Advice on finishing pedal enclosures

[jonPhillips]

Hi - this is my first post here and wondered can anyone point me in the direction of good advice as to how to professionally finish pedal enclosures?

I've searched this forum and not found a great deal about this subject.

Specifically:
1 - How do you get a durable paint finish / what are the best paints to use?
2 - What’s the best way to apply graphics / control information to the enclosure?
3 - What’s the best way to ensure the finished enclosure doesn't chip and look rubbish after only a few uses (gigs)?

Any advice, tips or links to same would be gratefully appreciated.

[J M Fahey]

1 - How do you get a durable paint finish / what are the best paints to use?

Pros use powder, spray applied Epoxy "paint" (which strictly speaking it's not, since it's not liquid)
They apply a high voltage between the pistol nozzle and the case (it hangs from a metal hook and chain), so sprayed dust clings to its surface (it can be wiped off with your thumb) and then gets into an oven which melts and cures it.
As tough as can be, what commercial makers (think MXR, Boss, etc.) use.
Besides, it's the cheapest one, but you can't do it at home, and commercial painters will charge a minimum "batch" price, so it pays for, say, 50/100 pedals or more .

Next best is Industrial oven curing paint.
Looks/smells like a coarse grade of regular "synthetic/oil" paint, the most common one, which is dissolved with some turpentine, can be sprayed with any regular pistol, even a cheap electric "buzzing" one, looks loke regular paint but "it never dries".
Then you put it in an oven (yes, the kitchen oven will do) for, say, 15 or 30 minutes and it's almost as strong as the powder epoxy one.
Regular Rustoleum can be oven cured.
How to Use an Oven to Dry Enamel Paint | eHow

MOST important is previous surface preparation.
Sand or blast your case surface, put gloves on to avoid skin oils contamination and wash case thoroughly with warm water and detergent, rinse well.

2 - What’s the best way to apply graphics / control information to the enclosure?

Silkscreening.

Or you can engrave letters (lots of shops will do this for you) so they show aluminum color against a darker àinted background.

3 - What’s the best way to ensure the finished enclosure doesn't chip and look rubbish after only a few uses (gigs)?

Besides taking care of it?
Properly prepare, paint and cure the surface and you'll help it a lot.

Poorly applied paint (say, spray can type over unprepared surface) can be lifted even with a fingernail.

Good luck.

[Mark Hammer]

Many manufacturers have recognized that the greatest risk of chips occurs on the edges and sides. As a result, what many do now is apply any graphics, to only the top surface, and leave the sides of the box bare. Alternatively, they may get more chip-resistance powder-coated boxes in pre-determined colours, and simply apply graphics to the top of the box; again, under the assumption that anythng which goes right out to the edges and over the sides is subject to scratching and chipping.

Some manufacturers, particularly smaller boutique houses will use etched patterns, with paint filling in the etched dips in the surface. This, of course, requires that the rest of the chassis NOT be painted or powder-coated, but it lasts. One smaller manufacturer, Fairfield Electronics, uses old-school punch-sets, with each letter of the legending being hand-hammered into the chassis. Time consuming, but the box will look exactly the same on day 500 as it did on day 1.

As may well have occurred to you, the spacing of any controls and switches, and choice of knobs, needs to be integrated with any graphics. So, if you plan to place 4 knobs fairly close together in a small chassis, then the legending has to fit, and the knobs can't bump into each other, OR cover the legending.

So, for example, you might wish to come up with shorter names that describe the function of the control, and use more slender knobs, so that all is visible, usable, and comprehensible.

As Juan notes, a decent toaster oven is a very useful implement. This speeds up the curing of paint. Just note that it CAN stink the place up, with all that rapid off-gassing. BUt it makes for a much sturdier finish.

One challenge to "oven-toasted" spray-paint that I keep running into is that some spray paints run at different spray thicknesses than others. When the paint runs down the side of the chassis, it bunches up at the lower edges, and ends up bubbling during the baking. Ugly. Butt ugly. The received wisdom is to apply multiple thin coats. While this is true, what may be a perfectly reasonable thin coat for paint brand X, results in running and bunching for brand Y. So spray as lightly and thinly as you can, and maybe keep some notes on the behaviour of each paint brand, or even colour within a paint brand.

[52 Bill]

As Juan notes, a decent toaster oven is a very useful implement. This speeds up the curing of paint. Just note that it CAN stink the place up, with all that rapid off-gassing. BUt it makes for a much sturdier finish.

Whatever you do, do not use the same oven that you prepare food in to bake powder coats or paints in.

Another possible solution is to use a self adhesive label applied to the top of the box. A few companies offer pre-finished boxes in a variety of colors that could then be labeled with your graphics.

[Steve A.]

This has absolutely nothing to do with the question posed by the OP but I wanted to mention that to ensure a good ground Catalinbread uses a countersink bit to enlarge the 4 holes on the backplate and taps out the 4 screw holes on the box to accept a larger diameter screw.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Steve Ahola

[Enzo]

Some auto body repair shops will do a small powder coat order. And they have some cool colors.

If you paint or coat the box, stick a piece of masking tape over each hole on the inside. This will leave bare metal around the backside of the hole, so when you install pots and jacks, their bushings can make contact with the chassis. If you don't, the then ungrounded pots can make hum and noise.

[Mark Hammer]

Whatever you do, do not use the same oven that you prepare food in to bake powder coats or paints in.

VERY important point. One would like the finish on the box to get done quickly and be durable, not the maker of the pedal to be finished off forever!

[Mick Bailey]

Powder coat setups can be cheap to buy and less problematic for DIY than solvent-based coatings.

Powder Coating Gun with 10-30 PSI Powder Coating System. You need a cheap toaster oven to fix the coating.

I've used the laser version of Lazertran for years to put decals on boxes. It's easy to use and when heat-cured is fast, especially if you laquer over it and re-bake it.

You can improve the durability of solvent finishes by using an etch primer and baking the finish.

[defaced]

You'll find more pedal centered info on a pedal forum. DIY Stompboxes is a good resource, as is BYOC Electronics. Both have picture threads/sections where people show off their work and often post how they get the results they do. There are alot of different ways to get pro results depending on the look you're interested in. There are also many sellers who offer powder coated enclosures - Pedal Parts Plus and Mammoth Electronics are the two that I seem to remember, though I've never used either.

http://http://www.diystompboxes.com/...php?board=40.0
Build Your Own Clone Message Board ? View forum - Show Off Your Completed Build

[jonPhillips]

Some great tips here - many thanks to everyone who has posted

[Rixen]

..and labels..

Hi Jon,

for labelling, ink-jet printable 'waterslide decal paper' is a simple way of making transfers which are vitually borderless.

A great guide on painting and labelling can be found on PlanetZ:

Planet Z

Dig down through this site a bit, as he has some great videos.

Powder coating is not too expensive provided you are getting a colour done that is part of a run going through anyway. The powder coater will need some way of hanging your enclosure on a hook, on my enclosures they use the switch hole.

Switching here to New Zealand dollars; my enclosures cost about $4 each for the coating, and $40 as a set up cost for the run. This set up cost is what should be able to be discounted if part of a colour run already being done.

cheers, and happy building.

Julian
Rixen Quality Effects Pedal Enclosures