Hey Rev, this looks great! I'm considering building my own custom flatboard for an FM3+FC6+EV-2+external controller. I have a Brady Cases board that is just too small and I figured now that I got time on my hands...why not roll my own.
-What are the dimensions of your board? (Particularly the depth as Ill also have straight connectors sticking out the back.
-What are the materials you used to build it? Where did you procure said materials?
---especially the aluminum trim, what the hell is this stuff called and where can I find it?!
Thank you sir!
Hey Prince!
This one is 13"x28". The best thing to do is lay all your stuff out before you decide on a size and figure out where you can use angled jacks or need straight jacks. I was originally going to go with all angled, but the back of the FC-6 wouldn't allow for it unless the cables all went in essentially upside down, which would leave the cables coming over the top of the FC-6. Another mistake I made on the first board I built years ago was mounting my GCPro too close to the handles and I couldn't get my fingers under the handles to grip it, just my fingertips....didn't work out so great with a board that weighed well over 20lbs!
I got everything for this at Home Depot. The aluminum channeling is called C-channel, it's about $14 for 8' at HD. The wood itself is 3/4" Baltic birch plywood, the c-channel is also 3/4". It actually slides over the wood a little loose, but that's good because you can fill it with glue and it won't go anywhere. Whatever you do, do NOT use Gorilla Glue. It expands and gets foamy. I spent hours cutting it all away from the aluminum and had to re-spray the board after because it took off chunks of paint.
The c-channel seems to be hit or miss in each Home Depot. They're all supposed to have it, but I don't think it's a big item, so when it runs out of stock, they're slow to stock it. You can order it off their website and they can ship it to your home or nearest store, though. While you can use a hacksaw to cut it, it's not recommended unless you've got a slow, steady hand and an appropriate blade. I used a miter saw and didn't bother switching blades (they make ones specially for aluminum) and ended up doing a lot of sanding because a wood blade hacked the ends to hell.
I just sprayed it with regular, matte black spray paint, but I put down a shitload of coats. After 5-6, it smooths out really well and almost looks like ABS plastic.
The risers for the momentary switches are just blocks of the same plywood, with the top switch having 2 of them stacked on top of each other.
If you already own all the tools, it's like a $30 project and can be done in an afternoon. For some reason, I've had a fixation on these kinds of boards ever since I saw Vai's '96 touring rig. It's such a weird thing to be attracted to, but that's the gear geek in me, I suppose. It's certainly easier and more efficient to have something like a Temple Audio board, with all yours ins/outs/power built into it, but I dig these!
If you need anything else, feel free to hit me up!
