D.I.Y Pedalboard Tutorial for dummies...!

Heya guys!!
So the past few weeks we've been preparing for an event our church is holding and so thought I'd revamp my guitar effects setup! What I wanted to do required a larger board and after looking around I decided to make my own. Was it cost effective? I dunno...but it was fun nonetheless!
So following are the steps I took to make it - I'm really bad at this stuff so bear with me... lol

Firstly: gathering the materials!
I went off to Bunnings and bought everything I needed.
Firstly determine the size you want. I needed a usable space of 92cm x 42cm. I added a couple of cm's to allow for the aluminium edges and so I needed 94cm x 44cm.

So first off (prices in AUD):
1. Plywood - I used this, it's pretty strong and cheap. I ended up getting a 120cm x 45cm piece. Got that cut to 94cmx45cm and this would form the base.
Cost: $14.98.


2. Aluminium edges - They have a right angle to em. Just get enough to cover the edges. I got 3 x 1M alumnium mouldings that were 12mm wide and long.
Cost: 3x $2.83 = $8.49


3. Sandpaper - just bought some. I don't really know the proper way to sand wood haha, so I quickly read up and got some 120grit, 240grit and a 600grit sheets of sandpaper. I dunno =)
Cost: 3x $1.80 = $5.40
4. Spray paint: got black, since I wanted black
Cost: $7.76
5. Primer: Need to this to prepare the wood for painting... I think haha. Well the guy said I needed it so yeh. I think I paid too much for it, but oh well..
Cost: $16.66
6. Handles for the sides: makes it look very much like the Timon Klein/Teletronix pedalboards - very similar to the ones all the Hillsong guitarists use. I liked it, so I'm copying it.
Cost: 2x $3.35 = $6.70
7. Rubber feet: Anything you can find that look like rubber feet, for like chairs, furniture etc. will do the job. I got 8 cause of the size of my board, just get how many you think you'll need
Cost: 2x $4.10 (set of 4) = $8.20
8. Carpet: This is so I can velcro all the pedals to the board. The velcro sticks to it quite well, though I'm worried at how many t imes I can put on and take off pedals cause it seems that after a certain while it might lose it's strength. In anyway cause, I got 1 sq. metre and it's working atm!
Cost: $18.78

TOTAL: $86.97

I also bought a Mitre Box (which was meant to help me cut straight angles) and a handle for the sandpaper. Also bought some glue, I bought the Selley's All-fix - pretty versatile adhesive so thought that should do the job!

So all up cost me a bit more (prob extra $50 or so) since I didn't have those tools to start with, but for most of you, it'll cost about AUD$90! Not bad I guess....

OTHER TOOLS NEEDED:
1. Drill
2. Measuring tape
3. Marker pen or pencil
4. Stanley knife

STEP 1: SANDING

First off need to sand down the piece of wood to make it really smooth.
Start with the really rough 120grit paper, then move up to the higher grit, then again to an even finer one. The aim is to make it really really smooth and get rid of any inconsistencies. I didn't sand mine enough so it's a bit rough, but sand until you think it's smooth.

STEP 2: USING PRIMER

Like I said before, the aim of using primer is to prepare the wood for paining so get the primer and spray a few coats on the whole piece. You might go through 1 or 2 cans. I used 1, but I'm cheap =) Follow instructions on the can, I had to wait about 30mins or so in between each coat and about 1hr before it was ready for spray painting. It's best to do thin coatings as opposed to one thick coat so apply it sparingly but enough to cover the wood for each coat.


STEP 3: SPRAY PAINT!

Time for spray painting - do as many coats as you can, about 3-4 is ideal, but lol, i'm cheap. I did 2 coats on one side and 1 on the other since the can ran out. Oh well =) I did 2 coats on the side that's exposed (the bottom) and 1 coat on the top to hide any edges that may not be covered by the carpet etc. Again follow instructions on the can, I waited about 1hr in between each coat and then left it overnight to dry. If you weren't going to use carpet to cover it, I'd probably suggest to do at least 4 coats (needing a few more spray bottles).



STEP 4: ALUMINIUM EDGES
You can do this bit whenever, but I did it the next day after the paint dried.

I really hated this bit. Took too much effort and was annoying. Basically the aluminium edges are going to line the border of the board. To make it look neat and tidy, you have to cut off a bit of the edge of the aluminium mould at a 45 degree angle. See the picture or look at other pedalboards by Timon Klein.

I bought a Mitre Box because another article I read said that it was the best for cutting straight 45 degree angles....looks like this:

i tried it...... couldn't do it. The saw that came with it was crap and I couldn't find anything around the house that could do it ... (was bout to get the chainsaw.... lol). So I drew a 45 degree line (using the mitrebox as a guide) and just cut it with scissors (like those really sharp ones used to cut drainage pipes) lol... not ideal but turned out ok!

Do it for all four sides, paying attention to which way you have to do the 45 degree cut. Make sure after you've cut it that you sand the edges down. I used the 600 grit sandpaper to do this. This really smooths it out and if it's a tiny bit too big, you can sand it down a little to make it fit. It also removes point edges that could potentially hurt someone.

After you've done that, use the Selley's All-Fix or similar and glue it on to the board. With the all-fix, it was really good as I could just use water to take off any spillage on the board as it's water soluble.


STEP 5: CARPETING

This is pretty easy, just cut the carpet to the size you need. I used the actual board with the aluminium to measure the size of the carpet I needed. Marked it, then use a stanley knife to cut it. Use some kind of straight edge like another plank of wood, or something to help cut a nice straight line.

After you've done that, glue it on using the All-Fix again and now everything is glued on!

Follow the instructions on the package to see how long you have to wait. I waited a couple of hours before I started the next step (and waited about 6-7hrs before starting the handles).

STEP 6: RUBBER FEET

Now flip the board over to the bottom and mark where you want the rubber feet to go. Then it's as simple as using the drill to drill a small hole to act as a guide (pilot hole) using I think around 1/16th to 5/32nd size drill.

Then just screw the rubber feet in. I did 4 along the bottom and 4 along the top and it's working alright at the moment.


STEP 7:HANDLES

For this one, it's similar to the rubber feet.
First off, measure the edge and try and position the handle as closest to the centre as possible. Measure the handle and halfway of the handle should line up with the midway point of the board's edge. Use a marker pen and mark these spots in. Try and be as exact as you can. Don't want to widen the hole bigger than u need it.

This time use a wider drill, wide enough so the screw can actually go through the hole.

Once that's done, put the screw in and screw it in to the handle! Now the ones I bought (because I'm such a noob), the screw was too long so I just cut it to the size I wanted (a REAL pain though!!!)


FINISHED!! Now you have your own custom made pedalboard that could rival the pro-made ones!






Next post: update on gear aquisitions ^^ (once some new pedals arrive...)