Pictures!

[armstrom]

I don't want to speak for Ian, but if I'm not mistaken he simply used lettering stamps and drove them into the metal. Think of these stamps just like a rubber stamp. Rather than transfer ink they simply dent the metal in the shape of the letter/number. You just hold them on the work piece and hit them with a hammer. With a cast aluminum enclosure like that I would probably use a dolly underneath too (basically like a little anvil you place on the other side of the surface being stamped to absorb the energy of the blow, otherwise you may crack your enclosure.

Harbor freight sells these stamps in various sizes. Try this link to see what's available. http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=stamp&Submit=Go

[allmonochrome]

a few of my recent builds:

jumped on the bandwagon and made a burns buzzaround





a skr**** scr********

[davent]

a few of my recent builds:

jumped on the bandwagon and made a burns buzzaround





a skr**** scr********

Nice looking builds!.... the background in the photos however reminds me of a mass of squirmy little maggots i once came across in my travels.

What is the finish that you used on the Buzz Around?

dave

[phintze]

Where did you get the layout for the Scr******er?

[allmonochrome]

Nice looking builds!.... the background in the photos however reminds me of a mass of squirmy little maggots i once came across in my travels.

What is the finish that you used on the Buzz Around?

dave

the finish is the US Penny Vein texture from pedal parts plus

oh and about the layout, i dont think i am allowed to mention where i got it 

[Barcode80]

he got it on the forum that shall not be named 

[Sir_Ian]

This is very cool... you "metal stamped" the letters? please familiarize me with what you mean. Did you take a stamp and do it while the paint was wet? Whatever you did it's pretty cool. Great present.

I don't want to speak for Ian, but if I'm not mistaken he simply used lettering stamps and drove them into the metal. Think of these stamps just like a rubber stamp. Rather than transfer ink they simply dent the metal in the shape of the letter/number. You just hold them on the work piece and hit them with a hammer. With a cast aluminum enclosure like that I would probably use a dolly underneath too (basically like a little anvil you place on the other side of the surface being stamped to absorb the energy of the blow, otherwise you may crack your enclosure.

Harbor freight sells these stamps in various sizes. Try this link to see what's available. http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=stamp&Submit=Go

Yep, thats basically what I did. I even used the harbor freight metal stamping sets. If you wait a while they will come on sale for some pretty decent prices. The small lettering is the 1/8" set and the big lettering is their 3/8" set. They also have a 1/4" (2/8") set, but I don't have it. They also sell a little one pound anvil for a few bucks, and thats what I put inside my enclosure. The top is too big to fit in some enclosures, so I just flip it upside down and hit against the bottom. How I got the silver lettering is another trick. I just scraped out the paint with a little metal dental pick (also purchased at harbor freight). The secret is to scrape out each layer of paint before the next. If you try to do it after you have 2 coats of hardened primer and 2 coats of paint....it gets very difficult. I tried to do that once and gave up, the paint just wouldn't scrape off. Doing this will also give you some appreciation for how well primer works. When you try and take off the primer coat....its really hard. But once its gone and you just have to take off the color coat, it comes out REAL easy. And that folks...is why we use primer. Another good Idea, if you are going to try this is to use a piece of masking tape as a line. And you can kinda feel with the letters on the line, and these will give you pretty straight words. Also, use a small sledge  (like 2 or 3 lb) and not a framing hammer. The extra weight really helps. Also, if you want to try this, don't expect perfect results on your first pedal. It took me to my 3rd pedal to get the hang of it. After you hit the letter once, your instinct is to pick up the stamp and look, but then its hard to line it back up (because one hit usually won't get you too deep). I hold it real tight and smack it 3  or 4 times with the sledge. I would suggest practicing by trying to put your name in the back cover of the pedal...that way your name is on it and if you mess up 8 times, nobody will really no, cuz they can't see it.

2 more things. I've tried to paint in the letters with a different color without much success. I used a really really small tip brush and was still getting on the sides. I think if I try to paint the letter again, I would try to use a small sewing needle. Sounds stupid but I think it might work. And even if you leave the letters the same color as the enclosure, it still looks good and is readable. (This is what I did on my big muff when I couldn't scrape the paint out).

[railhead]

Here's my first-ever attempt at etching using gloss photo paper for transfer -- and it turned out WAY better than I could have ever hoped!

[g.]

nice etch ! clean !

[Fuzz Aldryn]

yeah!!! realy clean for an etch work I have to say. wish mine would always turn out that good. i'm realy envious!;)

[tehfunk]

Here's my first-ever attempt at etching using gloss photo paper for transfer -- and it turned out WAY better than I could have ever hoped!

*Grabbing you by the throat* TELL MEE YOUR METHODS!! I MUST KNOW! lol. I'm gonna do my first etch soon, I can only hope it turns out that well. actually, i would like to know your methods, did you leave air bubbles and paint in those spots or did you cover the whole thing with toner? How long do you think you left it etching for?

[SpencerPedals]

I built my first pedal, an Uglyface.  I fell in love with the sound clips I heard and had to have one.  Before that I have wired guitars, made an aircraft radio into a tube amp, and rewired a large beaver that had a meltdown, but this is my first scratch-built pedal.  I learned the value of keeping wire lengths to a minimum, to avoid rat's nest syndrome.  This pedal suffers from that slightly, but it fit in the box so that's something.  Being called an Uglyface and sounding like hell (intentionally manufactured hell), I found the Raco box fitting.  I liked the look of Aidan's nylock nuts so I adapted the idea to something slightly more knob-like.  I used a dremel engraving bit to cut pointers into them (actually all the way through) and roughed the sides of the incision up a bit so they were more visible and fit with the box a bit more.  I think I am going to go with the ground top Raco boxes for all of my industrial (ish) sounding pedals - the next one will be torched a bit more, though.  I used a small propane torch in an area of this one, but I think I'll go for a really torched steel look for the next.  It doesn't really feel right posting pictures of this after Railheads etches but that's where I fall in line.  I apologize for that.

[Renegadrian]

Steve, you only have 2 posts but hell you can make a nice looking pedals like a veteran!
hell yeah!!! Can't think what you can build when you will have more experience...

[earthtonesaudio]

Welcome Spencer!  Nice Uglyface.  I like the torched finish and interesting texture.

[Gila_Crisis]

this is based on a 1974 Orange Graphic mkII amplifier just used FET instead of valves :-P
instead of trim pot i used fixed resistor to bias the FETs. I don't think a real orange amp sound like this but i love it.
it has it's how caracter and you can go from lightly crunch to a really muffed-fuzz-a-like distortion!





and here some sound samples too:

Sample1
Sample2
Sample3

[SpencerPedals]

Steve, you only have 2 posts but hell you can make a nice looking pedals like a veteran!
hell yeah!!! Can't think what you can build when you will have more experience...

Welcome Spencer!  Nice Uglyface.  I like the torched finish and interesting texture.

Thanks very much guys.

[DougH]

How cute... A family of knobs... Mommy and the babies...

Either that or Omigod! Your knobs have cancer and they are spreading!!!!




Seriously- nice looking build!

[Fl!P]

Sample1
Sample2
Sample3

Those are some raunchy sounds!

[Gregory Kollins]

Wow I want to build that. Do you have a schematic?

[ForcedFire]

Perfboard Guv'nor:



Modded (Dream 180s + full coil tapping/phase reversal and a roller bridge) Agile AS-820: