New Method For Enclosure Graphics #2 ?!? Fabric!

[Paul Marossy]

What's the "Lacquer Sanding Sealer" you use? I'm unfamiliar with that term...

I believe it is made by Deft. I got it at Lowe's. I don't know if lacquer sanding sealer is different than sanding sealer, but that's what it says on the can. I thought of priming the box, but the actual color of the glue can show through the white. The material is pretty thin, so that makes it a litle more problematic.

Dang it, Paul, why does it always have to be this way with you? "I just kind of eyeballed it, and it came out perfect! Again!" I mean, it's happened to you 30+ times, isn't it my turn?

LOL. Well, I dunno, I guess I got a magic touch? I am also a little surprised at how the seams turned out. I really didn't take any great care in trying to make them perfect or anything. But, I do have a little experience in covering amp cabinets now, and I have used spray paints quite a bit when I was building plastic models and such, so I guess all those things helped me out on this project. And my fabric covered guitar project gave me the idea for how to do the fabric covered stompbox enclosure...  

EDIT: Actually, I just remembered that I did the seams while the glue was still tacky, so while I was cutting it with the scissors, it actually would draw the fabric together as it was cutting. That made for a decent seam with little work to finish them off.

[bigjonny]

Well, I had been painting my latest build (Ross compressor), but was unhappy with the results.  When I saw Paul's box, I just had to try it.  I sanded the paint off, sprayed it w/ 3M spray adhesive, and fit the fabric on the box.  I then cut off the corners straight after, while the 3M was tacky, and put one side of the cut under the other.  A lil super glue on the seams, as per Paul's suggestion.

Then, I deviated from other discussions here.  I just brushed on some oil-based polyurethane on the box, and let it soak through the fabric (and presumably onto the sanded part of the box).  It's drying now!  Definitely yellows everything up, but I don't mind: looks cool!

After sanding, the whole deal took me ~1 hour, including waiting for the super glue to dry at the seams.  Wow.  IMHO, its much easier than painting, and you get cooler-looking results with ease.

For the fabric, I just used an old bedsheet I had been using as a dropcloth (some old bedsheet from when I was a kid in the 70's.  Noah's Ark.  Awesome lookin'.).  I don't have a digital camera, but my folks are stopping by with one tomorrow (for something else).   I'll try to snap a pic and post it here.

Thanks for the tip, Paul!

[Paul Marossy]

bigjohnny-

Yeah, in a way, it is almost easier than painting a box, huh? I think that the polyurethane is the culprit. Actually, the sanding sealer has a yellowish tint to it as well. Anyhow, I'm glad that you could glean something out of this thread.  

[bigjonny]

I just did the 2nd coat -- even more yellowing happening, but no big deal.  What was more apparent on the second application is that you really CAN see that aluminum through the thin fabric.  I believe priming would be a big help in preserving the brightness of the fabric.  However, in this case, I don't mind the fabric dulling up b/c it was contrasty to begin with.  When I take a pic, I'll take it on atop the bedsheet I cut, so y'all can see the difference.

in a way, it is almost easier than painting a box, huh?

I spent many years mounting photos with a sort of rub-on-under-wax-paper adhesive to thick cardboard,  as well as tacking down T-shirts for screen printing, so Spray Adhesive and I are old friends.  I found the entire process to be wonderfully easy.  Nice one, Paul! (also, I should say thanks to Ansil for his thread reference in this one).

[wampcat1]

I just did the 2nd coat -- even more yellowing happening, but no big deal.  What was more apparent on the second application is that you really CAN see that aluminum through the thin fabric.  I believe priming would be a big help in preserving the brightness of the fabric.  However, in this case, I don't mind the fabric dulling up b/c it was contrasty to begin with.  When I take a pic, I'll take it on atop the bedsheet I cut, so y'all can see the difference.

Actually, all polyeurathane has a yellow-ish tint to it.  Primering underneath the cloth probably won't do too much to help it -- You might go to a paint store and see what they would recommend -- off the top of my head I'm thinking tons and tons of gloss lacquer...

[Paul Marossy]

bigjohnny-

Just for the record, I didn't even know about Ansil's fabric covered box. Not until I was made aware of it earlier in this thread. Next time I think I'll try the fiberglass resin, or many coats of gloss lacquer.

wampcat1-

I didn't know that polyurethane had a yellowish tint to it. I thought it was the sanding sealer that was the main culprit. But, I did notice that with each successive coat of polyurethane, it got a little more yellowish. It does seem to clear up a little bit over the course of a few days, but just a touch. For things that don't have "pure" white in them, my method I think works to my satisfaction. With whites, I am going to do the fiberglass resin and see how that works. I'm sure this won't be my last fabric covered creation...  

[bigjonny]

bigjohnny-
Just for the record, I didn't even know about Ansil's fabric covered box.

No offense or discrediting of your wonderful idea was intended, Paul.  My reading of Ansil's thread inspired me to deviate from your method and just drop polyurethane on my box, as I have that readily available in my house.  Should have made that more clear.  However, "for the record", it was your beautiful pix that got me going in the 1st place!

Actually, all polyeurathane has a yellow-ish tint to it.

Thanks for the pointer, wampcat1.  Good to let the people know.  I was well aware of the yellow-ness of polyurethane.  However for those who don't know: oil-based polyurethane has a fairly severe yellow-ish tint (this is what I used).  If you coated a color photo with it, it'd look like you took it in the 60's. Water-based polyurethane, may have a slight yellowish tint, but its quite negligible.  The advantage of oil-based polyurethane is that it is rock-solid once it cures.  Water-based polyurethane is an excellent product, but is weaker (e.g. water-based polyurethane is only appropriate for interior use, whereas oil-based polyurethane can be used for exterior use).  I have both at home; I just figured if I was going to have my foot hovering around something, I'd want it as hard as possible.

BTW, OT, but related: the same water/oil characteristics are true in paint.  I only use oil-based paint for doors and shelves at my home b/c it dries so hard and durable.  Latex (water-based) paint a wondeful product, but not as good as oil-based in certain situations.  Oil has the disadvantage that b/c it is so rigid, it cracks as it ages (It can only take so much of the wood underneath it compressing and expanding; BTW- its also a pain to clean up), whereas the Latex membrane stretches as wood compresses/expands. Latex can potentially last longer than oil, if not abused.

Stomboxes should be abused, however.  :twisted:

[bigjonny]

O ya, with regards to the whole "priming" deal:

With polyurethane, you are essentially soaking the fabric through so that it sticks the fabric to the box, like a wet blanket.  Any thin cotton fabric will get a bit transparent and show whatever its sticking to when wet (not to be crude, but isn't this the principle behind wet t-shirt contests?).

When I soaked the sheet, the gray tint of the aluminum showed through, thus causing a dimming of the overall material.  Had I primed the box, it would have soaked through to white.  The appearance still would've yellowed (due to the polyurethane), but the overall brightness would have been better preserved.

BTW - pix on the way.  I used my pop's camera, but I gotta wait for him to get home and email the pix to me as he didn't want to bring his cable (long story).

[bigjonny]

The pix, as promised.  As I said, this WAS being used as a dropcloth, so you can see a couple flecks of paint on the fabric on the box.  After sanding down coat #2, I put on coat #3.  This was shot while coat #3 is drying, so couldn't/didn't fit any of the hardware.  You can see the original bedsheet in the background.  The third image here is a (blurry) detail of the original sheet.  In pic #3, you can see the Ark's dark blue before polyurethane application.  In pic #2, the light blue on the right-most side of the pic is the same color as the "sky" on the box was.

Pic #1:

Pic #2:

Pic #3:

[bigjonny]

Ok, well, no more digital camera, but I took a few pix with my webcam with the hardware mounted:
Noah atop his former surroundings:


Misc. shots



Finally, Here's polyurethane Noah, vs. original Noah:


That should be all my posts in this thread!  Sorry to take over your thread, Paul.

[Paul Marossy]

bigjohnny-

That's cool, no offense taken. I didn't even know that there was an oil and water based polyurethane.  :oops: Thanks for the tip on that.

BTW, cool stompbox you got there.  

[Phorhas]

Just wanna say that these are rally good looking pedals -I've got to try that my self

[bigjonny]

I didn't even know that there was an oil and water based polyurethane.

Ah.  Just thought of something that might cause confusion:  the polyurethane *I* used was the brush-on kind.  NOT the spray-on.  I think ALL spray-on is oil-based.  Brush-on can be either, so be sure you read the label.

I ended up using a brush/spray combo to finish my box: used the brush-on on the 1st pass (that way the fabric got nice & soaked).  I continued to use brush-on (just cuz it was easy), until I labeled the box.  Then I used spray on, so as not to risk running the Gel-ink I labeled with (Got the Gel-pen idea from  CommonSound, methinks).  All-in-all, I think its five coats: 3 brush-on; 2 spray-on.  Always sand between coats: 240 grit or higher.  Last coat, I buffed w/ fine steel wool.  That fabric ain't goin' nowhere.

Once, I used brush-on polyurethane with a Sharpie-on-paint.  That didn't end pretty, though I am sure Sharpie+spray-on-polyurethane would be fine, with several light dustings.

One more thing I should mention that was different from Paul's method, is I folded my fabric over the bottom edge of my box (~1/2") to prevent fraying.  After the 1st polyurethane coat dryed, I flipped the box and soaked the 1/2" edges, so they'd be good-and-stuck to the box as well.

Anyhow, gonna button this sucker up today.  I'll post pix, if I can.

Thanks for the compliment, Paul.

[Paul Marossy]

One more thing I should mention that was different from Paul's method, is I folded my fabric over the bottom edge of my box (~1/2") to prevent fraying.

That is what I was going to do at first, but the super glue along the edges pretty much prevents the fabric from getting frayed. After the sanding sealer and polyurethane were applied, there's no chance of the material getting frayed.