Enclosures from Tayda?

lcipher3

Active member
I usually buy my 1590B's from LoveMySwitches - but they're not in stock and I'm placing a Tayda order anyway.
Anyone have good (or bad) things to say about Tayda encolsures?

I only build for myself and don't need new car type paint and finish - but something that looks decent and doesn't flake off.
They have "black", "matte black", and "sand" - I guess the normal "black" would be the most standard.

Opinions? Great prices ($5.49) - anyone compare Tayda ones with LoveMySwithes?
 
Not automotive quality (little orange peel but not bad looking) but they are totally serviceable and look great.

Can’t upload pics properly to show you but they look good and drill very nicely!
 
I start building just one year ago. I'm not a perfectionist and I play only in my basement. But 100% of my enclosures came from Tayda. All 22 of them...

6 more in my basket...
 
These were all Tayda boxes, and once you do your graphic and a couple coats of Clear Coat they are pretty durable

 
I've been playing around with buffing bare aluminum lately, so if you ever want to get into that, here's a tip:

You'll get a better finish sanding a painted enclosure down to the aluminum than you will trying to polish a bare aluminum one, and it will take less time. Counter intuitive, until you realize they prep them before painting.
 

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I've gotten a couple batches of bare aluminum from them that were a little misshapen. A little ridge or mesa on the face that caused my decals to look weird.

I didn't complain, used them anyway and continue to buy from them.
 
I like the Hammond boxes more but use the Tayda boxes because they're so much cheaper! The main difference is in the alloy. I find the Tayda boxes gall my drills more easily than the Hammonds. Not a biggie. Just have a screwdriver or something handy to clear the swarf from the bit. The finishing on the Hammonds is marginally better but again, it's not enough to justify double the price for me.
 
I'm pretty happy with all of the enclosures I've purchased from Tayda. If I want something nice I go with Gorva, but the majority of what I use is Tayda. You can see how those enclosures look in any of my build reports through my profile.
 
When I buy Tayda boxes I usually spring for the big bucks and get them predrilled for the project at hand, or something close that can be adjusted with a hole or three!

I love those pre-drilled options they have for PedalPCB projects. They have saved me a ton of time.
 
I actually think the finish of Tayda’s enclosures is tougher and more consistent than anything I’ve ever gotten from LMS, SmallBear, or GuitarPedalParts (with the exception of Gorva enclosures). I’ve gotten one or two Tayda enclosures that were dinged (possibly in shipping), but LMS’s enclosures never seem to have as even a clearcoat as Tayda’s, and SmallBear’s show scratches more readily.

Honestly, I think Tayda’s enclosures are the best looking and lasting I’ve ever used behind what Mammoth used to do (RIP).

Also, the “sand” black one is textured, the regular and matte ones are not.
 
I ordered a couple of “ball silver” 125b’s from Tayda. One was fine, the other had finger prints seemingly under the powder coat that show through. I don’t care as it’s just for me. I used to powder coat my own, and I’d much rather pay them $1 to do it for me
 
I had my first one arrive with a dent but I used it anyways. Not a biggie since it was just for me. I just used a gloss black one for a base coat of Testors shimmer finish.

Enlarged a couple of led holes to make room for a spdt instead and my Harbor Freight steppes bits didn’t foul anything up
 
I ordered a couple of “ball silver” 125b’s from Tayda. One was fine, the other had finger prints seemingly under the powder coat that show through. I don’t care as it’s just for me. I used to powder coat my own, and I’d much rather pay them $1 to do it for me
I had one or two of those that put like shadowy or textured effects under the waterslide, but it actually looked pretty cool!
 
I really like the Matte Black Sand and Copper Hammer finish from Tayda, the other ones are ok, but they don't have a "Pro" feel to them like the Sand/hammer do
 
Pretty satisfied with all the ones I got. Some had an orange-peely feel (but not a lot), and I just sprayed a coat of clear before applying my decal and it looked super good. I'll also reflect the sentiment about the ball silver. It's the only finish I found "fragile", as I like to give a light wetsand between coats of clear, and I rubbed some finish off on the sides doing that.
 
Also, after wrestling with waterslide decals application, crackling, and a bad can of clear that messed 2 enclosures, I decided to give Tayda UV printing (3.50) plus the gloss option (2.00) a try, and they look great. Pretty simple designs, but one was a bit more complicated and it came out stellar. The only thing is that some are slightly shifter from the center (I would say 1mm tolerance), but next time I might try with an already drilled enclosure, but for this batch, I have access to a drill press, so it should be all good, especially with the drill template printed on ;)
 
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