Getting White text onto a box

[jimmy54]

Hi fellas,

I've built a few stompboxes and I'm starting to get the hang of painting the boxes and using decal injet paper to print text onto the boxes.

My question is how can you get white (or very light coloured) text onto a dark (e.g. black) box?

Cheers

[nelson]

Use white waterslide decal paper as opposed to clear.


Simple answer.

[jimmy54]

Ah, didn't realise you could get white decal paper.  So how would that work then?  Lets say you wrote the word "TEST" in microsoft word in white text and printed it onto the decal paper?  The paper would then come out of the printer blank?  Would you just have to cut out the letters?  Excuse me if I sound like I'm talking rubbish, I just can't seem to get my head around it.

[nelson]

well, if you want white in a black background, print the word test in white letters with a black background.

[jimmy54]

But what if the box was say blue (or any other colour).  Would you have to try and find a colour on the computer that is closest to the colour of the box to use as a background?  Wouldn't the chances of getting it spot-on (or even very close) be low, and so not only would you see the text on the box but also the background colour around the text too?

[Paul Marossy]

Letraset used to make white rub-on letters years ago (like 25 years ago). Anyhow, I would surprised if they don't still offer a few styles in white.

[nelson]

But what if the box was say blue (or any other colour).  Would you have to try and find a colour on the computer that is closest to the colour of the box to use as a background?  Wouldn't the chances of getting it spot-on (or even very close) be low, and so not only would you see the text on the box but also the background colour around the text too?

If you had a colour scanner, you could scan in the paint colour and use that as the background.

That would get you spot on, hopefully.

[humboy]

Hi, I guess Letraset would be the most elegant way. Another possibility is to print your text  out, paste it on and then cut the letters out
with a scalpel. afterwards you can pull the paper off and the letters ought to keep sticking to the box. ( takes a bit of practice though )
You might as well just cut the letters out, leaving the rest of the paper on the box- you then have a mask which you can use for spraypainting your text onto the enclosure.

[bwanasonic]

Once upon a time the answer would have been an Alps printer with white decal paper, but these have gone the way of the dodo. I keep meaning to try rubber stamps with silkscreen ink. I looked for a place that could provide custom sheets of waterslide decals, but it didn't seem too cost effective for my purposes. Full blown silkscreen would be another method, if your up for it.

Kerry M

[TheBigMan]

I buy car touchup kits in a few colours, the kind that have a small brush like nail polish bottles for filling in scratches.  Either write straight on or through a template onto the base colour but before you apply lacquer.

[Steben]

What about T-shirt transfers?

[skiraly017]

To the best off my knowledge, an ALPS printer is the only one capable of actually printing white as it has a white cartridge. You could use white decal paper, but that won't get you the lettering your looking for. As for Letraset, you can get the letters in white but then you have to go through the trouble of lining them up correctly, plus once you set them in place that's it. I thought I was being quite smart when I found a local printer who could do dry transfer lettering and had them make up a sheet of rub-on decals for me. The sheet ran about $70 and the letters are very sensitive. Applying too much pressure while trying to align the transfer will cause it to stick to the surface. I laid out the dry transfer sheet so I could get 27 pedals but after trial and error I will get closer to 15. I'm keeping my eye open for an ALPS MD 1000 or 1500. For what I would pay for two custom dry transfer sheets I could pick up a used ALPS, have to the ability to print white as well as silver and gold metallic, plus have the ability to adjust the decal before it dries in its final position.