Etched enclosures

[Cinder]

Here's my first finished pedal, a Distortion+ clone by FuzzDog, aka Toxic Minx.
Etched with caustic soda.

[bloxstompboxes]

Here's my first finished pedal, a Distortion+ clone by FuzzDog, aka Toxic Minx.
Etched with caustic soda.

I call bullshit! No way that is your first etch and/or finished pedal. It is too perfect. Perfectly positioned etch on the enclosure, perfectly formed 3D pattern, and so on, etc. If it is your first, then I hate you, lol.

[Cinder]

Here's my first finished pedal, a Distortion+ clone by FuzzDog, aka Toxic Minx.
Etched with caustic soda.

I call bullshit! No way that is your first etch and/or finished pedal. It is too perfect. Perfectly positioned etch on the enclosure, perfectly formed 3D pattern, and so on, etc. If it is your first, then I hate you, lol.

Don't be a hater my friend
To ease your suspicions, it really is my first finished pedal, but I did spend the better part of two days finding a good method for the etching process, a lot of failed attempts that is.
I am however quite happy with the result in the end, and hopefully the next one(s) will be faster and with less mistakes.

[peterg]

Cinder - amazing work!!!

[mcknib]

Cinder that's a beauty not sure about the minx but that pedal's the business great etch.

Did you use a pipette to apply the caustic soda and did you sand the box smooth forever before etching to get those terrific results.

[rocket8810]

can agree more. my first etch was no where near that good. i've been way too nervous to do something that intricate. how the hell did you get that design onto the enclosure?

[Cinder]

Cinder - amazing work!!!

Cheers

Cinder that's a beauty not sure about the minx but that pedal's the business great etch.

Did you use a pipette to apply the caustic soda and did you sand the box smooth forever before etching to get those terrific results.

I applied the soda with a wide brush. Caustic soda does result in a really nice and clean etch, but the process is really slow, I think the above pedal took an hour and a half to etch before I got deep enough so that I could clearly feel the pattern with my fingers. It was sort of cold outside though, so I guess the process was slowed down by that too.

I sanded the top of the enclosure to a flat 400 grit surface, the most important thing was to get it really flat to begin with so I started by grinding it on a belt sander. It can be done by hand too, but I couldn't get my hands on the 120 grit wet sand paper this weekend, so I went for the belt sander which made quick work of the initial flattening. Getting from the rough belt sander scratches (100 grit probably) to 400 doesn't take more than about 10 minutes or so.

can agree more. my first etch was no where near that good. i've been way too nervous to do something that intricate. how the hell did you get that design onto the enclosure?

Haha, cheers mate, I always aim high when I do something like this. My girlfriend said I'd been "frantic" the past two days, because I have a really hard time quitting before I get the results that I want.
To get the design onto the enclosure I used a 157g glossy cheapo photo paper found at my local hardware store (20 A6 sheets for $5, each sheet can take no more than one design, but the paper is good). I then applied it with an iron on max heat. For the above pedal I heated the design for 5 minutes, but I think you can go for 10 to get more perfect adhesion, I found that the most important thing is to not put pressure on the design when ironing, it will get smudged out. I dont remember how many times I sanded the toner off the enclosure due to smudging, but once I read about the pressure being the culprit I could heat it for a really long time and the design would stay neat.

Glad you guys enjoyed the pedal, it sounds really nice even though it doesn't have as much "chug" as I like for hard rock or metal, it's really nice for rock in general.
I've got plenty of PCB's laying around, so I'll be making more pedals later, but I'm a knifemaker as well, so I have to balance my efforts You can check my knives out at www.arcticknives.com.

[apollomusicservice]

Here's my first finished pedal, a Distortion+ clone by FuzzDog, aka Toxic Minx.
Etched with caustic soda.

Tight work, bravo!

[deadastronaut]

Nice etch man...cool...

[duck_arse]

it was worth the wait for your cutting-edge etch.

[bloxstompboxes]

Here's my first finished pedal, a Distortion+ clone by FuzzDog, aka Toxic Minx.
Etched with caustic soda.

I call bullshit! No way that is your first etch and/or finished pedal. It is too perfect. Perfectly positioned etch on the enclosure, perfectly formed 3D pattern, and so on, etc. If it is your first, then I hate you, lol.

Don't be a hater my friend
To ease your suspicions, it really is my first finished pedal, but I did spend the better part of two days finding a good method for the etching process, a lot of failed attempts that is.
I am however quite happy with the result in the end, and hopefully the next one(s) will be faster and with less mistakes.

Not a hater, Just envious I suppose is all. I may try etching an enclosure some day but was always a little scared to try it. Your success is encouraging though.

[rocket8810]

crazy man. i swear i could never get the photo paper transfers to work. it may be due to too much pressure. 
might have to give it another go, instead of using P n' P paper, that shit gets expensive.

btw, i checked out your knife work, simply gorgeous.

[vigilante397]

crazy man. i swear i could never get the photo paper transfers to work. it may be due to too much pressure. 
might have to give it another go, instead of using P n' P paper, that shit gets expensive.

I used to swear by PnP Blue until I tried magazine paper (I use Better Homes and Gardens ), and now I swear by magazine paper.

Seriously though, just whoa.

[Cinder]

Here's my second finished pedal for your viewing pleasure.
It's the "Black Sabbath in a Box" pedal called War Pig by FuzzDog, I just played it some, and yes - there is Black Sabbath smeared all over this thing.

The enclosure is etched with caustic soda as the last one, took about 1,5h for the etching.
The knob labels you can't see are "Presence" and "Gain", I couldn't get them into my shots.

[duck_arse]

it's frightening to think how good your pedals will look once you've got some practise and get your methods right.

[Cinder]

it's frightening to think how good your pedals will look once you've got some practise and get your methods right.

With the War Pig pedal above I'm really just trying to push the limit and see how tiny details it's possible to make.
The badges on his chest are about the smallest things that are still visible, I don't think you can make anything smaller than that.
The resolution of the acid through the toner mask is pretty awesome though, I was surprised at how well the face came out.

Got plenty more to come in time, I got a whole bunch of PCBs to work with
I really like working with these small projects, making pedals and small electronics, it's fun and results are not too far down the road usually.

[noobamp]

it took 1.5 h for the etch?  what was your concentration?  does a weaker concentration for longer times give you better detail and penetrance?
the reason I as is because i think I may have been too agressive (40-50% naoh sol) in the  past.

[Cinder]

it took 1.5 h for the etch?  what was your concentration?  does a weaker concentration for longer times give you better detail and penetrance?
the reason I as is because i think I may have been too agressive (40-50% naoh sol) in the  past.

I'm using caustic soda and it's a 40% solution (100ml water and 40g soda powder).
The reason why it has taken me so long is because I've done the etchings outdoors, and the solution cools after 15 minutes or so, which makes the reaction slow down a lot.

[noobamp]

that is smart. I have ablso been using 40g in 100cc. but the etch gets super hot and melts the toner.  thanks for the insight!

[Cinder]

that is smart. I have ablso been using 40g in 100cc. but the etch gets super hot and melts the toner.  thanks for the insight!

Yeah I don't brush it on right away, let it cool for a minute or two. I tried using muriatic acid before, and dipping the enclosure into that stuff gets insanely hot, then I had melted toner.
But I suppose it also has to do with what toner you have, I'm sure the melting temperature can vary between brands.