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Red in notorious for bleeding through . . . even dormant red.  I've tried doing white graphics over dormant red, then sprayed a clear powder over the finished box . . . result was pink graphics.  I've tried dormant red, then full cure clear, then white graphics . . . then a second coat of clear over the graphic.  That should have worked, right?  Wrong -- still pink graphics.

As basically described above, best bet would be to shoot the dormant red, cure, cool to room temp, shoot the clear, full cure, cool . . . then apply your decal.  You may want to then try a lower temp clear to seal the decal on top and bake the box for the minimum amount of time necessary to cure the low-temp clear.  Keep tabs on your oven temp, too.

Just to illustrate using multiple colors -- here's a vibe pedal I did with four coats of powder.  First I applied the black chrome on the bottom half, cooled it, taped it off with high-temp masking tape and then shot dormant burgundy base coat on top.  I let the dormant burgundy heat up slightly then pulled it from the oven to cool.  I removed the tape and cured the dormant burgundy base coat.  After that cooled I masked off the beltline stripe, shot that with bright red, cured that and then cooled.  Final coat was clear over the entire box -- it activated the dormant burgundy and did a nice job of smoothing everything out.  You can't even feel the stripe with your fingernail.

Lots of good info and technique tips here -- http://www.powder365.com/forum/ -- a lot of those guys are hardcore pros but there's a lot of good information to be gleaned over there.  Check out the CUSTOMER PICTURES section to see some of the gorgeous work these guys can do.

Could you use a stencil when applying a second contrasting colour/coat of powder, remove the stencil, then bake and have a nice stencilled image or would the second coat melt and spread leaving a Dali-esque image?

Yep, you can do this depending on the stencil material you use.  The way to do it is to shoot your first color and then cure/cool.  Apply your stencil (vinyl graphics will work), shoot your second color and then put it in the oven just for a minute or two . . . . just until the second color powder starts to flow.  Pull it out of the oven, let it cool and then carefully remove the stencil.  Then back in the oven for the full cure time.

Exception to the rule -- reds.  Reds bleed with other colors pretty easily.

A lot of opinions here and I'll chime in --

You can definitely shoot clear over waterslide decals . . . it just takes some technique.  Make sure you apply the decal correctly (no trapped air) and let it dry thoroughly -- several hours or overnight if possible.  I like to shoot low-temp clear (325 deg. F cure temp) as there is less tendency to burn the decal.  One of the issues that may plague some folks is the use of small toaster ovens -- I would imagine they have a tendency to scorch things due to the tight space and proximity of the heating elements.  I'm fortunate enough to have room for a normal sized electric oven in my garage so that helps.

For a dual (or variable) voltage gun, you actually want to reduce the voltage for a second coat, not increase it.  Here's a pedal I did with a waterslide decal and clear powdercoating on top --



For the seasoned coaters . . . . . since I do quite a bit of powdercoating beyond pedal enclosures (smaller car parts, household items, etc.) I 'graduated' to a Red Line EZ50 gun (http://www.caswellplating.com/red-line-ez50-powder-coating-system.html) -- pricey but, MAN, it shoots so much nicer than an Eastwood gun.  Multiple coats are a breeze now.

It comes down to this. The whole situation is his doing. As described in the article, he has complete control over everything. He didn't have to do anything the way he did it, he chose to do it that way.

BINGO!  It's his deal -- he can run the show however he deems fit.  Why does that seem to offend so many?  Don't want to deal with it?  Don't buy the pedal -- period.  He's doing it the way he wants -- why do some feel the need to trash that?  And I don't necessarily see much whining in what he says -- he's saying what he feels . . . often in a classier manor than many of his detractors.  It's just seems like kind of a torch and pitchfork crowd scene sometimes . . . maybe people just get bored and edgy during the winter and need somebody or something to pick on, I don't know.

I kind of like his approach -- I'm currently trying to bring a vibe pedal to market in small quantities and I never imagined how much time and work it would take (financial, legal, time constraints, product development, outsourcing manufacturing that I can't do in house, etc.).  I've had more unsolicited advice on how to do things than I would ever ask for.  But I'm the only one that knows exactly how I want the product to look and sound and I don't want to give up control of that.  And I don't want to quit my day job either, so the process will be slow and quantities will be limited.  They'll either sell or they won't -- I'm not worried either way.  But I'm not really willing to give up total control of the final product yet . . . so in a way I can see how/why Bill does some of the things he does.

And the snarky speculation about his dealings with the single mother are puerile . . . . come on, gentlemen, let's raise the bar a tad.

Wow, a lot of judgment here -- didn't realize how many geniuses and big business moguls resided here.  All you self-made pedal-building millionaires, please raise your hands . . .

I don't know Bill personally but I've talked to a friend of his -- he described him as a most humble and almost shy individual who really wants no part of all the "ridiculous hype that . . . is not of his making".  Also described as a genuinely nice guy who just happens to be very fussy and particular about his product.

Remember, too, that the internet basically wasn't around when he started doing that pedal . . . so the wealth of readily available information that so many take for granted right now just wasn't there at the time.  Just for fun, try to quantify all of your circuit or pedal building knowledge.  Now imagine subtracting everything you've gleaned from the internet.  What do you have left?

BTW, I'm a licensed engineer and project/discipline manager -- you'd be surprised how many decent engineers can't put a coherent sentence together or organize their work.  Smart as whips with the calculations and such . . . but common sense often eludes them (i.e., can't see the forest through the trees).  A good PM is essential in most cases to bring a project to fruition and ensure budgets are met.  So if the guy realized what he wanted but was incapable of doing all of the circuit design himself, what is so bad about reaching out to others?  And try hand building 8000 of anything . . . day after day, week after week . . . I know I'd get sick of it after awhile for sure.

Just trying to look at it from a different angle.

Agreed -- the 808 is the best piece of pedal building equipment I've ever bought.  I giggled like a little school girl first time I used it.  I highly recommend this one to anyone doing a lot of building or tinkering.

Hakko 808.  The only thing I don't like is how long I waited to get one 

It's paid for itself.

Josh

Only three plausible ways to print white onto a dark background:

• Screen printing
• Print a waterslide decal using an Alps printer
• DecalPro system by PulsarPro

I used the DecalPro system to do the graphics in this thread . . . http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=6324.0 . . .  and here's white printed on black using the DecalPro stuff:



Unfortunately, none of those options are cheap or easy.  But if you want to print white (or light colored) opaque colors onto a dark background, I'm not aware of any other way for a DIY'er to do it economically at home.  Again, I'm talking about lettering directly onto the painted or powdercoated enclosure without having to colormatch a decal's background color or having to carefully cut out individual letters and such.

If someone finds another method of doing this then I'd love to hear to hear about it.  The DecalPro system gives professional results but there is a learning curve involved and it can be very frustrating at times.  Plus you'll need a laminator and a laser printer.

Here's another I did recently using the DecalPro stuff:

Post at will, oh great one . . . .

If you happen to have a laminator, you can try the Pulsar DecalPro system.  I've gotten nice results using the DecalPro stuff . . . but you need a laminator and there's a bit of a learning curve with the system.  Here's some stuff I did with the Pulsar system:

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=6324.0

LOL --- Murdog, you da man!  That was quick! You got one letter wrong but I'll give it to you anyhow (Bongo).

Alright my friend, PM me your name and shipping info and let's discuss some colors.  What do you like -- red, green, blue . . . ?  First let's get a color then we'll go from there . . . solid, candy, metallic . . . hell, I can even shoot sparkle on top if you like.

BTW, seems Mary Ann is the popular choice . . . but I was always a Ginger guy . . .

OK guys, maybe we'll start a cool little tradition here . . .

To thank MB for the monthly build contest and to pay it forward a bit, I'm offering the following:

One (1) brand new undrilled 125B pedal enclosure powdercoated in the color of your choice.  And I mean THE COLOR OF YOUR CHOICE . . . provided I have it in stock, lol.  But never fear, my garage shelves and cabinets are bulging with various color powders . . . candies, dormants, solids, pearls, veins, textures, you name it -- there are probably 100 different powders out there so I can likely get pretty close to your dream color.

What do you have to do to nab the 125B?  Why, just be the first to post the correct answers to this simple two part trivia question . . . going back to my early childhood with this one:

A.  What was the name of the pop/rock band that landed on Gilligan's Island?
B.  What were the names of the individual band members?

You have to correctly answer BOTH parts to win the box.  All are welcome to enter --- mods, MB himself, any forum member.

Now the bad part . . . I'm willing to ship the pedal anywhere in the CONUS no problem . . . but international shipping is a real buzzkill.  I just visited the USPS website and went YIKES when I priced out Priority Mail shipments outside the USA.  So if you're outside the US and would like a box coated in your color of choice then we may have to split the shipping or come to some agreement on that one.  Hope that sounds fair?  I'm an internationally known cheapskate.

Alright, let's have at it -- good luck!

Now, when I say I have a lot of colors . . . I mean I have a LOT of colors.  These are just some of them:



My favorite color this week?  Orange Moon Metallic with glass clear top coat.  I may even be talked into cutting the winner a celluloid top cover if desired . . . . here's a 125B in the OMM with a tiger celluloid cover on one of my El Mo' pedals:

Other Jim made some good points.  I clearcoated over the graphics on this pedal:

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=4256.msg37721#msg37721

No bleeding . . . but it did slightly fade out the white graphic a bit, i.e., it wasn't as bright white as the bare graphic.  But no bleed through from the purple wave base coat.  You also have to consider the cure temp. of the powders you're using -- spraying a 400° clear over a base coat that has a 340° cure temp will likely make the base coat reflow.
 
For the powdercoating end of things I've been able to glean some very useful info from this website:

http://www.powder365.com/forum/index.php

If you hang out there for a bit you'll come to recognize the guys that are helpful with various real world techniques and troubleshooting and such.

Not sure why he recommended a partial cure of the base coat -- on the boxes that I've clearcoated, I sprayed the base color and fully cured, then applied the graphics . . . then the clear powder coat.  Normally a partial cure is simply pulling the item out of the oven just after the powder has begun to flow but has not fully cured.

Might be a good idea to do a test sample with a piece of scrap metal.  Like I mentioned, I found red colors to be 'bleeders' when clear is applied (white graphic turned pink) but a few other colors didn't bleed at all.

One more bit of advise . . . if you don't already have one, get a paper cutter . . . something similar to this:

http://www.staples.com/X-Acto-Heavy-Duty-12-inch-Plastic-Paper-Trimmer/product_818674?cid=PS:GooglePLAs:818674&KPID=818674

The foils (especially the clear carrier foil) are sometimes 'challenging' to cut straight due to static cling and such.  The paper cutter really made the job go smoother for me.