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Messages - fuzzcentral

#1
Preamps and Effects / Re: Pictures
August 20, 2006, 02:22:06 PM
Quote from: joecool85 on August 20, 2006, 07:35:21 AMEU = europe?

What do you use for the decals?  I normally write on my boxes with enamel paint.

Yep, the EU is the European Union.  It looks like they haven't quite perfected the art of aluminum casting quite as well as the Canadians  ;)

The decals are the water-slide type that you normally get with model kits.  You can get the decal material from Small Bear Electronics (www.smallbearelec.com).  He has the material for either a laser printer or an inkjet printer.  I would recommend the laser printer material since the lacquer will pretty quickly dissolve the ink from an inkjet.

Phillip
#2
Preamps and Effects / Re: Pictures
August 20, 2006, 12:13:35 AM
Quote from: joecool85 on August 19, 2006, 08:33:28 AMHow do you do your boxes, they look great?

Practice, practice, practice  ;)  Basically, lots of sanding with a hand-held orbital sander with some 120-grit sandpaper.  Just sand the bejeezus out of the top of the box (until it's smooth and free of imperfections in the casting), and then tip the sander up on the edge of the sanding disc and move the sander in quick, light strokes across the top of the box.  That creates the diagonal stripes in the aluminum.  The bottom plate is finished the same way.

I just sand the sides of the box smooth so that the color coat of paint will look nice and flat.  For the color coat I use acrylic lacquers since those dry fast and hard...plus you can get metallics at Wal Mart in the automotive section.  After the paint has cured I apply one coat of clear gloss lacquer.  Once that's dry I put the water-slide decals on the box.  Then a couple of hours later (when the decals have dried) I apply two more coats of clear lacquer.

The boxes are Hammond "B"s.  I've noticed that the Hammonds Bs that I've been getting from Mouser lately have all been made in the EU.  I have to say...the quality of these EU-made boxes is quite lacking compared to the previous Canadian-made boxes.  The EU boxes seem to have more casting imperfections that require quite a bit more sanding to remove...some of them wouldn't come out no matter how much I sanded!  The Canadian boxes were practically free of those types of hard to remove casting imperfections.

Maybe I should send a nasty email to Hammond  :trouble

Phillip
#3
Preamps and Effects / Re: Pictures
August 19, 2006, 04:09:25 AM
Well guys, I'll post a couple of pictures of some of my latest ventures...

Here's a "bad ass trio"...three brand new Axis Face MKII fuz pedals that I built for some customers...all ready for some action:



And here's a heavily modified Ross Compressor that I built a little over a year ago.  I managed to scrounge up a few real RCA CA3080E OTAs and I put one of them to use  :)



Phillip - Fuzz Central
#4
RDV, it's great to see you again!  I haven't been over to Aron's forum in a while.  I check in occasionally, but rarely post anything.  I haven't updated Fuzz Central in a while since circumstances...jobs and such...have been keeping me occupied for a long while.  I hope Fat Boy Effects is still going strong  :)

syndromet, I like way your pedal looks!  I like the name also.  The reason that I don't need a booster pedal is because I use an actual Fender Evil Twin.  Nothing beats 100-watts of Twin amp!

Crystallas, Geofex is run by a brilliant chap named R.G. Keen.  He's like the Yoda of the effects pedal world.  I think he's been at this DIY stuff for longer than anyone...including a lot of the actual pedal companies  8)

Phillip - Fuzz Central