Build Your Own Clone Message Board

A month or so ago I built the circuit for the tone bender fuzz, and I finally got a day to try
out acid etching on the enclosure, I initially had the ferric chloride way too diluted and it wasn't getting anywhere, so I kept adding more granules until it finally started cooking.

I think I achieved a good etch, there's a few spots of grain over parts of the etch, but overall I'm really pleased for a first attempt.

Tomorrow I'm starting the paint job, red for the sides and black to fill the etch area. I'll then clear cote the whole thing and stick it all together. I'll keep posting with pictures of the finished pedal.

The left knob is for level and the right for fuzz amount, i've labeled them "force level" and "dark side", I also added the imperial logo as the surround for the LED. Apologies to Lucasfilm for the blatant use of star wars iconography

Damn, that's awesome, bro.

AWESOME!!! May The FUZZ be with you, always!!!

Niiiiiice!

I'm sure you'll be using a high intensity red Light Sabre LED for that since it IS the dark side?

Thanks guys, I can hardly believe it worked myself. I can't wait to finish it off.

Thanks to everyone who's done etched enclosures for all the tips, especially MarkM:
Acid Etch Walk through Gallery

Complete your training (build)....it's your destiny......

not only a great looking etch, but an awesome composition as well. excellent work.

This is hands down my favorite pedal I've seen posted on this board, nice work.

If anyone's interested, here's the design which was photocopied onto the PNP,
those holes in the design (which will be paint masked later) really helped get rid
of a few small air bubbles when I ironed it on.

As the photocopier I used wouldn't see the PNP in the sheet feeder I had to stick a piece of white paper underneath to fool the sensor. I held onto the paper so that I didn't jam the copier:

The hardest part is lining up the PNP before slapping the iron on. In the end I taped one end down with masking tape and hoped it was in the ballpark. It's slightly out, but nothing to worry about.

Here's a piccy of the PNP and paint mask just before etching:

Dude, that is great. Sweet design

That is one of the best pedal designs that I have seen.

My thoughts exactly. Very nice layout.

HAHAHA!

Nice pedal man. Looks like youve been etching for years! I gotta try that out one of these days

too cool for words!

SUPERB effort there! A truly impressive looking pedal!

Thanks everyone. I did the paint job today, I did a few coats of clear on top, but I think it's going to need a few more coats - I ran out of paint unfortunately! The red on the sides is actually the same as the base in this picture - the sun overexposed that part of the photo:



A few more days and I'll have the thing finished with guts installed.

Damn! That is a cool design! Nice job with the etch gped.

I was working on this design a while back as an idea for a pedal pageant submission with the bender - but that wasn't going to happen anyway. I'm still thinking about doing a short run for production. Always a day late and a dollar short...

Be sure to enter the force fuzz in the pedal pageant when it somes around! (about Christmas time)

Awesome stuff. I still haven't found hte patience to paint my own enclosures (damn apartment living...). I'll catch up someday!

That looks awesome! As a huge Star Wars fan myself, I say "Job very well done".

Here was my attempt at a Star Wars themed pedal:

Dark Side Distortion

Finished it. Here's a picture, I forgot to turn it on to get the LED to light up :


I'm really pleased with this first build, can't wait to build another one soon.

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good fuzz pedal at your side, kid."

Nice!!!

Thats funny!

Nice looking pedal. Love the Star Wars themed pedals.