Enclosure finishing question

[Synchrony Pedalworks]

I was trying to (ink) stamp my beautiful glimmer brown enclosure. I messed up, so I got the “brilliant” idea to use Goof off to take the ink off. However, that was a rookie mistake…. It took off some of the clear coat of the enclosure. The base color is unchanged.

I really like a clean enclosures…, like most of us, and would like to fix this issue. Would you all hit the enclosure with some a Kyron Acyrlic clear coat?
Thanks

 

[BuddytheReow]

Acrylic clear coat works just fine for sealing it up. I use rustoleum matte finish

 

[Synchrony Pedalworks]

Perfect. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[BuddytheReow]

Perfect. Thanks for the reassurance.

TBH, I don't have experience with ink stamping an enclosure. You may want to do super light coats so the ink doesn't run.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

yup. you want to dust it for the first few coats. quite similar to how you would spray a charcoal drawing with a fixative– look up a video on spraying fixative, and do the exact same process for 5-6 coats with 20-min between each one to seal the ink in. then you can spray as normal to get a more uniform coating if desired.

 

[benny_profane]

5-6 coats with 20-min between each one to seal the ink in.

Check the instructions for your product. I know with Montana spray acrylics, they suggest much shorter dry times between 'dusting' passes. We also don't have the same saturation concerns here as with spraying a fixative on a paper substrate.

Montana Varnish Instructions
Shake can well for 2-3 minutes upside down to take advantage of gravity. Remove the safety ring by removing the nozzle and turning the can upside down allowing it to fall out. Then re-apply the nozzle. Apply varnish in several thin layers, spraying before the previous coat is fully dry but with 2 minutes between each pass. Further coats might require a drying time of 24 hours or more depending on substrate.

EDIT: This process will certainly need to be adapted if there are chemical interaction concerns or potential bleeding of underlying ink. There's a balance that is tough here: Light dusting with full cure time minimizes the potential to run the substrate ink, however, it can potentially lead to flaking if the layers are not permitted to fully bond.

 

[Bricksnbeatles]

Check the instructions for your product. I know with Montana spray acrylics, they suggest much shorter dry times between 'dusting' passes. We also don't have the same saturation concerns here as with spraying a fixative on a paper substrate.

whoops. meant to say no more than 20 minutes. got distracted by the dog while I was typing. Typically you want to wait just enough for the solvents to flash off when doing dusting passes to seal something in. its easy enough to tell by touching the "overshoot" area around your object to test dryness. depending on humidity and temperature it can be anywhere from a minute to 15 minutes. I've found that 20 minutes is the 'point of no return' though-- at that point things dry so much between each dusting that you wind up with weird internal textures in the clear coat. Where I live, my typical preferred range in the summer for dusting coats is 150-240 seconds on dry days and 3-5 minutes for humid days. by autumn, dry days are around 3-5 min, and humid days are 8-15 min.

 

[Synchrony Pedalworks]

This is fantastic info, especially since I would have waited longer between coats. This advice might explain why some of my prior paint jobs do not have a nice finish. Thanks again!