Crack Aesthetics

[BLACKPIPE]

Hello,

It's my first time posting here (just received my kit within the last couple weeks).

I'm hoping to finally get started on building my Crack, but I want to get some things cleared up beforehand. I've been lurking and reading as many threads as possible in the meantime, but hopefully some of you more experienced members can help me and anyone else who comes across this thread.

To give you a general idea of what aesthetic I'm going for: a semi or high gloss dark mahogany base, black aluminum plate, chromed/or zinc plated transformer bell.

I've already glued and sanded the wood base (from 80-120-180) and pre-raised the grain with water/sanded again - just need to apply the aniline dye (went with Transtint Brown Mahogany) and apply gloss poly (I'm between going high gloss or semi-gloss)

I've been leaning heavily towards getting the Top Plate anodized black: is there any prep I should do to it before handing it over to the shop, or will the anodizing process by a shop suffice in giving a great finish?

In that same vein, I've been contemplating getting the Transformer Bell plated either chrome or with zinc: I know the sticky says to prep by cleaning with mineral spirits and then soap and water, but what about sanding? Also any recommendations on which route to take (chrome or zinc) - I haven't exactly found a shop willing to chrome such a small piece yet however.. I live in the Chicagoland area if any of you have suggestions!

Then for the actual Crack itself.. from what I gather, one of the recommended "upgrades" is to a different potentiometer. Many members stated it should be done at the beginning of a build (for ease of installation) & a lot of members seemed to recommend a TKD pot, but I'm clueless as to what are the differences and which one to pick of all of these:

partsconnexion.com/controls_pot_tkd.html

Or is there a better choice than TKD? (without going into GoldPoint price territory lol - say in the $30-100 range)

Once I get all that out of the way I'll be ready to start the actual build & get the most out of my new HD600s!

If any of you have tips for the actual build I'd appreciate those too!
Thanks for your time!

-Ben

[Paul Birkeland]

I would strongly recommend that you do not attempt to get the top plate anodized.  Having sent out sample packets to four or five vendors in the Seattle area some time ago at a prior job, not a single company was able to do what I considered to be an adequate job of anodizing just simple aluminum shapes.  Some even came back bent, dropped, and scratched. 

If you absolutely have to get your panel anodized, send it to Southwest Metal Finishing in Arizona.  That's the only company in the United States that I would use for anodizing.

For the transformer cover, I've seen a few folks here and there get them chromed, but it's expensive.  You might be able to find a local powder coating outfit to powder coat the cover for you (they could also put a nice black coating on the top plate), and that will cost less money.

Don't worry about preparations for chroming, the chroming shop will have to polish the transformer cover thoroughly first, so anything you do beforehand is just redundant.

-PB

[Jay]

As regards the base, some say to use glossy instead of others to avoid the sometimes cloudy appearance.  you can always finish with some fine steel wool to give it a satin finish.
Jay

[JamieMcC]

Why not just use small cans of touch up paint from your local automotive spares store pick up four rattle cans and you will be good to go for the top plate and bell housing

1 Rattle can primer
1 Rattle can black base coat (their are lots of different blacks some nice metallics and pearls these days)
1 Rattle a can of lacquer
1 Rattle can chrome effect paint

Clean and degrease top plate and bell housing spray with several coats of primer so any of the graining is filled once dry de nib with some scotch bright and shoot several layers of base coat to get a good coverage followed by several coats of lacquer (dont laquer over the chrome effect paint or it goes dull) and its job done.

Leave in a warm place for a few days to cure fully before fitting out

[BLACKPIPE]

Thank you all for your input - I really appreciate it!

As for your suggestions with the metal surfaces (Jamie & PB), do either of you have.. exemplary examples of what you each were describing? (powder coating & spray can)

When I was looking at previous builds on the forums, sometimes the images were gone (I believe you guys switched image hosting servers or something a while ago) - that's the only reason I ask for your examples.

Thanks to you as well Jay, I'll keep my high gloss poly then!

Do any of you have any thoughts on the pot as well?

Thanks again for the quick responses, you guys are the bee's knees.

Edit: looked up a couple local powder coating businesses, looks pretty dang snazzy. Although the "chrome"/ silver powder coating isn't the same, it still looks pretty dope to me.

-Ben

[Paul Birkeland]

Yes, it's easy enough to go to your local powder coating joint and look at samples. If you want black, just have them toss it in with their next batch, as most powder coating shops run a batch of some kind of black daily.

[BLACKPIPE]

Just wanted to double check where I should scrape off the powder coating to ground properly.

So far based off older posts/the manual I know of two locations: the safety ground lug and under the transformer bell (the mounting holes) - (both specifically mentioned by Doc)

Do I need to scrape off anywhere else to ground properly, such as at any of the other terminals?

-Ben

[Tom-s]

Terminal #3.

[BLACKPIPE]

Thank you sir!

-Ben

[Leland Hankins]

Like Paul I prefer powder coating, I have a powder coat gun so I do not have to out source the coating.  The number of colors available is absolutely amazing, and unlike paint is only takes 10 minutes to cure per coat and is more durable than paint, usually two coats, base and top coat.  After coating I sand the entire bottom to remove the over spray, I have never had a problem with grounding, you do not have to scrape off the coating on the top side.  Another advantage with powder coating is that one can easily texture the top plate and it is more durable than spray can painting and no waiting for things to dry.  There is also satin clear coat or satin base colors.

[yay]

I ordered a Valab 23 Step Ladder Type poti, i can tell you about it once it arrived and i installed it.
It's in your price range and seems like a real killer deal price/result wise.

[borism]

I installed the Valab 23 step pot in my recent build. It was easy to install with minor modifications to the top plate and it works well plus seems very neutral sound wise.