Enclosure Painting. Graphics, metal flake, pearls, over powder coated finish.

[jobrien781]

Hey guys, I had a question about painting. Normally I would paint my enclosures with urethane paint. But to save some time I wanted to buy some pre painted enclosures. They only sell powder coated. If I wanted to add graphics or some metal flake or pearls, do I have to stick with a powder coat clear? Or can I use anything else. Even something in a rattle can?

[miter53]

I usually use autobody acrylic clearcoat. I just tried it on a powder-coated box w/ decal, and it seemed to work fine.

[jobrien781]

Cool, I'm going to try it out. I have some .065 silver metal flake I got from Old School Flake, I'm dying to try out over black!

[guitarpedalparts]

I don't see a problem with it.  One thing to note with powder coated finishes is that the majority you'll find on pedals are polyester based finishes, with a few being epoxy based.  Any type of paint, graphics ink, etc. that would work on those surfaces should be fine.  The polyester finishes seem to take other labeling well, but I've never tried to paint the paint.