Taiwanese 'B' Size vs. 1290NS Enclosures?

[Steve Mavronis]

What is the difference between Taiwanese 'B' Size enclosures that Small Bear sells under license from ZVex, and New Sensor 1290NS enclosures?

The ZVex dimensions are 4.39" x 2.36" x 1.03" (excluding the lid thickness I assume) and the 1290NS dimensions are 4.41" x 2.39" x 1.22" including the lid. Here are datasheet PDF drawings (top and bottom on separate drawings) that New Sensor just sent me for reference of their product:

http://home.comcast.net/~snmavronis/1290NS_Top_NS.pdf

http://home.comcast.net/~snmavronis/1290NS_Bottom_NS.pdf

Tip: if you need to convert the metric dimensions to inches just use Google search engine and type something like "112mm to inches" (without the quotes) and it will do teh conversion for you!

[MikeH]

Other than the slight difference in dimensions, there really is no difference.  Other than the country of origin- One may argue that enclosures such as Hammonds, etc that are made in places like Canada, USA or the UK are of higher quality than their Chinese or Korean clones... but how much of a concern is there with the quality of your enclosures?  I mean, as long as the lids fits, the screws are threaded properly, it's soft enough to drill easily, and hard enough not to crumble when you step on it, what else is there to be concerned with?  At least for the majority of DIYers, that is.

[Steve Mavronis]

Nah I am mainly concerned with the shape and edge curvature since I use a thin etched aluminum panel for labeling and graphics onto the top surface and don't want it to overhang the rounded edges. My previous pedal was designed around a Hammond 1590B which has sharper edges around the top.

[Galego]

The 1290NS enclosures i used were awful. Lots of flash, too rounded edges resulting in a lot of wasted space, the sides are tapered with also results in jacks not being horizontal inside the enclosure, and basically being smaller than a type B enclosure. The Taiwanese enclosures are nice, the ones i have have sharper edges than the Hammond ones, but overall they're very good quality, no flash, smooth surface and proper type B dimensions.

[Steve Mavronis]

Thanks on the info about 1290NS quality issues. Also on Pedal Parts Plus they show a 1290NS that looks kind of rough, but then they have a '4SITE 1290' that looks better and their polished 1290 looks nice but wondering if that is not a New Sensor either? As far as the ZVex licensed ones at Small Bear, would you say they are the closest to MXR enclosure shape? They have a nice looking polished one as well and the painted ones look nice too. I like MXR size and shaped boxes but the Hammond 1590B is very good quality and not too slanted on the sides like your complaint with the 1290NS. All boxes will have around a 2 degree slant for mold release.

[ppatchmods]

i have used a lot of both and like both. i buy 1290's from ppp and polished from SB and both have been great product for what i do IMO. if i have a really cool build, i like to go with the polished from SB. it's like chrome!

[soggybag]

For myself the big difference is the screws. The boxes I get from 4Site Electronics and the Zvex brand boxes from Small Bear have much better screws. The screws are larger and thred more easily and are less likely to cross thread. The tops being larger make taking them out easier and less likely to strip. I put a description on my site. http://www.super-freq.com/parts/

[Steve Mavronis]

For myself the big difference is the screws. The boxes I get from 4Site Electronics and the Zvex brand boxes from Small Bear have much better screws. I put a description on my site. http://www.super-freq.com/parts/

I agree that the screws are an important feature. I'll try a polished and red one from SB. Since you already have them, can you tell me the flat surface dirmensions on the top? I'm assuming it is very similar in shapre to an MXR box, with the pot shafts being 1.1" apart with the 1" diameter knobs makes the flat surface 2.1" wide. What I'm getting at here is the knobs don't overhang the curved edge. If the Zvex box is like that too, can you measure the flat width and length to confirm? For my 1590B box I had to make sure my etched aluminum top panel design fit just inside the outer edges.

[Steve Mavronis]

The boxes I get from 4Site Electronics and the Zvex brand boxes from Small Bear have much better screws.

I just got this 4Site1590B and 4Site1590BB datasheet from PPP:

http://home.comcast.net/~snmavronis/4site1590b&bb.pdf

My purpose for needing this dimensional data is to know if the PCB shape and other parts fit inside as well as what your knob spacing and diameter needs to be to fit and look best. I hope this is helpful to others. Maybe we should have an area were we could upload the datasheets we've collected?

[Joseph]

I noticed mammoth electronics carries the 4Site boxes (pre-drilled) and powdercoated. Haven't tried em yet but it looks sweet and you can purchase small quantities and its somewhat customized.

http://www.mammothelectronics.com/

-joseph

[Steve Mavronis]

Thanks looks like a great parts site!