The gold standard of video presentation. Thanks. Good job John.

The paste wax step is a game changer. 👍 Nice!!

Your voice is so calm and soothing

dude, can't thank you enough for these videos. super informative and encouraging. much appreciated.

Thanks so much for this video! I used this technique to print the controls for my scratch built guitar amp. Very helpful!!

extraordinary attention to detail! thumbs up.

The best polish for painted surfaces is to buff with farrecla grade 10 which is water based and used for polishing car/auto paint with a rotary lambs wool mop using water,once it's cut with farrecla(there are several grades,unless you have any scratches just go for the finest grit 10) after this is washed off dry and then use 3M hand glaze,the end result is amazing. I have a Triumph spitfire that i restored and was given this info by a pro car/auto spray painter the gloss is long lasting to,and cars have a time of it in the outdoors. The farrecla and the 3M hand glaze are not super cheap but not crazy expensive,the farrecla has to be wet buffed so it uses a small amount of cutting fluid,the hand glaze goes a long way too,also it works ultra amazing on guitar bodies. Never ever ever use T-cut,T-cut contains ammonia and dulls paint,it looks good for a little while but oxidizes the paint while farrecla does not,the guy who told me worked for himself but also worked in a shop here in Glasgow(Scotland) that did body repairs and obviously paint for jags and Rolls Royce so the quality had to be in the finished product. I never use anything else now. Also just as i observe a wooden block cut to the inside shape of the enclosure with a pole type handle would help.....just saying. great content .

Looks like I found a new hobby :) thank you for a very clear step by step overview of your process. It makes me feel very confident I can do this too

Thanks for making this video. I am in the process of doing graphics for my pedal. It's the first time I've done it. This is really helpful!

I watched your guitar wiring videos years ago when changing my pickups and they were really helpful. Now your pedal enclosure videos are helping just as much! Thanks for all the rad videos man!

Thank you so much, perfect demonstration!

THIS IS THE MOST DETAILED AND AMAZING TUTORIAL ON U TUBE!!!!! YOU ROCK!!!

Hey thanks for the information. My second effects pedal looks amazing thanks to your video. I wasn't sure how to get a professional look on my enclosure until I found your video.

John, you have a great voice. This was informative and very easy to listen to. Thanks.

Awesome video! I have my first DIY effects in the mail and was torn between a simple paint and the waterslides, but after watching this I think this is the way to go. Also really diggin the gauge/water design

A stellar instructional video and incredibly helpful. Thanks!

extremely helpful, thank you!

Thanks John. Great explanation. Generous to give all the required materials and technique. I was looking for this method for my own artwork.

Nicely done. congrats!

Excellent video, you could be making TV shows !...finally found a way to do this, thank you for posting !

Excellent tutorial! I bet your pedals sound as great as they look. Thanks!

Thanks! This was perfect instructions for helping me with my first DIY pedal. I printed via a laser printer onto my decal paper so the spray wasn't necessary, and I followed the instructions that came with the decal sheet for setting in the decal (baking in oven at 220F for 20 mins once applied) followed by polycrylic clear coating. Looks great!

Subscribed because of this video. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for taking the time to do this!

AAAAmazing, I am building a large beaver pedal.... this will be the final touch.... thank you for the tutorial!!!!

I've just made my own fuzz pedal and had no knowledge about how to decorate and make the enclosure more distinctive…Until I watched your most excellent demo! Thank you for laying out each step in a very user friendly way. I'm off to design my graphics for it now. Thank you!

Very informative and great voice for this sort of thing.. Love the pedal name as well!

Excellent to the point video!

Very helpful and a great design, thanks

Thanks for making this video! Great info!

Fabulous video. Thank you!

Great tutorial! I really enjoyed it. I've been making my own pedals for years. I've been making them for my own use, but lately I'm getting offers to make pedals for other people. While making my own pedals look professional isn't a huge priority for me, I've been looking for ways to make them look better if I sell them. Thanks!

thanks a lot for this video. it is extremely clear and well done.

Great electrical design combined with great graphics design.. well done :D

Thank you man, so well explained

Awesome tutorial!

You have an amazing voice.

really nice work , mate, I enjoyed the video so much !

As a follow perfectionist, some call me Mr. OCD, I absolutely love your attention to detail and no nonsense approach in all your videos. Very informative and well executed. Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ve picked up some great tips from many of your videos. Keep ‘em coming!

Found this video really helpful - thanks!

Excellent, well-done video. You really spelled it all out. Thank you!

Great! Excellent tutorial mate! Thanks a lot for sharing. Regards!

Thanks for the great advice and vids !

Hi John - perfectly useful video - so inspiring I in fact popped onto eBay for a small printer :) I realize how much more professional this is than my hand-painted stuff (if I was artistic it would be different, but . . ).Your presentation skills are fantastic, so many HowTo videos are just painful to watch the presenter stumble through the info. I'll be back for more of your stuff -Thanks! Joseph

thank you it's very helpful

Great video... and the other vid about using GIMP, never heard of it before. I been a photoshop user for years. :-) too bad we didn't have all the stuff like the printer, the decal paper, graphic programs etc, back in the 80's when I was doing a lot of experimenting with electronics. I used to buy those little Radio Shack project boxes and then paint them and they never came out as good of quality as the one you built.

Great job.

Excellent video, thanks

Amazing Guy!! Thans a lot! it's very helpful!

Well done!

brilliant

Great. Very useful video.

Excellent video!

Fantastic thanks, John. I just went down this Rabbithole.. This is the good oil.

Thanks!

You are the best.

Hi, thanks for this tutorial, it looks great and I'm going to give it a try! I was in my local hardware shop today and the only clear acrylic they had was PlastiKote Super Clear - apparently it's a fake acrylic and can sometimes cause ink to run. Do you know if this will work for this project? Thanks heaps!

thank you sir

I think you could use the waterslide decal with white backing. I've just ordered some and will try. cheers

GREAT DUDE!

Great instruction

good job!

thats an awsome guide and thanks for sharing. one question i'm having a problem with the water based polyacrylic clear top. i follow your instruction step by step but i'm getting bubbles any idea what i'm doing wrong? thanks again

Great tutorial, and nice designs, but, what solutions to decals over black cases/finishes???

Got it!

Wow, that was great! thanks!

Owesome

Just to add to John's response. You can get decal paper that has a white background but you have to cut it out very carefully since you'll be able to see the trim line plain as day. That's about the only way you can use these on a black finish. You can however print a black border around it to help mask it, but it may not match the black on your case/finish

Excellent Video! I use the dye ink water-based?

Hey John, do u have to wet sand in the end for a glossy look? Do you know if its possible to "bake" the enclosure in a toaster oven to speed up drying? I assume that the decal might be a problem here due to the high temps... This method seems very nice because you can do indoor. I´ve noticed u used the "satin" acrylic coat. i believe one could get the glossy ones for glass look like.... thanks for the great video mate!

Hi there, great video man, very helpful!! Where can i find waterslide?

I had the decal on there perfectly. Hit it with the spray clear and my decal started cracking. Didn’t expect that

I take it, that's a compressor pedal...this is very inspiring. I may have to give DIY Mod Kits a visit now.

That Speed Racer design was so cool; shame it had to get trashed.

Cool man. Now my project is 100% DIY.

2:20 in and I'm just realizing he isnt doing bike pedals, yay I'm smart

great videos man! Where do you buy decal paper?

Wonderful :)

Yes, a gold standard. Now, before I post, I'll have to ask myself "Is it as clear and complete and John Cooper's?"

John, you did the clear coating on the waterslide decal because you printed with a inkjet? i've printed a logo for my guitar using a collor lazer printer and i didnt have issues with the decal. i just coated with clear coating after i attached the decal. i was just lucky? cheers

Just found this video, does this kind of decal work with a bare aluminum enclosure, or does it need to be painted or powder coated?

Well, on the guitar looks pretty good! but is not a white surface, simply wood collor! ive seen people having issues with yellowing of the "transparent" part of the decal. i guess it depends on the quality. John, what about printing almost all decal with some black color for example. Migh be easier that coating the pedal. have you tried something like this? cheers mate!

Congrats on your video, but i wonder .. what if i want my pedal in black with white design ?

Thanks for this instructive video. I would like to pose a simple question. You use the paste wax in the end. I can see that you use furniture wax but I'd like to ask if I could use car wax for the same purpose. Thanks.

I think this is the best tutorial on waterslide decals for pedals. Thumb up! Just an observation: following your tutorial I have found that two minutes in the water are too much for the decal, it needs just thirty or forty seconds. Does it depend on the decal I am using or are they all equal? Thank you

Thank you for the great video I have a black plastic box, will the decay paper printing look too dark on it?

When do we get to hear how your pedal sounds? Good job on these very informative videos! :)

Thanks for these great videos. I just finished priming/painting my pedal. It has a rough texture to it (I’m guessing because of dust). Would it be ok to lightly sand it to smooth it out before applying the label?

is there any graphics software out there with built in images of potentiometers and other electronics knobs?

Hi John, Great tutorial! Very thorough and the finished job looks amazing. I'm trying this as well and I'd like to print a dark decal for the top while leaving the other five sides metallic. The kicker is the white lettering... Would you suggest painting just the top white before applying the decal, or maybe using white decal paper instead of a water slide? Any other ideas/input would be much appreciated! Thanks.

Now I'm wondering if this could be done for a full decal covering the entire guitar body...

Great tutorial! Which type of decal paper did you use?

John, great video, love the detail & the step by step how to. i wanna ask, why u use inkjet printer instead color laser printer ? do u use spesific water decal paper that can only be used with inkjet printer ? your canon pro 9000 is inkjet printer, cmiiw

you rock thumbs up for you!!! =)

Excellent video. It’s been really helpful as I work through my first pedal. How long should I wait after spraying my ink jet printed label with acrylic crystal clear spray before putting it in the water? I tried a test run after a few hours of applying 3 clear coats and the whole image dissolved. Thanks

John, how many coats of Clear shall I do using acrylic spray? 've done 6 and still looks like nothing :P cheers

Great video mate! I know that the canon pro 9000 is a inkjet printer, can I do this on a deskjet?

Mr John How did you get the size of the pedal in the pc software. I'm a beginner .

can you put it on phone cases as well?

Great video John! I heard u say u build furniture? Any chance of u uploading any woodworking videos? Thanks!......Gus

What brand of paper did you use for the decal?