Pictures!

[Jdansti]

Well, this is the first time I've posted a build here.  Some of the other builds I have seen are utterly fantastic.  Fun to join in.

This is a version of Skreddy's Lunar Module.  The PCB is from JMK Pedals.  Great sounding circuit.  I really dig it.

Very classy look! 

I assume that the artwork and text are water slide decals.  Is it one big decal or individual pieces?   How do you keep the edges of the decals from showing?  I'm just trying to improve my techniques and I really like how yours turned out.

[deadastronaut]

@pickdropper:   cool design.  nice clean build too.

[pickdropper]

Well, this is the first time I've posted a build here.  Some of the other builds I have seen are utterly fantastic.  Fun to join in.

This is a version of Skreddy's Lunar Module.  The PCB is from JMK Pedals.  Great sounding circuit.  I really dig it.

Very classy look! 

I assume that the artwork and text are water slide decals.  Is it one big decal or individual pieces?   How do you keep the edges of the decals from showing?  I'm just trying to improve my techniques and I really like how yours turned out.

It's actually laser etched.  I lay out the vector graphics in Adobe Illustrator and burn them in.

[petey twofinger]

totally off topic , i have been visit adrian belews blog , he has been paiting , and these images make the coolest desktop back grounds . normally i dont use that sort of thing , but these are really cool !

http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-new-painting.html

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-e1NN_Dkd600/ULZum2RGmDI/AAAAAAAABKA/iERUFfUBOGM/s1600/DSC_0044.JPG

http://elephant-blog.blogspot.com/2012/11/painting-again.html

[alparent]

Well, this is the first time I've posted a build here.  Some of the other builds I have seen are utterly fantastic.  Fun to join in.

This is a version of Skreddy's Lunar Module.  The PCB is from JMK Pedals.  Great sounding circuit.  I really dig it.

Are these decals?

[pickdropper]

Well, this is the first time I've posted a build here.  Some of the other builds I have seen are utterly fantastic.  Fun to join in.

This is a version of Skreddy's Lunar Module.  The PCB is from JMK Pedals.  Great sounding circuit.  I really dig it.

Are these decals?

No, they are laser etched.

[alparent]

Sweet! Did it yourself?
I need to look around if I can found a place that would do mine.
Great work!

[pickdropper]

Sweet! Did it yourself?
I need to look around if I can found a place that would do mine.
Great work!

I did the layout myself and used a laser etcher I have access to (sometimes).

I would check out local trophy shops.  They usually have the machines.

[Jdansti]

Sweet! Did it yourself?
I need to look around if I can found a place that would do mine.
Great work!

I did the layout myself and used a laser etcher I have access to (sometimes).

I would check out local trophy shops.  They usually have the machines.

All I know about laser etching is that it uses a laser. . I guess I don't understand how the laser makes the graphics. Did you paint the enclosure and then use the laser to remove a layer of paint? 

[pickdropper]

Sweet! Did it yourself?
I need to look around if I can found a place that would do mine.
Great work!

I did the layout myself and used a laser etcher I have access to (sometimes).

I would check out local trophy shops.  They usually have the machines.

All I know about laser etching is that it uses a laser. . I guess I don't understand how the laser makes the graphics. Did you paint the enclosure and then use the laser to remove a layer of paint? 

Some lasers are strong enough to engrave metal, but the one I use isn't.  So basically, you start with a coated enclosure.  It could be painted, powder coated, anodized, etc....  I strongly prefer powder coated over painted as the enclosures often need to be cleaned up after engraving and I can use some fairly powerful solvents to clean up that tend to remove regular paint.

So basically you set up your artwork beforehand like you would do a decal.  I use Adobe Illustrator because the file is in a vector format, but you can also use Inkscape (which is free).  Setting up the artwork is the hard part.  Actually engraving is basically like printing to a laser printer.  The enclosure is put into the bed and I print from my computer and the laser burns away material.  The main thing is making sure your alignment is correct and that the engraving settings are correct.  Different materials require different machine settings.  Machines often have some presets for different materials.  Those may or may not work for you.

If you have this done at a trophy shop, all you should need is an enclosure and an artwork file; they should be able to handle the actually machine setup.  I would expect that they would want .AI file structure, but they might work from .PDF (but be careful with that one as the output settings can vary).

[Jdansti]

Ok. So when I burned away the material, did it leave behind the light blue areas, or did you have to do something else to get that effect?

[pakrat]

Here's my contest pedal which is a tremolo. The graphics are a photo overlay superglued to the enclosure with about 6 coats of spray-on varnish over the entire pedal.  The graphic was a purchased clip art image of a heart that I edited to add all of the electronic stuff.  I wanted the overlay to extent to the edges of the enclosure, so the hardest part was cutting the photo to fit.

Love this one John.

[Jdansti]

^ Thanks, Frank. It's the first enclosure I've done that I wasn't embarrassed to share a photo.

Your contest entries aren't exactly slouches either: 

[pickdropper]

Ok. So when I burned away the material, did it leave behind the light blue areas, or did you have to do something else to get that effect?

The greenish area left behind is not very normal.  There must be something about the way PPP paints that hammertone as it did not etch down to the metal, which is normal with laser etching.  These boxes aren't coated with the idea of having it etched off, so it isn't always consistent underneath.

If you'd like, I can post some of my other etched builds so you can get a better idea.

[pakrat]

Thanks John 
Yes please pickdropper. That box is stunning, and where did you get that LED?

[pickdropper]

Thanks John 
Yes please pickdropper. That box is stunning, and where did you get that LED?

The LED bezel is VCC brand and they have a selection of them at Mouser (among other places).

I'll try and get some more pics up later today.

[pickdropper]

OK, here are some of them:

This is a Boneyard from Madbean (PlexiDrive).  I put a buffer in front to reduce squealing and a SHO on the back end.





This is a DBD using an SMT PCB I laid out.  The top on this is actually not etched, but laser marked.  You have to paint on the marking material and the laser fuses it on in the pattern you want.





This is one of Madbean's LowRider (Pearl Octavers)  This is a more traditional etch.  Interestingly, the laser remelts the lacquer on the PPP transparent finishes.  I need to recure them in an oven before I can touch the etched area.  Not sure what happened to the gutshot of this one.





This is an ISP Decimator.  More surface mount, but not my layout.  I believe somebody here did it.





There's more, but this post is long enough already.  :-)

[alparent]

Please stop!

Give me 5 min to sponge the drool off my keaybord.

And you've been hiding these from us all this time!

Explain the different lettering on the SmallBoxPlexi 

[pickdropper]

Please stop!

Give me 5 min to sponge the drool off my keaybord.

And you've been hiding these from us all this time!

Explain the different lettering on the SmallBoxPlexi 

The Small Box Plexi has two different style engravings.  The box itself just has a standard engraving (the switch area).  The plate used a slightly different process.  First I cut a square piece of acrylic.  I painted the back of it gold.  I then engraved the lettering from the reverse side (the lettering was engraved backwards).  Then I painted the back black, which filled in the engraved lettering, but the gold on the rest of it masked off the rest of the black.  I then went back and laser cut out the exact size plate out of the square as well as cutting holes for the potentiometers.  I didn't do the final cuts until the painting was done do I didn't have to worry about masking it off.  There was paper backing on the front of the acrylic to keep it clean and scratch free.  That wasn't removed until the end.

A bit of a pain, but I like the look of it.

[rousejeremy]

Those are just......wow