Klee, switched-on cables

Klee is starting to get cabled up!

I chose to go about it using flat cables: These result with somewhat as clean a solution as the “bundle method” which Klee build issue 6 manual suggest using, but without the added work stage of having have to bundle up the cables.

It’s been such a long time since I last did cable crimping, that I conveniently forgot how much I actually hate the task. Starting out it took me about 30 minutes to cobble together the first 8-pin cable! Subsequent cables of course went a lot faster.

Nonetheless, the vexing start made me think that it might be a good idea not to overly annoy myself with this. Build projects are supposed to be fun and all that, right? If I was to approach the work stage by, say, making a maximum of 4 cables per day, it should prevent excess of vitutus maksimus arising (pardon my finnish). This way I’ll have the cables sorted out some time early next week. Good enough pace for me.

Not too many cables installed, and things already look a bit messy..

..although installing analog board cleans things up ;)

Prior to being able to get down with all the crimping, the project took a slight detour with its sub-miniature switches. It turned out I had misplaced (or maybe miscalculated) the amount of on-off-on switches needed and the project thus was short a single one. Best part is, I wasn’t able to locate a similar switch anywhere and thus had to replace the whole set using a wider-shaft part. This meant enlarging and sanding all switch through-holes on the front panel (D’OH!).

Good 4-5 hours of extra work all in all, but that’s what you get for not knowing how to count ;)

All panel hardware installed.

For the panel artwork, I’m now curious about getting a custom vinyl sticker printed somewhere. Just need to design one first to get some price estimates etc.. I was planning to paint and decal the panel, but the latter might prove tricky because there isn’t much space neither layer thickness or decal size -wise. Also Lazertran is shit on large areas.

Anyway, if you know any decent (preferably EU-ropean) shops online that do quality stickers any links are welcome. I’ll certainly appreciate any experiences you might have to share about using stickers for panel artwork. The approach does seem to work fine with arcade cabinets (=high wear), so I can’t think of a reason why shouldn’t it for audio gear too.