This sort of translucent effect? Is it a coloured lacquer?
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3Olgxtt1a7Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
(http://tulsabandguitars.com/184-thickbox_default/jhs-pedals-jhs-sweet-tea.jpg)
It looks like the translucent copper finish that PedalPartsPlus.com sells.
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PPP&Product_Code=101&Category_Code=ENCCS
I get finishes like this by mixing different powders (powder coat). Powder doesn't mix like a fluid paint does to produce a different color. It's more of a speckled effect that looks exactly like the pictures you posted.
The top coat however looks like a laquer clear coat. Which is pretty standard for me at least. I don't know of any way to (powder) clear a box after you added artwork without it bleeding or burning as powder flows at 400 degrees.
That's a two step powder coating job: translucent copper powder base coat, with a clear powder coat over the top.
Quote from: Micpoc on November 25, 2016, 11:01:39 PM
It looks like the translucent copper finish that PedalPartsPlus.com sells.
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PPP&Product_Code=101&Category_Code=ENCCS
This ^^^
Here's my harmonic percolator clone with that finish for another example.
(https://c3.staticflickr.com/6/5578/22830258058_5b4ece4809_c.jpg)
ya, I suppose JHS puts the decals on top of the cleared pedal. Didn't think of that. You can see between cajone5's pedal and the JHS pedal that they have a bit different texture.. It's a bit of an unpredictable finish, will turn out pretty similar as long as you mix the powder well though.
The powders aren't mixed. First the color, bake cure, then clear, bake cure again. You can put a decal over the color under the clear.
The speckle is from the bare enclosure showing through. I think real hammonds have that fleck inthe aluminum.
You can get effects by changing thickness , bake time and bake temp too. I also see a crap load of orange peel in one pick too. That's hard to control.
Right on, because you receive the powder in one package doesn't mean it wasn't mixed before hand though (Check out powder by the pound, they have all kinds of crazy paints likes this). I'm just saying if I were to try and tackle this finish I could easily achieve it by mixing a gold/copper maybe a little black to get that same speckled look. Thats what the OP was asking, I'm sure there are alot of different ways to achieve this. I'm probly just oblivious to the horrible microscopic orange peel the clear coat has, I've been painting for far to long to end up with that :)
Devilsnight, I'm not trying to be argumentative but I disagree that your approach will get you these results.
Not to say it wouldn't be cool on its own, and might be even cooler, but based on my own experiments I don't believe it will look like this.
I love experimentation, you can learn a lot and push the envelope. But also mess up some materials along the way.
Maybe you can try to do one your way and post results?
And for those who are interested, the orange peel on the Jhs box is from spraying the box while it's hot, probably in an effort to overcome a bad ground or bad voltage adjustments for the clear.
Viewing on a bigger screen than my phone, it looks like the markings are silk screened on top, so not a decal under clear like I posted before.
If you do want to do a decal under clear, full cure base coat, use a laser print decal, let decal dry 24 hours, then use a low temp clear. Ink jet decals will give you problems.
Also, I like Columbia or powder365 because they sell samples in smaller qty than one lb. for about $5, but my favorite is prismatic powder.
Edit: almost forgot, you don't need the clear on top, by itself the base coat looks great, but the clear does add some depth, and protects a decal if you use one.