This build went well and sounds great!
No mods, no subs, in a Taiwan 125B box.
The artwork was etched in using feric cloide.
(http://www3.telus.net/david65/pedal-pics/BSIAB-F34.jpg)
(http://www3.telus.net/david65/pedal-pics/BSIAB-B34.jpg)
Only problem is loud hum with my 2005 Squire Strat single coil pups. There's no hum with my 1987 Fender Tele and no hum with any humbucker. I need to get another set of single coils through it to see if it's the Squire's wiring or not. I used shielded guitar cable for the input and output jacks.
Inside is not so pretty but Fuggie the Whale does a great job at keeping the PCB from moving around :lol:
(http://www.primacoustic.com/pics/BSIAB-inside.jpg)
About the artwork...
I've been making my own PCB lately and it occured to me...If feric cloride eats copper, then how about diecast aluminum?
So I printed the artwork onto PnP Blue, ironed it onto the enclosure and dipped it in a bath of FC. It looked terrible after the bath but after sanding off the left over PnP it looked like this. This art is NEVER coming off!
(http://www3.telus.net/david65/pedal-pics/BSIAB-CU.jpg)
WOW !
That looks very nice indeed :D
Good idea you had there and I love that "Gothic" result !!! :twisted:
Marty.
Very nice. I had been contemplating trying to etch a box with ferric chloride, but had some doubts as to how well it would work. Looks like it works very well!
Did you use anything to fill in the etched grooves, ink or is that the color let behind by the etchant?
That is so seriously BADASSED looking! Probably one of my favorite boxes I've seen here so far. I've never done any etching before, but I'm assuming that the dark areas are the areas NOT covered with ink and the light areas that are (a relief technique)? Would you have to use PNP to do this, or could you use label backing? Anyway, great looking pedal. I'm sure it sounds as awesome as it looks.
Stunning stompbox, man. That is a killer idea. And beautifully executed. 8)
Quote from: soggybagDid you use anything to fill in the etched grooves, ink or is that the color let behind by the etchant?
No paint fill. The feric cloride leaves exposed aluminum black with tiny bumps. Reaction was violent with lots of fumes. Do it outside and be ready to douse in water. Even with a 1/4" bath of FC, it all foamed up boiling and bubbling. Had me running outside from the basement with the bucket venting fumes. Then running to get the hose to dilute it. It was quite the flail-fest.
I had already drilled the box, but I think it would be better to etch then drill. Etchant got inside the box and turned it all black.
I used PnP Blue ironed on. Wasn't a "clean" transfer but all the pot marks add to the rough look. You could just use a "Sharpie" to draw artwork.
Note that masking tape I used to mask the sides quickly came off in the bubbling FC bath. I had to sand down the sides to fresh metal.
The black areas where NOT covered by PnP Blue.
I used Photoshop to create the seamless bones patern, the heavy outlines around the text area, and the labels for the controls and the name BSINA II.
Here's a pic of the first PnP transfer. I forgot to reverse the labels before printing it. If I had used this PnP, the words would have been backwards.
(http://www.primacoustic.com/pics/BSIAB-pnp.jpg)
This is such a cool effect. I suppose you could fill the etched areas with color by painting and sanding again. Maybe a flourescent paint. :shock:
More fun with etching.
Etching in the 1/4" deep bath of feric cloride was so vilolent and just nasty. Thats fine for a "born in the fires of hell" distortion pedal like the BSIAB II but I wondered if there was a way to get cleaner etched results. I saw a metal stamp lettering kit at the craft store that lets you pound letters in one at a time. That got me thinking it would work for labeling controls, and they would never come off!
Now I'm thinking of using the PnP blue for labeling. In the last 50 minuets I created a PnP transfer for a LoFoMoFo. I ironed it onto a small sheet of stainless steel I use for decal testing. However this time I used a Q-tip to apply small amounts of feric cloride in an attempt to control the rate and amount of burn. Here is the result of 30 min of painting on FC with the Q-tip several times. I washed off the FC several times and reapplied until I saw the depth I was looking for. Interesting that stainless steel does NOT turn black. An aluminum box would, so you wouldn't have to fill it with paint! :)
(http://www.primacoustic.com/pics/etched-lofomofo.jpg)
Just beautiful! A pro's finish!
8)
Congratulations on a great looking box!
BEAUTIFUL!!! congratulations this truly original and creative!!
and thank you very much for sharing the Idea!!!
Andy
Yes, it's really beautiful..
Pushtone did you try to use laserjet instead PnP ?
And how long do you keep your boxes in FeCl3 ?
that is fantastic!
i had considered trying ferric chloride, but thought that there was reason not to, because i had never seen results... :D
i will definately have to try this.
thanks for the info, and for the beautiful photos!
Thanks for the nice words.
I have learned so much here. To JD Sleep and Fp, I love you man :oops:
And now I have learned something else...
The proper way to spell ferric chloride :oops: :oops: :oops:
Yep, this is one of the coolest things I have seen lately! I will definitely give it a shot!
Beautiful job!
Beautiful, Wonderful work!
How long does it take? (etching time:in FeCL3)
Quote from: 6l6gcHow long does it take? (etching time:in FeCL3)
It was bubbling and venting fumes like crazy in about five minutes. I thought I had gone too far but it cleaned up with a little 600 grit sanding.
Warning: Do This Outside, Toxic Fumes.
I think when I do it again I will take it out of the bath shortly after the first fumes start rising. I want to see if the lines are sharper and thus would allow finer detailed images.
Hey Pushtone,I've been playing around with ferric as well,but mines really old and the boxes are mainly zinc.It took a while for any eating to occur and when it was done I cleaned it out and applied fine point marker to it.Not a solvent based one,as they just run under acrylic laquers,but a water based one,and even that ran abit as it wasn't totally dried out and the first coat of laquer was to heavy...,anyways,here it is.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y115/quickkiwi/boxocrunch.jpg)
Next time I'm going to etch something metal then scan it and go into photoshop and use it as my base then print to dark shirt transfer.
Man Pushtone, that is about the coolest thing I think I've ever seen in a homebuild...thanks for sharing that one! Out of curiosity, do you remember what font you used for the "Level" and "Dist." labeling on the LoFo MoFo pic of the stainless steel etch? To my eye, that looks like the perfect font for the small labeling on my own pedals.
That is the best etched Hammonds I have seen. Keep up the good work!
Quote from: Myriad SocietyOut of curiosity, do you remember what font you used for the "Level" and "Dist." labeling on the LoFo MoFo pic of the stainless steel etch? To my eye, that looks like the perfect font for the small labeling on my own pedals.
The LEVEL and DIST. labels are straight up Arial Black on the PC. Helvetical Bold on the Mac. The etching gives it a hand worked look.
Note that this LoFoMoFo photo is of stainless steel metal with the FC applied with a q-tip. If you "bath" your box it will look like the control lables on the BSIAB pics. Thats the same font! But I did let the etching of the BSIAB get away on me. I'm going to do the LoFoMoFo box with a Q-tip and see if I can get the same clean lines as I did on the stainless steel. I'll post pics.
Cool, thanks for the response Pushtone. I can't wait to see those pics when you get it done.
Great work! There are a line of Korean made stompboxes that have etched boxes too called Moollon (http://www.moollon.com/default_e.asp).
I wouldn't be surprised if the basic method of etching is the same and they are very shibby. They're also quite pricey!
Quote from: chrishopkinsGreat work! There are a line of Korean made stompboxes that have etched boxes too called Moollon (http://www.moollon.com/default_e.asp).
I wouldn't be surprised if the basic method of etching is the same and they are very shibby. They're also quite pricey!
Yeah, i saw those too - nice boxes, but the prices of them !!!! :shock:
Looks like that etcching is the way to go, I'm not happy with any of my
paint finishes and they "chip off" so easily ! :oops:
Marty.
QuoteLooks like that etcching is the way to go, I'm not happy with any of my paint finishes and they "chip off" so easily ! :oops:
The only thing I'm worry about are the fumes. I'll have to try it out with my Fuzz Face project. I suppose you wouldn't need a lot of ferric chloride either.
I got inspired by this, and I made an attempt of my own last night. I don't have any PNP Blue, so I had to use HP Premium Photo Paper. My HP Laserjet 4 is on it's last legs, so I had to run the transfer through twice. Other than that, it wasn't too difficult; although, I have a suspicion that using a good laser printer and PNP would make it 100 times easier. I used a q-tip to apply the ferric chloride only to the area of the graphic. I reapplied every ten minutes for an hour then rinsed and cleaned with acetone. It's not perfect, but good enough for my DIY purposes.
(http://grub.ath.cx/pub/rangemaster.jpg)
Wow, looks fantasic !!!!!!!
Wow, some amazing looking stuff!
I posted this a year or so ago
(http://hometown.aol.co.uk/Gezpaton/Fuzz+Cat+1.PNG)
I used photo resist paint (dab-on) but didn't have a proper light box at the time so it didn't turn out very well (in fact it's slightly crap). I used a small sponge to dab on the ferric, no fumes. Earbud sounds like a better idea though.
I did some samples and they were superb, looked as though the metal had been engraved, but the above turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Now I have a proper light box I really should give this another go!
Whooooooooooo that's so cool!!!
I've never thought about it. Excellent idea mate and great result.
When I get a chance I'm going to try using a William Morris design - I'd need to simplify it a bit (maybe a lot) but I would look well funky
Here's the William Morris design I'm going to try:
(http://www.thecardigankid.me.uk/morris(inverse)3.jpg)
I've reduced it in size just to illustrate. I took an image from Google, and then played around with it in Paint Shop Pro to get it to the correct dimensions.
If anybody wants to try it, send me a message and I'll mail the full sized version over.
Is this one of those psychology tests? All I can see are 'lady bits' :P
lol - Freud would have a field day
I live a short walk away from where Will Morris had his works (Merton Abbey Mills). He used the mill (water driven and still in use), so some of the stuff he made must have been mechanised (albeit in the 'old fashioned' way)?
The main building he used is built out of stone from the ruined abbey that used to stand there. One of the few bits of evidence left that this structure existed is the ruin of a small chapel, where medieval kings & queens were laid to rest. What did the local council do with it? Er, built a bloody bypass over it! They couldn't shift the road a little to the right as that would have meant the proposed Sainsbury's carpark would have been a little on the small side. Glad we've got our priorities right then!
There's a crappy little window you look through in an underpass that lets you view it in all its splendor (when the window isn't borded up that is)...I just want to crack heads together when I see stuff like this! :cry:
Yup - sensible town planning at it's finest...
Sounds like it should have a blue plaque
Quote from: chrishopkinsSounds like it should have a blue plaque
Our council would probably give it to Sainsbury!
bump. ;)
Fantastic!!!! 8) 8) 8)
I still aint had a chance to either try that or build my fuzzface - been running around sorting out my new job.
have got all the parts and should (i repeat) should be having a crack on the weekend.
I'm going to socket most parts so I can swap stuff over and maybe add things like the pregain control at a later date.
The etching is possibly the coolest thing I have seen in a looong time. I recently got back into the DIY effects scene (after a decade) and things are a bit different now. Can I get this blue paper at any electronics place or is it specialty? I recently built a Marshall Gov'nor clone and while it sounds great, I'm looking for another distortion to build. Kind of a 'rip your face off' distortion, and this BSIAB sounds like it may work? Also, for someone starting out again (supply-wise) should I just get one of those basic etching kits to make my boards? Wiring that Gov'nor by hand was a pain. Again, excellent job on those etchings, it looks awesome, and thanks for sharing the idea and photos.
I always buy PNP from Small bear electronics mail order. I have not seen it anywhere else. There have abeen a few threads about using photo printer papaer and a laser printer fro the same effect. Do a search on the forum for this information.
Quote from: ElectroFreakThe etching is possibly the coolest thing I have seen in a looong time. I recently got back into the DIY effects scene (after a decade) and things are a bit different now. Can I get this blue paper at any electronics place or is it specialty? I recently built a Marshall Gov'nor clone and while it sounds great, I'm looking for another distortion to build. Kind of a 'rip your face off' distortion, and this BSIAB sounds like it may work? Also, for someone starting out again (supply-wise) should I just get one of those basic etching kits to make my boards? Wiring that Gov'nor by hand was a pain. Again, excellent job on those etchings, it looks awesome, and thanks for sharing the idea and photos.
If you want to get PNP in bulk, you can also buy it here.
http://www.techniks.com/
For a rip your face off distortion, try the blackfire. I love the BSIAB II, but it's a bit smoother while the blackfire is a bit more over the edge.
That looks awesome!
Would ammonium persulphate (less toxic etchant) work as well?
I used ferric chloride for 30 minutes and used a hand drawn design with a sharpie and got this for my prototype:
(http://show.imagehosting.us/show/521636/0/nouser_521/T0_-1_521636.jpg)
I am curious about the ammonium persulfate as well, as that's easier to get around here.
Wow, cool boxes! I find it interesting that it seems you can go for either the
"precision" etched look with the q-tips or short baths, or you can go for the longer baths to get that "been-rolling-in-the-tide-for-a-million-years" kind of
worn-in look. I definately have to try both! 8)