Homemade Pedalboard w/ Pics and Walkthrough!!

[LeeSympathetic]

Materials:
~A large piece of plywood = $12
~Aluminum Sides, 8' = $5
~#6 1/2" Screws = $5
~Black Spray Paint = $1
~Laquer Spray Paint = $3
~2 Cabinet Pull Handles = $5
~A set of rubber feet = $3
~4 #8 screws (for rubber feet) = $1
~Velcro = $15

Tools...
~Miter Saw
~Miter Box
~Sandpaper
~Drill


Step 1:

Once you bought your wood, measure out the specs to see how much
space you want. It would really help if you take out your pedals to have a
good idea.





Step 2:

After you measure out your specs, cut your wood. I'm a student in
highschool so I brought it to my school's woodshop class to cut it with. It is
not recommended to cut your wood with a hand saw because it's hard...
and definitely not perfect. I don't recommend getting it cut at Home Depot
either because they never get perfect measurements. Unless you don't
NEED to have exact measurements.
After you cut your wood make sure you sand your wood. Start with 100
grit sandpaper... then 220 grit... and then the black sandpaper. (I forgot
which grit that is but you can't miss it... it's black.)





Step 3:

My favorite part.. It's time to spray paint. I bought a can of black spray
paint for 97 cents at my local HD store. Make sure you spray paint outside
or at an open garage... and have some kind of newspaper spread out in
the area you are painting in.

Here's how you do it. Our goal is to make ALOT of THIN coatings. DO NOT
make ONE THICK coating. It's good to make... maybe 4 coatings. So
here's how you do it. First shake the can for a while... and make sure the
can is 10~12 inches AWAY from the wood... And starting from the left
corner, spray and work yourself from left to right. Continue this until you
eventually reach to your last row. REMEMBER to STOP spraying every 10
seconds and give the can a nice shake! This is ONE coating. Let the wood
sit for 15 minutes and move on to your second coating. Repeat this until
your 4th or 5th coating. You may add more if you think you'll need more.
(I added to much so my board looks too glossy..)




After your last coating, let the paint dry overnight. Do not apply lacquer
yet. Lacquer must be applied when the black paint is dry.





Step 4:

It's time to apply Lacquer paint to your wood. Lacquer is clear paint that
applies a durable, strong layer so the black paint underneath won't wear
out or ooze or anything. It also gives it a nice glossy touch to it. I only
used one can that I bought for $3 @ Home Depot. Of course if you have a
bigger board you may have to have more cans.




Setup the area like you did for the black paint. Same rules; Shake the can,
and make sure your hand is about a foot away from the wood. Our goal is
to just apply two simple coatings. Same thing, after your first coat, let the
wood sit for 15 minutes or so before your second. After your second coat,
let the wood dry for at least 24 hours. It may take longer depending on
temperature. Lacquer is very important to dry and it takes longer than
regular spray paint. If you are impatient and decide to move on the next
step, you'll create fingerprints on the paint that will be on the wood forever.



Step 5:

This was my least favorite step. It's time to cut aluminum sides.
You can actually do this step while your laquer is drying in Step 4.

Okay materials for this is a Miter Saw, a Miter Box and... a desk you can work on.
Here are good examples of a Saw and a Miter Box.



Now a typical HD worker will tell you to get a small, cheap hacksaw. Trust
me I've tried 3 different saws. The Miter Saw will work best. A clean job
with barely any rough edges. And make sure you buy a Miter Box. Without
the miter box, cutting can not be possible. Or it can, just in a horrible job.
A Miter box basically allows you to make perfect straight cuts, and 45 degree angle cuts, which is ideal for this project.

So mark your measurements, make sure they're correct and cut your
sides as well as your 45 degree angle cuts.





After cutting, make sure you sand the aluminum with the black sand paper
you used earlier for wood. The black sandpaper can also be used for
aluminum. Sand off the sides so they can be smoothed out. Make sure you
also sand the pointy edges so they won't cut anyone! Next, line up the
metal sides around your board (DRY) to see if everything fits. If something
is too big then that's no problem, sand it down to perfection. If somethings
to small... just make sure it isn't TOO small; It's okay if your a hair off or
two.





Step 6

Our first day of drlling has arrived. Let's start on the Rubberfeet. Remember it's important to start on the feet before the handles or
aluminum sides.
Start by marking the hole on the board so you know where you want to
drill. I used an EXPO marker that's real neat because it washes right off.
But of course you can use a pencil and erase it later. Next, drill a hole in
the spot where you marked... And simply just screw in the rubber feet. Do
this on all four corners.





Step 7

Now it's time to drill in the Aluminum sides and the handles. I'm assuming
by now that you have cut your aluminum sides, sanded them, and lined the
up around your board to see if they fit. If so this step should be nothing but
cake! How I did this was I made each hole 4" away from each other, just
so it would look neat and organized. I started with one end, then the other
end, and slowly coming in the middle of the aluminum side. After marking I
double check to see if my measurements are correct. If so drill em in and
screw em in.





For the left and right sides, we apply the handles.
This is where things get tricky. You have to measure the distance from hole
1 to hole 2 of the handles. If you mess up then you might end up with an
extra hole in your board! So to have a clean finish make sure you get the
measurements precise.

After drilling in the hardware you're pretty much finished..








Step 8

Velcro and place your pedals.
Voila! you're done!

[LeeSympathetic]

[Rydock]

Holy crap man. That's really classy! I got myself an Ikea GORM http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/50058512. To make something like a cheap pedal train.

[andersdc]

Thanks for the walk-through! I'll definatly use it as a reference next time.

[M@tt C]

Well done and informative...thanks!

[James]

Great post! This is exactly how I've built several of my pedalboards, minus the laquer. Wish I'd thought of that.

[stryker59]

awesome!! great thread!!

[LeeSympathetic]

thanks for the kind words guys!!
it really means alot

and Rydock,
that's a GREAT investment!!!
Maybe I should've bought that and spray painted it

[lifele55]

Noice!

[lifele55]

Now add a bag/case to it and its set to go..

[LeeSympathetic]

im making an ATA case right now!! hah thanks

[TubeeTuberton]

Very good. Pics of the case when done!

[thudle]

excellent work! inspiring!

[Wesman61]

This should be in the new webzine.

[thetangmang]

You should make this into a small business: homemade pedalboards and cases/bags for TGP. Let me know if you do.