Cheap and cheerful labelling

[Harry]

Hey gez, where'd you get those knobs and switches for the jitterbug?

[brett]

Hi
For those workied about scratching, polycarbonate might be tougher than acrylic. (??)
(I don't know the details, but I remember years ago at a university open day they had a $20 note under a sheet of polycarbonate, and a hammer to try to break it and get the money.  I hit that thing ten times and didn't make a dent or a crack.)
cheers

[hank reynolds 3rd]

the knobs look like the ones from Maplins ,and Gez mentioned the switches being momentary ones (again,Maplins goodnesses!! )

[Harry]

Thank!

[gez]

Yup, Hank's right, cheapo Maplin knobs.  No expense spared for my own stuff!

Actually, the momentary switches are really good, but I get them cheaper elsewhere.

[sfr]

I've used this method before to - to hide the extra holes in a re-used box.  Works well enough!

Small scratches in plastic can often be buffed out. 

[Seljer]

anyone though about engraving that plexiglass then using a bright LED pointed sideways into it to get a glowing picture of whatever is engraved: http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/glowpad/index_eng (towards the bottom)

like those Hughes and Kettner amps http://www.poweralley.com/Hughes%20and%20kettner/Hughes11.jpg

[liakos]

anyone though about engraving that plexiglass then using a bright LED pointed sideways into it to get a glowing picture of whatever is engraved: http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/glowpad/index_eng (towards the bottom)

like those Hughes and Kettner amps http://www.poweralley.com/Hughes%20and%20kettner/Hughes11.jpg

grate idea i will give it a try!

[axeman010]

Gez –I know it was from some time ago but  I really like the look of that Whirligig !!!!! 

Have done a search but cant find that pedal on a DIY site. Please could
you let me know what it is based on ?

Thanks

Axeman.

[gez]

Gez –I know it was from some time ago but  I really like the look of that Whirligig !!!!! 

Have done a search but cant find that pedal on a DIY site. Please could
you let me know what it is based on ?

Thanks

Axeman.

It's part vibrato, part 'hi-band' phaser and part tremolo.  The LFO, ramp circuit and tremolo section (slightly perverted that one!  ) are all my own work, but other than that the rest is just based on standard allpass stages with a few odd twists re mixing and feedback.

This isn't me playing (this guy did it off his own back, nothing to do with me) but I like his tone:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9166401200945127755&q=whirligig

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4625671439652364210&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1623372055557803071

PS  My website is linked from my profile, but I'd be pretty disapointed if anyone from here ordered one (why else does this forum exist but to build your own?) 
 

[Processaurus]

I was trying Gez's method today, using an 1/8"  Lucite sheet.  I made the decal by sending it to the drug store to get printed in their photo dept.  19 cents per 4x6 print, and they're nice!

Its a really good idea, there seems to be more than a few ways to f#$K this process up though, I'll share those now.

Photo dept enlarges the image by about 1% so that they can crop it easier.
-scale image down 1%, double check it.

Lucite is brittle, I tried shearing it and it shattered some.
-cut the stuff out on the bandsaw.

Bandsaws want to cut somewhat diagonally.
-use the fence, if you have to cut it without it, don't trust your cut to be perpendicular or straight or anything.

For the love of God, drill out the clear sheet, decal, and box all together.   Otherwise it will never match up.  That was my big mistake, thinking starting from the same template would be good enough. The box got drilled a little crooked, but the lucite was straight.  Aaaughh!    I ended up making all the holes in the box bigger...  One way keep them together while you're drilling is to sandwich the stuff together by making two of the holes, just big enough for some screws, then use washers and nuts to tighten the sandwich down.  Then use your switches and stuff to secure it and drill out those ex screw holes, if you don't want any screws.  This also makes the decal (photopaper in my case) not shred and get weird, the holes will be fairly clean because of the sandwich pressure.  Any other way (than drilling out together) is going to take a lot more time...

One thing I tried was making big holes in the lucite so the pot nuts sat down on the decal, and there's enough space around it to get a deep socket on there.  This is because the 16mm alpha pots barely have enough thread to go through a hammond box, let alone another 1/8" +.  Also I drilled little holes for the locator tabs on the pots, just in the box, so that the decal sheet covers them up and they don't appear in the lucite.  The decal also covered some countersunk  screws that secure standoffs, two for the board, and one to keep the battery from rattling around.  Those have lockwashers inside, so hopefully they never come loose.  There is enough thread on the footswitches to go through, and also the mountain toggle switches small bear stocks   

For the black plastic LED holders (radioshack), I tried something that came out nice, I drilled their 1/4" holes in the lucite, then countersunk it a bit, so that the holder sits about halfway up in the layer.  Then the hole in the box should be a little bigger, >.26" to make room for the holder's clip.  Or you could go sans holder, and just countersink the lucite, it would probably look very nice.  Or countersink it and the box together, so that there is a shiny aluminum cone and the then the clear.

I'd like to try beveling the edge, in a future use of Gez's plexi-tequnique.  Not sure what to use, surface planer maybe? 

[gez]

I'd like to try beveling the edge, in a future use of Gez's plexi-tequnique.  Not sure what to use, surface planer maybe?  

See if you can find a sheet plastic supplier close to you.  All the ones I've come across cut sheets to size and do the bevelling for you (if that's what you want) - hell of a lot easier than cutting it yourself!  Also, if they have an 'offcuts bin' your material will cost next to nothing.

Re drilling it all.  I did say (though it might have been in another thread) that it's best to drill everything together.  I print off the template onto a sticky label, slap it on the face of the box, place the acrylic square over it and tape it alltogether using masking tape.  This holds it nice and secure for drilling.

Photo of your work? 

[thumposaurus]

You can fire polish cut edges of plastics using a torch.  Just have to be careful not to burn, melt, or warp it.

[Processaurus]

Gez, that would be great to find a plastics place that could do that kind of plastic smithing.  You are so right about drilling everything together, I just had so much different I wanted to do with the box that I figured I'd keep it separate, bad move.  Would have taken less time to drill out pilot holes in them together to index everything, then separate them to do the different size holes.  One nice thing about the Lucite is you can go straight to the big bits if you drill it nice and slow.

Hmm, masking tape holds it together, excellent.  I would have never thought of that.  Thanks, that's the solution.

Thumposaurus (nice to see another old timer around, by the way), I tried the heat gun on the Lucite, on the bandsawed edges, which don't look that bad, actually, to start with, they look kinda frosted.  It started melting and misshaping it before it relaxed enough to be polished.  This gave me the idea, though, that you could stick it in the toaster oven on some temperature yet to be sussed out, and wrap the sides over a metal box, to continue a decal to the sides, or just to look cool.  The bent part is really strong, actually, I couldn't break it off with my hand, on the test piece.  They must use a similar process for the acrylic in the Zvex theremin pedals, I'm a little curious what the material is:



I'll try authentic fire some time, maybe you have to get just the edge hot fast, before the rest gets hot and starts getting droopy.

Plastics!

[Processaurus]

Thanks for the tequnique, Gez, here's what I did with it:

[jlullo]

processaurus,
that looks really really tasteful!

nice job!

[brett]

That is Art. 

Back in the 1970s, I made some housings for underwater cameras.  My acrylic bender was a design borrowed off Mick Sheppard in Brisbane.  It consisted of 2 pieces of square metal pipe (each about 1 x 1 inches and 12 inches long), separated by about 1/4 inch.  The end of the pipes were attached to a hose and water ran through them.  The acrylic went on top of the pipes, and a burner went underneath.  This arrangement allowed a straight, narrow band of the acrylic to be heated until it was pliable.  The pipes kept the nearby areas cool and hard.  It worked very well.

Schemo  (IIIII = 1 inch square metal pipe):

water in   ---->  IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII   ----->
                                                                                          V
water out <---  IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII   <-----

[gez]

Processaurus, very cool!  Is that hand written, or some font that gives you that effect?

[Paul Marossy]

Processaurus, very cool!  Is that hand written, or some font that gives you that effect?

Yes, cool. I was also wondering about the writing. It looks a little too perfect to be actual handwriting.

[gez]

Paul, now that I look at it more closely it does look like a font.  I used a 'handwritting' font to do a template for an engraved box once.  I thought it would be more forgiving if I made slight slips (we're used to seeing imperfect handwritting so it wouldn't look so much like a mistake).  It turned out OK, but nothing to shout about, I'll leave engraving to the experts!

Processaurus, have you thought of using Eddystone diecast boxes?  They have square corners, so there's no need to round off the acrylic plate's corners.