Hello.
When I posted a build report on my
PPCB Deflector build, I got a lot of questions about my pedalboard/box pictured below:
Anyhow, this build^ is a working prototype, but it has a couple super lame flaws that I'm going to solve with my next build. Since there was some interest in this Euro-rack-inspired build style I've been working on, and since documenting my progress makes me work harder, this thread is going to follow how my current build is going.
Before we get too far with the project at hand, let's take a look at how I've been building these things a little differently. Here's what one of my effects looks like all by itself:
My face-plates are originally 125B "bottom plates" sold separately from their enclosures at a low, low price, that way, if a build isn't nested in one of my large wooden boxes, I can still use it alone by plugging it into one of these universal "dummy boxes." When they ARE being used in a larger box, they can plug straight into each-other's miniature connectors, cutting out 1/4" patch cables and opening up all sorts of possibilities- one of which is illustrated by this here pick-holding-triple-order-switcher:
The pick-holding-triple-order-switcher is very cool to have included but it adds a lot more planning to the signal chain.. also, there's a little splitter that spits the signal out of an AUX jack from anywhere in the chain- and over to the right are the "patch cables" I made to span long distances inside the box. Here's my sketch for a signal chain including the order switcher:
So, back to the current project- I started out by taking the measurements from the first^ project and made this 2D plan in Photoshop. It started out as just the "top" view but by the end of designing it looks like this: (sorry for lo-res)
After I figured out all of my measurements, it was time to set up the chop saw and brand new (used) router table. I wish I would've started taking pictures earlier, but really, all you're missing out on before here were a bunch of pine rectangles.. Anyhow, here are all of my main pieces just about ready to glue:
As you can see, my main upgrade from the prototype is a steel bottom that will be removeable instead of fixed- this way, I can screw all of my pedals in place without worrying about wires, then remove the bottom and wire everything up..seems obvious but I wanted the prototype to be sturdy, so before realizing how unnecessarily fiddley and potentially damaging to the circuits the fixed bottom was going to be, I built it sturdy. *I also hadn't found the metal scrapyard yet, during the time of the prototype build.
I'm using the same in/out/aux jack from the prototype:
All powered by a 1-Spot Pro switching power supply which I'm very excited about. Bracket thanks to calipers, Fusion 360, and my trusty old Robo 3D printer:
This power supply will most-likely need to move between different sizes of boxes from time to time so I figured it worth the PLA to design and print a router template for the power jack hole.^
Right now, this very moment, the angle for the volume pedal is gluing up so I've got time to write all of this up:
Thanks for reading!