tool time...
- the story
of a man, a sheet of plywood and some power tools
I realized
three things very early on in this project:
If
I was going to build a second level for the back row, I wanted it to extend
behind the wah pedal as well. Otherwise, that area would be left a bit
useless - the wah is big enough to hide whatever pedal I place behind
it, and I can't put the power supply in that spot, since it would be too
close to the wah. In the end I decided to design the riser with a cut-out
section, to allow for the wah. - Second,
I needed a wah plate, to lift it up a little. I'm using the wah as my
main input point for the pedalboard (handy, since I run it on batteries,
and would need to unplug it between gigs anyway), and the input jack didn't
clear the edge of the case.
- The project
also meant I had to look closer at my tool collection. I badly needed
a jigsaw, to cut the plywood sheets, and since I've never gotten around
to buying a cordless drill, I thought this was the perfect cover I needed
to go tool-shopping...
I ended up with a Black&Decker Quattro - a cordless combination drill/screwdriver/jigsaw/sander.
It might not be as powerful as the separate items can be, but then you'd
have to buy them separately... This way, I can cut with the jigsaw, change
to the sander attachment and smooth off the edges, and then start drilling
- with the same machine.
With those
realizations done, I headed out to get the materials. My first stop was
at the lumberyard, where I picked up a good-sized piece of 7 mm plywood.
It was far bigger than I needed, actually, but that's what they had in the
excess wood bin. I also found a piece of 16 mm ply, which would come in
handy for the wah plate. This cost me all of 30 kr (about $3.50)...
Next
stop was at a car stereo retailer - MDS at Folkungagatan 137 in Stockholm,
for those who might be interested - where I got some black trunk/bass bin
carpet, and a can of spray glue. I'd brought a piece of velcro along, to
test the carpet's sticking ability. As it turned out, the carpet I got wasn't
good enough in this respect after all - or possibly the hook velcro I had
wasn't good enough, which reminds me: don't go cheap there - 3M ScotchMate
is the stuff to use under your pedals. Anyway, when faced with the task
of keeping a heavy Dunlop wah pedal safely attached to the board, with the
sub-standard male velcro I had, the carpet didn't quite hack it. So I went
looking for the real deal - trade show display fabric designed specifially
to mate with strips of "hook side" velcro. And that, my friends,
wasn't easy... I went to a number of fabric/sewing stores to find 3M Veltex
fabric, but had no luck. Eventually, I found an ad agency/exhibition producer here in
Stockholm who not only used this kind of fabric, but also were willing to
order in the small amount I needed. Awesome service, above and beyond the
call of duty - thanks a bunch (you know who you are)! If I were to do this again, I'd probably order from Banzai Music in Germany - if you follow the link and scroll down, you'll find velcro sheets ready to order!
Anyway
- back to the topic at hand. After I'd gathered the materials needed, I
started cutting. I used the back plate from the wah to outline the size
of the wah plate. Don't make it too tight - you are going to drill four
16mm holes in it (for the rubber feet), rather close to the edge, so you
need to leave a little space if you don't want the edge to break. Mine came
out at about 255x110 mm. But 16 mm (the thickness of the ply I'd found)
was too much, so I used a sharp knife to split the plywood along one of
the glue joints, making it 10 mm instead. Also, I drilled and countersank
two small holes, to screw the plate into the pedalboard base. But you could
of course just use velcro - if you leave the underside of the plate bare
- just using enought carpet to wrap around the edges - the self-adhesive
male (hook) velcro you use on the bottom of your pedals will stick to the
plate as well...
Next
came the glue. Spray one side of the wood, normally the side that will be
facing up, and let it dry for a minute or so. Since wood is rather porous,
much of the glue will sink into the pores - give it a second layer, and
wait another minute. Then spray some on the carpet as well (after checking
which side is the inside, of course) and you're ready to go to work. I gently
set the piece in place, and turned it over to push any bubbles out. Once
the two are properly joined, spray the back side and remaining carpet, wait
a minute and start folding. I aligned the carpet so that one edge ended
right down the middle of the back side, and then when I folded the other
side around, I used a sharp boxcutter knife to cut along the edge, making
the two ends meet without overlapping. I also used a staple gun, to secure
the carpet round the edges of the plate - this carpet will not
come loose...
Next,
it was time to do the main piece - the actual pedal riser. I had all the
measurements jotted down on a piece of paper, so I only had to transfer
them to the plywood sheet, and start sawing. In the pic, you can see the
cutout section where the wah pedal would otherwise clash with the riser.
I had already
calculated the clearance needed underneath, and stuck to it religiously.
There would be little point in going through all this trouble, just to realize
that the power supply won't fit underneath the riser... The carpet adds
a millimeter or so to the thickness, which will have to be taken into account
as well (which is also why I decided to make sure the carpet didn't overlap
- the tolerances were a little too tight on this project). For the feet,
I used a 2 cm thick plank of wood, cutting it into 40 mm wide strips which
was then turned on their sides, creating a bunch of 40mm high and 20 mm
wide feet. To make them perfectly equal, cut them slightly big (which will
leave the pencil mark in place), clamp them together and shave them down
to the right size. I used regular wood rather than plywood, since plywood
splits too easily when you drive screws from the side into it. The length
of the feet were kept 2 cm shorter than the riser depth, which will let
me neatly route cables along the edges of the riser.
After
drilling and countersinking the holes to attach the feet (and punch-marking/pilot
drilling the feet as well), it was time to glue the carpet on. Again, I
sprayed the topside of the wood first, as well as a strip in the middle
of the carpet, and then joined the two. After spraying the back of the riser,
and the remaining carpet, I started folding. Think of it as gift-wrapping
- you fit one of the flaps, and then pull the other to meet it. Once you
have cut the fabric, so it doesn't overlap, you have to fold the edges in.
The cutout presented something of a challenge, but it worked out ok in the
end, I think.
Next,
the feet needed carpet as well - I decided to only cover the sides, to keep
the height correct. I cut strips of carpet to roughly the correct width
(always give it a little extra - you can always trim the excess later, but
you can't add width as easily), and proceeded to glue them. The trick is
to keep the glue away from the top/bottom edges - you only want glue where
it's needed.
Again, the
technique is the same: glue on one side, and on a bit of the carpet, attach
the two and add glue to the rest. Then fold around, and cut the excess off.
Here's
the finished article - I used black screws to join the riser and feet together
(and yes, the holes were a bitch to locate with the carpet in place). On
the underside of the feet, just add some stick-on hook velcro to attach
the riser to the board. Of if you want even more security you can use small
L-brackets and screws to secure the feet to the board.
With everything in
place, the board looks like this (click the images for a better view):
I have toyed
with the idea of making another upper level - this time with the same depth
as in the wah cutout, but along the width of the entire thing, so I can
fit two rows of 1590BB size boxes below the riser. Another idea was to make
a few small risers/plates, for use with various pedals with rubber feet,
and for raising pedals in the middle row. The idea was to get the whole
board modular, so I can vary the design depending on what pedals I'm currently
using. Plus, it's fun to work with power tools... I haven't really gotten
around to this, though - I've been too busy using the board as it is.
