Adventures in building the "ultimate" FC external switch box(es)

a symmetric 2 button is the only sensible option for these, however, they are never gonna be cheap enough.
 
For anyone wondering, progress has been slow. Pregnant wife has been placed on bed rest so I’m spending lots more time shopping, cooking etc, instead of silly wood crafting lol

Waiting on some knobs and pots to ship, but have worked a little doing some wood filler and sanding on the bigger 4 knob box. Also got some mending plates at Lowe’s which should work great to attach the smaller 2 switch box onto the FC with the existing screw holes.

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I think once it’s sanded and painted it will match a FC endcap pretty well, and can’t argue that $2 with of molding and a few popsicle sticks beats paying $100 for end caps right ? :)
 
I think I really need to get myself a 3D printer.... lol

On related news, finished sanding and filling in some little gaps yesterday, sprayed with primer, and now just waiting to paint and reassemble.

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I added an extra layer of wood and will add an acrylic bottom plate to mount the pot for the big middle expression knob. Using a 40mm one I got off EBay from China. I made the hole about 2mm wider and my plan is that I’ll have a colored light under the acrylic plate so the knob should have a glowing ring effect.
 
Paint job is coming along..... saw some spray on rubber type product at Home Depot I think I’m going to try on the side edges... might make a nice contrast and look a bit more like real end caps...?

Got the main expression knob in too and it’s light up bezel works and looks really cool I think. It’s recessed a bit as to not step on it when hitting the top two switches, but still tall enough to easy grab onto.

Not 100% if I’ll do two more little expression knobs... probably wouldn’t use them much, but looks decent with them....

It was 100% functional when it was a cardboard box, but now it’s actually looking like a halfway decent product (provided you don’t get too close lol)

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Basically 99% done with the 2 button unit....Just need to paint the mending plates black but ran out of paint :(

The finish line is in sight lol.

Adds an amazing amount of versatility to my FC6.... like night and day easier than using the MLM mode to change between say effects and scenes layouts.

MLM is really clever but having 2 dedicated switches is simply faster, and then a second press of the effects switch takes me to effects layout 2, set to toggle with layout 1, so 12 dedicated buttons no more than one button away. Nearly as good as you FC12 guys have it! What’s cool though is it’s still about the same small foot print of the FC6.

The expression knob I don’t know if I’ll really use much, but it was otherwise wasted space up there so figure doesn’t hurt to have.

Don’t know if I’ll really even need my bigger 4 switch box, since just 2 is working so well, but again, doesn’t hurt to have options, right ?

I’ll have 4 expression pedals, one spring loaded, a 4 and a 2 switch external switch box, with between 1 and 3 expression knobs, and a FC6, and two extra jacks on the III. Quite a bit of control options for anything and everything.

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I've been wondering when someone is gonna start producing these type of extensions for sale. I love my Roadrunner EXT4MFC on the AFX2... sits flush against the side of the MFC.
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/the-first-ever-extension-module-for-mfc-101.60819/page-2

Looks like @Roadrunner doesn't plan on offering FC extensions though. Who's gonna produce these type of units for sale?.. either four switches, or combo of 2 switches and 2 pots would be awesome. Anyone? Fractal maybe? seems like a logical accessory to produce and sell.

I don't wanna make it a full time thing, but I've maybe found a lead on some enclosures that are pretty dang close. The company also does some custom enclosure work & I bet we could make something with enough interest. I was waiting until I got my FC-6 & could compare the measurements to their existing enclosures. I've found 2 that are pretty dang close. They're fairly cheap ($38/$28 shipped, no holes, no wiring, no switches, etc). They are slated to arrive in the next 1-2 weeks. I'll update more then.
 
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I don't wanna make it a full time thing, but I've maybe found a lead on some enclosures that are pretty dang close. The company also does some custom enclosure work & I bet we could make something with enough interest. I was waiting until I got my FC-6 & could compare the measurements to their existing enclosures. I've found 2 that are pretty dang close. They're fairly cheap ($38/$28 shipped, no holes, no wiring, no switches, etc). They are slated to arrive in the next 1-2 weeks. I'll update more then.

Updates/photos about the enclosures that arrived. I forgot to update! I will be using one for sure & have 2 others I won't be using if anyone is interested (enclosure1 & enclosure2, I'm keeping 3 (the black one)).
 
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