First, sanding the enclosure is a long and painful task and is mandatory if you want a clean surface to paint on. Avoid the long long hours spent carefully polishing your enclosure !
Then, a lot of thin layers are required if you want a proper painting, and most of the time, the painting will still be fragile and sensitives to shocks. I got craks or scratches on the paint really quickly... Nice if you want a beaten-up, vintage, relic look, but not if you want something really clean and durable. You will end up having something similar to the first tall font russian big muff that had paint quality issue:
(ok it looks cool like this I know... But imagine this on your new beautiful pedal that you spent hours to make!)
Layers can be inequals, and if you spray too much paint, you will have an horrible painting with traces like these:
The price is usually 3 to 4 euros more, which is quite expensive, but for all the advantages listed above, it really worth it to me. Especially if you are going to make a few pedals, and not like a hundred !
Remember that professional pedal enclosures are not spray painted. Most of the time, they are powder coated, which is a different technique that is not very complex, but requires quite a bit of space and equipement. Powder coating involves a kind of spray gun that will project a powder on the object that is negatively charged (only works on metallic items). Then the object is "baked" in a very high temperature oven (very expensive too), and you get a proper, shiny, beautiful paint. It is the same kind of process that is used with cars for instance.
Of course, this is just my advice for now, maybe I will change my mind later !
You disagree? Post a comment!
If you like this post, thank me by liking Coda Effects Facebook page! Follow Coda Effects on Instragram here.
18 Comment
Powder coating is not hard. You can get a cheap powder gun here in the States at Harbour Freight and just use a regular old toaster oven to bake (do not use it to cook food afterwards though). Extremely easy and a lot quicker than using spray paain't. Oh, you will need an air compressor too (which can also be found at Harbour Freight pretty cheap
AnswerHello! I am really interested in this, I did not know a standard oven could be enough... Do you have any links to share? Thank you
AnswerAny of your standard toaster ovens should work. Now, you can only do one or two pedal enclosures at a time, because the oven is pretty small. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_1_4?k=toaster+oven&sprefix=toas
AnswerThis is the powder gun I use. http://m.harborfreight.com/10-30-psi-powder-coating-system-94244.html
I cast my own bullets, and powder coat them all the time! (It acts like a jacket around the lead, the stuff is so tough!)
AnswerAs the other gent suggested, there is the Harbor Freight powder coating gun that requires a compressor. However a more compact, affordable option for you might be the WAI Powder coating gun, which does not require a compressor. It used to be sold under the Craftsman brand. now they are available on Ebay, and once in a while on amazon.
Do a search for "Craftsman Powder coat gun" or "WAI Powder coat gun" on Ebay and you will find them for $50 or $60 USD.
Ebay also has some great sources for powder coat. A little goes a LONG way, so don't be very discouraged by prices like $10 or $20 USD per pound for your favorite colors. For a pedal builder a pound of a given color will probably be more than a lifetime supply unless you're building a ton of pedals. If you can get an assortment of colors in 1/4 lb bags that will give you some variety.
A standard toaster oven works great for baking the coat on. Get a "convection" toaster oven if possible, it will have a more stable temperature throughout without the hot spots that some old school toaster ovens can have.
You will want to de-grease your enclosure before powder coating. Acetone works fine for that purpose. Brake cleaner probably would too. Good hot soapy water might even be plenty, I just haven't tried it myself.
Here are some 357 hollow points I powder coated purple, and they turned out gorgeous and shiny. http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y382/cowpuncher72/Mobile%20Uploads/20150712_183332_zpszlwrfy68.jpg
Wow! Great comment! Thank you!
AnswerI'll give a try as soon as possible, seems like very reasonnable pricing.
However, it might be quite hard to powder coat in my small parisian flat for now haha.
I powder coat my bullets at a little workbench in my wood shed. :) Seriously, it's NOT that tough. You're going to do it... and facepalm yourself... and think "This was sooo much easier than I suspected!"
AnswerFor pedal sized projects, especially with the Craftsman/WAI style gun that requires no compressor, a decent sized cardboard box would make a good enough spray booth for you. I actually do my bullets with a different method called "tumble coating" that uses the natural static electric charge built up when you swirl the bullets and powder coat together in a plastic container - rather like the static charge you build up when you rub a balloon on someone's hair. But having worked with the stuff a lot... I'm sure a decent sized box will make a great disposable spray booth for you.
The cleanup on the stuff isn't as bad as you think either. If you drop some, it IS a fine powder and gets all over, but you can't think of it like paint. It's just fine little spheres of colored plastic, you just sweep and vacuum it right up.
Totally dead nuts easy to do. I'll look around your site and try to find your contact me email on your page somewhere, and send you my email address in case you have any questions I can help you with when you're ready to do it.
I would recommend you do it with some ventilation, but that doesn't have to be extreme. When you bake the powder coat, just have the toaster oven near an open window, with a fan GENTLY blowing air in that direction, and that will be plenty. It's not a stinky process at all.
As for getting your powder, when i email you, I'll direct you toward a guy on a bullet casting forum that I deal with. since a lot of bullet casters are powder coating their bullets now to prevent leading their barrels.... the guy i'm mentioning buys powders that flow and cure well in bulk, and kindly sells them at a low markup in 1/4 lb bags. For $20 I think you can get 8 different 1/4 lb sample bags (Might be a little more or less, that's off the top of my head so don't hold me to the exact $$$). That would be the most affordable, fast, easy way for you to get an assortment of colors for your projects. 1/4 lb of powder would probably coat a bunch of 1590bb enclosures.
The purple powder coat in the photo I linked is from that guy. He's tested and selected nice powders that flow smooth and nice when they are heated in the oven, to give good results easily. "Gloss" powder coats tend to flow much more nicely than matte, so I recommend sticking with those for easy, good results. Here are some more photos of bullets I've powder coated to give you an idea of what some various powders from smoke4320 (the guy on that forum selling 1/4 lb bags) look like. Some 45acp 200 grain hollow points, in gloss black, and hot pink. Don't judge! My best friend's wife wanted pink bullets. :)
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y382/cowpuncher72/Mobile%20Uploads/20150709_231826_zpsyuyegil3.jpg
http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y382/cowpuncher72/Mobile%20Uploads/20150710_230247_zpsxlxzkug2.jpg
Look how shiney they are, and I'm not even a very good photographer or a very experienced powder coater. It's dead simple.
Wow, I didn't know about the gun that doesn't need a compressor. It would make sense though, since they need very little air pressure to work
AnswerYep. Very economical in both cost and space. Mine came in a plastic case like you get for an 18V cordless electric drill. Takes up very little space at all when not in use.
AnswerAgree ..I just used an entire can of paint trying to get a good finish, and failed..
AnswerSlash's guitar builder used to build & lacquer guitars in his small New York City apartment. I don't know how people do what they do in those tiny apartments, but they do. I am looking at a run down old farm with a 3600 square foot house and a 1600 square foot garage/shop, and another garage. I already make 2000 mile round trips running back and forth picking up and dropping off gear for repairs, restoration, modifications, and dropping off new products. My first paint booths were visqueen plastic outdoors, with an explosion proof fan and a furnace filter. Sunlight was the best lighting for some colors & finishes on guitars. 10,12, or 20 coats of finish, and then the buffing begins. Powder coating is easy in comparison.
AnswerI do hammertone paint, but it takes a year or so for the stuff to cure up and harden. Crinkle paint is about the same too. Powder coating is lead pipe simple. Bake it and it's ready to go. Car paint takes a few months to harden up too. It's just the nature of the stuff.
AnswerWow! Great work! I will give it a try then!
AnswerHammertone is long to harden, however it looks really nice compared to classic spray painting!
AnswerI agree with you. I tried spraypainting my enclosures Gold. Firstly whilst it takes only an hour to 'touch dry' the stuff never really dries proeprly and the 'gold' sheen always smudges..I also tried using an undercoat and it wasn't much better..Would like to find cheap powdercoated enclosures, any chinese suppliers?
AnswerErm....I disagree. Not everyone wants things to be corporate looking and 'proper'.
AnswerAt least the artistic aspects of our lives could be spared from market driven conformity, couldn't they?
Anyway, Zvex didn't seem to have much problem with hand-painted enclosures.
The aspect of things being a one-off is quite important to some of us, and really, it is the sound of the thing and its working that we should be most interested in.
So yeah, I understand that some people like to buy something they feel is 'correct', but that you 'shouldn't' paint your own pedals, nope, can't agree.
yo wth, this article is terribly incorrect about things and is discouraging to people who, if they read this, prolly want to try finishing a pedal for their first time
AnswerI mean all the arguments this guy makes just sounds like he did not want to put in the effort to improve pretty simple skills. Like spray painting is a skill, it will take multiple tries until you start to get a clean paint job. Most autoshops also spray paint their cars and are able to get clean, perfect look because they have practiced.
Not too mention most of these items are fairly cheap and accesible to use. Atleast in the US, quality spray paint does not cost the equivelent of 12 euros. Also, powder coating is very simple and safe. Although not as cheap as spray paint, you can get all the tools you need for about the price of a pedal.
All of things just take time to get better at, and although he clearly does not enjoy the process of painting pedals, many people enjoy and this article should not discpourage any one from giving it a go and expirimenting with new things. Us as musicians should be open for challenges and not giving up when something becomes hard, not just in our musical studies, but it is a great outlook on life. Buy a cheap pedal and give it a go, if it comes out like crap, then see where you can improve. have fun!
yeah weird and pointless article lmfao
Answer