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Wow, that's nuts. Can't imagine stuffing all that in there 
Really clean etch too!

Dude. Nice job cramming all that junk in there! You're really crankin em out. Also, I love the relay bypass - just gives every build that extra level of professionalism.  Well done sir!

Finished up another Klone... this is consistently my most requested custom build.  The lasered wood toppers are turning out really great, but I definitely need to work on my artwork/creativity.  Maybe I'll venture out on the next one I build for myself

where did you get that led cover?

I've bought them at Mouser before...
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/593-3000C
and at PPP
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/product-p/5013.htm
But i feel like i didn't pay anywhere near 30 cents last time i bought em. Honestly don't remember where i picked up the last batch since i ordered a metric ton of em like two years ago shouldn't need lenses for quite a while.

I like these a lot because you can either mount them flush, or do the elevated thing with them if you prefer that look. Just depends on how you drill the mounting hole. I don't typically use the keeper ring (sold separately), but i drilled this hole a little loose.

The pedal looks great! I'm about to try some laser engraving of wood and hope it comes out so well. I just received some 1/16" padauk from http://ocoochhardwoods.com/scroll_saw_lumber.php (no affilitiation). Good selection of 1/16" stock. Shipping doubled the price, though. Recieved it and its good quality.

Marty

Thanks Marty! I ran across those guys at some point looking for materials too. And yeah if you're buying small quantities, shipping will definitely get ya. I went with Inventables since shipping wasn't too bad.
A bonus at Ocooch might be the fact that the boards are only 4" wide. Depending on the look you're going for you might only have to cut it once... Seems like 4" would work for the height of 1590B or 125B boxes.

The wood faceplate is awesome and just think of the different types of wood you could try.  I was saving for a Glowforge, but I still can't get myself to shell out $3000 for it.  I think I'll give another look at the 3 watt diode laser.  Great job all around on this build. Steve.

Thanks Steve.
If you invest in a glowforge maybe you could start selling lasered enclosures to schmucks like me to make your money back!
For the wood, I stumbled on https://www.inventables.com/. They have a pretty good selection of hardwood including some more exotic stuff. The good thing about them is you can actually get pretty small quantities without paying an absolute fortune for shipping.  I picked up the cheapest stuff they had on my first order just to test with the laser, but think I might grab some zebra and wenge.

Uhh, yeah, I think we do want to see what happened under the face plate.  That's how we learn. 

Well, since it's for science...

Makes me feel like I need to have my eyes checked 
I think if I had the alignment correct and just went for a darker mark, it prob could've worked.

It's a nice looking plate.  I definitely would reduce the OD to so it doesn't go edge to edge on the enclosure.

Give the people what they want!!


It's kinda strange that the seafoam looks so much more green when the plate is on. These pics were about 5 minutes apart, in the same location, with the  same lighting. Also, it's much harder than you might think to trim off a ~1/8" on this super thin wood!

Tempting me with the laser stuff. That's a sweet face plate. Nice build all around!

Yeah I got the laser bug sometime late last year and haven't been able to shake it.  The one Igot is pretty affordable cheap. If you decide to dive in, it's not a bad place to start though.  Just know that a good etch through powder coat isn't really going to happen with this one. You might be able to mark the lighter colored boxes, but the low watt diode lasers just aren't gonna get you back to clean metal easily. There's also some creep issues with multiple passes and such. That's why the wood faceplate here... you don't want to see what happened to the powder under the plate...

Thanks Stephan!
Used Bean's Slow Loris schem as a reference just for ease/convenience (as always, thanks for sharing freely, Brian).  But it's really just a standard Rat with adjustable Ruetz mod and LED/Si diodes on a toggle.

Ruetz mod has been around for a while... think the first time I noticed the mod with a pot goes back to the Beavis Audio days maybe ()
Some folks' versions don't have the min resistance on the pot (R4 in the Slow Loris schem). At the moment, I believe I included that, but don't hold me to it.

The attention to detail on this is absolutely nuts... custom cut plates, aged parts, the backlit globe, 3d printed mounting brackets, LACED cloth wiring (etc., etc....)!

It's just too much... I can't.

Thanks jimi! Think i need to take a little off the edges to let some of that seafoam create more of a border on the face though.

Switching is relay/arduino based - and yeah they're under the I/O jacks. Makes troubleshooting a nightmare if anything goes wrong wit that stuff, but man it looks so much cleaner to me this way.

Built a 4-Knob Rat for a friend back in October last year. Loved the way it sounded and had the extra PCBs and parts, so I went ahead and built myself one too. Nothing too fancy here, mostly posting for the laser content   
Took the gut shot before the 308 came in. Used an NOS metal can for extra mojo. Haven't A/B'd with a DIP 308 but this thing sounds pretty dang smooth (or at least as smooth as a Rat can).



Actually built this back in October with the first Rat, but just made the faceplate over the weekend to finish it off.  Faceplate is 1/16" Maple, using a an el-cheapo 1.5W diode laser (like this one http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=28072.msg272974#msg272974).
Single pass using just under full power at about half speed to get a nice deep burn without charring the rest of the wood. Then a few coats of Tru Oil to tone the maple down a bit.  Sprayed a light coat of clear over that which was promptly sanded back off cause it was just too glossy.  My technique needs some work, but overall I'm happy with the way it turned out. 



Also channeling my inner Pickdropper with that 1590A in the background 

Thanks for the info guys, was really hoping to hear some better news. But i didn't need to drop the cash on that anyway.

Tried another approach on the small laser over the weekend. Wooden faceplate style with 1/16" maple from Inventables.com. Turned out pretty nice. I jacked up the alignment on this one so i haven't been able to actually get one on a pedal yet. But I think slapping a good thick clear coat on this will really make the contrast and grain pop.

Hmmm well that's not really what I wanted to hear. But I guess it's better than spending 200 bucks and not being satisfied. Spent some time over at the Benbox forum and saw that people were having some pretty good success with it.  I honestly don't know that I've got the extra time to spend trying to fiddle with it till it works anyway.
Thanks for the info though!

EleksMaker A3 is on sale right now for $200 on BangGood.  I re-read all the laser threads and saw that folks were having trouble getting consistent results on multiple passes, placement, etc. But I'm not sure if anyone ever got these dialed in and working well or not. Been looking at getting one, just haven't been able to get settled on it based on some of the comments I've seen around here.  Should I spring for one??

On a related note:
Grabbed up a cheapo 1.5W laser over the holidays like the one from this thread
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=28072.msg271875#msg271875

Does ok marking the light colored thinner powders or rattle can paint. But its pretty weak and barely even marks some of the thicker powder coat jobs (pedal parts plus).  Definitely not deep enough to back fill for contrast. This would be ok if it weren't for the struggles with repeatability between passes - I don't touch the enclosure or laser and don't change settings between passes. But for some reason there's randomly up to an 1/8" offset sometimes.  Made up a template in Inkscape with grid system which i also marked on the flat surface its attached to for enclosure alignment - worked well at first on some test runs, was actually pleasantly surprised at how accurate it was between runs. But have had mixed results since then. Sometimes, the graphic even gets skewed at an angle on the enclosure. Even though I'm positive it's square to the grid. Not sure what's happening with this guy.

Think the A3 sale is going through the 22nd. Will prob keep trying to nail this guy down for a few more days before jumping on an A3. Unless it's absolutely worth it.