Etched enclosures

[.Mike]

cool, for some reason it reminds me of a 50's vending machine...which is a compliment btw...i like it!..

Thanks! That is kind of what I am going for. I have little in the way of artistic skills, so it is function over form for me. I was going for an old-style fire alarm type look, sort of... heh!

Pure awesomeness. Are the fonts your regular Microsoft ones?

I use the same font on almost all my pedals: Blue Highway. I found it when I was looking for a font similar to those used on license plates, and it has quickly become my favorite. Nice clean lines, easy to read, and easy to etch.

Thanks guys!

Mike

[teej212]

what is it?  is it like rick's attack release generator?

[kupervaser]

Colorsound Overdriver.

[pakrat]

Nice work on that overdriver. It looks like it was etched in hell......

[jwar]

I had to show this off. It's a re-housed Mountainking Megalith a did for a guy. Turned out awesome.

[guitarmageddon]

^Awesome.

"Enhanced Centaur"

[tasos]

Damn!I love vintage pcb's!What are those?

[kato]

The Zappagizer

OMG. Zappagizer rules. It has a supernatural quality. Like, the spirit of zappa is being unearthed through this pedal.

I admire the creative approach. Bravo!

[guitarmageddon]

Damn!I love vintage pcb's!What are those?

They're all by me.
Top is a Codpiece!
Others are an English Channel and a Nurse Quacky.

[kupervaser]

Made another one, this is OCD.

[deadastronaut]

 i see you guys are going for the relic'd look....

[Pyr0]

So I got fed up painting, labeling and clearcoating enclosure and decided it's time to try etching.

Here's my first attempt, a Tube Screamer -  I used an old box with a dent and a deep scratch in it. Turned out not too bad, but choice of font is bad or I etched the font too long. Made a few mistakes masking off some areas, better luck next time.

[Pyr0]

So after my first attempt, I decided to do something a little more basic, with cleaner lines. My son has been hassling me for a Klon, so this is for him.
I'm happy with how this one turned out.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

So after my first attempt, I decided to do something a little more basic, with cleaner lines. My son has been hassling me for a Klon, so this is for him.
I'm happy with how this one turned out.

Pyro... That is beautiful!!!

Would you share the process with us? Give us the blow by blow on the creation of this masterpiece   

[artifus]

digging the clean and simple look too. also trying to distract from the other pictures thread and encourage all others to indulge in etching for a while as there are only twelve pages to go over there before we hit one thousand and i am still without idea, concept and parts! 

[Pyr0]

Pyro... That is beautiful!!!

Would you share the process with us? Give us the blow by blow on the creation of this masterpiece   

Well I just did a screen grab from a pic of a real one, and used Corel Photo Paint and Corel Draw to change it to a b&w image, then a few hours of higildy pigildy to convert it to an outline line art image apply a bit of smoothing and convert to a vector image, so I can now resize it without getting any jagged edges. I can't remember the exact steps, I would have to do it again and write them down.

I use Corel Draw for all my drilling templates and labeling, so I just used that for the final image and inverted and reversed it before printing out on glossy paper for ironing on to the box. 
I have a very old LaserJet 4 printer, but I can't afford the proper HP refills, so I refilled the cartridge myself with laser toner. I don't think it's great toner, as it's very hard to get a true black image, especially when printing large areas of black. So I just printed small black boxes around the lettering, drill points and image, and after ironing it on I filled in the gaps with my favourite colour nail varnish 

Ah what the heck, here it is



and here's a PDF of the final image ready for transfer, size should be ok, it's for a bb size box.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20272266/Klon-Etch-Reverse.pdf


Pyr0

[poppyman]

Hey pyrO,

this etch look REALLY neat!
How did you get this superb polished finish?
Did you buy one of these pre polished box like this one --> http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=759
or did you polish it yourself? if so, how? (if you mind sharing)

it really looks fantastic.

[Perrow]

and here's a PDF of the final image ready for transfer, size should be ok, it's for a bb size box.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20272266/Klon-Etch-Reverse.pdf


Pyr0

Would you mind reposting that here: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=97046.0

[deadastronaut]

^ thats really nice pyro.....very clean n shiny...

[Pyr0]

@Perrow
yes I'll post it there too, that thread is great and needs more content.

@poppyman
Just a regular enclosure I think it may have been one of Taydya's, before I etched it, I wet sanded it with various grades of wet&dry, 400, 800 and 1200 grades I think I used. I had to sand quite a bit, as the first sanding actually uncovered some pitting in the box. I do it near a sink with a slow running tap, keeping the paper wet all the time. Also used some 000 steel wool but don't lean too hard with it or it will scratch.
After etching, I then used a metal polishing mop with brown polishing compound followed by a soft mop with blue compound. Then clean off all the residue with naphtha, or acetone, and buff it up with a soft cloth.  I just use the polishing mops in my cheap drill, it's not ideal but does the job if your carefull. Get it slightly wrong when polishing and the box can end up the other side of the room 
I don't think I'll bother clear coating it, as the last time I tried to clear coat a polished enclosure the lacquer wouldn't quite bond right and streaked a lot.