Harbinger One / Univibe and graphic on glossy photo paper

[hjhjazz]

Brian instructs you to take your time and coffees when populating the Harbinger One boards. DO  IT! He knows! I didn't put a resistor on the PCB that hadn't been measured first. Populate the resistors in order!

I used the very thin aluminium cap of a perfume bottle as a light shield. Reflective inside! I stuck it to four soldering pins with Blu-Tack.

The alternative 18V lamp that Brian suggests in the build document was easier to obtain than the  12 volts unit here in the Netherlands and I could only get LDRs with a dark resistance of approximately 6M but the Vibe worked perfectly straight away. The sound cannot be compared to any other chorus or vibrato, as Brian rightly mentions! Because the lamp is an 18 volts unit on an LFO that operates on 15 volts, I assume I could increase the brightness of the lamp somewhat (GAIN trimmer). The LFO will never swing higher than 15 volts, will it? I assume the maximum brightness of the lamp is reached at 18 volts. Is this correct Brian?

I used the switching arrangement as suggested by  BluesGuitarLuki  at http://fuzzypedals.blogspot.nl/2014/10/building-univibe-clone.html.  The blog describes  the 2013 Harbinger One, but all he writes applies to the 2015 version as well. His arrangement  uses one dual two colour (common anode) LED that serves as a chorus/vibe indicator, as a blinking speed indicator and as an on/off LED. For this a DPDT toggle  is needed instead of the original SPDT Chorus/Vibe switch.  I used flat lever solder lug switches and "tied" them to the board with very short wires, looped the wires through the lugs and then through the holes in the PCB. Additionally I used the square pad a little to the left of LDR1 to turn off the lamp in bypass mode. White wire in picture. This shorts the base of Q13 to ground and shuts off the lamp. This should considerably lengthen the life of the lamp.

What do you think of the graphic? I found it on the internet, of course.  I tried to reach  "omerbc.deviantart.com"  to get the artist's permission to use it for this one-off, but I could not reach him/her. Granted?
My experiences with printable decals range from very  good to very crappy! Therefore some experimentation was required. I designed  the graphic in Photoshop and then printed  it on my Epson printer (Stylus Photo R1900) on Epson Premium Glossy paper. This printer uses glossy (yes) pigment ink instead of the more common dye inks. The printer even has a glossy clear ink cartridge. These inks are waterproof!

I used very thin (2/10 of a millimetre or so) double-sided adhesive sheet to stick it on the factory painted Hammond 1590BBS. This enclosure is slightly higher than the BB type. The double-sided adhesive sheets are normally used to stick photographs on wood or metal and such.
I then sprayed at least  8 or 9 coats of clear lacquer on the graphic only. I tested it with ordinary acrylic lacquer and with nitro-cellulose lacquer, left over from my Les Paul build. Both worked well on the Epson paper, no smearing or blurring at all. Let it dry for two days before touching! I used masking tape to prevent the glossy lacquer from getting onto the matte, slightly textured sides of the Hammond enclosure. The glossy top and the textured sides and bottom make  a very attractive combination. Durability has yet to be established, but it sure looks good, doesn't it?

Sorry, wrong white balance on photos. Corrected!

Henry (hjhjazz)
Netherlands

[George]

i like it! and and the work and the looks! good job

[Luke51411]

Looks great inside and out. Man... I've gotta build one of these...

[jtaormina]

Looks really good! Love the picture. I got my board and parts ready to start mine!! Cant wait!

[nzCdog]

Sweet graphics man

[TGP39]

Ok..this is flat out AWESOME!  You took your time and it paid off big.  I love everything about this build.  Does the insides smell like perfume? 
What a first post....keep them coming!

Steve.

[rullywowr]

Loving the graphics on that one.  Excellent work.

[hjhjazz]

Still smells like Chanel

[billstein]

Great build. I've used that same piece of art on a build but it didn't turn out nearly as nice. Good job.

[HamSandwich]

Very nice! Very tidy all around. Is all that blackness ink and the white just the glossy paper? The image is very sharp.

[Guitarmageddon]

Killer first post!

[selfdestroyer]

Very cool pedal. The artwork looks great and you implemented it perfectly.

Cody

[Leevibe]

Beautiful! I have one of those boards ready to populate. I hope mine turns out as nice!

[AntKnee]

Nicely done!
Good layout on the graphics.

[hjhjazz]

Hello again,

The white in the picture is indeed the paper itself. The rest is printed glossy ink. Because of the glossy ink and the glossy paper the image is very sharp indeed. The Photoshop Unsharp Mask filter helps as well!
The Epson printer uses UltraChrome 2 ink. The pigment ink is "glossy" in itself. The printer even has a clear ink cartridge that sprays glossy colourless/transparent ink on the white (normally unprinted) areas of the photo. The ink and paper combination produces "waterproof" prints.
The resulting photograph is rather sensitive to scratches. Therefore I coated the graphic with many coats of clear lacquer.

Next I'm going to try and print on transparent sticker sheets. Anyone any experiences with that?

Henry