The Pedal Finishing Thread - Painting, Coating, Drilling, Envirotex, etc

munckee · August 2018

So here is my American Sound as personalised by missus munckee. I know where this rabbit hole goes, a board of all joyo pedals all sanded and decorated!

https://i.imgur.com/sykRt20.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JkgRxMm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/AOrIH6d.jpg

Philtre · August 2018

Looks great! Are you applying or spraying some kind of top coat for protection?

munckee · August 2018

Yep got some plascoat I think it's called have only done one coat as I like the idea of it wearing a bit over time.

thermionic · August 2018

munckee said:
I know where this rabbit hole goes, a board of all joyo pedals all sanded and decorated!

This didn’t work out well for Freekish Blues!

Philtre · December 2018

Here's my latest project, a King of Tone clone. Two circuit boards, one for each side, and a daughter board for the clipping diodes and DIP switches. I didn't have enough black knobs, so two are purple until I order some more...

grappagreen · January 2019

Hi all,

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread - very helpful.

I've built about 8 pedals now and am thinking about getting the enclosures powder coated before having a go at printing labels and using this Envirotex stuff. Pedals sound great but looks leave a little to be desired

Probably going to get them all coated in white and then just generate different graphics for the labels.

Si

thermionic · January 2019

OK... I have another project on the go. Fuzzdog powdercoated enclosure (yes they appear to be stocking them again) and I will shortly have some rub-off transfer paper (flashbacks to when we used to make 7" single covers with Letraset and the photocopier in work). I could never get waterslides to work without smudging. The graphics are quite simple, just a black drawing over the powdercoat colour.

I will rough-up the top of the enclosure before I apply the decal, then I will spray the top with some sort of clear coat. Any suggestions of what I could use for good results? I've tried Halfords lacquer before on an enclosure I painted myself and it took months to cure. PlastiKote acrylic seems to get good reviews in general (on amazon and the like, by craft-type people). Any suggestions?

thermionic · February 2019

Well, this has been going pretty well. The results are not perfect, but far better than anything else I've tried. I will fill you in with the details and some photos when I've finished soldering...

grappagreen · February 2019

thermionic said:

Well, this has been going pretty well. The results are not perfect, but far better than anything else I've tried. I will fill you in with the details and some photos when I've finished soldering...

Cool - I’ve got s couple of Fuzzdogs kits on the way so might give this a try..

Philtre · February 2019

Just don't use Rustoleum clear coat. It's shit.

Paul_C · February 2019

I thought I'd add my recent build to this thread, though the finishing can best be described as "rough and ready" as I didn't want to spend ages on it

I sprayed one quick coat of satin black (after washing the enclosure with a little washing up liquid) onto the front face and rubbed it back a little with some wet and dry and kitchen towel soaked in white spirit.

The lettering and ray gun was drawn on with a silver paint marker, rubbed back and re-done to make it look nicely ragged.

I would like a little colour on it though, so maybe I'll have to pick up some paint pens if I don't just use a little acrylic (I have lots of artist acrylics and as it won't be stood on it won't suffer too much wear).

I was going to use red, white and blue knobs but once I'd done the paint I thought the clear ones suited it better.

The pedal is my third kit build and the easiest of the three - a Parasit Studios Raygun Youth, which is a mad PLL fuzz monster. I'm also looking at five other Parasit Studios kits as they're cheap, easy to build and sound great (i.e. mad).

httpwwwarrowheadguitarscoukpicsraygunyouthjpg

SteveF · May 2019

Hi all. Been a while - work has been taking over my life recently and so I have not been very productive this year at all, but got this finished recently. It was the Skreddy Lunar Module Deluxe that @Philtre recommended. My first fuzz pedal and it sounds ace! Got a few more pedal BOMs picked out and in tubs ready to go so hopefully get some more achieved soon!

Image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/00119bt0oye4744/IMG_3260.JPG?raw=1

Philtre · May 2019

That looks really nice @SteveF :-)

Are you still using Envirotex? BTW - is that a Peavey amp?

SteveF · May 2019

Thanks @Philtre ;

Yes, still using Envirotex. I figured I may as well while I still have a supply of the sticky backed paper and ET. I'll try another approach when I run out.

The amp is a Fender Blues Deluxe. Sounds great clean and with pedals. I never really use the drive channel to be honest.

Philtre · May 2019

I'm still using the sticky backed paper and another thin layer of clear sticky vinyl on top approach. Seems to be quite strong.

Did a makeover of an old pedal last week (Jan Ray clone):

Philtre · May 2019

Also did a OCD clone using the same technique:

SteveF · May 2019

How does it sound? I have one of those on my "to build" list. I spent a few hours ordering specific bits and picking all the bits out into little tubs for my next builds. So far I have these ready to go:

Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay
MXR Phase 90
Boss CE-2
Vemuram Jan Ray
ZVex Fuzzolo
Hudson Broadcast
ProCo Rat
Earthquaker Devices Tentacles (already did one of these for a mate and it sounded mental so thought I would knock one up for myself)

SteveF · May 2019

Philtre said:

Also did a OCD clone using the same technique:

That looks great!

Philtre · May 2019

SteveF said:

How does it sound? I have one of those on my "to build" list. I spent a few hours ordering specific bits and picking all the bits out into little tubs for my next builds. So far I have these ready to go:

Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay
MXR Phase 90
Boss CE-2
Vemuram Jan Ray
ZVex Fuzzolo
Hudson Broadcast
ProCo Rat
Earthquaker Devices Tentacles (already did one of these for a mate and it sounded mental so thought I would knock one up for myself)

The Jan Ray clone sounds much like my Timmy clone (much the same circuit), but perhaps slightly different.

Done the Deep Blue Delay, nice one to do.

Done the Rat, sounds ace.

The EQD Tentacles is great too. http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1905188/#Comment_1905188

Have you done a Fuzz Factory? Can't remember if you have.

SteveF · May 2019

Fuzz Factory also picked out and ready to build - missed it from the list!

Philtre · May 2019

SteveF said:

Fuzz Factory also picked out and ready to build - missed it from the list!

Good.

A tip - be prepared for some squealing. I spent ages trying to debug my first FF because I thought something was wrong. It's supposed to sound like that. ;-)

SteveF · May 2019

Haha excellent!

I think I'm most looking forward to the Hudson Broadcast and most worried about the Phase 90. I have built a little FET tester and matched the transistors as closely as I could from about 12 options but I'm not sure how close is a "good" match.

elstoof · April 2023

Just poured a coat of envirotex on my emperor of tone, seemed straightforward enough.

SteveF · April 2023

If you find you get a slightly uneven finish around the holes, you can try taping the back of the holes next time and then you can pour a nice flat coat over the whole thing and redial the holes out when it's cured.

That graphic looks excellent - paint pens?

Philtre · April 2023

Holy Necro thread, Batman!

elstoof · April 2023

Yeah I taped the back so the varnish poured pretty flat. Hopefully it’s easy enough to drill out?

yep posca pens, with some farrow and ball Calluna for the background. Got a sample pot of the colour we want to do the bathroom in knocking about so thought I’d put the rest of it to use in this cost of living crisis. I went with powder coated white cases for the stewmac kit but it turned out to be too slick for the posca pens. Scuff sanding a key did the trick but had to cover that up somehow

SteveF · April 2023

Very easy to drill, but do it from the front, or you risk lifting the finish from around the holes.

elstoof · April 2023

Appreciate the tip!

elstoof · April 2023

Job’s a good’un, it all works and the kit was straightforward enough - apart from the feeding the chassis mounded LED legs through the fully loaded pcb which was an exercise in patience. Got some smaller knobheads coming to fit on the bottom 2 knobs, going to take some fiddling about with the get decent sounds out of it I reckon, a bias pot for each side and dip switch for gain settings to dick about with.

A couple of things I’d like to improve with the lacquer, first time using that though and I’m happy enough with the result to live with this as is

-x-GF-x- · August 2023

New to pedal DIY and hoping for some help... I have a Joyo Ultimate Drive, which sounds great but looks awful and I'd like to redecorate it.

I had thought the easiest way would be roughing up the existing paint, enamel spray paint, water decals printed on my cheapo ink jet printer, then clear coat.

I haven't settled on a design but currently my ideas are things like this...

Does that seem sensible/likely to succeed?

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The Pedal Finishing Thread - Painting, Coating, Drilling, Envirotex, etc

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