Manzamp!

[Chad]

You sure that chassis will hold up that transformer. All joking aside I am very interested in your build thanks for any info. Chad

[ic-racer]

This is how I estimated the thickness of the chassis. If this jack (Switchcraft FAL11) has the long 0.375" bushing and there is maybe one thread visible. The remaining bushing length would incorporate the thickness of the chassis and the thin faceplate.

[IMG:140:170]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/ ... 2/Jack.jpg[/img]

[alvarezh]

Actually ic-racer, there could be a counter nut right behind forcing the jack to fit flush with the front nut, that's how they adjust the hight between the on/off switch and the pedal on the wah-wahs.

Hope my explanation was clear enough, if not, let me know and I will try to upload a picture. My ADSL is working erratically do to noise issues, if I don't answer promptly (in case you need one) please forgive me.

All the best.

[ic-racer]

My copper clad board and transfer medium came today. I wanted to try this toner transfer paper instead of magazine pages. The last few boards I made at least one of the magazine pages got caught in the copier.
http://www.pcbfx.com/main_site/pages/pr ... paper.html

[katopan]

Just tape the cut just oversize piece of magazine paper to a normal sheet of printer paper and it doesn't ever get stuck in the printer/copier.

[ic-racer]

Just tape the cut just oversize piece of magazine paper to a normal sheet of printer paper and it doesn't ever get stuck in the printer/copier.

I'll have to try that.
The other thing I was interested in is getting a better transfer. As you can see on most of the other boards I made, I had to do a lot of touch-up with the Sharpie. Since this board is pretty extensive (all the circuits on a single PC board, unlike any other Dumble I know) I wanted a better transfer.

[martin manning]

When I've tried doing larger, thicker boards I found it difficult to get good adhesion of the toner to the copper, and I believe it is due to the increased thermal mass of the board. I thought it might be a good idea to pre-heat the board to 200-250F before attempting to make the transfer.

[ic-racer]

Zones of the main board:
[IMG:472:131]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/ ... pZones.jpg[/img]

[LeftyStrat]

Chassis arrived today.

It is pretty thick because it has no end plates. I'll probably take it to a local machine shop to cut the holes, unless it is stupid-expensive. In which case I'll just spend the money on some metal hole cutting bits.

Not sure where you're located, but I have a milling machine if you need machining.

Is that 6061-T6 structural (AL ASSOC) aluminum channel?

I bought a piece a while ago, but haven't used it yet. It definitely seems like a good choice for chassis material.

[ic-racer]

Chassis arrived today.

It is pretty thick because it has no end plates. I'll probably take it to a local machine shop to cut the holes, unless it is stupid-expensive. In which case I'll just spend the money on some metal hole cutting bits.

Not sure where you're located, but I have a milling machine if you need machining.

Is that 6061-T6 structural (AL ASSOC) aluminum channel?

I bought a piece a while ago, but haven't used it yet. It definitely seems like a good choice for chassis material.

Thanks for the offer. I did find a local machine shop and picked it up yesterday. They only milled the sides. He said it would cost $$$ to cut all those holes. I guess they maybe they would need to program the CNC to do it? I guess the only way to stay in business these days is by doing big industrial contracts. He did offer to find another aluminum stock that would be the correct thickness but even in his book we only found the exact same AL ASSOC piece.

The issue was that on this structural stock, the sides are just a little too thick for the 'thick panel' jacks and pots with the 0.375 bushing.
So, now it is milled so all three sides are 0.19"
I have access to a drill press, so I'll cut the holes myself.

I have to buy all the hole cutters I need, but don't mind the expense for quality stuff because after the job I'll keep them to use again.

I have a local Grainger outlet, I'll check out their catalog for stuff. Also, I'm very close to McMaster Carr.

[ic-racer]

I did the final tweaks on my PC board and am almost ready to print it out and make the board.

I'm purposely NOT showing the board I came up with at this time because the discussion and guessing about if I got all the connections correct to the real thing could go on for months and months. I just need to commit to one way and build it and we will see how it sounds.

Having said that, keep following along because in the end I will have shown everything including a printout of the board I'm making and the schematic.

[ic-racer]

5" x 2.75" x .190" ASTM B221-08 6061-T6 Aluminum Association Channel

However .190" is just the connecting piece, the two sides come as about 0.3" and thus needed some milling.

[ic-racer]

I finished wiring the layout, then did a tedious signal trace to check for errors and to make sure it matched the schematic.

I printed out the PC traces on the transfer paper at Kinkos and when I got home I saw the image was one inch bigger than my 12" x 12" PC copper clad board. That is curious because the dimension should be 11" across. So a lot of measuring and re-measuring and re-sizing and basically I have to re-draw the board and the traces and holes on the computer because after re-sizing all the component holes are too close together, etc.

I'll try printing it out on the transfer paper again over the weekend.

Then I got an email that my order to DeWalt Direct for my hole saws was refunded. No reason why. So no progress on the chassis either.

[LeftyStrat]

I'm wishing you success, and holding off on a 5F6-A build I was planning. I'm really intrigued by this project.

[ic-racer]

A lot of work on the computer re-sizing the board graphic, but here it is. It has been copied onto the transfer medium.

[IMG:160:120]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/ ... file-1.jpg[/img]