My S.E.X. 2.1 build

[mcandmar]

My newly completed S.E.X build, i cannot take credit for any of the mods listed, they were all taken from other builds within this gallery section so thank you everyone!

Parts:

Neutrik TRS and XLR Jacks
eBay stepped attenuator kit
Kilo DDS-90-4-5 black satin volume knob
Fender style jewel pilot light (6.3v)

Wood Base:

-Rustins Dark Oak Wood Stain (single coat)
-Ronseal Ultratuff Satin Clear Poly (three coats)
-P320 Sandpaper for initial sanding, P800 & P1200 between each layer of clear coat.
-Routered base relief and bevelled top edge (stole the ideas from other builds here)

Iron work:

-Transformer was sanded down to remove varnish runs / sprayed with Satin Black.
-Transformer Bell was treated with Birchwood Gun Blue, then rubbed down with wire wool and coated with Rust-Oleum Crystal Clear Gloss.
-Chokes were by accident. I had initally masked them off and removed the varnish with paint stripper and Q-tips with the plan of using Gun Blue on them. It was however a complete disaster as the metal has been plated so the gun blue only worked on the edges and looked terrible.  Plan B: was to sand them down to bare metal and try again however after sanding them with P400 grit sandpaper i really liked the brushed metal look and just coated them with Clear Gloss.
-Tranformer/Choke screw heads were all treated with Gun Blue and buffed with wirewool unit they blended in.

 

[denti alligator]

Looks excellent.

 

[Evan]

Fantastic! Looks really nice. I too spent a lot of time viewing other builds before I settled on just how I wanted mine to look. The gallery here is a great resource.

 

[JamieMcC]

Nice work, your sex build looks a really neat and well thought out build . The Bottlehead forum is a great place for the budding builder to get plenty of inspiration I know I did.

 

[2wo]

I like the transformer and choke treatment...John

 

[Grainger49]

It is really beautiful work.  I have some gun bluing that I haven't applied to my Paramours yet.  I cleaned them with 4/0 steel wool I just haven't taped them off to blue them yet.  This is the first time I remember seeing the results.

 

[mcandmar]

Thanks guys, i'm really happy with the end result myself.  The wood base was probably the most rewarding, it must be 20 years since i last worked with a bit of wood so i had no idea what i was doing. I really like the wood supplied with the kit, its nice and dense but easy to work with, and i do love the smell when it gets warm from cutting/sanding, my room had that fragrance for days after putting the base into service.

The gun blue was a fun/interesting experiment too as i had never seen the stuff before other than a few youtube videos. Its a bit scary at first as it instantly goes black when you apply it and dosent look all that great, but with a little steel wool buffing it starts to turn a nice browny/bronze colour.  Its actually very easy to work with, though i would recommend removing the cover to work on it instead of trying to do it in situe as it will run all over the place tape or no tape.  Its also advised to rinse the parts in water to neutralize it.

I think the hardest part was patience, all i wanted to do was assemble the kit as soon as i got it, but i'm glad i took the time to beatify the parts first.  Though it did run out of a cardboard box for the first week

 

[Grainger49]

Aah... the aroma of freshly sawed wood!  Should be a man's cologne.

I route my corners as well.  But never got such a good looking stain on mine.  Where did the stain/clear coat come from?  Surely not Home Depot.

Thanks for the tips on bluing.  I have the bottle out.  I will have to work at removing the cover, I have a lot of stuff, mostly large capacitors, in my amps.

 

[mcandmar]

I route my corners as well.  But never got such a good looking stain on mine.  Where did the stain/clear coat come from?  Surely not Home Depot.

Our equivalent is called Woodies DIY, so yeah pretty much your average supermarket for all things DIY around the house.

Here is the stain http://www.rustins.eu/Details.asp?ProductID=817 just your regular oil based stuff. The trick i believe like everything is in the preparation, wood was sanded as smooth as a babys bottom before staining.  Applied with a cloth, then rubbed down with a clean cloth to remove the excess, then left to dry for 24 hours before applying the first coat of varnish.

Clear coat is this stuff http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/ultra-tough-varnish three coats in total, gave it 24 hours between each coat and used finer grade sandpaper each time to slowly work the surface nice and smooth. Hence the entire process took about a week.

 

[jolen1aub]

Very nice build indeed! I really like the looks of your routered wood base.
Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Grainger49]

Hmmm, your Home Depot has a better selection than my Home Depot.