Pics of my new uglyface

[robotboy]

I just finished boxing up my uglyface, which by the way is the most insane pedal I've ever heard. Kudos to Tim for creating such a monster. Anyway, here's how it looks. I accidentally put a few small tears in the t-shirt transfer, but it'll get the job done. All the artwork was done in Illustrator. I created the face from a real photograph of me trying to make an ugly face, but it didn't come out as ugly as I'd hoped.

[smccusker]

ahh man, that looks really good!
Do you coat your pedals with anything to protect the finish?
and is the green background painted? or was the whole thing a transfer?

[ezanker]

That looks sweet!  I also use the T-shirt transfers.

I have my uglyface breadboarded and ready to go.  How easy is it to drill those steel junction box lids compared to the aluminum hammond type boxes?  I don't have a drill press, just a 14V cordless with a unibit.  Is that adequate for drilling steel?

Erik

[robotboy]

ahh man, that looks really good!
Do you coat your pedals with anything to protect the finish?
and is the green background painted? or was the whole thing a transfer?

The t-shirt transfers are opaque, so you can't have a coat of paint underneath them. If you cut t-shirt transfer out like decals and ironed them onto a base coat of paint, I have a feeling that would get really messy. After they're ironed on, I hit them with 3-4 coats of rustoleum crystal clear enamel. It brings out the richness of the color, adds durability and gives a kind of screen printed look. Just be conservative when you put on the clear and do light coats, or the transfer might get little blisters. If this happens, take a blow dryer and put it on high heat, heat the transfer for about 10 seconds and take your thumb and rub out the bubbles while still applying the heat. I'm a big fan of the transfer method.

[robotboy]

That looks sweet!  I also use the T-shirt transfers.

I have my uglyface breadboarded and ready to go.  How easy is it to drill those steel junction box lids compared to the aluminum hammond type boxes?  I don't have a drill press, just a 14V cordless with a unibit.  Is that adequate for drilling steel?

Erik

It's not hard to drill them. I use a standard drill with a unibit. Just drill slow, and it'll be fine. I've never drilled a hammond yet, so I can't compare. I have one sitting on the shelf that I'll probably do soon.

[80k]

good job!
i never heard about the uglyface until now and went and found soundclips.  It sounds great

[jmusser]

Never heard about the Ugly Face :shock:  Wow 80K, you've lead a sheltered life! RDV has several samples too, with all kinds of weirdness. It's an easy build, and the parts are available at Radio Shack. There is a real nice article on Home-Wrecker.com on putting it together. So Robotboy, the T Shirt transfer is actually the base coat we're looking at? I'm used to seeing paint with transfers, but you're green paint and lettering is all one piece? That would be the way to go for sure. How do you lay it out so it will match your drilled hole layout, or is it a case of doing the transfer, and then drilling the holes afterwards?

[maximee]

very nice finish...
anybody know where to get RACO boxes in germany?

[robotboy]

So Robotboy, the T Shirt transfer is actually the base coat we're looking at? I'm used to seeing paint with transfers, but you're green paint and lettering is all one piece? That would be the way to go for sure. How do you lay it out so it will match your drilled hole layout, or is it a case of doing the transfer, and then drilling the holes afterwards?

Yes, the paint and lettering is all one piece. The entire thing is done by a single t-shirt transfer rather than trying to mix and match techniques. What I do is produce the graphic in illustrator with drill holes included on the graphic like this.



Then I print out a grayscale copy on regular paper to save ink and t-shirt paper since they're both expensive. I cut out and tape the grayscale copy onto the lid of the raco box that I'll be drilling, and then I use a center punch to tap the holes directly on the black dots. After that, I pull off the grayscale copy and drill pilot holes where the center punch dimples are. I then drill the holes to size using my unitbit. Once that's all done, I lightly sand the lid and rub it down with some acetone to make sure it's free of dirt and oil. To finish up, I cut a piece of transfer paper the size of the printed image (which is already printed on regular paper in grayscale) and tape it to the piece of regular paper to be fed through the printer. That way, I don't waste a bunch of dark t-shirt transfers (the paper is expensive). Print it out using highest quality and then you simply peel the transfer's backing off, line it up, and iron it (with the included cover paper) on using the highest cotton setting on your iron. Make sure you keep the iron moving and pay attention to the edges. The results are great, and it's a really easy way to make a good looking pedal.

[petemoore]

I have some dark Tshirt Transfer paper...
 It looks like you're putting the transfer right to the metal and ironing?...

[jmusser]

Wait a minute! That's cheating! If you put your hole marks right on the transfer, then the holes will line right up! Now who does that? :wink:  That's a great idea. I would have never thought of it. Do you usually just make it a little bigger than the box, to be sure you'll cover it, or do you just make a couple prefit templates out of paper? This is really cool, especially since the labeling part is what I hate the most.

[ryanscissorhands]

What brand are your opaque decals?

[robotboy]

Wait a minute! That's cheating! If you put your hole marks right on the transfer, then the holes will line right up! Now who does that? :wink:  That's a great idea. I would have never thought of it. Do you usually just make it a little bigger than the box, to be sure you'll cover it, or do you just make a couple prefit templates out of paper? This is really cool, especially since the labeling part is what I hate the most.

Yup, I size the graphic to 4.15" to give me a little slack on the sides for cutting/sizing. The t-shirt transfer method definitely saves on the pain of labeling. I did a few with soak-off decals before this, and that was a lot of work!

[robotboy]

What brand are your opaque decals?

Avery dark t-shirt transfers. Make sure that you cut the paper to the size of the graphic because it's about $15 for just a few sheets (maybe five?). If you maximize your cutting, you might be able to get 15-20 pedals out of a pack though, which isn't bad.

[robotboy]

I have some dark Tshirt Transfer paper...
 It looks like you're putting the transfer right to the metal and ironing?...

Affirmative. See my previous post for more details.

[Wild Zebra]

looks great