Thick acrylic paint durability

[Fama]

Hello!
I've done a couple of acrylic pour paintings with my wife (they come out very cool for the amount of effort, especially if you like a stoner/nebula/space aesthetic, IMO) so I figured I would try something similar to paint a pedal enclosure.

It came out looking great (well, it's still wet, but shouldn't change too much). However, since I am not very experienced in this the paint came out as a very thick coat. I've sprayed varnish (or, well, some sort of car lacquer? Not sure what it's called in English) at hand painted pedals before, and they seem decently durable, but nothing this thick.

Mainly the question I have is: Should I try to cut out a small circle for the washers for the pots and footswitches? Anything else I should be careful with? Or will it be better than I think?

I'm a bit afraid that tightening the nuts could tear the paint coat and cause it to bunch up, ruining the look. If I cut a small circle for the pots, they would be hidden by the knobs. Not sure about footswitches tbh.

I don't gig, so I would only use the pedal at home with socks or by hand, so the pedal will be handled carefully. I'm mostly concerned about putting it together and tightening everything. It's a Tayda matte black enclosure, so the paint is on top of their powder coat.

 

[Alan W]

I think if you use smooth washers, and are careful about tightening the bolts, you’ll be fine. Starting with the pots would make sense, so you can see if it works okay before attempting the footswitch. My guess is there’s poor adhesion to the powder coat, but since you’ll be “babying” it, just let it dry for a week or so and then give it a try. Really nice looking!

 

[BuddytheReow]

Depending on how thick the paint is you may have to wait 2 days minimum for the paint to cure before doing anything else

 

[Fama]

Right, turns out I'm not in a rush to assemble the pedal since I didn't realize the PCB uses 9mm pots and not 16mm.

I like Fuzzdog for the cheap prices, good selection and cheap postage to EU, but this part has definitely been lacking for me. With the fuzzpups it was my own fault that I didn't realize they use 9mm pots, but I don't think this one mentioned it anywhere. It shows up in the pictures, but I didn't pay quite that much attention.

 

[jwin615]

Thick acrylic, especially the craft stuff, can take ages to dry. If you already clear coated it, sorry, but that will likely add to the time.
Mark out a point that will be getting drilled and press a fingernail into it every few days.
That being said, use enough of it will always feel soft.
If you want to go down the rabbit hole, use acrylic enamels. You may have to thin them a bit and make sure to mix them really well. I believe there are hardener and catalyst additives as well.
Could try an epoxy pour over the top of you wanted.
But proper coats of an automotive clear will probably suffice.

 

[Fama]

Forgot to show how it came out. The holes were predrilled so drilling was not an issue. I let it dry for two weeks (due to waiting for parts), so it was completely dry - except that I only then removed the tape (covering the holes from the inside) and there was some paint left inside which was still wet, because it was trapped under the tape. But that didn't really matter since it was on the inside.

All in all it came out nice, it's not perfect, very much a "hand made" look to it, but I think it works great for a pedal like this. Only sad part is that the purple dried out so dark that it pretty much disappeared - would have been cooler with a much more vivid purple, but it works like this too.

 

[DeadAirMD]

I think that looks amazing! Nice job! If that were mine, I wouldn't care about the purple vanishing. The colors that came out in the end go great with the knobs and black foot switches. Cool idea using clear washers.