Finally found a few vintage-style enclosures for some Tone Bender MKIII / MKIV circuits that I’ve built and had sitting around waiting for the right enclosure. Can’t wait to clean these up and get them up and running – currently wrapped in plastic and covered in oil, as they are raw steel after all.
I’ll try and document my success and/or failures finishing these (I’ve never done steel before). Thinking of running with a polish and clear coat on one, and maybe a bit of bright colour on the other two.
Here’s the finished product – it’s D*A*M Fuzz Sound MKIII. I like yellow so much I made two.
ROTOSOUND FUZZ / VOX STYLE TONE BENDER ENCLOSURES
Yes, I know – it’s technically not a Sola Sound Tone Bender enclosure, it’s more like a Rotosound Fuzz or a Vox Tone Bender, but it’s as close as I could get.
Painting: Just getting a couple of light coats on. Ignore the patchy bits; they’re mostly shadows. I’m trying some automotive spray paint, as I’m assuming it should be hard-wearing, and the colour is pretty cool (so long as you like yellow).
I’ve patched up the extra holes with epoxy, and they should be covered by the pots and knobs anyway (these are to secure the pots using those little tabs that are usually broken off)
The automotive paint needs some time to cure, and don’t go too heavy on the coats. More is not better…
For the base, I decided to use a clear coat, which is the same as what I normally do on hammond-type enclosures after applying waterslide decals.
STEPS FOR PAINTING THE ENCLOSURE
- wash in hot water with detergent to remove oil (dry it very quickly to avoid rust)
- sand with 400 grit wet and dry, followed by 800 and finally 1200 (in the same direction)
- wash again in hot water with detergent, then wipe down with paper towels and isopropyl alcohol (again, don’t waste time, or this will rust before your eyes)
- apply two coats on one side, wait an hour, then on the other side. Repeat.
