Small Bear - The Bare Box #1

[smallbearelec]

Answers to FAQs:

OMG, What Have You Done?

Clearly, got made a Boss/Ibanez-style enclosure. But it has been optimized for DIY and small-volume production and will be available to all comers. I had it made slightly larger than a 125-B to accommodate a 60 mm x 60 mm circuit board and leave at least 13 mm of height to accommodate radial electrolytic capacitors (Thank you, R.G.!). I presumed that many/most builders would want to use a stomp switch (there's room for DPDT or 3PDT), but the design will also accommodate a spring-type actuator and on-board tactile switch if desired.  The "pot" board will accommodate up to five Alpha RD-901F-40 9mm controls. The first production run will come unpainted, and pre-drilled for all except the pots. The boards and connectors will be available separately, as I am fairly sure that some builders will want to make their own arrangements while others will want a "LEGO-set" solution. The ribbon cable and connector that you see is an initial sample; I expect that I will also get it with male plugs on both sides so that soldering can be eliminated entirely. Pre-terminated Molex connectors for input, output, power and stomp switch, are getting done as I type.

I purposely made the potentiometer and "mother" boards separate, because putting both on the same level would have reduced the available space above the mother board. Also, I figured that some designs might well need components other than pots in that front area; by allowing for separate "control" and "circuit" boards, designers are left free to create their own subassemblies. On the other paw, I can already hear commercial customers saying that they want to make one board (surface-mount!) with everything on it. The design can probably accommodate this with a couple of spacers under the mounting holes at the rear.


How come you didn't do this until now?

It seems an obvious project for a pedal-components company, right? Getting it made required a few ingredients:

--a large chunk of capital to invest in tooling.

--a manufacturing connection with whom I had enough history that they were confident that I would see the project through and pay the ultimate bill.

--the financial health to operate normally during the lag from design and production to actually shipping pieces.

I have had for some years the financial and technical ability to make this happen, but I always found other priorities for capital spending. Also, while I'm a fairly creative beast, I think slowly and need to allow time for "ideazz" to percolate through the gray matter. I made time last winter to work out what I wanted, and I brought a cobbled prototype to NAMM to show to my vendor (and R. G.).

In my case, the manufacturing connection had to be able to provide a god-awful amount of engineering assistance, because I don't have the skills to do a detailed drawing.  You would have cracked up if you had seen my prototype; I made it by hacking up a 125-B using a cutoff wheel on a Dremel tool and then putting it back together with Bondo. I think the expression is: "Crude, but effective." I worked with the same Taiwanese company that did the 125-B some years back, and they were very good and patient with walking me through getting to first a rendering, then a dimensioned mechanical drawing, then a plastic model. With that in hand, we were able to discuss tweaks to the dimensions and the final design for making a mold.

The initial production run of 2000 pieces is due to leave Taiwan at the end of the month and arrive here at the end of September.

This could be the product that blows out the walls of the Cave once again and drives us to new levels of growliness. While I extend major bear-hugs and thank-yous to Mark Hammer and R. G. Keen for their many helpful suggestions in the initial planning, any shortcomings in the design are my responsibility. I have surely not thought of all the possible additions, so please ask for what you might want to see.  I hope you enjoy making use of this new platform.

SD

[Keppy]

Dig it! Always great to see new offerings from you, Steve!

[tomas1808]

Wow! So many possibilities.

I am already thinking about using one of these "backwards", meaning placing stomps on the lower part.

Impatiently waiting for #2 

[ludashoeless]

i like it. how much will it be?

[tyronethebig]

Very cool!

[Mike Burgundy]

Nice!

[Ronan]

That is really clever, I like it a lot. Very practical too, in many ways. Any chance of a side shot?

[newperson]

neat box.  pricing?

[smallbearelec]

Any chance of a side shot?

Just added as #7. The 1 to 9 price for the box only, unpainted and drilled for all but the pots, will be around $8.00, dropping to about $5.50 in lots of 1,000 pieces. I don't yet have pricing for the boards and connectors, but those will be competitive with what you could get made on your own.

[Processaurus]

Mazel tov!  An excellent looking enclosure.

[Pyr0]

Very nice, I like the battery compartment lid. Well done that man.

[asatbluesboy]

Where's the handclapping smiley?

[Mark Hammer]

1) Bear hugs!! 

2) Were you one of those intent on rehousing your Boss or other FET-switched pedal to accommodate true bypass?  Well, your ride is here.

3) The pot board merely provides appropriate space for pots.  Those three solder pads per pot-space can be used however you like.  For example  the board shown can have 2 pots to the left and right sides, and a SPDT toggle mounted in the middle, to use the three remaining pads....OR two pots along the "top" and 9 pads left over for connecting whatever you want (e.g., a SPDT toggle and dual-ganged pot).  It's not ultimate flexibility, but for such a simple and easy to reproduce  board, it provides enough flexibility to accommodate a great many applications.

4) The recessing of controls can make for an array of pedals on a pedalboard that permit frenzied stomping without fear of accidentally hitting or damaging controls.  It's like having one big Cornish-style chassis surface with a bunch of stompswitches sticking out.  That lets you cram the pedals in as close as the jacks and plugs permit.

5)  Dontcha love the battery compartment?  If you own any DOD, Rocktek, or Arion pedals, then you will know enough to order two battery compartment covers, or a couple of spares for however many boxes you order in total.  What can I say, stuff happens.

6) If you're one of those folks who plan around never using a battery, the chassis design allows you to move the switch and hole further towards the front skirt, and install even MORE controls than the 5 accommodated by the mini-board.  You lose the measure of safety afforded by having the knobs below the altitude of the stompswitch, but that may be a lesser concern for some.

7)  One of these days, I'd like to see some kind of standardized board that might accommodate an array of these sorts of PCB-mount microswitches, though without the bracket: http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Detail?no=33  They are DPDT, so can serve to mimic several different other switching functions (SPST, SPDT) without requiring as much space as a traditional toggle (because you only have to push them, not leave room to get your finger tip on either side of them).  The "lip" just before the downward slope could easily accommodate an array of, say, as many as 6 such switches on a single board, mounted to the top of the chassis via a single PCB and two retaining screws with spacers, , without sticking out so far that they risk getting stomped on during footswitching, or interfering with operation of the rotary controls.  But that's for much later.

8 ) I'm guessing that sales of those slender Davies knobs will increase, for folks who want to cram as much as they can in the allotted space.  Better make sure you have inventory, Steve! 

9) The only downside I see for now is that the angling and recessing makes it awkward for those who like to finish their pedals with a bare-metal mirror shine, and guys like me who use rub-on lettering for their legending of controls will have to figure out a new way to do things (but I guess that's what decal stock is for, right?).  I gather that eventually, once sales and production of the box are firmly established, powder-coated versions will become available, such that prepping a box with irregular surfaces can be completely avoided.

[moosapotamus]

cool!

[amptramp]

As an addition to the first FAQ item, this box makes it possible for a DIY pedal to look like any of the mass-produced pedals made by the big boys.  One possible addition: add drill centre indentations on the underside of the step area for the pots so normal patterns of one to six pots can be drilled accurately without measuring.

[Paul Marossy]

Nifty! 

[nocentelli]

That looks great, looking forward to buying a few asap.

[Electron Tornado]

I am already thinking about using one of these "backwards", meaning placing stomps on the lower part.

Yeah, thinking the same thing.


Steve, thumbs up for the screw holes for PCB mounting. Will you have engineering drawings available in a PDF file similar to what is available on the Hammond web site? Being able to fit everything in an enclosure drives circuit board design, as well as knowing what size switches can be used, and where they can be placed. 

[stm]

I don't get tired of looking at the pictures.  After 15 minutes I am still grinning like an idiot.  Well done!

[defaced]

Very well thought out design, and judging by what I can see from the pictures, you picked a good casting house too.  I really like the hybrid aluminum/battery box bottom plate.  Excellent work!