Enclosure painting / graphics

[jacobbundren]

I've seen some KILLER looking pedals in the threads here. Some look dang professional! How does everybody prefer to paint / decorate their enclosures? This is definitely where my pedals are lacking. They sound fantastic but a lot of the time they look like garbage.

[Silver Blues]

Atypically from most here, for certain, I prefer to do my pedals 'plain', which means paint but no labels or graphics. My process:

1. Mark and drill appropriate holes
2. Scuff the surface to be painted (i.e. the top, I don't do bottoms anymore) with a green Scotch-Brite pad
3. Use a quality automotive paint, one or two coats (one is usually sufficient for me), generally no prime.

I don't know, it works, even though it doesn't sound like it.

[Vince]

1, Sand and wash it
2, prime it
3, Oven bake (Small toaster oven)
4, 1-2 coats of spray paint
5, Oven bake
6, Waterslide decal applied
7, Lacquer and bake again on very low heat or decal will shrink.

I don't bake it for too long and not too hot as it can burn the paint.

[adstrum]

Regarding baking time, how long is not too long?

[jacobbundren]

Are these done by waterslide decal?

http://s1178.photobucket.com/user/MadeByMikePedals/media/null_zps10d647ae.jpg.html

http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Effects/Fuzz-ODs/BJFE/AWF-01.jpg

http://s242.photobucket.com/user/pm7300/media/01-1_zpsa25f6dc9.jpg.html

[Vince]

I'm pretty sure the top and bottom link are decals but the middle one is Johns (a member here) he uses a label printer.

By too long I mean as soon as I smell hot paint (about 5-10 mins) I turn the oven off and let them cool inside the oven, they seem to set harder that way and keep dust from settling on them as they dry.

[jacobbundren]

Awesome! Thanks Vince! I'm gonna have to try some water slide and see how they turn out. I like that look a lot more than the stamps that I've been using.  

http://instagram.com/p/bMw7M6B5K8/

I do like the way this one turned out though: http://instagram.com/p/V-n-G4h5Mo/

[GoranP]

This is what I'm doing now (picked it up off Alltrax here). Works fine as I have no space for painting them.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-FU6R5DaTim0/UhU08EK4LVI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/DUnrkzVJfUA/w579-h772-no/IMG_2814.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YI-u8VaDmEw/UhUzqepUd1I/AAAAAAAAA-k/8930hosdyB8/w1029-h772-no/IMG_2812.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n67QAakykqI/Uhdsh3fDx7I/AAAAAAAABAI/uXvmrTwmxko/w579-h772-no/IMG_2839_2.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EItsBzF3x9Y/UhduX0i97jI/AAAAAAAABA4/CiABaUquLi8/w1029-h772-no/IMG_2841_1.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-t1-9BvAqCko/UcH-e2v_SpI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/27CS_bwocCU/w579-h772-no/IMG_2568.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uzEd_y4na5s/UcMwrwClExI/AAAAAAAAA7c/-xx3WfSWjeU/w467-h771-no/CB3.jpg

I have several more but never got around taking pictures. You get the idea, though.

It's a regular color inkjet picture, laminated in plastic and glued to the top of the enclosure. Nothing to it and finished in no time flat. I'm considering trying it on a powdercoated enclosure but I have none of those so it'll be a while before I have any info on that...

[Vince]

Those stamps are a good idea too. I'd never thought of that. I might look into that too. Nice lookers Goran. Kind of a Devi style of graphics on raw alum.

Recent blatant rip off build for someone using laser printer decal

[stringfellow_Hawke]

If you decide you want to go the water slide decal route, this is a pretty solid tutorial for using gimp to create your graphics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5Yem7yHkUE&feature=c4-overview&list=UU8AgXWvEbsuZhlqqXR2q5DQ

I've been working on making my pedals look better, too. So far not much luck, as my inkjet printer keeps printing off blurry decals no matter how I set it up. Looks like I'm going to have to invest in a cheapy laser printer at some point.

[jacobbundren]

Awesome! I'm definitely going to the hobby store today and using the holiday tomorrow to experiment with it!

[JaviCAP]

It depends of the kind / brand of paper. I purchased a really expensive lot of clear waterslide decals (20 sheets), and was not able to print  a decent one, on the other hand, the white version of the same brand offered me impresive results.

Did purchase  some more clear sheets of the  cheapest brand I could ever find, and man, the results are amazing with the same printer. So try different brands until you find the one that works with your printer / ink. Many sellers use to offer orders as low as 1 sheet, so buy several different ones and try.

BR

[stringfellow_Hawke]

Oh, cool, thanks Javi! I'll definitely try a few different brands. I've built like 4 circuits that I'd love to box, but I've been putting it off until I get the hang of making a decent looking enclosure, so hopefully I figure it out soon!

[Geiri]

Here's what I do. I sandblast the enclosures, which is probably the best way to make the paint stick to your pedal.

I used to just sand them by hand and that was clearly better than doing nothing to it. Still, it was kind of easy to chip the paint. When I started sandblasting, the toughness went up SO MUCH. Chipping is really hard to do and scratching the same. The feel is also just so much nicer and noticeably different.

Once the enclosures have been sandblasted I start spraying them. Now at this point I need to skip ahead and talk about how I do the artwork. I use an Epilog laser (http://www.epiloglaser.com/legend_helix.htm) to engrave into the paint. It's quick and produces really nice results.

Examples:



















Sorry for the overflow of images!

So how's that done? What I do is I determine the colours of the artwork and enclosure. If I want white artwork on a black enclosure, I spray a few coats of white until it looks nice and solid. Then I spray a few coats of black on top until that looks perfect. I use fine sandpaper when needed to make it smooth.

To do the artwork I use Inkscape to prepare the image and convert it to vector for highest resolution. Gradients don't work here. It's either black or white (in the software). Then I set the laser to a low speed, like maybe 35% and 20% power (to prevent the motors frying in the x-axis of the laser). What's black in the image (.pdf) file is what the laser engraves and because of the settings, it only engraves the black off but the white is left for the artwork.

Sometimes I have my girlfriend hand paint the enclosures for me:



I love the laser method because it's very quick and easy. I have access to this laser for free also, which is nice. I'm saving up to buy one myself but they're extremely expensive! The only downside to this method is that the artwork can only be in two colours.

[Vince]

Just get some etching primer, burns into alum and paint sticks to it like glue. Paint is only as solid as the primer.

[stringfellow_Hawke]

I just used self etching primer for the first time yesterday and it is pretty awesome. Highly recommended. I got a much cleaner looking paint job. Now if I can just get the water slide decal to print correctly

[Vince]

Printers have taken 10 yrs off my life!. I hate them with a passion. I've not known one to just work the way it was intended. I gave up and bought a cheap black and white laser one as you don't have to lacquer the decal before applying it as toner is waterproof. It has saved me a world of pain. Might be something to think about.