Multiple pcbs one enclosure

[danwojaz]

Hey Everyone,

I am trying to figure out how to mount two PCBs into a smaller 1590BB enclosure rather than a 4S6500 / 1590XX. Does anyone have any suggestion or examples of their builds?

 

[Audandash]

Thats honestly a bit of a broad question, lol. You can cram a lot of stuff in a 1590bb with some imagination. The biggest factors that will make it hard are the pots. If they are board mounted, like most if not all (not 100%) of the pedalpcb boards, then the length of the board is your biggest issue. Can you mount the board and still have room for a foot-switch at the bottom? If you notice boards like the kliche overdrive are much more narrow to allow for the switch at the bottom. If you dont use the board mounted pots you can hand wire them and have a lot more freedom to place the boards in the box. On the other hand if you have two small 1 knob boards like the two sticks of derm fuzz and something similar, you could mount them side by side and have the box vertical instead of horizontal and that would work. Just remember you have to have room for the jacks. Up until 5-6 years ago most of the time in diy it was all done this way. Truthfully the best way to do it is get a blank 1590bb, some boards and just do some mock ups. Or if you want to go old school, mock up a 1590bb with some cardboard. It sounds silly but it will give you a better idea about placement.

 

[Fuzzonaut]

Well, yeah, broadly asked like that, I'd broadly answer: you mount two like you mount one, but twice.

Here's a recent example of one of mine. With an order switch.

 

[Feral Feline]

Two PCBs intended for 1590N1, such as most of PPCB offerings, won't fit side by side in a BB.

However you could mount one and have the other offboard-wired, the PCB floating over the other (fully/partially/or fixed some other way) wrapped in large heat-shrink tubing to protect from shorts.

 

[jcpst]

You could get a 1590BBS to give yourself a little more space.

 

[EmilyHarris]

Thats honestly a bit of a broad question, lol. You can cram a lot of stuff in a 1590bb with some imagination. The biggest factors that will make it hard are the pots. If they are board mounted, like most if not all (not 100%) of the pedalpcb boards, then the length of the board is your biggest issue. Can you mount the board and still have room for a foot-switch at the bottom? If you notice boards like the kliche overdrive are much more narrow to allow for the switch at the bottom. If you dont use the board mounted pots you can hand wire them and have a lot more freedom to place the boards in the box. On the other hand if you have two small 1 knob boards like the two sticks of derm fuzz and something similar, you could mount them side by side and have the box vertical instead of horizontal and that would work. Just remember you have to have room for the jacks. Up until 5-6 years ago most of the time in diy it was all done this way. Truthfully the best way to do it is get a blank 1590bb, some boards and just do some mock ups. Or if you want to go old school, mock up a 1590bb with some cardboard. It sounds silly but it will give you a better idea about placement.



Stacking multiple PCBs in a single enclosure calls for compact, high-performance components. The KHAA84901B-JC17 fits well for such setups, offering robust functionality while saving space. It’s ideal for tight pedal designs where reliability and efficiency are critical.

Thanks for explaining it in brief.

Edit: My problem is resolved, you made my day

 

[Audandash]

Fuzzonaut’s build brings up another point you must consider when doing a multi pedal build, what order should they be in? If space allows having an order switch board is a great idea. If there is no room then you want to get that sorted beforehand. A perfect example would be a boost and an overdrive. Do you run the boost into the overdrive or the overdrive and then boost? There is no wrong answer depending on the sound you are after but once you drill it’s hard to change. Especially if the pots are board mounted. And as i said before, don’t forget the jacks. There is no worse feeling than getting the layout you want finalized then realizing you forgot to account for jacks, lol. I am sure there a quite a few of us who had this happen at least once.

 

[falco_femoralis]

You just have to take a look at the boards and see if they will fit inside the enclosure. You may have to get creative and rotate one board 90 degrees. Sometimes you have to bend the legs of the pots to fit, and sometimes you have to off board them. But the biggest thing is take a look at the dimensions of the boards you are thinking of using on the website and get an idea of whether they will fit in the enclosure you want to use.

Here's one I did a while back, a closed circuit with a Je Taime. To get the knobs where I wanted them I had to bend the pot of the Je Taime over quite a bit

and the front

 

[Feral Feline]

Thanks for explaining it in brief.

Edit: My problem is resolved, you made my day

EH from GetOffset ?

Welcome to the forum!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~

et al...


Multiple boards in one enclosure:

As has been mentioned: Offboard wiring pots is always an option, either one or two ... or ALL the pots!



In the past I've mocked up enclosures with cardboard-cutouts of the PCBs (they hadn't arrived in the mail yet).

Having some solder lug pots lets you mock up pot/knob placement (even if you're going to use PCB-mount pots).

I've taken the nuts of jacks and just tightened them to the lip of the un-drilled enclosure to see approximate positioning...

Lots of measuring, strings cut to length to fit in the enclosure then measuring the string and ... all sorts of obsessive behaviour that ultimately may or may not have contributed to pure mania.

Lots more measuring. Obsessive measuring. Extreme measuring.

Tight build, like a turtle.




Here's a pedal I made that has a 1590BB sized board inside a 1590N1 enclosure...

Can't find the gutshot, but it's a Parasit Flash Filter Deluxe PCB inside. I had to offboard-wire 2 knobs and the switch, IIRC.