First Customer Build in a wihle

     So the other day my buddy Darren Hawe tagged me in a Facebook Post with someone else mentioning that I build pedals. The guy he tagged me with said that he was looking for a fuzz pedal. I LOVE FUZZ!!! I with out a doubt took the build on. After talking to him he mentioned that he played bass and not guitar. I thought "what a wonderful opportunity to build a Madbean Sabertooth" This is a Mastodon clone. I already have the art worked out and I also already etched the board. I also have most of the parts for the build too! Just waiting on Pots from Tayda now. I am VERY excited to do this. Not only will I make a little scratch (not much, I typically don't charge much at all and will give Darren a "finders Fee") but i get to play with water slide decals for the first time. HUGE shout out to Cody (self destroyer on the MB forum) for the water slides!
     Cody's Blog (linked on the right) has been the BIGGEST help to me. It has inspired me to etch my own boards and really clean up my wiring. He was also kind enough to share his 3PDT design with me so I could make those awesome daughter boards myself. If anyone is reading this go to his blog and check out his pedal builds. They are BEAUTIFUL! they them selves are works of art.
     Now time to get busy and build a SABERTOOTH!! I'll be back with the final build report. For now here is the artwork I came up with. Hope you dig it.

Phasers Set To Stun!

Hey Guys,
    Is it possible?? I got two put together in a week? I'm on a role. Anyways, This is a MXR Phase 45 clone build. The board is from Madbeans, one of the best sites for all this DIY pedal stuff I do. That's where i get all my ideas and network with a TON of other builds. I digress, The phaser: one of my favorite pedals. Probably #2 on my list, Just under the Delay pedal. This one was designed after the MXR Phase 45 which was used by...just about everyone. It's kind of a subtle Phase shifter but still a great sound for anyone's board. This was an easy build but at the same time Very fun, maybe it's because I knew what the outcome was going to be but still. The enclosure is one of the 12 I got in the batch of pre-drilled. It is a 1590B that was powder coated black. I had to drill the DC jack hole and the LED hole but the rest was already done. The 3PDT Daughter board (a shared project by a members on one of the forums I'm on) was etched by me. I will demo this and post a demo soon. Thanks for reading.

Top                                                                                                  Top

Guts

Video Coming Soon!

VIDEO!!!

-Mike-

Decided to Re-House the Rebote 2.5

Hey guys,
    So after my last post I was demoing the pedals and found that the Delay was not working. It took three attempts and multiple cuss words but I figured out the issue...my wiring was a MESS! I kept breaking wires while attempting to get it in the enclosure. I certainly have learned my lesson about solid core wire, basically DON"T FUCKING USE IT!! I am almost at the point where I need to order more so I will source my wire elsewhere from now on and save this shit for personal builds and freebies. After coming to the above realization I decided I was going to use a different enclosure too. So I cut it out of the worn black one and put it in this copper 1590BB. This is one of the blemished enclosure I posted about a month or two back. The drill pattern is for a Klon Centaur (it was written in sharpie in the enclosure). The pattern had the correct amount of holes need for this delay too (1 switch, 1 footswitch, 2 jacks, 1 dc, and 3 knobs), I drilled the LED hole. So it all worked perfectly, pre-drilled / powder-coated enclosure = great wiring exercise. Thanks for reading.
-Mike-

Here are a couple of the top

(left is with the LED on right is off)

And for course the "centerfold spread" GUTS!!!

Once again thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions or comment.

VIDEO!!!

OD Time!!

This is a build report for  a Madbeans Egghead overdrive. Once again a build I did for my dad. This is a simple Overdrive circuit. The pedal is great but not my cup of tea. My dad needed an OD for his Fender amp so this will fill that need. I used a 3pdt board from guitarpcb with a bi-color LED. Fun and quick to build. Here are some pictures and I will post a video after I record it.

Top View

Top view (on)

GUTS!!!

Thanks for reading.

-Mike-

Vero(RE)bote 2.5 Build Report

Vero(re)bote 2.5
     Hello all. this is a build report for the Vero version of the Rebote 2.5 analog style delay by Tonepad. I originally started this for a friend but he decided he didn't need it. So, instead I am gonna give it to my dad. The layout was done by sabrotone and was very easy to follow and complete. The delay it self is very filtered and "clean" sounding. The controls are your simple delay controls: Delay; Level; Repeats, There is also a switch that allows you to get a bit more delay out of the pedal. The switch simply switches between two different resistors allowing for "long" or "short" delays.
     The finish on the pedal is inspired by Rej over at GrindcustomFX. He posts quite a bit of "worn" finsh pedals and I personally love the look. So I tried it. Here is the finishing process:
-Sand (500 grit) enclosure and clean after finished
-Rattle can paint and let dry for 2 or more days.
-Wet sand (1200 grit) until wear spots appear
-Clear coat optional
Here is the pedal. I will post a video demo when I get the chance to take one.

Top View

Artsy Top

GUTS!!!

Junk in the Trunk!

Feel free to comment and ask questions. Video to follow! Thanks!

-Mike-

Keep it going...

Hey Everyone,
     Over the past weekend i was able to complete and test a couple of circuits. I finished an Overdrive PCB that I got from Madbeans a while ago (EggHead overdrive). I also finished a Vero layout of the Rebote 2.5 by tonepad. The Rebote 2.5 is a delay pedal and this proved to be a bit of a challenge at first. But, needless to say, I prevailed! I have made the decision to donate these to my dad. He mentioned he needed these. I have also made the decision to re-box a pedal I did a while ago. This was a Fuzz Factory clone that I called the Frizzle Frazzle. It was in a HUGE enclosure and I wanted it smaller. So I drilled a smaller (1590B) and started re-boxing it. In the process I decided to paint it along with the other enclosures I had to do so, I un-boxed it again and refinished the enclosure. Now I am in the process of boxing all of these up. The Fuzz Factory (which I plan on finishing tonight) will be renamed to the PeptoPhuzz. The other two will be going to my dad so the names aren't that important. I will post pictures and maybe a couple of videos soon. I think I'll do a build report for each pedal. Thanks for reading!

Mike Flanagan
Custohm Electronics

Tried My Hand AT Etching

    Hello everyone, So, a few weeks ago I decided to try and etch a few PCB layouts for future builds. There were a few builds that I knew I wanted to do and one of which the PCB was no longer available. So I decided to try and make my own. Here is the process I used.

Etching Process

1. Print layout(s) on VERY glossy printer paper using a laser printer. I used staples presentation paper and an ancient HP laser printer.
2. Align the layouts(s) on the copper clad (face down on copper side) so there is enough of a border around the PCB s so you have room to cut with a Dremmel or score and snap.
3. Get the iron out!!! Heat up the Iron on the hottest setting with out any water in it. Then place the Iron on the copper clad/paper combo. Leave the iron on there for at least 10 min. After the 10 min take the Iron and start rubbing it on the paper so the toner ad-hears to the copper. DO THIS IN ALL DIRECTIONS!! That way the traces are good and none come off in the next step. (Touch up with Sharpie if needed)
4. Soak in soapy warm water for like 15 min, or until the paper starts to fall apart. then use you thumb and rub off the rest of the paper leaving just the toner on the copper clad. Make sure all the paper is off!
5. Time to etch!. Warm the Ferric Chloride up (while in the bottle) by running it under warm tap water. Pour the Ferric Chloride in to a PLASTIC <- very important) container, about an inch deep or so, and place you board in it copper side up. 
6. Agitate the etch-ant by gently sloshing back and forth over the board. Continue this for about 10-15 min. You will see the copper start to dissolve. Once all the copper, around the toner, is gone take the board out of the etch-ant and put in a seperate PLASTIC container with cool soapy water. 
7. Remove the board and dry with a paper towel. Then use the scratchy part of the sponge (scotch brite) and lightly rub over the toner. Make sure you get all the Toner off the board! Then clean with some acetone and you are DONE!!! The whole process takes about 15-30 min. 

Below are the boards that I did a few weeks ago. I will do a picture tutorial when I get some more Copper Clad.

The four across the top are 3PDT daughter boards. They make it much easier and cleaner looking when wiring the pedal up. The two large ones on the bottom are Hamlet delay PCB s. 

More 3PDT daughter boards on plain copper clad.

Here are the boards cut apart and drilled. The two on the left are the 3PDT boards top right is a Rebote 2.5 (tonepad layout) and the bottom right is the Hamlet delay board.

Feel free to ask questions and comment. Always willing to lend a hand if I can. Thanks guys!!
-Mike-

PS. Layout links (clickable) Rebote 2.5 , Hamlet