FUZZ FACE INSPIRED ENCLOSURE

I thought it would be fun to make a sort of artisinal guitar pedal! But as I went along working with it, I realized I didn’t actually want it to be a guitar pedal as much as a potential modular effects pedal or even just a Noise Synth. It would be cool to make boards that a user could very very easily switch out to achieve new effects/sounds while working with the same, cute interface. While I do not have the mental, emotional, or time capacity to make the computing components and circuitry for such a thing, I am very happy with the prototyping for the design of the device itself.

STEP ONE 

Get the materials. Make a plan. 

I got some acrylic from Canal Plastics and ordered my standoffs from McMaster-Carr and the knobs from Adafruit. My 1/4“ jacks, stomp button and DC-in are from Am*zon. 

I laid out generally the space and measured that I would want my whole enclosure to be about 7.25” in diameter. Total eyeball assumption. I then measured the widths of my components and in my Illustrator file laid it all out with the holes for components .005mm larger than the components themselves.

STEP TWO: CUTTING AND TESTING

I loved seeing this come together. I realized that I should slow the laser down for this acrylic today if I wanted one pass. I also realized that two passes may have actually melt the plastic on those cuts, making the holes snugger than they needed to be. Everything would work, but when I got ready to cut my acrylics I would actually use, I made sure the settings would get it done in one pass.

FINISHIN UP

NOW WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT?!?!

Pretty exciting! I’m realizing that 7.25” is farrr to big for a run of the mill effects pedal. But could work as a synth of its own as it’s quite sturdy at this size. And I can definitely add more dials, knobs, and etched detailing of course. I liked keeping the sides exposed because you can see the components (that aren’t in there) inside and that’s a cute thing. It could be a potential issue and should be tested with working circuitry soon. 
I don’t actually know how I would go about constructing the sides? And creating an easy access way in. I picture this as a toy for the tech savvy, DIY musician so I feel that the exposed circuitry would be both cared for and appreciated. But who knows.