uranium_jones
Well-known member
This is a dirt simple circuit and Acapulco Golds aren't in short supply so this was mainly an opportunity to practice different fabrication methods apart from the board soldering. For the graphic design, I took some inspiration from the earlier Acapulco Gold that had the gunslinger graphic. I only finally got around to watching The Good, The Bad and The Ugly this year. It's immediately become one of my favorites. The character of Tuco is just perfect, so I present the Ecstasy of Gold.
....which I just see that I misspelled. Right now. As I type this. Oh well, I guess that guarantees that this one is not going out in the wild. Or Maybe I will just remove the hardware and re-do the label. Yeah, that might work...
Things I tried out this time:
1) I sanded the bare aluminum enclosure with 600-grit wet sandpaper
2) I tried a toner transfer so I could try chemical etching. Unfortunately, this failed on three different attempts because too much of the gloss paper coating was getting stuck to the enclosure, rather than just the toner areas.
3) I used a waterslide decal in combination with different colors of spray paint
4) I incorporated a gritty halftone pattern to let more of the gold paint come through while keeping the text legible.
5) I let the graphic design dictate the component placement rather than the other way around.
6) I tried my hand at the trendy anal retentive wiring style inside. I kind of like the simplicity of it , although I definitely need more practice.
This was also my very first enclosure where I got to use my new drill press! This project made sure I got the process down from the center punch (I vastly prefer a spring-loaded automatic) to the actual drilling (1/16" pilot and either metric or imperial stepper bits). After trying the technique on the next enclosure, I can see that this was the key to perfect hole placement.
I did a quick sound test last night and it sounds awesome. Towards the 3-o'clock position and higher, something was definitely saturating and the tonal character completely changed and got a ton more low end. Not in a horrible way, but definitely in a way that didn't match the rest of the progression of the pot travel.
....which I just see that I misspelled. Right now. As I type this. Oh well, I guess that guarantees that this one is not going out in the wild. Or Maybe I will just remove the hardware and re-do the label. Yeah, that might work...
Things I tried out this time:
1) I sanded the bare aluminum enclosure with 600-grit wet sandpaper
2) I tried a toner transfer so I could try chemical etching. Unfortunately, this failed on three different attempts because too much of the gloss paper coating was getting stuck to the enclosure, rather than just the toner areas.
3) I used a waterslide decal in combination with different colors of spray paint
4) I incorporated a gritty halftone pattern to let more of the gold paint come through while keeping the text legible.
5) I let the graphic design dictate the component placement rather than the other way around.
6) I tried my hand at the trendy anal retentive wiring style inside. I kind of like the simplicity of it , although I definitely need more practice.
This was also my very first enclosure where I got to use my new drill press! This project made sure I got the process down from the center punch (I vastly prefer a spring-loaded automatic) to the actual drilling (1/16" pilot and either metric or imperial stepper bits). After trying the technique on the next enclosure, I can see that this was the key to perfect hole placement.
I did a quick sound test last night and it sounds awesome. Towards the 3-o'clock position and higher, something was definitely saturating and the tonal character completely changed and got a ton more low end. Not in a horrible way, but definitely in a way that didn't match the rest of the progression of the pot travel.
