MOMENTARY/TOGGLE PEDAL
I discovered the band Halestorm in the spring of 2016 and started learning to play their songs on my guitar. While playing, I found it quite difficult to switch on and off extra distortion quickly, especially when I only needed it for a short burst. I wanted a pedal that was momentary when I needed it briefly and could toggle when I wanted it to sustain. Since one didn’t exist, I decided to build it and make one for the band, too, since it would also be useful for them. I knew what I kind of distortion pedals they used and decided to model the distortion off of that, with my own tweaks. I also wanted this pedal to visually reflect the band's style.
Objective:
To create a distortion pedal that featured both momentary and toggle activation styled visually and sonically to the band Halestorm for their use as well as my own.
Materials:
Aluminum, Acrylic, Rubber, Paint, Electronics.
How I did it:
I spent a lot of time working on the CAD keeping very much in mind how it would be machined. The body would be machined of one 6 x 3 x 3 aluminum bar over 11 CNC jobs. There would be a grove for an acrylic inlay that looked like guitar binding. The footpedal piece would be machined out of .625 x 2.75 x 3 aluminum. (Though I usually had to mill larger stock into this size.) There would of course be an aluminum bottom to the pedal as well as an acrylic piece with the band's logo on top and a rubber pad for the foot.
The key to the momentary and toggle function was in the geometry of the foot pedal itself as well as the ability to switch to only momentary if necessary as well. I did use a pre-designed pcb for some of the electronics, the pedal was based off the Klon Centaur, a pedal Halestorm are known to like. However, there were changes in component values on the PCB there was a second board that I designed for different types of clipping, and a different design for volume and switching.
I spent a great amount of time experimenting and learning about audio electronics so I could actually understand what I was doing.
The key to the momentary and toggle function was in the geometry of the foot pedal itself as well as the ability to switch to only momentary if necessary as well. I did use a pre-designed pcb for some of the electronics, the pedal was based off the Klon Centaur, a pedal Halestorm are known to like. However, there were changes in component values on the PCB there was a second board that I designed for different types of clipping, and a different design for volume and switching.
I spent a great amount of time experimenting and learning about audio electronics so I could actually understand what I was doing.
SKILLS USED:
Audio circuitry design, complex 3D milling, more complex CAD, improved soldering, improved crimping, coating and painting.
