Show me your 1590A enclosures/pedals...

[adielricci]

Roseblood11, your nickname is more than adequate...   

[Mac Walker]

Hey Jawdropper, care to tell us everything you know about laser etching painted aluminum enclosures, lol?  Seems like you've got it figured out, is it hard to dial in to get the resolution you want?  What size line widths is it capable of?  What kind of machine do you use, is it nitrogen gas?  Fantastic design and implementation BTW....

[pickdropper]

Well, I am in a constant state of figuring it out.  But as I go on, I get a bit better.

1.)  I always use vector graphics.  If I have a JPEG, I use the trace function in Illustrator.  Unfortunately, that rules out some images.

2.)  If you aren't the one etching it, remember to outline all fonts.  That way, that font doesn't have to be installed on the computer that is running the job.  The outline command is in Illustrator, but I would imagine that Inkscape has a similar command (but I'm not sure)

3.)  This etch was done as a raster operation (standard for etching) and was sent at 600 DPI.  Vector operations usually indicate cutting, but you can use them for etching at a low power setting.

4.)  I used an Epilog Mini 18 with 30W laser.  There are standard presets for the material type that you should start with, but you may have to tweak them from there.  For example, I use the Anodized Aluminum setting for some enclosures and the Coated Stainless for others.  For this box, I ran it twice at Anodized, but it wasn't cutting through enough on the fish, so I did the final pass at coated metal.  

5.)  With most powder coated finishes, I clean the enclosure with flux remover in between passes.  With PPP transparent style enclosures, I etch them once and then don't touch them for at least 24 hours, and usually put them in the oven at around 115 degrees F.  I believe these have some sort of top coat, which softens when etched.  If you touch it right after etching, you will leave fingerprints or other indentations.  After re-curing for a few days with air exposure (or less an an oven), it goes back to normal.

6.)  Some enclosure colors just don't have the right contrast.  This will require a back fill, but the cut depth is fairly shallow, so back filling can be a bit of a hassle.

7.)  It can be a really good idea to run a scrap piece before the first etch to make sure the alignment is correct.  There's usually no easy way  to recover from a bad etch.  Usually, the best bet is to sand the top and use the enclosure for something else.  Unless, of course, there is a way to work the mistake into the artwork.

8.)  I've long stopped etching painted enclosures.  The paint tends to come off when I scrub them with flux remover or alcohol, so I generally stick to powder coated enclosures; they are much more resilient.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but it's possible I've forgotten something.

[Mac Walker]

^Cool, thanks for the response!   

[rocklander]

+1

[kinski]

Hi Stahoo8, really nice builds!

Any chance you could share how you fit a board and a belton brick in a 1590A? I'm build many 1590A pedals, but I can't see how there would be enough room to stack a board AND a brick.  

Here you are.

Holy cow! As someone who is obsessed with fitting everything into a 1590a, a reverb is one of the last things I have yet to pull off. My reverb is the only pedal on my pedal board that is NOT in a 1590a. Any chance you would share your circuit layout that is under the reverb brick? My life would be complete...

[kinski]

I'd also purchase a PCB (if it is a pcb) from you if you prefer!

[guitarmageddon]

Man, nice jib on that reverb!

Here's a Bear Hug (compressor)

[adielricci]

Nice and neat job, guitarmageddon! 

Another Dyna Comp, layout by Solderman.

[moweryelectronics]

Pair of MOSFET boosters called "The Mini Magic"
These sold at a shop in Carlisle, PA within a matter of hours!
Much credit is due to Chris Bean for these gorgeous swirls



Dan
www.moweryelectronics.com

[bluebunny]

Cute.

And ...

Cute again.

Both great little builds.

[noobamp]

Armstrong Orange Squeezer...the wet toner transfer came out a little smudgy... better luck next time

[mg.audio]

this is beautiful!

[mg.audio]

A Shin-Ei Companion Fuzz, experimenting with alternative compact layouts...

[SmoothAction]

Damn... you guys are loco. The 1590a thread is becoming the stuff of legend! Killer stuff guys.

Heres my 'run o' the mill' 1590a build. It may just be an electra (if you can guess which Lovepedal it is you win a digital pat on the back), but it does sound pretty darn good for what it is. Its also the best 1590a build I've done, albeit a digital grip easier than what is posted in this thread. It was tricky, but I like a good challenge and figured I start with something simple, plus a board this size just looks plain silly in my usual 125b enclosures. The wiring/drilling layout process took forever (triple check errrrythang) but I could probably cut down the build time now that I've had a good feel of what 1590a building is all about. Thanks to lvlark and his terrific site for the vero layout.

I really dig doing dip swirls. It only takes a few minutes to lay on the swirls and the paint layer is so thin I can handle it in quick time, relative to full coating and clear coating... I did add a few thin layers of clear coat just so the swirls shine n' pop a little more. Pretty much my best wiring job and one of my best swirls. Banana-Split theme anyone?

[stahoo8]

Here you go

The original design:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/ibwboz.png

PCB

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/rev.pdf

layout

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/rev1.pdf

[seedlings]

Here you go

The original design:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/ibwboz.png

PCB

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/rev.pdf

layout

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/rev1.pdf

Thank you for sharing the love! 

CHAD

[kinski]

Here you go

The original design:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/ibwboz.png

PCB

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/rev.pdf

layout

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15785125/rev1.pdf

Fantastic! Thanks! However, I already started building a vero for a reverb. I'll try to fit it into a 1590A. If it does not work, I'll use your layout. Much appreciated!

[guitarmageddon]

A mini Ecstasy Drive.

[alanp]

Don't think of this as a no-talent nothing posting boring stuff, think of it as encouraging people that if a hamfisted meatworker can do this, then you can too




MBP La Vache, with Boost permanently stuck on, and with clipping hardwired (semi-selectable, if you socket the diodes.) Button-style 2n3565, kinda board mounted pots, I had to take off the metal bracket on the back of the 9mm pots as they shorted components (due to shortsightedness on my part.)

Sounds pretty dang good, though.