# Home Made Pedal Board Build



## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

My main rig consists of my Boogie combo-mini-stack and a Helix Floor. My alternate rig used to consist of a variety of smaller combo amps and a home made plywood pedal board. I sold those amps a few years ago and they were eventually replaced with a 5E3 that I built not quite a year ago. For info on the 5E3 see my troubleshooting thread from last fall in the Amp Building forum here on this site. The home made pedal board I've been using for a number of years has definitely seen better days and it is also too large now for what I want it to be, which is something smaller and simpler and lighter; something to go with the 5E3 as a grab 'n go rig for open mic nights when we can finally start playing "out" again. This of course is assuming all this covid business might someday be done. So I disassembled my ratty old board and have begun building a new and smaller one. It will still be made of plywood as that's what I am comfortable with. This thread will be a chronicle of the build. I do have a tendency to keep working sometimes and forget to take pics so the progress shown here might be a bit "jumpy".

So here is a piece of 3/8" G1S fir ply which I have cut into the two pieces that the pedals actually will sit upon. The board will measure 14" deep and 16" wide. The second tier will be 7" by 10".











Here I have cut two 1½" strips which will serve as the riser parts for the second tier. I will fasten the pieces with wood glue and some ⅞" brad nails. I would like to have used ¾" brads but ⅞" is all I have on hand right now.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Here I have assembled the parts and I am in the process of wiping the excess glue off with a wet rag.











Here is the assembly as seen from the other side. I will give it a few hours for the glue to set up before I proceed any further.











Once I have all the other parts fastened into place and all glued joints are set and the board is nice and solid I will go after any overhanging edges with a palm sander.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

The glue has done some setting up and the project feels stable enough do do one more step for the evening. Here is a piece with a notch laid out and ready to cut for the rear support.











Here is the piece after the notch has been cut and it is ready to be attached.











... and here it is, glued and brad-nailed into place.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I felt like continuing for one piece more so I laid out and cut the side piece for the easy side.











Here it is glued into place. Since the ⅞ brads are too long to fasten the entire side I am using some small clamps to glue the thinner section.










This time I will let the glue set overnight because there are no brads holding it in place. The leftover from cutting out this side piece is on the right. I will use it to fab the more difficult side piece tomorrow.


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## oldjoat (Apr 4, 2019)

are you considering putting the power supply inside the raised section ( from underneath?)


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Nice! Whats the weight?


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

oldjoat said:


> are you considering putting the power supply inside the raised section ( from underneath?)


That is exactly my plan. I will velcro it up to the underside of the second tier. I like a pedal board to look as tidy as possible. Keep monitoring this build and you will see a couple of other things I plan to do for the sake of tidiness. Things I thought of after the fact on my old board.



Budda said:


> Nice! Whats the weight?


 I don't have one of those spring type scales but it's pretty light. On my old board I used ½" ply for the vertical support pieces but on this one I'm sticking with ⅜" throughout. It means I have to be a bit more careful with the brad nailer to ensure they don't wander out the side.


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## oldjoat (Apr 4, 2019)

bamboo skewers as dowels and a small drill bit to stabilize joints.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I've never worked with dowels before. I'm pretty good at making plywood boxes like this one but furniture making is not in my current skill-set. Maybe I'll take a stab at that after I retire. I suspect using dowels would require some pretty high precision layout and drilling. I think I would want to learn more about the process and practice several times on some scrap pieces before attempting to do it on a project I intend to use but thanks for the input just the same. I don't know if I have ever seen dowels used on thin plywood before.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Here is the piece I made for the more difficult side. This is actually the second one I made. The first one did not pass muster with me on the trial fit but this one fits much better.










Here I have it glued into place. Again, I will let the glue set up overnight on the thin section that has no brads before proceeding any further.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

A sharp eye might notice that there are some imperfections in the plywood, most notably a screw-hole seen a few inches away from the top of my brad nailer. When I bought this house the previous owner left quite a bit of wood in the basement, including the G1S fir I am using here. Obviously he had used it at some point, perhaps as a cover for something. I don't know why else there would be a screw-hole in the middle of a piece but none around the edges. I will fill the imperfections as well as the brad dimples with wood filler before I go ahead with painting it. I am also tossing around the idea of using some wood hardener to increase resistance to chipping and improve overall durability.


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## oldjoat (Apr 4, 2019)

dowel jig 
short piece of any wood 
nail and glue a stop end block to one end 
from that end drill 3 holes 
a big one 3/8" about 3/4" from the inside corner from the end block 
another hole the size of the wooden skewer diameter about 1 -1/4" inches from the inside block
a final 3/8" hole about 2" from the inside block 
clip the end block against the end of the piece to dowel , align the edge of the plywood to center it within both the 3/8" holes 
then drill the dowel hole ... repeat with the other end of the piece of plywood upright .
( drilling into the end grain of the plywood , also put a piece of painter's tape on the drill bit to act as a depth gauge )

do the same with the top plywood piece, align the outside edge of the top with the edge of the 2 3/8" holes ... drill dowel hole.

or glue a small strip along the edges of the 3/8" holes to act as a guide on the inside of the jig.
make a few identical jigs ( align the 3 holes ) then make left and right jigs with the small guide strips.


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## oldjoat (Apr 4, 2019)

BMW-KTM said:


> wood hardener to increase resistance to chipping and improve overall durability.


or a quick rolled coat of epoxy resin over entire surface will do the trick
or use some white (PVA) glue.

( use a cheap dollar store 3" roller w tray, run it over some painter's tape to pickup the "fuzz" , then roll away ... when finished , toss the roller and supplied tray away )

BTW , a strip of painter's tape pressed onto the plywood along the cut line before cutting will lessen the edge tear out.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I don't have any resin on hand but I do have some hardener.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I got up early this morning and went straight to work.
With a sander I took down any high spots along the edges of joints and also put a very slight radius on all the corners. A very slight radius. I don't want it to look rounded. I just want it to be smooth. I drilled a few ¾" holes for wiring to pass through and cleaned up the holes up with a small sanding drum.












Here I've gone over it with some wood filler to fill the brad dimples, that screw hole and a few other imperfections in the surface. I will give the filler a couple of hours to set up before another sanding.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I've sanded down the filler and I am ready to apply some wood hardener.











Instruction say to allow 12 hours for curing so I guess paint will happen tomorrow. I used the Q-Tip to get into the holes and corners.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Oops


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Hardener is cured so it's time for paint. Classic black.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Some hours later the quick drying black I used is nice and firm with no tackiness but the black wasn't really doing it for me so I applied another coat, this time in "Hammered" black which is more like a charcoal or graphite colour. I've used this in the past on other projects and liked it but I also know from that experience that it is by no means quick drying so it will be tomorrow before I begin any installations.










I realized after painting this coat that I had forgotten a couple of holes I wanted to cut. I will do those later today, probably in the evening after the paint is partially dry and then I will give a quick, light spray around the new holes and let it set overnight.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

Lookin good!


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Thanks!!




















On the lower tier on the right, where the wah will go, I added three holes. Two holes are for jacks (in and out) and the other one is for connection to A/C power. The larger hole on the left side is something I added to my old board after the fact but never did hide the cut with touch-up paint. This one is a finger hole to make picking it up off the floor easier. I sanded the finger hole well and radiused the edges so I don't get any slivers using the hole.

I think that's it for the construction phase. I can't think of anything else. So I guess tomorrow (if I feel the paint is dry and hard enough) I will start by supplying power to the board.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

A couple of things have come up that require my attention so I probably won't work on the board today. Besides, I checked it this morning and I am going to let the paint dry some more. As I said before, that hammered paint is definitely not quick drying.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

Nice. I did a similar build a few years ago. the second tier is very useful.


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

@SWLABR that is a great selection of pedals, I have some similar and appreciate the rest.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Perhaps I missed it, but what's the plan for securing pedals to the board? And are there any plans for a carrying strategy, like a handle or carrying case?


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

My wah is a Fulltone and it has bolted rubber feet so it will be bolted down to the board using those machine screws. I will simply add a small washer on each bolt. The other pedals will be secured with velcro, as will the cabling underneath. As for carrying it I am going to have to investigate my options there. I carried the old board in a zippered bag designed for a 3 burner camp-stove. It too is getting a bit ratty.


I am satisfied now with the paint and I can think of no reason I cannot go ahead with the installation process. My first step will be to supply power to the board. I want to have the power supply and the feed for the power supply in place before I start planning my cabling and routing.

I took the power connector from the old board and I will install it in this one. I can't remember from where I sourced this part. Online, I think. Possibly Amazon. The other end is from a cheap Walmart extension cord. Each wire will be shrink wrapped individually (black) and then the whole area will get shrink wrapped (yellow).




















I have sliced a gap in the velcro to make room for a zip tie. I must be out of the longer ones so I am putting two together.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I have placed the pedals on the board complete with plugs in the jacks for determining spacing required.












I like this arrangement and spacing so I will break out the soldering iron and go to work.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I've noticed on build threads that some people like to see the solder, I guess to see if it looks cold or incomplete so I took a couple shots.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

After I took those shots the project kind of ran away on me. I just got too involved in it to remember to take any photos. Sorry. Here is the completed installation.











Here it is from the top.











And here are my connection points.



















Time to play guitar!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Lookin' good!


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