Stompbox graphics, advice needed

[Branimir]

Hi everyone!

I live in Europe and i'm about to order some parts from this store, but i have no knowledge about these kinds of papers, or transfer methods.

Self-adhesive - means "sticker" type, right?
T-shirt transfer? - what does that actually mean? After printing the graphics on that type of paper, i use my iron to transfer it to the pedal surface?
Waterslide i understand, it's similiar to the easter egg graphics

I guess this kinds of papers can be bought in a local paper store, so I take this site's paper descriptions just as a reference...

What methods do you prefer and why?

I'm thinking of ordering some cheap BB boxes (from the site mentioned above), paint them, then apply graphics, and transparent lacquer at the end...

Cheers!

[gez]

Self-adhesive - means "sticker" type, right?

Yes, the back is sticky.  You print onto it, peel off the backing and slap it on the face of your box.

If you use 'labels' the surface is paper and you can see the 'grain' of the paper, but it looks ok:



You need to use 'fixative' with inkjet to stop the colour fading.

If the stickers are the plastic type you get better results but with an inkjet it will be translucent:



I like this effect as you can see the metal through the sticker.  You can get faux copper/brass effects.

General method for above outlined in this post:

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=35648.msg251051#msg251051

[markm]

I've been etching alot of my projects lately.
Here's my new one.....



Great sounding circuit too.
I was always a bit gunshy of this circuit as it is always termed as a "fuzz" but, I find it to be more of
a milder OD that keeps the original timbre of the guitar sound.
Dare I say it
It sound very "transparent" to me
I used the layout from gaussmarkov,
His site is fantastic and growing it seems.
   MarkM

[Pushtone]

Theres another to consider...

Do a search for "window decal".  Theres more info than I can post here...

The trick with this one is using Windex to position and get the bubbles out.  It hard, but no more harder than any of the methods you mention. They all have their pitfalls.

Water slide decals are my favorite. After etching that is... Did you check the Wiki?

Hey Markm, care to describe how you got the etch plus paint?

[Toney]

I've been etching alot of my projects lately.
Here's my new one.....



Great sounding circuit too.
I was always a bit gunshy of this circuit as it is always termed as a "fuzz" but, I find it to be more of
a milder OD that keeps the original timbre of the guitar sound.
Dare I say it
It sound very "transparent" to me
I used the layout from gaussmarkov,
His site is fantastic and growing it seems.


Hey, how much of ouput does yours have over unity with that build?
I wacked on of these together and the boost is.......insane..really OTT.
Haven't had time to look into it yet.


   MarkM

[WildMountain]

MarkM, your etched boxes look better every time. This one is the best yet, I think. I'm getting very curious as to how you do this, you should indeed make a foto essay of it.
You should put this pick in the pictures thread as well.
Very well done!

[gez]

Yeah, beautiful job Mark!

The cheat's way of doing this would be to use a transparency and leave the lettering 'white' (comes out clear in the print).

[markm]

MarkM, your etched boxes look better every time. This one is the best yet, I think. I'm getting very curious as to how you do this, you should indeed make a foto essay of it.

Thank you
I'm thinking that maybe some more info is needed in our wiki about it.

Yeah, beautiful job Mark!

The cheat's way of doing this would be to use a transparency and leave the lettering 'white' (comes out clear in the print).

Never thought of that....
GREAT idea though, maybe I'll give that a whirl too

The Llama started out like this;



Then, I sprayed it with the red, a few coats, wet sanded, then clear coated the whole deal.
The etch wasn't real deep and before etching I had sanded the surface perfectly flat so, as I applied
the color coats of paint, it evened out the top surface.
I didn't expect it to do that but, it was one of the more pleasant surprises that SOMETIMES come up
with DIY projects
Thanks again guys,
      Just wanted to offer you some stompbox porn

[WildMountain]

I think it looked pretty cool already before the paint was applied. It seems you etched "the other way around" leaving the letters sort of embossed. Most etched boxes I have seen sofar have the letters etched away instead. How did you get rid of the black discoloration without completely sanding of the letters?

[markm]

I think it looked pretty cool already before the paint was applied. It seems you etched "the other way around" leaving the letters sort of embossed. Most etched boxes I have seen sofar have the letters etched away instead. How did you get rid of the black discoloration without completely sanding of the letters?

An old toothbrush, or your current toothbrush if you prefer
works excellent to remove alot of the black crud left behind on the enclosure.
Here's a trade secret.............
Spray a light coat of silver paint over it once it's completely clean, this light silver
base-coat allows the top-coat to cover more uniformly and covers some of the
dark spots that are left from the etch.
I've done some the other way as well;

Here's a modded Dyna-Comp stomper....



.....and a booster



I paint some and use waterslide decals sometimes too......



I like this comp alot too.
I used the Mark Hammer idea for the trim pot. It's an off-board 15 turn 10k
Really dials in the compression accurately
Thanks Mark H

[skiraly017]

markm...I am blown away by the Round-Up Compressor. Really great etching.

[rhdwave]

Hey Mark, in order to do the etching, not the embossing where the lines of the graphic are actually lower than the rest of the surface of the enclosure, what do u do? I mean do u need to use the etch resistant in all places except where you want the grooves? What are you using to do this, is it photoshop or some other program like that? 

Thanks, i've been reading your tutorial and am very much appreciative of all the advice.  Those enclosures are amazing!

[markm]

Hey Mark, in order to do the etching, not the embossing where the lines of the graphic are actually lower than the rest of the surface of the enclosure, what do u do? I mean do u need to use the etch resistant in all places except where you want the grooves?

Yes.
Just look at it as, whatever is bare aluminum, that's what going to be etched away.
To do this, you need to reverse the image of your master so that it appears backwards and,
you would need to invert the colors.
Check this out;

Here's how it looks while laying out the design;



And after the reverse ready for PNP;




In the reverse, whatever is white is going to see etchant, the black is mask.
I do use photoshop most of the time but, I have a bunch of different photo programs I use such as MS Paint, Picture It! etc.
I hope this helps you and thank you very much for the kind words.
   MarkM

[rhdwave]

Yes! that's exactly what i needed to know!  Thanks again Mark for your time and responses!

[markm]

Anytime my friend,
Any other questions just ask away,
be glad to help y'all.

[rhdwave]

Last question (for now lol)...and if you don't want to answer it, i completely understand.  How on earth did you do the fuzzerella? I mean the graphics? Is that a freehand drawing that was scanned into the computer or something different? And what program do you use generally to get the reversal of the image and inversion of the colors?

Thanks again Mark, promise i'll lay off the questions for at least a few hours.

[markm]

FUZZERELLA is a drawing that I acquired which is a cartoon of, well er........a woman.
Someday I'll show it to her!!!!
The background was scanned into the computer and she was set against the background.
Being all line drawings it helps to erase where any of the lines intersect to keep her and the name more visible.
It was done using photoshop only.
   MarkM

[rhdwave]

Thanks again Mark!!!

[mojokicks37]

Hey Mark,

Beautiful etching; enough to inspire a world full of ideas over here.
Just one question about the Red Llama, though.
Once you reversed etched it (so that the words are the raised portion), how did you paint it so the words weren't covered?

Did you just sand the red paint off the words or did you mask them?
This has been perplexing me for a while now.

Thanks a million
Keep up the amazing work/inspiration.

[$uperpuma]

If I know Mark's style... (and I've been trying to emulate it for months now) he probably just painted the whole thing, then used a sanding block to take the red paint off of the raised letters... I still can't manage to etch as well, but I keep trying