BSIAB II Build report with etched graphics

[Pushtone]

This build went well and sounds great!
No mods, no subs, in a Taiwan 125B box.
The artwork was etched in using feric cloide.



Only problem is loud hum with my 2005 Squire Strat single coil pups. There's no hum with my 1987 Fender Tele and no hum with any humbucker. I need to get another set of single coils through it to see if it's the Squire's wiring or not.  I used shielded guitar cable for the input and output jacks.

Inside is not so pretty but Fuggie the Whale does a great job at keeping the PCB from moving around  :lol:


About the artwork...
I've been making my own PCB lately and it occured to me...If feric cloride eats copper, then how about diecast aluminum?

So I printed the artwork onto PnP Blue, ironed it onto the enclosure and dipped it in a bath of FC. It looked terrible after the bath but after sanding off the left over PnP it looked like this. This art is NEVER coming off!

[MartyMart]

WOW !
That looks very nice indeed
Good idea you had there and I love that "Gothic" result !!! :twisted:

Marty.

[soggybag]

Very nice. I had been contemplating trying to etch a box with ferric chloride, but had some doubts as to how well it would work. Looks like it works very well!

Did you use anything to fill in the etched grooves, ink or is that the color let behind by the etchant?

[robotboy]

That is so seriously BADASSED looking! Probably one of my favorite boxes I've seen here so far. I've never done any etching before, but I'm assuming that the dark areas are the areas NOT covered with ink and the light areas that are (a relief technique)? Would you have to use PNP to do this, or could you use label backing? Anyway, great looking pedal. I'm sure it sounds as awesome as it looks.

[gaussmarkov]

Stunning stompbox, man.  That is a killer idea. And beautifully executed.  

[Pushtone]

Did you use anything to fill in the etched grooves, ink or is that the color let behind by the etchant?

No paint fill. The feric cloride leaves exposed aluminum black with tiny bumps. Reaction was violent with lots of fumes. Do it outside and be ready to douse in water. Even with a 1/4" bath of FC, it all foamed up boiling and bubbling. Had me running outside from the basement with the bucket venting fumes. Then running to get the hose to dilute it. It was quite the flail-fest.

I had already drilled the box, but I think it would be better to etch then drill. Etchant got inside the box and turned it all black.

I used PnP Blue ironed on. Wasn't a "clean" transfer but all the pot marks add to the rough look. You could just use a "Sharpie" to draw artwork.

Note that masking tape I used to mask the sides quickly came off in the bubbling FC bath. I had to sand down the sides to fresh metal.

The black areas where NOT covered by PnP Blue.
I used Photoshop to create the seamless bones patern, the heavy outlines around the text area, and the labels for the controls and the name BSINA II.
Here's a pic of the first PnP transfer. I forgot to reverse the labels before printing it. If I had used this PnP, the words would have been backwards.

[gaussmarkov]

This is such a cool effect.  I suppose you could fill the etched areas with color by painting and sanding again.  Maybe a flourescent paint.   :shock:

[Pushtone]

More fun with etching.

Etching in the 1/4" deep bath of feric cloride was so vilolent and just nasty. Thats fine for a "born in the fires of hell" distortion pedal like the BSIAB II but I wondered if there was a way to get cleaner etched results. I saw a metal stamp lettering kit at the craft store that lets you pound letters in one at a time. That got me thinking it would work for labeling controls, and they would never come off!

Now I'm thinking of using the PnP blue for labeling. In the last 50 minuets I created a PnP transfer for a LoFoMoFo. I ironed it onto a small sheet of stainless steel I use for decal testing.  However this time I used a Q-tip to apply small amounts of feric cloride in an attempt to control the rate and amount of burn. Here is the result of 30 min of painting on FC with the Q-tip several times. I washed off the FC several times and reapplied until I saw the depth I was looking for. Interesting that stainless steel does NOT turn black. An aluminum box would, so you wouldn't have to fill it with paint!

[MartyB]

Just beautiful!  A pro's finish!

[ezanker]

Congratulations on a great looking box!

[mongo]

BEAUTIFUL!!! congratulations this  truly original and creative!!

and thank you very much for sharing the Idea!!!


Andy

[Nikolay]

Yes, it's really beautiful..

Pushtone did you try to use laserjet instead PnP ?
And how long do you keep your boxes in FeCl3 ?

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

that is fantastic!

i had considered trying ferric chloride, but thought that there was reason not to, because i had never seen results...  

i will definately have to try this.

thanks for the info, and for the beautiful photos!

[Pushtone]

Thanks for the nice words.
I have learned so much here.  To JD Sleep and Fp, I love you man :oops:

And now I have learned something else...
The proper way to spell ferric chloride :oops:  :oops:  :oops:

[powerplayj]

Yep, this is one of the coolest things I have seen lately!  I will definitely give it a shot!

[Phorhas]

Beautiful job!

[6l6gc]

Beautiful, Wonderful work!
How long does it take? (etching time:in FeCL3)

[Pushtone]

How long does it take? (etching time:in FeCL3)

It was bubbling and venting fumes like crazy in about five minutes. I thought I had gone too far but it cleaned up with a little 600 grit sanding.

Warning: Do This Outside, Toxic Fumes.

I think when I do it again I will take it out of the bath shortly after the first fumes start rising. I want to see if the lines are sharper and thus would allow finer detailed images.

[sean k]

Hey Pushtone,I've been playing around with ferric as well,but mines really old and the boxes are mainly zinc.It took a while for any eating to occur and when it was done I cleaned it out and applied fine point marker to it.Not a solvent based one,as they just run under acrylic laquers,but a water based one,and even that ran abit as it wasn't totally dried out and the first coat of laquer was to heavy...,anyways,here it is.

Next time I'm going to etch something metal then scan it and go into photoshop and use it as my base then print to dark shirt transfer.

[Myriad Society]

Man Pushtone, that is about the coolest thing I think I've ever seen in a homebuild...thanks for sharing that one! Out of curiosity, do you remember what font you used for the "Level" and "Dist." labeling on the LoFo MoFo pic of the stainless steel etch? To my eye, that looks like the perfect font for the small labeling on my own pedals.