that you can screw the side to it. Once everything fits well, JB Weld the top to the cut side, the top, and along the front, do not glue the portions that will be cut in the next step. Use all 4 screws in the bottom plate for aligning. After cure it should look like the second photo below.



5) Now do the same steps on the other side. This one is a lot easier than the first. Fill in any shallow places, radius the inside edges etc.



6) You will need to form a new lip in the bottom plate, you can just use the wedge piece you cut out as the base material. Take a little time with the dremel and JB Weld and you can make it look better than I did.



Heres the completed project (so much unused space   ):


So, a fiddly project that will give you a little different flavor. Heres a family shot of the three wedgies done to date:

[duck_arse]

now that I've seen how you did the toe-taper, nice work. you're mad, but nice work anyway.

and aren't all fuzzes pink?

[Cozybuilder]

I'll take that as a compliment Ducky, thank you! Pink just didn't suit this "tribute" pedal, but yes most of my distortion-type pedals are pink.

[bluebunny]

nice work. you're mad, but nice work anyway.

+1    (Quite, quite mad...)