Etched enclosures

[bluebunny]

Let me fix that for you.

Maybe Definitely I'll throw a For Sale post together when I get home to unload the ~50 surplus boards I have lying around.

[michelterres]

This one went wrong with the toner transfer, but I decided to go with it.

[deadastronaut]

i think it suits it....happy accidents. 

[bluebunny]

I'm with Rob.  I think that looks really cool.  You just need to replace that nasty ol' white plastic footswitch washer with a tarnished brass one. 

[deadastronaut]

Kudos on the switches holes and fitting too....nice.  cool build man. 

+1 on the washer...

[ElectricDruid]

Another +1. That looks fabulous how it is.

If they'd not pointed out the damn washer, I wouldn't even have cared...I think maybe leave it on a sunny windowsill for a couple of months to get slightly yellowed. That would be enough.

T.

[italianguy63]

I really like it!

MC

[Joncaster]

Yeah! That really inspires me to put some love into my next build.
So great.

[thermionix]

I'm with Rob.  I think that looks really cool.  You just need to replace that nasty ol' white plastic footswitch washer with a tarnished brass one. 

Tarnished nickel-plated would be cool too.  Yeah, embrace the rustic look, and tarnish the switch screw heads, F/S button, etc.  FeCl on a Q-tip.  Screws and such can be done "loose" and rinsed with water when done.  For the F/S button, wipe off thoroughly after optimum results are achieved.  Don't get FeCl down in the switch, obviously.

Actually, FeCl will also "yellow" the white indicator lines on the knobs too, if you want to go that far with it.

Or you can just wait a few decades.

[michelterres]

I never thought about buying new washers to replace the FS ones, thats something I will definitely try. I have some spare knobs too, so I will also try to "yellow" them with FeCl. Thanks for the tips guys.

[garyg]

Any one here ever done much with salt water etching?

Just had a play with an old, folded aluminium box and wondering if I was expecting too much:



(big versh here if interested: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b2/16/f1/b216f17d6668b90995eef3ede1e860aa.jpg

I just scribbled the design on with a paint marker and left it for 10 mins in a salt water bath (wired up to a 12V 2A supply). The -ve connection was bubbling away but not much seemed to be happening on the box so I left it for a bit (ie. got distracted and forgot about it for an hour...). So this was the result after a light wire wool buffing (yeah, scratched the unetched detail...)

I really like the texture of the etched metal but thought it would be deeper, you can just about catch the raised bits with your finger nail. I did slip up in that the bit of scrap I used wasn't aluminium as I first thought, I guess it was galvanised steel, wonder if that mnakes a big difference?

Anyway, I like the general feel of it so will play some more.

[davent]

This one went wrong with the toner transfer, but I decided to go with it.

Gun Metal Bluing works great for aging steel parts like the switch screws the stompbox switch's nut, top of the plunger, jack hardware, washers etc. That or a propane torch but watch out on the stompswitch nut, melted a few of those, Neutrik/Switchcraft, jack nuts can take the heat, heat thn to blue no problem.

have had great results with this product.



I think the etch looks great the way it turned out, about perfect the way it looks.
dave

[diffeq]

Finished this one recently. My very first etch (after countless woes with "heatless" toner transfer):

[italianguy63]

Finished this one recently. My very first etch (after countless woes with "heatless" toner transfer):

Awesome!  Great outcome.

It takes a lot of patience to get them to come out that clean!

MC

[Marcos - Munky]

Diffeq, really nice etch and really nice pedal. Which layout have you used for the board?

[diffeq]

Awesome!  Great outcome.

It takes a lot of patience to get them to come out that clean!

MC

Thanks, Mark! I'll get a proper sanding block next time, following yours and Deadastronaut' advice. Still a long way to go till I'll manage to etch more complex and detailed graphics.

Diffeq, really nice etch and really nice pedal. Which layout have you used for the board?

Thanks. I've made my own layout and had PCB fabbed, quite a while ago. Was my first layout back then.

[deadastronaut]

came out great...

[thomasha]

Made a wave and lighthouse etch to my latest ultra flanger build, it looks kind of dark, I should have seen that before inverting the colors.





I guess I don't need all the detail of that etch anyway, it is difficult to see anything as small as 1mm in an inverted etch. With the LED it looks cool, it flashes with the LFO too.

[vigilante397]

I love it

[lars-musik]

Pre-Christmas relaxation excercise. A Chunk Brown Dog Fuzz in a largely oversized 1550B!