Scanner Pedal Board

Ever get tired of that old scanner sitting in the corner collecting dust? Well here's something you can do about that old scanner. Recycle it into one amazing pedal board for your pedals and guitar effects. The scanner board perfectly fits 8 pedals (digitech, boss, and the like) or 6 pedals including a wah pedal.

Materials needed

HP Scanjet 3200C
Dremel tool or sander/cutter or the like
spray paint (black)
couple plastic drawer handles or plastic wire straps/locks
felt material

optional tools

riveting tool :: velcro :: drill and bits :: trunk/chest catch/locks

For this scanner, there are only 2 screws that holds the cover in place. It is located in the top left corners. Open the scanner bed. Remove all the scanners' components and all internal parts. Make sure you don't throw away these components and parts because they can still be recycled and used. The fluorescent bulb in the scanner will eventually be used to light the pedal board when gigging in dark areas.

With the help of your sharpie or markers, place your pedals inside and mark the outer edges of the bottom of the scanner where your pedals would go. Since the bottom of this scanner model is not completely leveled, we need to make a few cuts (depending on the size and number of your pedals) to fit the pedals in place.

Also, you might want to flatten some plastic parts of the scanner that's protruding and on the way of your other pedals.

Tools needed :: sander/cutter or dremmel cutting tools or the like.

note: After you make the cuts, you might wanna sand a little bit the sharp edges so the plastic wont scratch the sides of the pedals.

I dont want to recycle and use the glass cover :: If you decide not to use/reuse the glass cover of the scanner, then you can skip this part and move on to step 3. Just place your pedals and lock them in place with velcro, plastic wire straps, or what have you to keep those pedals in place.

Here, you can design your own way of cutting. I decided to make mine into a slope. The reason we cut this part is that we can have a room to step on the pedals.

Here I decided to cover a big chunk of open space that used to be the location of the parallel port plug and power plug of the scanner.

I then re-used the plastic that was taken/sawed off from the bottom side of the scanner to cover the area. I riveted these in place.

I then drilled a new hole where my mono OUT plug would go.

note: if you don't want to drill a hole for the plug, you can use an L shaped guitar wire plug for your pedal's OUT. That way it wont be sticking out of the sides of the scanner.

As you can see, I had spray painted the scanner with a textured paint that way in wont look flat or dull.
Also, depending on how many pedals you have, you can use velcro and stick your pedals onto the bottom of the scanner bed. Also you can use those plastic wire organizer straps. You just need to drill holes at the bottom and hold them thru the plugs.

Here, I used plastic drawer handles. I cut these handles depending on the height of the mono plugs on the sides of the pedal. These drawer handles secure and hold the pedals nicely from moving around and side to side and hold them tightly from falling off when you are carry the whole pedal board.

You can install whatever handle you like from different types of door handles down to latching handles. They are all available on your local hardware stores. I decided to go with the luggage handle that was taken from a broken luggage bag.

Also installed are the trunk/chest catch lock.

You can spray paint these also to match the color of your pedal board.

Last but not the lest, I layered the sides with felt material (can be bought in walmart or hobby stores i.e., hobby lobby or michaels.) to fit the pedals and makes it look cleaner and uncluttered.

So there you have it. A cheaper way to make use of that scanner that is collecting dust and using valuable space in your room. Did I also mention that it is also a neat and organized way to show off your pedals to your friends and comes complete with a glass cover. Sweet!

Total Cost: $8: for the paint and trunk/chest catch lock. everything else recycled from something.