DIY Wah Enclosure Experiment

[mattthegamer463]

I saw that Smallbear had all the gear parts to build a wah pedal, and even a transformer which they said would make a decent wah inductor.  I figured it was worth my time to DIY one, so here's what I've got so far...







This one is from before I started on the gear mechanism.


Took about 5 hours to get to this point.  Thought you folks might be interested.

Also please don't comment on my welding job.

[John Lyons]

Hey, I know how much work it was...still...looks great!!
If you make another I'm sure it will go together faster.

[Paul Marossy]

Nice. Looking forward to seeing it when it's done.

[joegagan]

cool , i love these metal work projects. the welds don't bother me too much. looking forward to seeing it done as well.

[Processaurus]

Wow, that's amazing!   

[mattthegamer463]

Thanks dudes.  Hopefully I can get something going out of it.  I've got far too many projects on the go right now, I've got lots of housings waiting for circuits and I spend too much time just making more.

[mattthegamer463]

Almost done...

[phector2004]

great idea with the spring!! does it absorb the "impact" at all or is it just to give more resistance so you don't turn the wah off accidentally?

don't know about you, but despite my earphone jamming, I think everyone at home hates me at 3am when the wah starts thumping the floor 

[mattthegamer463]

I've only ever used a wah once in a store, I don't own any wah pedals.  I only own one actual production pedal, actually.

The spring is to prevent the button from being pressed, yes.  It happens incredibly easily without it.  With that spring it takes some shifted body weight to trigger.  It might even be considered "difficult" while sitting.  The top is going to have a rubber pad glued to it, for traction.

[mattthegamer463]

The enclosure is done!









Now it just needs a circuit...

[paulyy]

Looks good. Very clean. What kind of wah sound are you looking to put in there.

[glops]

Fantastic work.  I wish I had a shop and skills like that.

[MicFarlow77]

Excellent work! I love it!

[Brymus]

I agree that is SUPER NICE WORK !!!   
Looks very durable, and I really like the material you put on the treadle.(what is it BTW)
And is that a lifter valve spring I see in there? Ingenious

[cloudscapes]

brilliant work!
and about your welding work, it's certainly way more than what most of us can do!

[mattthegamer463]

Thanks guys, glad to see you like it.

I was thinking of maybe prototyping a crybaby, tweaking it and working from there.

There is one major problem though... the 100k pot only gets about 160 degrees of rotation, compared to the full 270, I think I've probably murdered it wah range severely with that little problem.

Can anyone think of a way to use a higher resistance pot or something to maybe try and compensate for this failure on my part?

@Brymus, I think you're right about the lifter valve spring, I just found it in a box o' springs at school and they do a lot of car and engine stuff.

[ghostsauce]

So the swing of the pedal is too much for the pot? What if you just put a blocker inside somewhere to stop the pedal and cut off the excess rotation?

[Hides-His-Eyes]

from the sound of it, the pot doesn't get nearly ENOUGH swing.

[oskar]

http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/potsecrets/potscret.htm

[tackleberry]

Maybe those tabs you welded on top can be made taller to increase its range of motion. Or mod where they connect on the treddle to get more height.