MIMF

Hi all! I am nearing the end of a charity build to benefit cystic fibrosis research, and I'm looking for some ideas for knobs (3) that will really set this bass apart. And if someone was interested in making knobs, I would love to see your offers! Lets see what you've got!

One thing that occurred to me is that if you have access to a 3D printer (our library has one) you could design and print your own custom knobs really easily. Particularly if you have a child handy who knows how to do that sort of thing. My buddy has a 3D printer and prints all sorts of things, but he never grew up...

Hi Kurt, our rules don't allow for soliciting for (potential) business in this part of the forum, so please use your post here (http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php ... 267#p47426) for soliciting someone to make knobs to sell/contribute to you. This current thread is fine as far as looking for ideas and pictures.

Thanks for the heads up Charlie. Since I am donating this instrument, I didn't think this would be a problem, but I will look at posting in the area of the link you provided.

I did a search for wooden control knobs and came up with a couple of sites that made really nice wooden knobs.
One was called Etsy, I believe.

Spend some time in our Library for ideas. Quite a few members have produced interesting knobs over the years, from turned wood laminations, to molded plastic knobs in a rainbow of colors and finishes. I remember we have a number of good picture tutorials in the archives.

Do you have a picture of the bass that may help people see what would be appropriate and also inspire them?

Here are some recent ideas you can consider.

My current favorite knobs are the ones Sheldon Dingwall is putting on some of his instruments.
Here's a link: http://dingwall.objectified.com/media/c ... 00x500.jpg

Thanks for the input and ideas guys!

I like the knurled maple knob a lot. Did you do that with standard metal knurl wheels? I didn't know that would work on wood too.

The lungs body you made looks great. Perhaps you could inlay purple “cf awareness” ribbon shapes into flat tops of round wood knobs? Carve or CNC a recess into the knob top and infill with purple epoxy? They’d have the added benefit of acting as a visual indicator of what each knob is set/turned to.

Barry, You can certainly do it with a scissor type press knurl but I've had better luck with a Quick three wheeled "cut" type knurling tool. A lot depends on the wood, some woods just don't like being crushed. That said a press knurl will generally give you more even knurls while the cut knurl will give you super clean, almost glossy facets. Unfortunately one costs a couple orders of magnitude more than the other.

I have a cheap press type knurl and I had a hard time imagining in not crushing the wood into pulp.

Any art work can be really easily incorporated into a flat knob top via laser. A 40-60w laser can cut the 8mil ablam too so you can inlay all kinds of text and designs with a little patience and a good laser operator.

JC, I like the idea of inlaying something in the top of the knob. Unfortunately, I don't have a CNC, or the time to carve something like that. But it's a great idea!

Engraving shops can usually do this type of work for a pretty small outlay and might even be willing to donate their time to a good cause. Look in the yellow pages for awards / trophy shops which are ubiquitous even in smaller cities.

Small enameled purple ribbon lapel pins are available online for a couple of dollars. Perhaps you could Forstner bit or turn a recess into the top of a round knob, place the ribbon pin, and flow around it with black epoxy/filler?