Painting in Progress (with completed pics)

[LyleCaldwell]

Some progress shots:

OK, some "painting in progress" pictures.

I do 4 at a time.

Here are the bare sanded acetone-cleaned boxes before painting:



Here are the same pedals 40 minutes later, with 3 coats of self-etching primer (in a fetching Army green):



And an hour and a half later, with three coats of flat white automotive enamel:



Next step will be to cure them for 2 hours in a 175 degree oven.  BTW, if anyone tries this, don't use the oven you cook in.  The paint releases nasty carcinogenic fumes and particles when heated, and they stay in the oven.  If you cook food in the same oven, you can die.  I got a $20 toaster oven that I keep in the garage specifically for pedals.

Most of you know this, but it bears repeating.

[deadsnake]

I really like your stompbox. I think the sanded finish was cool too. I could have just painted with a transparent coating, or enamel. It would look tight.

[jonathan perez]

n00b question: why do you "cook" them?

im totally learning and soaking this in. so, work with me.   

[LyleCaldwell]

Because it saves a week's worth of drying time.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

n00b question: why do you "cook" them?

im totally learning and soaking this in. so, work with me.   

debateable. I advise searching this topic, you'll find some interesting stuff.

[LyleCaldwell]

The ones I baked took the iron on transfers just fine.  The one I didn't bake bubbled.  So yes, it sped up the curing time.  I'm not saying it made it a harder finish than curing it over a week or so, but it got real hard real fast.  That's with this brand of automotive enamel.  Other paints vary.  A few weeks ago I tried Rustoleum Professional, and it never cured hard, with or without heat.

[LyleCaldwell]

Next step, after curing in the oven, is the graphics:

First, I printed the graphics out on Avery dark T shirt transfer paper (has to be the dark version).  Then I cut them out:




Then I peeled off the backing and put them on the pedal face:








Once they were straight, I covered them in wax/onion paper (comes with the Avery pack) and ironed them for 20 seconds:




Which gave me this:




Then I let them cool a bit (those aluminum boxes get REALLY hot really fast) and then cut out the holes:




And when they were all done, it was kinda creepy:



Tomorrow they get 3 coats of clear enamel and then they cure for a week.

[Ivory Knight]

Respect!!!
Who's that boy on your boxes?

Markus

[Floyd Pepper]

Who's that boy on your boxes?

It's the cover of the 1st U2 album http://www.u2.com/music/index.php?album_id=3&type=lp

LyleCaldwell, those pedals look fantastic.   

[LyleCaldwell]

Thanks Floyd!

Now I'll have "Can You Picture That" stuck in my head all day...

But yes, this is a version of the hard to find and expensive Guyatone Zoom that Edge used on the first three albums.

[alteredsounds]

Got a few old Guyatone pedals like the locobox ones but never heard of the Guyatone Zoom, after searching it seems that its the same circuit as Vox 1901 Distortion.  Is that right?

[LyleCaldwell]

Yup.  Guyatone made the PCBs for the Vox pedal.

It's not a magic pedal, but it's a nice sounding basic OD that doesn't impart it's own character on the guitar sound, and cleans up nicely when you turn down the volume on the guitar.  The only reason it's expensive (when you can find one) is the Edge association.  So I built 13 of them and all of them sold to U2 freaks before the parts had even arrived.

[alteredsounds]

lol fair play on shifting so many that quick! Gotta love the die-hard fans!

[bwanasonic]

It's not a magic pedal, but it's a nice sounding basic OD that doesn't impart it's own character on the guitar sound, and cleans up nicely when you turn down the volume on the guitar.

How does the 1901 compare to the Distortion +/ DOD 250? It seems like a close cousin in design.

Kerry M

[LyleCaldwell]

I don't know, as I haven't had a Dist + in years.  Going from my memory of what the Dist + is like, this is less clipped and buzzy, though at the extreme end of the drive control it gets into Dist + territory.  It's kind of in between an OD1 and an SD1, to use a very inexact comparison with well-known pedals.

It's a nice little pedal, but most of its value is sentimental.  I can get the sound of the Zoom with my OCD, but the OCD does all these other sounds the Zoom doesn't.

[Joecool85]

Love the look of these pedals man!  Great job!

[Fp-www.Tonepad.com]

Great looking boxes.

Congratulations!

[LyleCaldwell]

Thanks, everyone.  I'm not posting this to get praise (though of course it's always nice) but because it might help others in their own painting efforts.  A picture truly is worth a thousand cliches.

[twabelljr]

    Good work Lyle!  Thanks for the step by step shots of the dark t-shirt decal application. When I was to the point of labeling my first enclosure, I searched and read alot of threads describing all kinds of methods. The t-shirt transfer method sounded best but I couldn't quite picture the process of applying them to an aluminum box. I read the package at the office supply store, and it sounded simple enough, but I went with the clear address labels anyway. After seeing your work here I don't think I will hesitate to use T-shirt transfers. This thread came just in time, I'm ready to label my next box now! Later, TWA

[LyleCaldwell]

You're welcome.  I'm very serious about 20 seconds when ironing on top of paint!  I went 30 on one pedal and had to sand down and redo the entire finish.