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That's awesome! I love Space Ghost.

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JulioA,

For extra shiny, wet looking pedals: Several coats of gloss clearcoat, not too thick (will never cure fully). Between each coat, wet sand with 1000 or 2000 grit, just enough to take off the gloss. Then hit it with another coat. Don't sand at all between the last two coats. After the last coat dries, hit it with auto wax and buff it out.

-Subba

wet sand?
Just damp sand paper:?:

Wet sanding is exactly what it sounds like. Although you'll want to make sure you get "wet/dry" sandpaper when you buy it. If you use "dry only" paper and get it all wet sometimes it just falls apart.

You'll have to go to an auto parts store or something for 2000 grit. They won't have it at home depot or anything. Just sand like normal, but keep the piece wet. Simple!

-J

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wet sanging, cool.
thanks!!

I was also wondering if anyone had any recommendations about a laser printer?

This seems like the place to make a nice little list.

I would like a laser obviously to print decal paper for pedal, and also to save me money on the damn cartridges as I print alot of sheet music.

Not sure if anyone covered this, but I've seen another way to get white on a dark pedal...

Print your decal as usual. Then get one of those white paint pens, and color in where it should be white. Then you'll have to slide the decal on so the painted side is down. Probably need to print is mirrored for this to work.

I'm not sure because I haven't personally tried this yet, but you might need something to help the decal stick if it is face down. I think I saw this method in the pedal pageant here, or at least in the finished build pics. I'll dig around and see if its still here...

Hi! I'm about to build a Leeds Fuzz, and that will be my first time with decals and stuff.
For my design, I whould like to apply the decals directly on the bare metal of the enclosure.
So my question is: Is it ok to apply clears coats on the bare metal?

Thanks!

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((( KoskineN )))

Hey everybody thanks for the great tips. They really helped a bunch
I found a couple of tricks with inkjet decals. Instead of using the testors decal spray, use plain old poly spray (not the water based polycryl). Three or four coats first, very light then two or three heavier coats seem to do the trick. Bt make sure to let the first coat dry over night to really seal the decal . If you use several coats of poly the decal is protected enough to use MIcro Sol with out damaging to the image or it running. I have done a couple of these and so far so good. The Inkjet decals seem to thinner than the laser decals. So if you are going to use the micro sol make sure to put down several base coats and do a good finish sanding before you apply the decals. Every tiny scratch comes through when you apply the micro sol. You can fix some of these imperfections by doing a bunch off clear coat layers with lots of sanding between coats but its a lot easier to just get a good base down first.
thanks again for all the tips

Thanks for this. It was very helpful.

I've got a question that doesn't seem to be answered in here. If you are doing a full face decal when and how do you uncover the holes for the pots and stuff?

thanks for making this a sticky. I had just decided to start doing this for my builds. I thought I'd have to search forever for this info. The folks on this forum are friggin amazing. I always appreciate the giving depth of knowledge I find here. Its great to find folks who can present info in such a way that the most novice to the most experienced builder can benefit.


Thanks yall

I just like to add some decals (lettering) to my pedal, so no paint. Do I need to treat the metal first with something, or can the decals go directly on it?

I was also wondering this. I'm sure there is a ridiculously simple answer.
-shane

Would you say that what type of paint you use effects the decal application process? I'm trying to decide whether using enamel or acrylic paint makes it easier or harder. I know that acrylic is water-based so does that change anything when you're applying decals?

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I drill the holes first, do any spray-painting that needs to be done and then apply the decal. I give it a few minutes - sometimes more if I get distracted - and cut into the hole with a small craft knife, from the middle out to the edge a few times. I then fold the decal into the hole and onto the underside of the case.

I hope that's clear, it's easier to show you than write.

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Hi all, I haven't yet made my own pedal yet but I cant wait to get started. I've been scouring the web for as many tips as I can find before I get stuck in. This post has been great help, thanks everybody.

I'd like to add a tip of my own regarding lining up your template accurately. You may want to try printing on transparency film first (the type of stuff used for overhead projector slides). This way you can see exactly where everything is going to line up on your pedal. I would also recommend using Adobe Illustrator to make your template (or Freehand) you can of course use photoshop or something similar but Illustrator would be the Daddy-o for this sort of thing. You would then open that template up in photoshop if your graphics involved complex bitmap images etc. rather than finishing your design in Illustrator.

Anyway I look forward to posting my work up here at some stage. I think my first project will actually be a simple Theremin then some sort of delay pedal would be nice!

Thanks again!

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"You can't dust for vomit" - Tufnel

I have a question regarding finishes. Can you paint acrylic directly on to a clear coat? I'm thinking of putting a clear decal on a coloured box and then a light gloss spray job, sand, then hand paint highlights onto the gloss. Will this work?

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"You can't dust for vomit" - Tufnel

I wanted to confirm what everyone was using for a clear coat.

I've tried the Minwax clear gloss polyurethane, but wondered if folks had any other recommendations.

Hi, does anyone have a specific recommendation for inkjet water slide decal paper? I'm following the instructions for printing on some Testors clear decal paper and I'm getting horrible banding problems even though my test prints on plain copy paper are perfect (tried running printer head test and the jets are clean so no trouble there either). Anyone had good luck with any specific brand? I have an Epson color printer. . .

thanks!
Gray

I've had great luck with duplicolor truck van and suv topcoat, available at auto parts stores ( which is also where I get my super fine grade sandpaper - 2000 grit stuff.

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I have an Epson printer as well and I also had similar problems. What I ended up doing is cleaning the heads a couple of times and then I set the paper to Glossy Photo paper. The other thing is to let it dry at least 12 hours before spraying the bonding agent.

Perfect! The prints came out great, thanks for the tip!!!

Gray

I realize this is cheating, but I'm about to build a couple of pedals into Small Bear's solid-color powdercoated enclosures. (It's a long, cold winter up here and warming up the garage to painting temperature with a kerosene heater takes all day. So, if I can save myself the a couple of color coats, it's worth it.)

Anyway, I plan to apply inkjet-printed decals over the powdercoat, then clear coat the boxes. The powdercoat is described as flat and/or semi-gloss.

Any tips or special procedures I should follow? I'm assuming the flat finish will allow me to put the delas and clear right on the boxes without sanding (as long as I make sure they are clean). Is this OK? Are the normally-recommended clear coats (Dupli-color, Rustoleum, Krylon, et al) still acceptable over the powdercoated box?

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Rich Stevens

See my embarassing old band photos and new DIY guitar amp here!

Why would my decals not stick (almost at all?) I followed the directions, using clear inkjet paper, with three coats of clear Krylon and 12+ hours of drying before attempting to mount the decals. My decals a a single piece, about 1" x 2". After they dried for about 4 hours, they had a mottled appearance - the color of the box over about 1/2 of their area, and that hazy look where they weren't bonded over the other 1/2.

It just seems that they didn't stick - they just peeled right off. No way I wouild try clear coating over that.

What happened?

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Rich Stevens

See my embarassing old band photos and new DIY guitar amp here!

Is this a dumb question: are there templates around the place for decals for each of the effects?

It seems like while the effect is in the mail is a good time to be designing the decal, but I'm not sure how to get a reasonable start on the dimensions and knob layout?

Thanks!

GaJ

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