User Guide

Stompbox Layout is a free browser-based tool for designing drill templates for guitar pedal enclosures. No installation required, just open the app and start designing.

Creating an account

Sign up with your email address or use Google/GitHub OAuth. An account lets you save projects, upload images, and create reusable templates. You can try the app without an account, but your work won't be saved.

Creating your first project

Once signed in, click New in the sidebar to create a blank project.

Give your project a name by clicking the title area at the top of the screen. All changes are auto-saved as you work.

New to the app? Use Help > Take a tour for a quick guided walkthrough of the editor.

Open the Enclosure panel on the right to select a preset or define custom dimensions. Built-in presets include:

• Hammond: 125B, 1590A, 1590B, 1590BS, 1590BB, 1590BB2, 1590BBS, 1590XX, 1590J, 1590P1, 1590LB, 1590DD
• Stomp Box Parts: 125B Pro
• Tayda: 125B, 1590A, 1590B, 1032L, 1590LB, 1590DD, 1590BB2
• Gorva: C65, S90, M45

Each preset populates the width, height, depth, corner radius, boss radius, and wall thickness for that enclosure. You can override any of these values for a custom fit.

Preset dimensions come from CAD or manufacturer datasheets, but may not match your exact enclosure. A Tayda differs slightly from the equivalent Hammond, for example. Always measure your enclosure and confirm the fit before drilling, and adjust the dimensions if the preset doesn't match the enclosure you have.

Width and height are of the top face (not the open base), and depth excludes the lid. Measure your own enclosure the same way so the numbers line up.

Custom dimensions

If your enclosure isn't in the preset list, enter its dimensions manually, measured the same way: width and height across the top face, depth without the lid. Measurements default to millimetres, but you can switch to inches from the Preferences menu, or by clicking the mm/in readout in the status bar. Use the swap button to quickly flip width and height if you want to rotate the orientation.

Need an enclosure that isn't listed? Request one by email, or use Help > Request enclosure in the editor.

Press H or go to Object > Place hole to add a hole to the canvas.

Hole properties

Select a hole to see its properties in the Selection panel:

• Name, a label for identification (e.g. "LED", "Pot")
• Position, set the top, bottom, left, or right distance relative to its nearest neighbour (measurement target) or the enclosure face edge
• Radius / Diameter, the drill size in mm or inches

In the Objects panel you can also toggle:

• Hidden, hides the hole on the canvas without deleting it
• Locked, prevents accidental moves or edits

Positioning

Drag a hole to move it, or type exact values into the position fields in the Selection panel. Use the arrow keys to nudge in 0.1mm increments. Snap lines appear automatically when a hole lines up with another object or the enclosure centre.

Components are a quick and easy way to place holes with commonly used dimensions. You can choose from a list of defaults or create your own. Press L or go to Object > Place component to open the component picker.

Default components

The built-in library covers the parts you reach for most: pots, 1/4" and DC jacks, toggle switches, and footswitches. Each is modelled on a real, widely used part with the correct drill diameter, and many include a scale-accurate outline (see Component footprints). The list grows over time, so open the component picker for the current selection.

These dimensions come from CAD models of real parts, so they should be accurate. Some are generic, and we can't guarantee an exact match to the specific part in your hand. Always measure your own components and confirm the fit before drilling.

Custom components

You can save any hole or group of holes as a custom component to reuse across all your projects. Select the holes, then use Object > Save as component. Custom components appear alongside the defaults in the picker.

Need a part that isn't in the list? Request a component by email, or use Help > Request component in the editor.

A footprint is a scale-accurate outline of the real part on your layout. Many of the built-in components come with one automatically; for anything else you can draw one by hand (see Component body). Either way, you see its true size and shape, so you can check it fits: that it won't overlap a neighbour, overhang an edge, or foul the lid.

Depth and reach

For a part mounted on a side wall, you also see how far its body reaches into the enclosure, drawn on the top face. That makes it easy to spot a jack or pot that would clash with something inside before you drill. A top-mounted part shows only its face outline, since its depth runs straight down out of view.

Show, hide, and rotate

Press F, or use the Component footprints item in the View menu, to show or hide the outlines. The component body boxes you add have their own Component areas toggle (press A). Select a hole and use Rotate in the selection panel to turn its outline (and body box) in 90° steps to match how the part sits in your build.

Components that don't have an outline yet just show the hole. We're adding more over time.

Not every part has a built-in outline. For anything else, you can enter its size by hand and Stompbox Layout marks out the space it needs behind the panel as a shaded box, so you can check clearance the same way you would for a built-in part.

Select a hole, open Component body in the selection panel, and enter the part's width and height to draw the box. Add a depth to show how far it reaches into the enclosure, and use Offset X and Offset Y to shift the box when the part sits off to one side of its hole. It is a guide to help you place parts, not a guarantee of fit.

Match it to the part in your hand

As you type, a small diagram shows the distance from the hole centre to each edge of the box: the four numbers you would read off with a pair of calipers. Nudge the offsets until those distances match your measurements and the box lines up with the real part.

Body boxes show, hide, and rotate together with the built-in outlines, appear in the 3D view once you set a depth, and print on your PDF.

A knob is the part of your build people actually touch, and it is usually the widest thing on the panel. Fitting one to a hole shows it on the canvas at its real diameter, so you can see how much of the panel it covers before you commit to the spacing.

Select a pot, a rotary switch, or any plain hole about the size of a pot shaft, open Knob in the selection panel, and pick one. There are seven to choose from, covering the shapes you see most on a pedal: the Davies 1470 and 1510, Fluted Skirted at 19 mm and 25 mm, the 23 mm Skirted Arrow, the Chicken Head and the 13 mm Mirror Cap Pointer. Pick None to take one off again.

Point it where you want it

For a knob with a pointer, a beak or an arrow, set Knob rotation to turn it on the shaft. That is how the knob is drawn and how it appears in 3D, so you can lay out a row of pointers all reading the same way.

Room to fit, and room to turn

Two knobs can foul each other even when the parts underneath have plenty of room, so clearance warnings watch them as a pair. They catch the case you cannot see, too: a knob with a pointer or a beak sweeps a wider circle as you turn it, so two of them can sit with a visible gap and still collide half way round. The canvas shows the room each knob needs and shades the sliver two of them are both asking for, and the Warnings panel gives you the millimetres.

Knobs are on by default. Press K, or use the Knobs item in the View menu, to hide or show them. They stand on the enclosure in the 3D view as well. Hiding a knob does not excuse it from the check: one you have hidden is still fitted, so the warning stays.

As you lay out your enclosure, parts that won't fit are flagged so you can catch a problem before you drill. A part is flagged when it overlaps another, hangs past the edge of its face, sits too deep for the enclosure, lands on a corner screw boss, or wears a knob too big for the room beside it.

Where two parts foul each other, the overlap itself is shaded, so you can see which edge is fouling and how badly. A part on the top face fouling one on a side wall is shaded on both, either side of the fold between them. Where there is no single spot to point at, because a part hangs off an edge or sits too deep, the part is ringed instead. Red means it does not fit. Amber is a near miss: it clears, but only just.

The Warnings panel lists every one with the millimetres, so you know how far to move. Selecting a flagged part also shows the reason at the bottom of the screen, and the same clash turns red in the 3D view.

Show or hide

Warnings are on by default. Press W, or use the Clearance warnings item in the View menu, to hide or show the shading and rings on the canvas. The Warnings panel keeps listing them either way.

They work from the built-in footprints and any component body sizes you add, so the more accurately a part is described, the more reliable the check. Treat a warning as a prompt to double-check against the real part in your hand.

Fit a knob to a pot or rotary switch and your layout reads like the finished pedal instead of a drill plan. It makes spacing much easier to judge: two controls whose holes look comfortably apart can be knuckle-tight once the knobs are on.

Fitting a knob

Select a hole and open Knob in the right-hand panel. Each knob is shown with a picture of it, and you can type in the search box to narrow the list down. Pick one and it appears on the canvas straight away. To take it off again, pick None.

Knobs are named after the part you'd order, with the style they're better known by underneath, so you can search for either. We're adding more over time.

Select several holes and one pick fits them all, so a three-knob pedal takes a single choice. Anything in the selection that can't wear a knob is left alone, so you can select the whole layout and only the pots change.

Which holes can wear one

Pots and rotary switches, at any bore size, plus plain holes roughly between 5.5mm and 10.5mm. The Knob section only appears when something in your selection can take one, so you won't see it on a footswitch, a jack, an LED or an image.

Turning it

Once a hole wears a knob, a Rotation slider appears under the picker. Drag it, or type an angle, to point the indicator where you want it. The scale runs from -180° to 180° with straight up in the middle, and positive turns clockwise, so 90° puts the pointer at 3 o'clock. The 3D view shows the same angle.

Where knobs show

On the canvas, in the 3D view, and in a layout you share or embed. In 3D they stand on the part's nut and bushing the way a real knob does, so you can see how far each one sits proud of the panel. They only show on the outside of the enclosure: switch to the inside view and they step out of the way, since you're looking at the back of the panel.

Knobs never reach anything you drill from. There are none in the PDF or SVG, the drill jig or a Tayda drill file, so fitting one can't change a hole position or size.

Hiding them

Press K, or use the Knobs item in the View menu, to hide or show them. It covers the canvas and the 3D view together, and it's a display preference rather than part of the design, so it sticks across projects and across reloads. The knobs you have fitted stay fitted while they're hidden.

Switch to 3D for a solid view of the enclosure with your holes cut into each face, then rotate and pan to inspect the layout from any angle. Use the 2D / 3D toggle on the canvas, press 3, or choose 3D view from the View menu. The 3D view is for looking, not editing: switch back to 2D (or press 2) to return to the editable layout, and reloading always brings you back to 2D.

Built-in parts, and any component body you have given a depth, show as solid blocks reaching into the enclosure, so you can check nothing clashes inside before you drill. Switch on X-ray view to see through the shell to those blocks and the cavity inside.

The canvas opens in outside view: the enclosure as you'll drill it, seen from the outside. Picture it sitting open, top face up, with the four walls folded down and outward until they lie flat, so the top and every side sit in one plane in front of you.

Inside view shows the same layout the way you'll wire it, from the inside. Picture flipping it over to rest on its top face, then folding the walls flat the same way: now you're looking down into the open enclosure. Left and right swap to match, and any part with a footprint shows its back, so the lugs and terminals you solder to line up with the holes you drilled.

Switch between the two from the View menu, with ⇧I, or the view badge on the canvas, which always shows which side you're looking at. Your drill exports and shared previews always stay as seen from outside, so what you send to drill never changes.

Press I or go to Object > Place image to add an SVG image to the canvas. Images are useful for overlaying decal artwork, PCB outlines, or reference graphics onto your layout.

Image properties

Select an image to adjust:

• Position, top, bottom, left, or right distance relative to its nearest neighbour or the enclosure face edge
• Size, width and height
• Rotation, angle in degrees
• Opacity, transparency from 0% to 100%
• Anchor X / Anchor Y: the image's reference point (see Set a reference point below)

Images are stored in your personal library. Upload new SVGs from the image picker dialog.

Note: Only SVG files are supported.

Set a reference point

By default an image snaps, aligns, and rotates about the centre of its bounding box. For an asymmetric part (a jack, or a knob whose indicator sits off to one side) you often want it to line up by its mounting point instead.

Select the image and set Anchor X and Anchor Y in the Selection panel to move the reference point. The artwork stays put: only the reference point moves, and snapping, alignment, rotation, and the measurement readouts then use it. A small green marker shows where it sits; set both values back to 0 to recentre.

Not the same as the multi-selection anchor in Alignment (⌥+click), which chooses how a group of objects aligns.

Go to Object > Place rectangle or Object > Place ellipse to add a shape to the canvas. Shapes are for annotation: mark out a zone, sketch a PCB outline, or highlight part of your design.

Shape properties

Select a shape to adjust it in the Selection panel:

• Width and Height, its size in mm
• Rotation, angle in degrees
• Corner radius (rectangles only), to round the corners
• Fill and Stroke, the inside and outline colours; turn the fill off for an outline-only shape
• Opacity, transparency from 0% to 100%

Drag a shape to move it, or resize it with the Width and Height fields. Lock the aspect ratio in the panel to keep its proportions while you resize.

Shapes appear in your SVG export. To include them on a printed PDF, tick Include shapes in the export dialog.

Click any object to select it, or drag on the canvas to draw a selection box. Hold ⌘ and click to add or remove objects from the selection. Press ⌘A to select all objects.

Grouping

Select multiple objects and press ⌘G to group them. Grouped objects move and transform together. Press ⌘⇧G to ungroup.

Layering (z-order)

Holes are always rendered above images. For images, you can control which appear on top via the Object › Order menu, or the raise/lower buttons on the toolbar.

Duplicating & deleting

Press ⌘D to duplicate selected objects. Press Backspace or Delete to remove them. Deleted objects can be recovered with undo.

When multiple objects are selected, use alignment shortcuts to line them up precisely:

Align

• ⌘←, align left edges
• ⌘→, align right edges
• ⌘↑, align top edges
• ⌘↓, align bottom edges
• ⌘H, centre horizontally
• ⌘V, centre vertically

Anchor a multi-selection

By default, centre alignment, flipping, measurement arrows, snap lines, and the Top/Bottom/Left/Right fields all use the selection's bounding-box centre. ⌥ (Option/Alt)+click a selected object to make it the anchor, they'll use its centre instead. Clear the anchor by ⌥+clicking it again, or ⌥+clicking the selection outline.

Distribute

Even out spacing between three or more selected objects:

• ⌘⇧H, distribute horizontally (even spacing)
• ⌘⇧V, distribute vertically (even spacing)

Flip & mirror

• ⌥H, flip selection horizontally (reverse order)
• ⌥V, flip selection vertically (reverse order)
• ⌥⇧H, mirror horizontally (create a mirrored copy)
• ⌥⇧V, mirror vertically (create a mirrored copy)

Build evenly-spaced rings of holes around an existing hole or image: LED halos around a switch, knob arrays around a centre point, screw bosses around a panel cutout.

Select exactly one hole or image to act as the anchor, then click the compass icon in the right-side panel tab strip to open the Place around form.

Fields

• Number of holes, how many to place around the anchor (1–36)
• Placement radius, distance from the anchor's centre to each new hole's centre. Pre-seeded so the new holes sit clear of the anchor.
• Start angle, where the first hole sits (0° = up, clockwise positive)
• Angle step, spacing between successive holes (only shown when count is 2 or more, defaults to 360 / count for an even ring)
• Hole diameter, size of each new hole

Live preview

As you type, a guide circle and markers appear on the canvas showing exactly where the new holes will land. Nothing is committed until you press Enter from any field. Switch tabs or change selection to abandon without committing.

After placing

The new holes are selected (and grouped together if there's more than one) so you can fine-tune their properties in the Selection panel. The original anchor is deselected. Press ⌘Z to undo the entire ring in one step.

Snap lines

As you drag objects, snap lines appear automatically when an object aligns with:

• The centre of the enclosure face
• The centre of another object
• The midpoint between two aligned, evenly spaced objects, useful for centering a component between two others in a row

Coloured guide lines indicate the active snap.

Grid snap lines

Press G (or use the View menu) to overlay evenly spaced snap lines on the top face, and objects will snap to the grid intersections as you drag. Set the number of columns and rows in the Grid section of the Enclosure panel.

Grid lines are useful for common layouts like “4 knobs in a row” without having to calculate positions manually. They can also be pinned as measurement references in reference mode.

Measurement modes

Toggle how positions are measured:

• M, toggle between measuring from the centre or edge of a hole
• ⇧M, toggle measuring against the enclosure edge or a reference point
• Tab, cycle through available measurement targets

Dimension lines with values appear in real time as you drag, showing the exact distance from the measurement reference.

Quick measure to any object

With a single object selected, hold ⌘ and hover any other hole, image, or enclosure edge to see the distance from your selection, without changing what's selected. Release ⌘ and the overlay disappears. Handy for quick checks like “is this 8 mm from the jack?” without re-clicking.

Reference mode

Press R to enter reference mode. Click on snap lines (including midpoint lines) to pin them as measurement references. Press ⇧R to clear all references, and Escape to exit reference mode.

Units

The app works internally in millimetres. Dimension fields accept input in mm by default, but you can switch the display to inches from the Preferences menu, or by clicking the mm/in readout in the status bar.

Use the toolbar zoom buttons or the keyboard shortcuts to navigate the canvas:

• ⌘+, zoom in
• ⌘-, zoom out

Scroll with the mouse to pan around the canvas.

Theme

Toggle between light and dark mode using the sun/moon icon in the titlebar. The app defaults to your system preference.

Every action that changes your layout is tracked in the history:

• ⌘Z, undo the last change
• ⌘⇧Z, redo

The undo/redo buttons in the toolbar also show whether history is available. History covers hole placement, movement, deletion, image changes, enclosure edits, and project name changes.

Press ⌘E or click Export in the sidebar to download your drill template. Two formats are available:

PDF

A vector PDF rendered at 100% scale, ready to print. The template includes guide lines to help with alignment on your enclosure, and every sheet carries your project name and a cm/inch ruler so you can confirm the print is true size. Toggles let you include:

• Hole labels, each hole's name and drill size
• Component footprints, outlines of placed components plus any component body boxes (off by default; see Component footprints)
• Images, any SVG images you've placed

For an enclosure too long to fit one sheet, the PDF tiles across A4 pages to trim and tape, with the option to print on a single A3 sheet instead.

Important: When printing, make sure to select "Actual size" (not "Fit to page") in your printer settings. This ensures the template is dimensionally accurate.

SVG

A scalable vector file with enclosure outlines, hole circles, and crosshairs. Useful for importing into vector editors like Illustrator or Inkscape for further customisation.

Hole diameters

Need just the drill sizes? Go to Tools > Hole diameters for a table of every hole and its diameter, shown in your chosen units.

The drill jig is a template you 3D print from your own layout and drop over your enclosure. Every hole centre becomes a bore you punch a mark through, then you lift the jig off and drill freehand. It wraps the sides as well as the top, so jacks and DC sockets are covered by the same seating. It's a one-off purchase that covers every project you make: see pricing.

It's a marking template, not a drill guide. Punch each centre through it, then take the jig off and drill. A twist drill run through the bores cuts them oversize as it goes, so the jig would lose accuracy the more you used it, and it would do so unevenly.

Printing it

Print the file as it comes. It arrives lying plate down, which is the orientation it's meant to print in, so it needs no rotating and slices without supports.

Don't scale it. The fit depends on the part coming out at the size it was built, so anything that changes the dimensions works against it. We print and test in PLA, though nothing rules out other materials. What matters is that your printer is dimensionally accurate, not which filament is on it.

Fitting it

Dropped over the enclosure, the jig should go all the way down until the plate lies flat on the top face, and pushing it on and lifting it off should take hand pressure rather than a tool. The plate carries a small triangle at one edge and your enclosure's name on the inside face, so you can tell which way round it goes and which enclosure it was built for.

A gap you can see at the top edge is normal. The jig grips at one depth, part way down the enclosure's walls, and those walls slope inwards towards the top face, so above that depth there's meant to be daylight. It's also why the jig can look like it's standing off the enclosure while gripping perfectly well. What matters is that the plate sits flat and stays put.

The plate sitting proud is the one thing that's never right. The punch only reaches a few millimetres through the plate, so if the plate is held up off the enclosure the punch stops short of the metal and marks nothing at all. Don't force it: check you're using the enclosure the layout was drawn for, then measure the print as below.

Checking a print

If you want to know whether a print came out right, measure across the inside of the jig with calipers, just below the plate. The app tells you what that should be for your enclosure, on the Drill Jig tab where you download it. If yours comes out wider, your printer is running large, and that's worth correcting there rather than in the file.

A tenth or two under is normal and does no harm. Prints tend to come out fractionally small, and a slightly smaller jig simply grips a little tighter. It's the other direction that matters: if yours measures more than about 0.3mm over, that's enough clearance to feel, and it's worth correcting your printer before you print anything else dimensional.

Take the reading just under the plate and nowhere else. Further down, the walls are deliberately cut away so they can't grip, so a measurement at the open ends will be larger and tells you nothing.

If it seats but barely marks

A jig that drops on perfectly and then leaves faint marks, or none at all, is telling you the bores are too small for your punch. The punch is a cone, so a blunter one wedges in the bore before its tip reaches the metal, and it does that without any sign that anything is wrong.

The fix is to match the jig to your punch. On the Drill Jig tab, choose Match to my punch, print the small test strip it gives you, and press your punch into each hole in turn. The right hole is the smallest one that still leaves a clean dent. Enter that and every jig you export from then on is cut to it. It's per printer and punch, not per project, so it's a one-off.

Still not right?

Email stompboxlayout@gmail.com with your enclosure, printer and filament, and the measurement from "Checking a print" above. That one reading rules out most of what can go wrong and is the quickest route to an answer.

Tayda Electronics offers a custom drilling service for enclosures ordered through their store. Stompbox Layout can generate the drill instructions in the format Tayda expects, and import a design you started in Tayda's own tool.

Sending your design to Tayda

Go to Tools > Tayda drill instructions to see a table of all your holes with:

• Hole name
• Enclosure face (A, B, C, D, or E)
• Diameter, automatically increased by 0.4mm to compensate for Tayda's powder coating
• X / Y offset, measured from the centre of each face

The table includes a direct link to Tayda's drill template tool where you can enter these values.

Important: Always double-check measurements before ordering.

Importing a Tayda design

If you already have a design in Tayda's drill template tool, you can bring it straight into Stompbox Layout. In Tayda's tool, use Download Text File, then go to Tools > Import from Tayda and choose that file.

A preview shows exactly where the holes will land on your current enclosure before you add them:

• If the design comes in upside down, use Flip 180° to turn it the right way up.
• Tayda drills holes 0.4mm oversize for powder coating. Switch on Remove 0.4 mm powder coat allowance to bring the holes in at their original sizes instead.

The holes are added to your current layout in a single step, so one undo removes them all. Your enclosure is left as it is; if the file was made for a different enclosure, a note warns you the holes may not line up.

All your projects are saved automatically as you work. The cloud icon next to the project name shows the save status.

Project operations

• Open (⌘O), browse and open a saved project
• Save (⌘S), manually trigger a save
• Make a copy, duplicate the current project with a new name
• Save as template, save the layout as a reusable starting point
• Delete project, delete the current project

Locking

Use File > Disable editing to lock a project and prevent accidental changes. The lock is visible in the titlebar and can be toggled back with File > Enable editing.

Public projects

Click Share in the titlebar and switch your project to Public. Public projects can be viewed (but not edited) by anyone with the link.

Share link

The same Share popover gives you a Project link to copy and send to other builders or post in forums.

Embedding

It also provides ready-made Embed code: an <iframe> snippet you can drop into an external website. See the Embed Widget documentation for details and more snippets.

Press ⌘K in the app to see the full shortcuts reference. Here's a summary: