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Pedal enclosure drill template

Lay out a guitar pedal box, check clearances, print a 1:1 drill template

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Pedal enclosure drill template with its default settings

Screenshot of the tool as it opens; it is a real capture, not a mockup.

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What is it?

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What it makes

A printable, 1:1 drilling template for an aluminium guitar-pedal enclosure. Each face that has holes (and always the top) gets its outline, centre lines, a crosshair and punch dot at every hole, the hole diameter and part name, and orientation notes; every page carries a 50 mm check square and a print-at-100% warning, and faces too big for one sheet are tiled with 10 mm overlaps. Alongside it: an SVG of the unfolded box in millimetres (red holes, blue outlines, black marks) for a laser-cut paper stencil, a Markdown drill list with hole counts, positions and metric and imperial step-drill sizes, and a JSON layout you can load back in.

How to use it

  1. Pick a starting layout (the 125B with three knobs is the recommended default) or choose a box and add parts.
  2. Measure your enclosure and correct the length, width, height, wall thickness and corner radius if they differ.
  3. Drag holes on the unfolded box, or type positions measured from each face's centre; use Centre, Space evenly and Mirror copy to keep things symmetric.
  4. Clear every red check. The x-ray and depth views show which bodies collide inside and how close they come to the lid.
  5. Download the PDF, print it at 100% / Actual size, and confirm the check square measures 50 mm.
  6. Tape each face on, centre-punch every crosshair, drill a 3 mm pilot, open up with a step drill, and deburr.

Build notes

  • Enclosure sizes follow Hammond's datasheets; other makers' castings differ slightly and the walls taper, so always measure the box you have.
  • Part sizes are typical catalogue values: 12 mm for a 3PDT footswitch and DC jack, 9.5 mm for 1/4-inch jacks, 7 mm for pots, 6.35 mm for mini toggles. Cliff-style, Neutrik NMJ and open-frame jacks share the 9.5 mm hole but reach different depths inside.
  • Inside clearance is checked with simple boxes and cylinders, including the lid-screw posts in the corners; leave a millimetre or two for wiring and the circuit board.
  • Works fully offline once opened; nothing is fetched.