How to put white letter on a black pedal

[Kitarist]

So i'm really curious how some people do it ? We know printers cant print white colors

Thanks!!!

[MartyMart]

You can buy sets of white "lettraset" - a bit fiddly to rub on and keep straight but it works.
Clear coat after and it looks pretty cool :   EG

[merlinb]

You can also get white pens, if you want a less professional approach! 

[Gurner]

A pad printer!

but these cost a lot of money - so I've been mulling....

Basically a pad printer dumps some solvent based ink into a recess (this recess being your letters/words)  a silicone pad them plops down onto this ink ...'lifts' it up/out..... the ink is now on the pad ....it is then pressed onto the item requiring printing....the silicone pad releases the ink - voila.

So this got me thinking....why not simply etch your required letters into copper (just like making a pcb)...get some white solvent based ink fill the recess with ink, skim the excess off with a blade - press down with a diy silicone pad - transfer it over to your pedal enclosure - press down hard, job done. (in essence you'd become the pad printer 'hydraulics! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFBTC--mA1s&feature=related ) - you'd have to move quick as the solvent evaporates quickly...else you'llbe stuck with the image on your pad on in the copper recess.

I realise that it wouldn't be worth it for one pedal...but if you sell a few of the same pedals, it could be a reproducable & very quick way of printing your designs.

[Toney]

Yeah +1 on the Lestraset, if you can find it... haven't seen it for years.
Other than that, perhaps cut stencil? Army style.

[davent]

Dry transfer labels (Letraset) work great but as others have said these days are rather rare and hard to find. I've put black letters (deca)l on a black pedal by first painting a white patch (and then green in this case) to put the decal over.



dave

[Mark Hammer]

White rub-on transfer lettering, indeed just about ANY rub-on lettering, is getting harder and harder to find these days.  In fairness, its principal use was for business graphics back in the days when there was no other way to economically print different fonts and different type sizes on a sheet (e.g., for commercial layouts) in one-offs.  Now that the major client for that sort of thing is able to do it all with graphic software and a printer, rub-ons have as much use as shepherds. (outside of New Zealand, of course).

Some art supply stores still carry them, and since you can't exactly print onto a curved piece of balsa wood, you can also find them sometimes in stores that cater to airplane/train hobbyists.  I found some nice bright yellow rub-on lettering there once.  And once in a while, you can find some suitable lettering in those scrap-booking places, though that tends to be a bit thick and the choices are very limited and not always suitable for legending tightly-spaced controls.

Of course, black is still the form that you are still most likely to find any rub-on lettering, so that constrains your paint-colour choices.  I think davent's idea is clever, though I think he'd agree that it takes some brush skills to be able to provide a contrasting background that is aesthetically pleasing.  I've tried it before, and didn't particularly like how it turned out.

The other path to consider is paint pens.  These can be purchased at crafts stores and art-supply stores, and produce a nonwater-soluble paint stream.  I have yet to see one that might let you do 8-10pt fonts, but the fine tips will let you draw lettering/legending cleanly in the 12-14pt zone.  What's nice is that they come in a much wider array of colours than rub-on lettering ever did, so you could have blue and green lettering against a white background if you felt like it.  What's not so nice is that they require great care and vigilance with respect to keeping the tips unblocked and free-flowing, and obviously depend heavily on your penmanship skills.  They also require some form of clearcoating on top for protection if you want the legending to last, and that in itself requires some additional labour and good judgment.

On a recent octave-up fuzz I made, I used rub-on white lettering against black background for the legending, and a white paint-pen for a bit of complementary artwork beside the name.  Not exactly Jason Myrold, but not unpleasant either.

[merlinb]

Something else you can do is get one of those people who make adhesive vinyl decals for cars to make a sheet of words/letters for you. The letters need to be fairly big though (at least 10mm high usually). Stick 'em on and lacquer over the top!

You can also make your own screen print this way!

[deadastronaut]

letraset is available in black at wh smiths uk...

but the white is only available online!!!!!...looks good though!.

ive used it and then etched the box, comes out with really clean edges too!!!!..and doesnt get bubbled  off...

[Earthscum]

White rub-on transfer lettering, indeed just about ANY rub-on lettering, is getting harder and harder to find these days.
...

When I first started learning electronics way back in grade school, we had rub-on pads and traces for etching... wish I could find those again! I can't find them anywhere... at least I was lucky and the NTE dist here knew what I was talking about and said he'd try to find them, but next time we talked he reported that he couldn't find any at all... he seemed kind of bummed about it as I was, lol!

[jkokura]

I think I've written about it a few times, but this is how I did it.

I created graphics that a local sign making shop prints out for me on clear vinyl decal. The have printers that use foils to print in whatever colour the foils come in, including white. They then use a laser cutter to cut out a full face decal for me, which I then apply to my pedals. I let them dry on, then clear coat. Here's some examples:





I do it in bulk, meaning that I do several pedals at once. I usually use white or black graphics, and will get them to print 6-10 different pedals out at once. The basic fee is 30 bucks, so it works out to 4 or 5 bucks per pedal, which is very worth it in my opinion considering the results - As long as I don't mess it up like with that Tremolo...

Jacob

[Kitarist]

Thanks guys!!!

Are there any easier methods?

[jkokura]

What do you mean by easier?

There's rubber stamping... Look up Rubber Alphabet Stamps at Michaels, and get some Staz-On Ink in White while you're there.

Jacob

[Nasse]

I always do it by painting the background white, and then apply a see trough black white ordinary laser decal over the white background, and thereafter fill white parts still white but need blackened, with black paint or something black, and after all put some clear coat over.

[petemoore]

  Paint-Stamp, like the old days.
  Use 'stamp-alignment-jig'...stamp connected to stick which spans past across the top of the box, on each side of the box is a vertical post. These posts set for square with the box, the box placed so the stamp print up/down and level are guided by the jigposts/cross stick.
  Stamp:
  Reversed foam letters, carved potato, 'stretch-bumped paper' [use soft writing surface and press hard to 'bump' the paper up, flip it over], Leather, innertube...anything ! Lettersetting 'dent' toolkit optional.
  Paint the pallette to load the stamp, option to hand-paint the stamp itself with small brush [and paint that doesn't dry too fast]. Option pre-stamp some other surface once to get the actual stamp more even. Or swirl more paint at the stamp edges for thicker-edge effect. Use multiple colors to load the stamp.
  Practice with water soluble [wash off easy-able] or disposable products. Sometimes common stuff like glue or toothpaste can be thinned to be similar consistancy to what the permanent paint is.
   

[Fender3D]

Someone else talked about this: http://www.pulsarprofx.com/decalpro/Vertical/1_MENU/1b_Overview/Overview.html already.
(Thank you whoever you are, too lazy to "search" right now...)
The starter kit is not expensive, and you might use the laminator for printing your PCBs too...

[RickL]

I'll add to Mark's comments about paint pens. I have used them but more often I letter with gel pens. They are available in a huge number of colours, including florescent and metallic, they cheap and they will create a very fine line. They also absolutely must be clear coated. Use a solvent based clear coat and apply in a couple of light coats.

[trixdropd]

Someone else talked about this: http://www.pulsarprofx.com/decalpro/Vertical/1_MENU/1b_Overview/Overview.html already.
(Thank you whoever you are, too lazy to "search" right now...)
The starter kit is not expensive, and you might use the laminator for printing your PCBs too...

I use this system. I haven't done the graphics rub ons yet, cause i'm lazy, but I have the laminator and use their transfer paper and foils. very good system.

[peterv999]

Frontplates as presented to engineers are prepared in our lab used only printed circuit boards. I suggest to use clear foil with cup per to do the same with possible gold-plating? Wondering if foil can be bought in small quantities

Piet

[MoltenVoltage]

Laser engraving is a pretty cool way to go, and can be relatively inexpensive if you find the right shop.