Show me your 1590A enclosures/pedals...

[elshiftos]

I haven't built any PCBs or pedals for quite some time, but lockdown 2020 changed all that as I *really* needed a few projects to keep me occupied. I re-acquainted myself with ExpressPCB plus, and also managed to find the magic formula for making PCBs using a laser printer on magazine paper and the solvent transfer method.

End result is a Belton reverb (with the potting removed to reduce the damn huge footprint)



And a PT2399 echo based on the 'Faux'. I'm rather proud of this as it's most effort I've put into building  a pedal - including the last-minute decision to make a sub-board for the pots. AND, all of the drill holes were spot on, which is something I've generally struggled with in the past!



My hat goes off to those of you that manage to cram even more into a 1590a and come up with such beautiful enclosure artwork - respect!

[Marcos - Munky]

Steve, imo your builds are beautiful. And great pcbs, it's very nice to find the magic tone transfer formula and you surely found yours.

For the drill holes, it's easier if you include a guide on your artwork. Like a simple dot or something like that. If you do the artwork after drilling the enclosure, then a good tip is to make a drilling template and use it for the drill positions. I have one I made using photoshop, I can share the file if you want to use it as a reference to move things around and make your own template.

[davent]

Steve, imo your builds are beautiful. And great pcbs, it's very nice to find the magic tone transfer formula and you surely found yours.

For the drill holes, it's easier if you include a guide on your artwork. Like a simple dot or something like that. If you do the artwork after drilling the enclosure, then a good tip is to make a drilling template and use it for the drill positions. I have one I made using photoshop, I can share the file if you want to use it as a reference to move things around and make your own template.

Something else you can do with a predrilled enclosure you want to add art to is scan the enclosure and do you art layout on the 'to size' scan.
dave

[elshiftos]

Steve, imo your builds are beautiful. And great pcbs, it's very nice to find the magic tone transfer formula and you surely found yours.

For the drill holes, it's easier if you include a guide on your artwork. Like a simple dot or something like that. If you do the artwork after drilling the enclosure, then a good tip is to make a drilling template and use it for the drill positions. I have one I made using photoshop, I can share the file if you want to use it as a reference to move things around and make your own template.

Something else you can do with a predrilled enclosure you want to add art to is scan the enclosure and do you art layout on the 'to size' scan.
dave

Great minds think alike That is exactly what I do for most pedals or other things I build that require text labelling or some kind of artwork. Open the scanned PDF in Illustrator and add the items to be printed on separate layers, then print onto laser waterslide...boom!

[elshiftos]

Steve, imo your builds are beautiful. And great pcbs, it's very nice to find the magic tone transfer formula and you surely found yours.

For the drill holes, it's easier if you include a guide on your artwork. Like a simple dot or something like that. If you do the artwork after drilling the enclosure, then a good tip is to make a drilling template and use it for the drill positions. I have one I made using photoshop, I can share the file if you want to use it as a reference to move things around and make your own template.

Very kind of you to say that Marcos, thank you

I found the magic ratio to be 2:1 Isopropyl to Acetone, both 99.99%. I use a cheap glass pipette from ebay to measure the solvent. Also, 'keying' the copper with 800 grit abrasive or steel wool first and getting the clamping method right is very important.

I don't get on well with drilling templates that wrap around the outside of the enclosure. Instead, I usually print the PCB or control layout onto paper and stick that on the inside of the enclosure, then carefully drill a pilot hole using a carbide bit in a handheld bit holder thingy.

[Marcos - Munky]

I found the magic ratio to be 2:1 Isopropyl to Acetone, both 99.99%. I use a cheap glass pipette from ebay to measure the solvent. Also, 'keying' the copper with 800 grit abrasive or steel wool first and getting the clamping method right is very important.

Interesting. I did acetone (nail enamel remover in fact, so no pure acetone) transfers a few times, and all I used were acetone. I scratched the back of the paper with a knife, so acetone can soak the paper better than if I just apply acetone to the outside layer. Then I dropped some acetone on the paper, used my fingers to apply pressure, let it dry and repeated once. I got some nice results out of this method, but the results were very "brand" depending. Some nail enamel remorer did good transfers, while others didn't transfered at all. It may be related to the formula each brand uses. In your case, a pure acetone may be too aggressive to the toner, that's why the need of that much isopropyl.

[Marcos - Munky]

Finished this one yesterday. The toner of the printer I use isn't so good, so it didn't protected so well the enclosure for the etching. But the result was good imo.


A shot of the board before I boxed it. I made my own layout. While I done other stuff with more parts than this one, the tracing for this one wasn't so easy. Had to put some resistors under the ICs, use some jumpers (there are some on the solder side) and had to use wires to connect the trimpot because I didn't found a smaller one to use. Anyway, it works, so that's what matters .

[Marcos - Munky]

Another phaser for the pedal collection, and this one surely will be added to my pedalboard. It's the DOD Phasor 201, using Solderman's layout.

Artwork based on the original one but with greek words, got this idea after our friend Antonis translated to greek one phrase I wrote in portuguese in some topic. Well, I used google translator for the greek words, and I assume they're correct even if somebody tells me there are errors on them . Painted it blue using nail enamel, and used a blue led and blue knob.

For some reason, this one was so hard to transfer. I tried both acetone and iron, used two different papers (including one I successfully did some transfers before), changed printer settings, and after about 9 or 10 attemps this was the better transfer I got, and I just went with it. In the end, I liked the result, and imo it sounds better than the Phase90 I did before, even having half the stages number.

[lrgaraujo]

In the end, I liked the result, and imo it sounds better than the Phase90 I did before, even having half the stages number.

Nice job, Marcos! It looks awesome! I have recently built a 3-stage phaser based on the phase 45 and I can't recommend it enough! If I'm not mistaken, the phasor 201 is very similar to the phase 45, so it should be pretty simple to adapt it. It's going to be hard to fit inside a 1590a, though 

[Marcos - Munky]

Opa Lourenço. Legal ver mais brasileiros por aqui!

The Phasor 201 and the Phase 45 are basically the same circuit. The differences are just a few resistor values, and the Phase45 have one more cap than the Phasor 201 (well, actually two more caps, but one is just for power filtering).

This build was easy enough for a 1590A, since I started with an already tested layout. Adding another stage shoudn't be too complicated. But the 1590A Phase 90 I built before this one was a more complicated work, since I had to start from just the schematic.

Imo 1590A are fun builds and one of the most pleasuring things on them is to complete challenging builds. I'm working on a much more complicated one, probably the most complicated one I ever did, with lots of parts and lots of jumpers . Layout is ready, board is already etched and half populated, just need to finish it and check if it fits the 1590A. I mean, in theory it should fit, but when we add pots, jacks and toggle switches, things can bet complicated. Hope to finish it until the next weekend.

[winnetouch]

Just built this little treble booster. It doesn't work. I'm betting on a busted transistor. I ordered it from a questionable source . I'll sort it out in a week or two, but the guts fit without a problem . I'm building it as an experiment as my first 1590a build.

[thomasha]

What kind of sorcery is this:



Has anybody seen the other side of the board? Or are there 2 boards?

Kind of remembers me something Pickdropper would do. Very clean and tidy.

[vigilante397]

What kind of sorcery is this:

Has anybody seen the other side of the board? Or are there 2 boards?

Kind of remembers me something Pickdropper would do. Very clean and tidy.

Didn't you do a Deluxe Memory Man in an LB?

It is very reminiscent of Pickdropper's designs, very tidy. I would bet money on multiple PCBs, at the very least I would expect the jacks, pots, and switch to be PCB-mounted.

[thomasha]

Yes, the DMM was a tough one.
I wish I could make things more tidy, without having to wire all the 5 pots plus switch.

I was looking for some ideas, and saw the mini carbon copy. Really curious how they made the second board.

[vigilante397]

Yes, the DMM was a tough one.
I wish I could make things more tidy, without having to wire all the 5 pots plus switch.

I was looking for some ideas, and saw the mini carbon copy. Really curious how they made the second board.

It looks like the 2.1mm jack, 1/4" jacks, pots, and LEDs are mounted on there, not entirely sure about the footswitch or the mini toggle for the Bright. Then probably male headers on the hardware board, female headers on the main audio board. That's certainly how I would have done it (he says smugly to himself despite never working in anything smaller than 1590B). Keeping as much as possible board mounted makes everything look neat, but also makes it reliable and easier to manufacture with less hand-soldering required. Serious win-win for MXR on that one, must be super cheap to produce.

Board 1 goes in, tighten down pot, 1/4" jack, and footswitch nuts. Board 2 goes on top. Attach knobs, screw on bottom plate, then on to the next unit.

As a side note I really like the look of the tiny tantalum caps.

Additional side note: Are those SMD sockets for the BBD???

[ElectricDruid]

I particularly like the "MXR" style tall Davies 1900 knobs. That's a nice touch, and shows a certain commitment. Would have been so easy to use something standard, but they didn't.

[thomasha]

I like the small trimmers, can't find them anywhere (other than mouser)

The jacks are also pretty close to the top of the box. Are those the normal Neutrik jacks? They require a lot of space.

The SMD sockets are also pretty good for this build. the normal sockets are way higher than those.

[Ice-9]

I like the small trimmers, can't find them anywhere (other than mouser)

The SMD sockets are also pretty good for this build. the normal sockets are way higher than those.

Those SMD sockets for the BBD chips actually look more like a small SMD adapter PCB, very neat idea.

[FiveseveN]

Every once in a while I get to actually build pedals. This was my first encounter with the 1590A: a boost and a CMOS fuzz.

[bluebunny]

First?  Wow.