Painting Enclosures

[Donner]

share tips on decorating the outside of the box

[Donner]

To paint or not to paint

a box is a box right ????

Bare metal boxes have thier own industrial look attraction and I have a few of those myself.....

But for those who might want some art or at least some color on thier pedal boards there are many things you can do to a pedal enclosure.....

Should you drill the box before painting ???

Depends on a few things....

Are you absolutely sure on the layout ? I havent figured out how to undrill a box yet so if you arent sure then dont.

If you are making a swirly pattern and dont want t he 'sinkhole' look then paint first drill later ...

[Donner]

Heres some beginning videos I did on how I do the basics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLdpOtjiYbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVwY27nO038

will try and do some advanced stuff later

Heres a Gallery video of some stuff Ive done thru the years

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?pi=0&p ... &sq=&dm=1#

[jfromel]

I etch all my enclosures. The process is pretty simple, however FERRIC CHLORIDE ACID is DANGEROUS and you must follow all reccomended safety and disposal precautions when using the stuff. You can also do a combination of painting after etching with a transparent paint.

1. Polish the box
2. Draw your artwork with a paint pen, a sharpie also works but not as well.
3. Heat the enclosure to about 175 F.
4. Add Ferric Chloride acid to the parts you want to etch
5. Rinse off very very well
6. Sand off the paint or sharpie.
7. Coat enclouse with 3in1 oil
8. Enjoy your new pedal.

[Donner]

very cool jf Ive been meaning to try that tecnique for a long time, has some cool possibilities....

[Tonefishin]

JF...that is very cool...thanks

[noelgrassy]

Howdy gang! I've had some success using Nail Polish Enamels for my boxes long before "swirling" became the trend.
Sand the entire box with some wet or dry 220 and knock down any casting remnants attached to
your box and it's lid. We're also giving the metal some "tooth" for the paint to hang on to.
I put a coat of gray or white flat primer down after wiping every millimeter of the box and lid with Naphtha. Remove any manufacturing oils and contaminants thoroughly.
This is the most important step of any paint job, the "prep".
Failure at this stage cannot be corrected regardless how many successive coats of paint are applied.

After a day of the primer drying check the box for spots that may need to be sanded down and
filled with body filler. These BUD boxes rarely have any savage casting marks and my technique
is so layered with pigments no one can spot the valleys. You'll then put a bowl of water in the microwave
for 3 minutes. Pull the bowl out & drop the rattle can that is your base color upright in the bowl. Submerge ONLY the bottom 3rd of the spray can! This stuff would love to blow up, you can feel Murphy and his attorneys hovering. So don't go overboard in this area you mad scientist types!

In a minute or two depending on the weather, pull the can out and immediately start shaking the can.
If the pigment's the right temperature you'll feel it heat the part of the can where you're holding it.
The base colors I prefer are any of the opalescent, i.e. 'Pearl' colors as it makes whatever
pigment you apply over it have a shifting background. With the can contents all mixed and
volatile as hell it's easy to get the paint to come out with all the opalescent product in tow.
{In the Winter I heat the box prior to painting as well.}

Check the wickedly intense chromas available in the even the cheaper Nail Polish. Beautiful deep &
rich pigments that no spray paint comes in! I prefer the dag nasty brand that Walgreen sells. I
never used up a whole bottle on a box yet. Perhaps it's a result of thinning it.
Reading the ingredients of the Nail Polish stated that the 2nd component was Nitro Cellulose
lacquer. I mixed the straight pigment with thinner to a milk like consistency and took an eyedropper
& commence-to-flingin' across the box almost at the same plane as the top. You only need
a couple colors of this pigment to have a nice finished product.[Providing you've picked out colors
that'll work nicely with your base.] Looking at the current Landgraff boxes it seems his painter
is working in Nail Polish too!
[Just the top gets his treatment and the sides are masked to eventually get a monochromatic
finish. Nail polish by the pint must be prohibitively expensive!]

I usually finish up with a couple of coats of clear gloss enamel and call it a day.

In the future I'm going to try thinning this stuff for use in an airbrush and raise the FX painting bar
a wee bit.
Remember to "have fun" but above all be safe. No open flames around paint, it's thinners, soaked rags, etc..(At least until you see my video how to flame paint! )
The loaf you save may be your own!

Noel {I don't wear a respirator to paint} Grassy

[Donner]

would love t o see some pics of your stuff


Ive used nail polish a few times with good results, but I never read the contents ~ and your right one of the main ingriedients is good ole Nitro !!!

looking forward to that video....... I need to make some more myself...... mr. distractability

[BJF]

Hi,

Ahum, undrilling boxes is a little tricky yes, while it's best done with opaque finishes.

Needed for this is plastic metal that can be formed. This is a two component glue with metal parts in it and it forms a metal surface while it's not a reflecting surface.

To undrill:
Version one no hole is to be in that position: then superglue a piece of a razorbalde to the inside of box and then fill up the hole with the metal compound and let that dry and make sure the surface protrudes as you'd then as it has dried need to sand the protruding part down. This takes a little practice to get really flat.
With an opaque finish if the surface is really flat the hole will be invisable.

Version two the hole will be partly used: procedure is nearly the same but now just a small piece of a razor blade is necessary and this will dry faster but it is trickier to get the surface flat.

Have fun
BJ

[cabo]

I recently read a article in Poplar Mechanics about a car company(i think it was lexus) using a new paint that will heal itself.
If its scractched or nic'd, you leave it in the sun and it somehow melts over itself and the scratch disappears.
Not sure how it all does not melt off when its a sunny day but seems like a revolutionary concept.
thought it was kinda of a cool product for pedals too,,considering they always seem to get scrathed somehow.