# building a big "dummy box" SCHMORG



## dawson

Hello.
When I posted a build report on my PPCB Deflector build, I got a lot of questions about my pedalboard/box pictured below:









Anyhow, this build^ is a working prototype, but it has a couple super lame flaws that I'm going to solve with my next build.  Since there was some interest in this Euro-rack-inspired build style I've been working on, and since documenting my progress makes me work harder, this thread is going to follow how my current build is going.

Before we get too far with the project at hand, let's take a look at how I've been building these things a little differently.  Here's what one of my effects looks like all by itself:




My face-plates are originally 125B "bottom plates" sold separately from their enclosures at a low, low price, that way, if a build isn't nested in one of my large wooden boxes, I can still use it alone by plugging it into one of these universal "dummy boxes."  When they ARE being used in a larger box, they can plug straight into each-other's miniature connectors, cutting out 1/4" patch cables and opening up all sorts of possibilities- one of which is illustrated by this here pick-holding-triple-order-switcher:




The pick-holding-triple-order-switcher is very cool to have included but it adds a lot more planning to the signal chain.. also, there's a little splitter that spits the signal out of an AUX jack from anywhere in the chain- and over to the right are the "patch cables" I made to span long distances inside the box.  Here's my sketch for a signal chain including the order switcher:





So, back to the current project- I started out by taking the measurements from the first^ project and made this 2D plan in Photoshop.  It started out as just the "top" view but by the end of designing it looks like this: (sorry for lo-res)




After I figured out all of my measurements, it was time to set up the chop saw and brand new (used) router table.  I wish I would've started taking pictures earlier, but really, all you're missing out on before here were a bunch of pine rectangles..  Anyhow, here are all of my main pieces just about ready to glue:




As you can see, my main upgrade from the prototype is a steel bottom that will be removeable instead of fixed- this way, I can screw all of my pedals in place without worrying about wires, then remove the bottom and wire everything up..seems obvious but I wanted the prototype to be sturdy, so before realizing how unnecessarily fiddley and potentially damaging to the circuits the fixed bottom was going to be, I built it sturdy.  *I also hadn't found the metal scrapyard yet, during the time of the prototype build.

I'm using the same in/out/aux jack from the prototype:




All powered by a 1-Spot Pro switching power supply which I'm very excited about.  Bracket thanks to calipers, Fusion 360, and my trusty old Robo 3D printer:












This power supply will most-likely need to move between different sizes of boxes from time to time so I figured it worth the PLA to design and print a router template for the power jack hole.^

Right now, this very moment, the angle for the volume pedal is gluing up so I've got time to write all of this up:




Thanks for reading!


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## BuddytheReow

Dude, that's pretty awesome! I'm starting to get back into woodworking myself. I replaced all the baseboards in my house about a year ago, so now the wife wants me to make shelves, TV stand, etc.

Those pedals are a tight fit! I'm assuming all the jacks are top mounted. How easy is it to swap one out?


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## dawson

BuddytheReow said:


> Dude, that's pretty awesome! I'm starting to get back into woodworking myself. I replaced all the baseboards in my house about a year ago, so now the wife wants me to make shelves, TV stand, etc.
> 
> Those pedals are a tight fit! I'm assuming all the jacks are top mounted. How easy is it to swap one out?


Thanks for your interest!  I've added more about the circuits themselves to the original post.^
I'm now remembering there's even more to add but I'll get more pictures of those missed details during the final assembly.


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## finebyfine

Super excited to follow along with you and think this is just too cool. Do you mind going over the order switcher part?


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## fig

Great Googly-Moogly that is incredible! Well done! 

A few months from now, I'll be in Japan or some other hole in the wall backstage, waiting for the warmup band to _finally_ finish, when one of their crew turns to me and says "_Hey mate, have you seen the new Dawson RackBoards?"_

Love it!


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## fig

If you think the above is a joke, think again!

I just received an email from the Fart Pedal dude. He's going for $200K! He reached his initial goal within 3 days......for a fart pedal.....am I coming in clear? I said..


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## dawson

finebyfine said:


> Super excited to follow along with you and think this is just too cool. Do you mind going over the order switcher part?


Thanks, Double "F!"  So, the order switchers do as they're called- with the flip of a switch, I can do the same as if I unplugged a pedal or group of pedals, then plugged them back in, but in a different location in the signal chain, thus instantly altering my pedal order.  I say "instantly.." the flip of the switch is "instant," but as you see with my wiring diagram, the planning takes much more time- I believe the wiring diagram above was the fourth draft and it took me around an hour to fiddle myself there, maybe more.
I hope that made sense?



fig said:


> Great Googly-Moogly that is incredible! Well done!
> 
> A few months from now, I'll be in Japan or some other hole in the wall backstage, waiting for the warmup band to _finally_ finish, when one of their crew turns to me and says "_Hey mate, have you seen the new Dawson RackBoards?"_
> 
> Love it!


Ha!  That's a fun thought.
When certain types of people see my prototype, they immediately ask how much somebody would have to pay for one, then I have to explain to them that in order to use a set-up like this, a guitarist would have to completely commit to effects made by me that fit under my plates, not to mention the long, long wait times of obligatory procrastination needed to authentically create one of my circuits and high, high prices of American labor.  I'm really not sure if I'd have any takers- heck, I had to sit with the idea for the better part of a year before I was ready to set aside my factory-made pedals and commit to developing this thing and I'm still not certain it's a great idea.  Regardless though, your support is greatly appreciated, and if an opportunity appears to build circuits and racks for a living, that's the day I'll put in my 2-week notice at the ol' die casting foundry.

_"Dawson RackBoards"_
I've got a "name" I've been developing for this build style- think I'll unveil it when I get the logo finalized and cut out a stencil.


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## peccary

This is inspired stuff to be sure. Thanks for sharing and great work.


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## dawson

fig said:


> If you think the above is a joke, think again!
> 
> I just received an email from the Fart Pedal dude. He's going for $200K! He reached his initial goal within 3 days......for a fart pedal.....am I coming in clear? I said..


Fu- d- Do you really think?  I've toyed with the idea of sending pictures of this new box to a couple pedal companies to see if they might want me as an entry level assembly guy but I never considered much more than that.



peccary said:


> This is inspired stuff to be sure. Thanks for sharing and great work.


Thanks for reading!
Sharing with you all and getting feedback really fuels the progress on big projects like this.


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## fig

dawson said:


> Fu- d- Do you really think? I've toyed with the idea of sending pictures of this new box to a couple pedal companies to see if they might want me as an entry level assembly guy but I never considered much more than that.



You will never know unless you pursue it. You _will_ wonder if you do not. 









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Use Kickstarter to fund and build community around your creative work. We guide you through the process so you can present your ideas clearly.




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## mitch

@dawson So many awesome ideas combined here - I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more!  As somebody who likes to mess around with pedal order, this looks like a dream come true. 

I've been toying with the idea of making some sort of order switcher to mount on/under my board (for moving delay/reverbs before/after dirt, etc.) but despite ~25ish successful builds, I'm still very much in the "paint-by-numbers" stage and haven't tried to figure out how to do it. Looks like you've pretty much nailed what I was envisioning - especially with the added off-board "audition" slot. Could you share some more info about it?


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## dawson

mitch said:


> @dawson So many awesome ideas combined here - I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more!  As somebody who likes to mess around with pedal order, this looks like a dream come true.
> 
> I've been toying with the idea of making some sort of order switcher to mount on/under my board (for moving delay/reverbs before/after dirt, etc.) but despite ~25ish successful builds, I'm still very much in the "paint-by-numbers" stage and haven't tried to figure out how to do it. Looks like you've pretty much nailed what I was envisioning - especially with the added off-board "audition" slot. Could you share some more info about it?


Ah gee, I think we just had an idea for a switching pedal that may not quite exist yet- neat!

Not sure if you're asking for more info about the order switch or the auxiliary out or both, but if you want to build a box that handles the in & out for your pedal board and also can switch your reverb and drives back and forth *_in the very beginning of your signal chain,_ that's totally do-able.  It'll take a 3PDT- I like to wire my own because they look cool but PPCB sells a little cheater board:




The auxiliary jack isn't actually an audition slot- right now I've got a little signal splitter that takes my clean signal (or my signal from any other point in the chain), duplicates it, sends one signal through my signal chain like normal and spits the other signal out of the auxiliary jack.  This gives me a wet/dry/stereo thing and eventually, I plan on building another box that revolves around an EHX Super Ego Synth Engine that I'm re-housing under a plate.  The synth engine will take the dry clean signal and sustain it indefinitely through a ton of modulation effects which may or may not split into stereo again for a total of 3 different amps all going at once..but that's later on!

I'm going to go draw up that switching pedal you made me think of..


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## dawson

A couple more glue-ups, final sanding, stencil logo, copper foil outside of inner walls, boiled linseed oil exposed wood, then I get to put some effects in it and wire it up!




These four black 3D printed rectangles you see here are what I call "sleds."  The sleds will be screwed together with the sleds on their left & right then fastened to the wooden frame with thumb tacks.  I know what you're thinking: "Thumb tacks?  Is that really the best you can think of, Dawson?"  Yes, yes it is- if Fig's prophesy comes true, I'm sure I could figure out something better for a production model, but for DIY, I'm plenty confident that the tacky tacks are just fine (no pun intended.)  I've even held the fully-loaded prototype upside down and shook it a bit and nothing moved.

More on sleds and tacks later.


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## Feral Feline

dawson said:


> ... and I'm still not certain it's a great idea.  ...



It's a SUPERB idea!

I liked the prototype, love this next level. Thanks for sharing all the details; I was thinking when I saw the prototype before that it'd be fun to copycat a small fly-date board for myself (not that I've ever flown to a gig, but just for fun). I've got a Super Ego and want to do something similar with it as well... There's just so many great ideas that can be borrowed/stolen/adapted/integrated into other setups, too.

I like your quality-control inspector, who seems very studious, diligent and thus should help you avoid any build-catastrophe.



I look forward to the unveiling of the name you've given this.


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## dawson

Feral Feline said:


> It's a SUPERB idea!
> 
> I liked the prototype, love this next level. Thanks for sharing all the details; I was thinking when I saw the prototype before that it'd be fun to copycat a small fly-date board for myself (not that I've ever flown to a gig, but just for fun). I've got a Super Ego and want to do something similar with it as well... There's just so many great ideas that can be borrowed/stolen/adapted/integrated into other setups, too.
> 
> I like your quality-control inspector, who seems very studious, diligent and thus should help you avoid any build-catastrophe.
> 
> 
> 
> I look forward to the unveiling of the name you've given this.


Hey, it's the other Double "F" -thanks for stopping by!
There are at-least two other builders I've seen on another forum doing similar modular-style builds, though each of us have developed vastly different solutions to the problems presented by straying from the guitar pedal industry standard.  Join the modular club!

How about that Super Ego?  Isn't that about the best thing since..the electric guitar?  I absolutely love mine but feel like I need to build it its' own personal pedal board to do it justice like I mentioned earlier.  Opened it up to see if it might be an FV-1 project eventually but there's a chip in there that looks like a miniature damn CPU..oh well.

Thank you for recognizing the hard work of our quality inspector, Toots.  We've got a great team here but Toots really goes above and beyond with her work on a daily basis and we're very fortunate to have her.  This morning's board meeting:


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## dawson

Alright- It's all sanded nice and ready for foil then boiled linseed oil.  I thing I'm going to etch a plate for the emblem later- seems more congruent with the other design elements plus I'll get to skip it for now and be closer to testing!




I'm all set up to finish up in my living room with "the Hobbit" movies on- I can look up from time to time and see the cool sets and costumes and effects, but I don't really need to concentrate on it since I've read the book.


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## dawson

Foiled (mostly) waiting on another roll of copper to finish up:




And oiled- I think I'm going to need another coat or two to darken the wood a bit more:




Really wishing I would've tried a bit harder to match the grain of these pine boards, or maybe even splurge on some hardwood, but wood's not as easy to come by right now as it has in the past so I've been using what I have.

I think I'll have some sound coming out of this thing by the end of the day!


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## fig

bump!


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## dawson

fig said:


> bump!


Well, Fig, I fell asleep on Saturday before I got to put the effects in the box, then on Sunday, I was in a huge rush to get everything connected before 10am band practice, all the while my camera-aka "phone" was nowhere to be found.  All that to say: sadly, I didn't get to take pictures during the virgin assembly for you all..nor did I finish wiring it up before band practice-my buddies got to watch me scramble the last bits together while they had an extra-long warm-up.  However, I got another roll of copper in the mail, so that plus your interest is enough reason to unscrew everything and get back in there again.  

More pictures incoming!


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## fig

Hey, maybe you'll find your phone inside! I've enjoyed both yours and Big Monk's processes. Each a unique direction.

Nothing like a nap though. Unless you're on a gig I suppose. Not so bad if it's the drummer maybe...


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## jrhevron

Next level, man. Really impressive.


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## daeg

I liked how you did the LED's with the trimmer on a piece of perf. Can you give us the rundown on those?


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## dawson

fig said:


> Hey, maybe you'll find your phone inside! I've enjoyed both yours and Big Monk's processes. Each a unique direction.
> 
> Nothing like a nap though. Unless you're on a gig I suppose. Not so bad if it's the drummer maybe...


Ah, I hadn't seen Big Monk's board until you mentioned it so I went over and checked it out- very cool!



jrhevron said:


> Next level, man. Really impressive.


Thanks a lot!



daeg said:


> I liked how you did the LED's with the trimmer on a piece of perf. Can you give us the rundown on those?


Sure thing- I plan to have this thing fully assembled, photographed, shared, and played very loudly by the end of this weekend, if not sooner and I'll be sure to address the LED's.
(but who knows what will really happen- I said the same thing^ about last weekend.)


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## dawson

Here's my current collection of completed circuits in the modular format:


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## dawson

Alright- all the box needs now are some rubber feet for the bottom plate which will arrive shortly in the mail, and an emblem or two for the outside.  Here's the rack all ready for final assembly:




Up-side-down:




I'll call this build style a "SCHMORG."  My favorite pedal board before this modular goose-chase was called "smorgasbord," and my last-name starts with "Sch," so, tweak the spelling and hack off the end: you get "SCHMORG."  Here's the "smorgasbord" for those who haven't seen:







Coming very soon, what I call "sleds."


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## dawson

So this is a sled:




They're as tall as a 125B bottom plate and they fit in the racks like so:







I'll design a new sled for each new format, like this 1590BB sled:








I'm actually printing out another 1590BB sled right now because I think I'm going to change things up just a bit, but this picture will give you the idea:




They're either secured to the box with thumb-tacks on top and bottom, or if their sled if too thick on top like the 1590BB and the one in the top left, they can still have a thumb-tack in the foot and then fasten to its' neighbor with a little screw.


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## fig

Nice SCHMORG!

Hold it! What is this?
'


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## dawson

fig said:


> Nice SCHMORG!
> 
> Hold it! What is this?
> '
> View attachment 17126


That's a PPCB pick in my spring-loaded pick-holder!
It's actually a bit out of spec' to be used in this build because the cavities for the sleds are slightly deeper than in the prototype.  All I have to do is measure how much it falls short, then alter the design and print another one out- I'll take more pictures of the inner workings when I do that.
Very observant, Fig!


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## dawson

Sleds & screws:








Signal chain:




Daisy chain that connects all the grounds together:




Then the power:




It's pretty messy in there right now- next time I rebuild it, I'll roll-up the excess lengths of wire and maybe fasten them to the walls with little screw-in eyelets and twist-ties or something.

The bottom is screwed on and it works!
..now to fill those empty slots.


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## Feral Feline

Awersum!

While the board has shielding, I'm wondering if there will be any interference between circuits.
I hope not, 'cause the amount of weight saved by having just the lids instead of whole enclosures must be substantial. 

Makes me want to standardise on 1590N1 and 1590BB sizing, and I've got a few pedals that are 1590XX — workable since the 1590XX lid-height is basically the same as the N1 (121.2mm & 121mm respectively vs the BB's 119.5mm) and just make up the difference with the 3D-printed sleds.


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## dawson

Feral Feline said:


> Awersum!
> 
> While the board has shielding, I'm wondering if there will be any interference between circuits.
> I hope not, 'cause the amount of weight saved by having just the lids instead of whole enclosures must be substantial.


I've worried about that too.  I haven't had any issues yet but I also haven't tried any effects with transformers or BBD's.


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## dawson

Current SCHMORG shenaniganary:




Wish me luck, please..


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## Paradox916

How the hell did I miss this thread?   Outstanding man!


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## fig

Paradox916 said:


> How the hell did I miss this thread?   Outstanding man!


I missed the last bits..caught up now!


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## Bricksnbeatles

That wavelord came out great. I’d love to see the polytune rehouse! (I’m guessing this means the volume pedal with the built in tuner is out now)


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## Chuck D. Bones

Wow!  How did I miss this?  Excellent work!


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## dawson

Time for a little update.
Here's my current set-up:






Here are links to reports of the newer modules:

WAVELORD

POLY TUNE

SPIRIT BOX


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## Diynot

Like many before me, WHAT ROCK HAVE I BEEN UNDER TO MISS THIS GLORIOUS DESIGN-GASM!? That is all sorts of amazing! And as called out before, your etchings are top notch. 🍻


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## dawson

Diynot said:


> Like many before me, WHAT ROCK HAVE I BEEN UNDER TO MISS THIS GLORIOUS DESIGN-GASM!? That is all sorts of amazing! And as called out before, your etchings are top notch. 🍻



Thanks!
I'm glad you like the design- so far it's been worth the extra PITA to switch formats.

Next up: INTERNAL PARALLEL LOOPS!


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## EGRENIER

Yep, I missed this threat also... let me get my baring back, I'm still slightly shocked at reading this amazing build report....

This is just insane quality work...


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## ADAOCE

Yeah this is awesome dude! Any chance you could share the step file for the CS7 mount?


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## Harry Klippton

Hey @dawson is the box a dummy or is it _for_ dummies?


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## dawson

ADAOCE said:


> Yeah this is awesome dude! Any chance you could share the step file for the CS7 mount?



Maybe- I'll have to look into that since I've never done it before.



Harry Klippton said:


> Hey @dawson is the box a dummy or is it _for_ dummies?



Well..it's _for_ me..so..


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## ADAOCE

dawson said:


> Maybe- I'll have to look into that since I've never done it before.
> 
> 
> 
> Well..it's _for_ me..so..


No worries I appreciate it


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## dawson

ADAOCE said:


> No worries I appreciate it



I suppose it may be as simple as sending an email with the STL's attached- want to send me your address and we'll give it a try?


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## dawson

Pine scent is in the air again as a couple new SCHMORG boxes are getting started:







One for vocal effects, one for staging tests outside of my main box.


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## asg

I don't have a 3d printer but thought I'd see about pricing with a 3d printing service. Could I get the stl files for 125b and 1590bb?


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## dawson

asg said:


> I don't have a 3d printer but thought I'd see about pricing with a 3d printing service. Could I get the stl files for 125b and 1590bb?



Hello @asg!  I'm not sure what you're asking-

STL's for the sleds?

I prefer aluminum so I've never modeled full enclosures but I think I've seen other members do stuff like that.


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## asg

derp. 🤦‍♂️

Yes, I was referring to the sleds.

Sorry, that's what I get for trying to do too many things at once.


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## dawson

asg said:


> derp. 🤦‍♂️
> 
> Yes, I was referring to the sleds.
> 
> Sorry, that's what I get for trying to do too many things at once.



Oh my.. what I hoped was impossible is now coming to pass ..somebody else wants to build a SCHMORG.





(insert Wilhelm scream)

DM me your email and I'll see what I can do, but beware, dear traveler, for the road before you is treacherous, unforgiving, and without end.


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## asg

Well, not exactly a SCHMORG but something similar  You should have a note in your inbox.


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