... i would like to know how long since you sanded the black off because i think the aluminum get black by corrosion.

No, aluminium goes from a shiney silver to a silver grey due to oxidation in air. The thin oxide layer then protects the aluminuim from further corrosion, as long as you don't go putting it near acid or salty water anyway. It looks OK completely uncoated, but it looks even better anodised or laquered. You can even get clear anodising done - won't be really shiney like laquered aluminium, but it still looks reasonable

as long as you don't go putting it near acid you are right, but what about your "fingeracid"?

Well bare aluminum and anodized aluminum at least to me seems very prone to scratches. A powercoated finish is incredibly scratch resistant. If you wanted the bare aluminum look you could always powercoat a clear coat to protect the finish. It seems like to me most people would want a different color than the original facsia and this allows them to do so.

good point, but what about the color of the handle? its gonna cost a fortune to make the handle look the same. think about the shipping costs. it is easy for potential customers for example from the US or Canada to sand blast the handle but its expensive to ship it, isn´t it.

I wouldnt imagine shipping the handle alone would cost more that a couple bucks. What could happen is when you had a number of people ready to buy the faces you could ship them to me, while the people buy the faces ship their handles. At which point both the handle and the faces are powdercoated at the same time and shipped back at the same time. This could one cut down on the shipping costs to you since you only have to ship them once and then the people can have their handles matched to the faces.

clever boy! sounds like a plan! i keep this in mind and thank you!

OK, maybe I should have said "strong acid" The acid from your fingers isn't normally going to do aluminuim much harm. Normal old aluminium is even used for cooking pots in some places, and it survives quite well.

we are getting closer!

Looking good. Count me in for one if the price is right.

I think it's great that this project is going so well. The aluminium
looks wonderful---I'll definitely join the queue to buy one!

In the photo http://empeg.comms.net/files/115755-newface2.gif, it looks
as if there is a chunk taken out of the left side of the piece surrounding
the volume knob. Is that there for a reason?

I do think the curve in the upper right corner could be nicer. The wavy
curve doesn't quite match either the radius or the centre of any other
curves, so it looks a bit out-of-place. I've done some mock-ups with
other curves; please look and see if you like any of them better. They
should all keep clear of the works behind.
http://empeg.org.uk/fascia/1.jpg
http://empeg.org.uk/fascia/2.jpg
http://empeg.org.uk/fascia/3.jpg
The original image I adapted is:
http://empeg.comms.net/files/113547-Tims%20Fascia.gif

As someone not involved in the making of them, I'd rate them in the following (falling) order:

1, Tim's design, 3, 2

Just MHO...

/Michael

first of all i want to thank you for your help! everything you see up to now is prototype and the chunk is just a cnc mistake. i just wanted to keep you all updated because i know (its the same with me) you are curious. a special thank for the three mock-ups. i did a lot drawig during the design work but in the end i decided the design that you see on the pics. one of my drawings was like your first mock-up. the design that you see in the pics is the one i am starting with. the next step is to produce minimum three final prototypes and do a powder coating, a anodizing and leave one bare aluminum. after this is done i have to think about the prize. so watch out for updates in this thread and on http://www.by-photos.de/NewFace.html thanx again for your support!!!

In the photo http://empeg.comms.net/files/115755-newface2.gif, it looks
as if there is a chunk taken out of the left side of the piece surrounding


the volume knob. Is that there for a reason?

That is where the IR sensor is.

Oops I see what your talking about now nevermind.

I clear-coated my handle after sanding it. It sanded pretty fast using a dremel rotary tool. I also took the time to fill in the left indent with epoxy (clay-like epoxy, not liquid). I gave that epoxy part a shot of silver spray paint and it matched the rest of the handle very well.

My preferred fascia would be clear aluminum. Either clear anodized or clear-coated. Either shiny, or perhaps brushed.

Price.... That's difficult. I don't want to suggest one because I don't know how much it's going to cost you in the volumes you'll be working with. I'm in a money crunch and don't really have any room for toys right now, but I'd always appreciate lower than higher. But I think you deserve to be compensated for your time and make a nice profit for your work.

If I could make a few suggestions for your design (or requests), the first would be to allow using the default MK2a buttons (the pointy ones). The next would be to contour the part of the face that wraps around the knob. Make it round instead of coming straight down on the sides. I made a quick sketch long ago on paper that looks pretty good - mostly similar to your design (clean and simple).

I'm really glad someone has renewed interest in a replacement face. It will make the empeg that much more solid feeling. Right now the plastic fascia is no doubt the weakest-feeling part.

Bruno

Here's a slight mod of the original...

http://empeg.comms.net/files/116577-empeg-alu%20fascia.jpg

If I could make a few suggestions for your design (or requests), the first would be to allow using the default MK2a buttons (the pointy ones). the originals won´t fit the design, i don´t like the original plasticfantastic ones.

thats a cool design! for now i´m gonna stay with my design but lets see may be in the near future! if i can use your suggestion?

believe it or not. it looks cooooooooooool!

Yeah - that really does look great!

Very nice!

Oh, are you making new buttons out of aluminum? If you are, then I guess round is fine. I rarely use the face buttons, but I do like the shape the four of them create together.

Bruno

yes i do make new buttons because the original buttons does not fit the aluminum. i also just use the remote and i always have spare batteries in my car, you never know.

because the original buttons does not fit the aluminum

When you say "original", do you mean the oddly-shaped buttons of the Mk2 players?

Or do you mean the original buttons that came on the Mk1? Those are small round buttons that fit on the button caps, they are a standard Farnell part. I thought your face was designed to accept those just from the looks of it.

The nice thing about the farnell buttons is that you can get translucent versions, so you could theoretically have the lit buttons and the aluminum faceplate.

what a nice surprise, i did not know that. do you know the number of the buttons? the reason why the originals from the MK II does not fit its easy, they look to cheapy, if you know what i mean .

I don't have the part numbers, but I know some people have done the glowing-button mod on the Mk1 players, so one of them will probably chime in here with a part number.

Fair warning: since you didn't design the face with these buttons in mind in the first place, the holes might not be exactly the same size. You might need to modify the design a bit after you get a set of the buttons.

thx for the fair warning. i really hope the only thing to change is the diameter of the holes, so lets pray! and thanx again Tony for that exciting post

it is almost done. i decided to use the button caps of the MK I, because for those of you who have the illu kit tfabris told me these buttons are available translucent. that helps a lot! next step is to make the big button, witch is not a big deal i guess. i really hope within the next two weeks i have got everything done and you can see the final result on a webpage!!!

bare aluminum and anodized aluminum at least to me seems very prone to scratches

I just thought I'd point out that there are two types of anodizing (three, really, but one is obsolete). There's just plain-old, regular anoziding, and then there's hard anodizing, which is much thicker and quite scratch resistant.

Which is not to say that there's anything wrong with powdercoating (which is what I assume you mean), but it does add a layer of thickness that anodizing doesn't, which could be an issue.

The round button is also available transluscent... So you may want to make sure your face will work with a stock-sized knob.

I really hope you can get the prices down lower than what you previewed on your web page. Normally not a big deal, but I'd love to get two of them and it's going to sting a lot - especially when converted to Canadian dollars.

Bruno