Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Hey all, fairly new poster here. I recently undertook a project to create a custom Crown Jewel enclosure. I ended up using Tayda Electronics to build the enclosure, once I had designed it. I have used Tayda many times before, and their printed enclosures have always been excellent. A mod suggested that I create this thread to guide those who may be interested in using Tayda's services.

So why use Tayda? They are dirt cheap, produce a very high quality product, and will make a single custom enclosure, no minimums. They will drill, paint, and UV print a pedal for about $15 as of this posting, enclosure included. I have had them print about nine designs on about twenty enclosures, and they have all been exactly as designed.

Note that one can just go to the Tayda website and figure the process out oneself (I did). But this guide may spare you some frustration, as there are a few nuances and tricks I've learned while using their services.

Also note that I used Illustrator to create the designs for the pedals. There may be freeware out there for creating .ai files, but I already use Illustrator, so I had it on hand.

Finally, note that Tayda has extensive instructions on their website. Read them. I followed them to a 't,' and have not had a single issue with any of my orders.

The below steps are for if you'd like to have a custom enclosure built for an existing pedal. The process would be similar if the pedal is of your own design.
-Take your pedal apart. Remove all electronics, switches, and jacks, so that the enclosure is empty.
-Measure the length, width, and height of the enclosure, in millimeters. Determine if Tayda has the enclosure you need.
-Determine the center point of every pedal face that has holes drilled in it, then determine the coordinates of each hole, in millimeters. Measure the diameter of each hole. There are some methods on doing this discussed here.
-Create an account on Tayda's Drill.TaydaKits site. Use the tool to create a drill template for the enclosure that you have chosen.
-To create a design, click on "New UV Template" on the Drill.TaydaKits dashboard. Very Important: Click on the link in the yellow box. This will provide the Illustrator templates for each enclosure size, and a whole bunch of really useful and important tips on how to create your Illustrator file. Note that if you're printing white text or graphics, you will need to follow the instructions carefully.
-Create your design in Illustrator. I always add appropriate-sized circles in the right positions on the template to simulate knobs and switches first, then add text and graphics after that. This way I don't accidentally put text or graphics under where a knob will be. Before creating the final PDF, I delete these circles.
-Double-check that the right data is in the right layer. Each template has three layers: a gloss layer, color layer, and white layer.
-Vectorize all text in the .ai file. Flatten transparency for all multi-layered images. Create a .pdf from the original .ai file.
-Upload the .pdf file to your Drill.TaydaKits dashboard.
-Purchase the enclosure in paint finish of your choice, drilling service, and UV printing service on the TaydaElectronics website. I provided links to the 1590A enclosure, just as an example. You can see the total price for a single 1590A painted/drilled/printed enclosure would be $12.79 as of this posting.
-Once you've checked out, your order will show up in the Drill.TaydaKits dashboard within about 15 minutes. You can then choose your drill template and design to be used for that enclosure.
-Now you wait. Orders seem to take anywhere from a week to three weeks to fulfill. They are fabricated in Thailand, and take a few days via DHL or UPS to reach the United States.

That should do for now. This all seems complicated, but it really isn't bad, especially once you've done it a couple of times. And if you want a single custom enclosure, it may just be the only game in town.

Fire away with any questions, I will do my best to answer them.