How do you apply graphics on dark coloured pedals?

[steveyraff]

Hey guys,

I paint all my pedals white, so that I can apply water slide decals (I use ink-jet printers). I get very good results with this method. I've attached a few examples of my pedals.

However - every now and again, I'll have someone who really wants me to apply graphics to a dark colours pedal, like a black enclosure. I've never been able to do this. I think I've asked about this before and people suggested stickers etc. I'm just wondering is there other methods, because if you use a sticker, you are covering the entire face of the pedal, so the background colour of the graphics is not going to match the sides of the enclosure perfectly. I see a lot of peoples out there that appear to have colour printed directly on to the pedal surface somehow, or it looks convincingly like it.

Any other methods I should know about? Thanks!

[vigilante397]

UV printing has always been a goal of mine, though a little pricey to get started, and that is an excellent way to do it. Obviously the professionals use silkscreens, but that seems like a lot of work.

You can kind of get a "color" effect with a laser: paint it solid with a light color, cover that with a dark color, then laser off just enough of the top layer to expose the bottom layer.

[bluebunny]

You can get decals with a white background, rather than clear.  Then you can print what you like:



Note that the white writing is indeed white, and not just letting through the red paint.

[vigilante397]

You can get decals with a white background, rather than clear.  Then you can print what you like:

I tried white background decals once and it could have just been my sub-par printer but the black of the decal didn't quite match the black of the enclosure

[davent]

Paint the enclosure area the decal will cover white, the rest of the enclosure black, print your decal full face with the background of the decal printed as black. Hopefully the blaack of the decal is dense enough to hide the white it will be covering.

- or - Print to an opaque material and attach that to the enclosure top, photopaper, paper, a vinyl or plastic.
dave

[Paul Marossy]

I know this isn't answering the original question, but these days I just print something onto regular paper, put a protective covering on it and glue it to the enclosure. It's more than adequate for my own personal builds.

This is my latest creation, re-using something I built back in 2006. I just put a new top on it using the aforementioned method. It's still better than hand scribbled Sharpie or a label maker.



This is how it looked a few days ago:

[stallik]

Rather than using white vinyl for the sticker (decal) you could make them with clear but print using white ink. Either in its own or with the white backing up other colours. Many sign shops now have this ability but you have to do some extra work on the artwork including a spot colour layer for the white.

In this example, the sticker covers the whole of the top surface and while you can see the edge, the clear vinyl doesn't alter the colour of the box - must get this one finished...

[Paul Marossy]

In this example, the sticker covers the whole of the top surface and while you can see the edge, the clear vinyl doesn't alter the colour of the box

That was my original method when I started building pedals in 2001. I used this transparent stuff called "stickyback" - we'd photocopy something onto it and then slap that on a plan and it would blueprint a little darker than its surroundings because it was thicker at that point. It was a way to get std details on plans without having to draw it on every job (this is board drafting days before CAD was the std). So I knew that was a way I could do graphics when I began building things. But the problem is that sometimes it will get stuck in modern day copiers and I don't have any of the stuff left. And I only get black printing, although today I could get color since we have a color copier at the office now, but I still couldn't do white on a dark surface using that method. In any case, I found a different way to do it now where I don't have to mess with any of that stuff or worry about screwing up the copy machine at work.

[Kevin Mitchell]

In the spirit of homebrewing, when I'm lazy I draw out the labels on electrical tape with a white paint pen. Seamless enough for my personal builds.

Alternatively I silkscreen my work with a EZSreenPrint HD template


And another;