Honestly, this is more about the laser and less about the faceplates. The plates are just the cool end result!
A little background first (pull up a chair, I'm rather verbose). I'm a total newb when it comes to amp building. I was a woodworker for a custom hardwood stair shop in a previous life, but I'm an IT Manager now (fancy way of saying computer fixer with experience). I think I'm a pretty smart guy and I've done a lot of stuff in between the two "careers". Building amps, even if just following a layout like paint by numbers, just seemed like a cool, fun, and geeky thing to do. It might even save me some money in the long run (after I break even on tools, parts, shipping, time etc)
So after having built a few Champs, servicing a few dozen BF and SF Fenders, I figured I wanted to build myself an amp I otherwise couldn't afford as a birthday gift to myself. After some research, and having heard talk of Trainwrecks since the early 90's, I figured I'd give a Ceriatone kit a try. I scored some transformers used from these forums, got the chassis and bag of parts from Nik and Ceriatone (I asked for *completely* unassembled...I like the hands on work), but no faceplate or cab. I figured I'd get around to making a cab for myself...if I ever buy a new router, setup a shop somewhere, etc.
Well, as luck would have it, my work happened to get a 35 watt "laser" (Mr Evil Quotes again), and get this...they got it so they could make nametags! I knew this was such a waste of fantastic equipment, and a light bulb (or maybe "laser") went on in my head. I could learn to use this machine by making Trainwreck faceplate for my amp!!
And so it started! And I'll be honest with you all...I was so happy with the results (after 6 prototypes - I'm a picky bastard), that I figured I could make a few dollars on the side, provide a service to fellow amp builders that want more then blank faceplates or Nik's effective but simple dragon faceplate...and maybe be able to afford having a custom cab built for myself! So far it's not working out so well...I keep finding all these great pieces of wood that would make great faceplates...and I've only sold 1 so far.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Doesn't matter, it's still fun and I'm sure the few guys that buy faceplates will like them. If I break even, cool. If I make a little on the side, awesome!
So, after that long winded intro, here is how this works.
First I sourced some wood from a local lumber yard. They had the basics, Poplar, Maple, Cherry, Walnut, and I even scored a small piece of Purple Heart (I love odd colors!). They were nice enough to drum sand the pieces down to 1/8" for me (for a price of course). The "laser" itself can only hold 12" tall by 18" across pieces (small, but perfect for faceplates!), so the stock had to be chopped to length:
[img:565:850]http://lonelyraven.zenfolio.com/img/v3/p395099363-5.jpg[/img]
My Chop saw even has a "laser" (Mr Evil Quotes)
[img:565:850]http://lonelyraven.zenfolio.com/img/v3/p481853741-5.jpg[/img]
I cut the pieces down to just under 18". The laser etcher can cut up to 1/4" stock on it's own, so I've programmed it to do the final cut to size. More on that later. The faceplate blanks:
[img:800:531]http://lonelyraven.zenfolio.com/img/v3/p159970322-4.jpg[/img]
Mark asked for a nice white piece of Poplar, I picked what I felt was the best of the stock and set it aside. I like pieces with high contrast grain. (as much as possible with poplar at least):
[img:800:531]http://lonelyraven.zenfolio.com/img/v3/p355000179-4.jpg[/img]
I'll continue in the next post. Thank you for reading this far.