removing letting from Boss pedals?

[MetalGod]

I'm wanting to remove the letter from my SD-1 without ruining the finish - anyone got ideas?

I thought that pure alcohol was worth a shot - didn't work for me.

[pazuzu]

acetone?

[Mark Hammer]

Trouble is that whatever liquid takes the legending off would likely take the paint underneath off as well.  Not unless you have some means of applying it VERY specifically.

So, exactly how specifically do you mean "without ruining the finish"?

[MetalGod]

acetone?

just tried nail varnish remover - no dice.

[MetalGod]

Trouble is that whatever liquid takes the legending off would likely take the paint underneath off as well.  Not unless you have some means of applying it VERY specifically.

So, exactly how specifically do you mean "without ruining the finish"?

I'm assuming that the lettering is applied over the yellow paint finish, so I'm wanting to remove the lettering, but not the yellow paint.

[John Lyons]

Trouble is that whatever liquid takes the legending off would likely take the paint underneath off as well.
Yep. You best bet is too match the paint and cover over the letters or scrape the letters off with an exacto/razor knife.

[petemoore]

 Easier and possible to put something over it, paint, decal, emblem...anything.

[joegagan]

mr lyons is correct. you could probably very carefully remove the silkscreen ink from the paint with a razor. watch the flecks coming off the razor, if there is paint color you are going too fast or too deep.

after that, possibly polish with rubbing compund.

[zombiwoof]

How about carefully sanding with a fine sandpaper, then polishing?.  You could mask around the lettering first with tape to keep from sanding the paint outside of the lettering.

Al

[Paul Marossy]

Solvents won't work, it will take the paint off, too.

Sandpaper won't work very well, either - it will sand thru the paint in areas. I've tried something similar once, didn't work out too well.

I was also going to suggest carefully scraping off the lettering with a sharp exacto blade. It won't look pretty when you're done, because it will look a bit scratched up.

That's about as good as it's going to get unless you repaint that area, or the whole pedal. The you're going to have a problem matching that color if you want to just touch up a small area.

[MikeH]

The paint is paint, but the lettering is silkscreen right?  And the silkscreen is much softer than the paint I'm sure.  So you need to find something that is harder than the silkscreen, but softer than the paint, and you can use that to scratch off the silkscreen without too much damage to the paint.  I'd start with some softer items, like wood or plastic.

[Mark Hammer]

One possibility is to gently heat up the area with the lettering to soften the silkscreened stuff.  It might scrape off (or be picked off with a more precise point) more easily under those conditions.

[served]

I tried something similar with atsetone and it was a mess. Do not try it!

[zombiwoof]

The paint is paint, but the lettering is silkscreen right?  And the silkscreen is much softer than the paint I'm sure.  So you need to find something that is harder than the silkscreen, but softer than the paint, and you can use that to scratch off the silkscreen without too much damage to the paint.  I'd start with some softer items, like wood or plastic.

When I mentioned sanding it, I was thinking about using a really fine paper like the type you use to sand between coats when finishing a guitar, for instance.  I think if you mask around the letters and be real careful, you might be able to just get the letters off.  But maybe you're right.

Perhaps for a less severe abrasive you could try one of those plastic kitchen scrubber pads.

Good luck,
Al

[G]

You might like to have a look into wetsanding car repairs.  It sounds drastic (taking abrasive across a car finish) but it works and polishes out.  Look at some examples on the web and you should see how good it can be.  You'd probably be best to get really fine wet and dry paper, and use a flat block, wiping the paper across the surface and keeping it well wetted with water.  I haven't done it to a pedal but have done it to a car where the paint was touched up and dried proud of the surface.  A little proper car polish can remove the swirls left by the paper easily.  Meguiars Scratch X may be a good option, but look into it properly to be sure of what you're doing first.

As it's a flat surface I think it may work very well, just take your time and look into it well first.  I haven't looked at such stuff for a while, but there ought to be a detailing forum that will jump to help you, some of these guys are obsessive, and a new project would really whet their appetites.

[Paul Marossy]

Hmm... wet sanding might work. But it seems like it's not aggressive enough to take off the lettering. Maybe it could be done after carefully scratching it off, though. Or it might work with the right grit sandpaper. I usually use 400 or 600 grit for wet sanding.

I did a lot of wet sanding when I made my "SpankenStrat" guitar. I learned about it from a plastics class I took in high school. I've used it on occassion ever since.

[GibsonGM]

Try #0000 steel wool.  But any of the above may dull the yellow paint under the lettering....

[zombiwoof]

Hmm... wet sanding might work. But it seems like it's not aggressive enough to take off the lettering. Maybe it could be done after carefully scratching it off, though. Or it might work with the right grit sandpaper. I usually use 400 or 600 grit for wet sanding.

I did a lot of wet sanding when I made my "SpankenStrat" guitar. I learned about it from a plastics class I took in high school. I've used it on occassion ever since.

I was thinking more like 800-1200 grit, which you can get from guitar refinishing sites.

Al

[Paul Marossy]

I was thinking more like 800-1200 grit, which you can get from guitar refinishing sites.

Al

That would definitely be too gentle. Silkscreened letters on guitar pedals are pretty durable. It seems to me that it would take a lot more effort than wet sanding with 1200 grit sandpaper to get that off.

[Ice-9]

800 grit wet n dry would do it but would take a bit of effort, and you must use it on a flat block so as not to rub through other areas. Only problem would be that you may rub through the paint on the edges. My method although you may consider it drastic would be to remove the entire paintwork and repaint the whole pedal. It would probs work out quicker to do in the long run.