Etch of a different....color

[Pettol]

Been thinking about that too. But I wonder if one could get it clean enough.

[deadastronaut]

yeah it would have to be a really nice deep etch too..depends on the design as well i guess...border etc..

[markeebee]

Probably not the perfect solution to your predicament, but.........

I sprayed the box with some VHT heat resistant aerosol paint, like this http://www.vhtpaint.com/.  Then I ironed on a toner transfer mask like you would for a reverse etch, sprayed it with 'normal' paint, waited a good while for it to dry then removed the mask.

It worked.  Kind of.  The toner didn't stick to the high temp paint too well, but then I have the same problem with bare boxes.  I reckon somebody with better etch-fu than me could get this method to work pretty well.  Maybe.

[Pettol]

That seems interesting. But... how did you remove the mask (toner, if I understood correctly).

[markeebee]

I use these cleaning wipes.....



They dissolve the toner, but not the dry paint.  Takes a little bit of careful rubbing to get the toner off but, y'know, careful rubbing is what I'm good at 

Just to confirm....the results I got were just about ok, but not something I'd brag about.  I'd be really interested to see how it turns out if somebody else tries it, especially if they have already done some good quality etches (I never have!).

[markeebee]

Also, forgot to say, that high temperature paint takes a LONG time to dry,  It was still squidgy after a couple of weeks, and baking it didn't really achieve much (because it's high temperature paint I guess, duh).

[Pettol]

Ha ha. Thanks for sharing.
I'm thinking toner transfer for labelling those painted boxes and that paint won't get messed up by the heat (not that it will help with different colours though).

[deadastronaut]

yeah could be a good result with ironing high temp paint...hmmm...

some people say they iron for ages, but i don't, it doesn't take much to warm the toner/box up really..

[hylandren]

what about reverse etch...
paint
sand/pick off  'raised etch'
then place face down on a flat freshly sprayed surface..(card/metal/photo paper...hmmm, just thinking aloud..

While that's a GREAT idea that I will probably try on my next reverse etch, doing a reverse etch on this particular pedal is not an option. It would totally violate the look/theme I am going for here.

Pettol, what mm width do you use/recommend on the paint pens?

[Pettol]

The smaller the better. You'll get less paint where you don't want it and that means less sanding (for which I've used micromesh 4000-8000 and just a tiny bit of water).

About the high temp paint/toner transfer, I think I'll use label suport sheets. Doesn't take much to transfer from them.

[garcho]

Superfine sharpie oil markers have a 1mm tip.
The nice thing about oil us that it's thick and won't run. It fills etches well. It's also durable. I've marked some enclosures that were just bangers, so I didn't bother clearcoating, and after gigs and being tossed around, the powder coat is worse for wear than the paint marker.