Some tips for applying Waterslide Decals

[chromesphere]

Hi guys,

I see the subject come up now and then from people fustrated with waterslide decals and how to apply them properly.

I recorded this video last night while i was applying a water slide showing how i do it.  Its tricky but there are a few things to remember. I also forgot to mention, you dont have to squeeze every last h20 atom out from under the waterslide, just get it pretty dry and leave it.  If you keep squeezing it while its dry, you increase the chances of lifingt up the waterslide. Lifting up a dry waterslide is a throw away imo, it leaves these micro air bubbles over hte area that lifted and you cant re-apply an already used waterslide very well. You've really only got one shot at it, get it on there right the first time without too much handling.

Anyway hope it helps, if you have more tips to share / comments / criticisms please leave them here, i'd like to know how your method varies.

Paul

[Perrow]

Nice video, watched this and most of another of your videos.

I don't know how much work you're putting in to making your videos and what your editing skills are, but it feels like you could look a lot more professional with just a little more rehearsal/manuscript and a little editing, like in this video you could make sure you actually got a closeup of that visible edge/ridge of the waterslide. I like doing that when I edit my home videos, let the audio run and switch to a detail or environment scene (my editing software let me "cover" the image with another "track", a simple way to break up endless shots and add at least some action). Also, maybe do a voice over of certain parts instead of talking while doing, then you can retake the voice part without needing to reshoot the action (and you can concentrate on each thing individually).

[chromesphere]

Thanks for the production tips Perrow.  I dont want the videos to became too artificial but  i might have a think about where i could do some those things you mentioned, in certain situations they could work well!

Depends on the video on how much time i put into them, the pedal "demos" usually need a bit more playing around, titles, etc, but generally not much.  I want to spend more time making pedals

Cheers!
Paul

[mwynwood]

Awesome stuff man, thanks so much. Your videos are really helpful.
I'm going to have another go at doing waterslides. After seeing that, maybe now I can get them looking good.

How do you draw up your decals?
Do you have a template for Photoshop or Inkscape with the correct sizes or something?

[chromesphere]

Cheers Mywnwood!

I keep my png files from other decals ive made and then just sort of use them as a template.  I usually print out the decal on plain paper, cut it out, hold it up to the light (with the enclosure behind it) to make sure i have left enough room around the drill holes etc.  (i do that, sometimes as much as 10 times until it all looks nice and centered).  Then i print it off on a waterslide sheet.  If my layout is unique, sometimes i put crosshairs on the drill holes and use that on paper as a drill template as well which makes things easy!

I use fireworks, its not free, but i use it for some web stuff.  I think most people use inkscape or GIMP?

Paul

[Perrow]

I'm using Inkscape.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=97046.msg844831#msg844831

[Colonel Angus]

Nice work! This made waterslide a lot less scary

[bloxstompboxes]

Hey Chrome. I have watched a lot of your videos and appreciate the work you have done in putting them together. I am an Electrical Engineer so I don't have too much trouble with the circuit portion of pedals but the graphics area is a bit tough. I did two enclosures today. One was a rich bright yellow and the other a deep blue. The yellow seems to hide it well but the blue is showing the label pretty bad. What I mean is that it is not clear like I think it should be. It looks like a white mess through it. They are both in the toaster oven now as I am trying Beavis Audio's paint process. I'll post some pics when they are done cooking, but any advice you can give on future builds as far as the white film i am seeing would be helpful.

Once I have these fully built I'll post the layouts and trace masks as well. BTW they are both Ibanez SD-9s that I drew the layout for with DIYLC. Great program I might add.

I forgot to add that I got the decals from smallbear and the packaging, although hand written, does say clear laserjet.

[stringsthings]

I also use the clear laser waterslide from smallbear.

After applying the decal to the enclosure, I spray a few coats of clearcoat on the pedal and it looks very nice.  Any white-ish color from
the decal clears up.

[bloxstompboxes]

Ok, sorry it has been so long since I originally posted. I tried another one and it still turned out like crap so I contacted smallbear. Well guess what, I am a noob when it comes to these decals and, apparently, there is a protective film that is lightly stuck over the actual decal. That layer needs to be peeled off before printing and then it can be printed, wetted, and applied. So, needless to say, I have about 3 or 4 pedals with a decal made out of the protective sheet and not the actual decal itself. lol. I asked smallbear if there was anything that can be done since this isn't noted on the product listing or the packaging. I'll let you guys know if I hear anything back. I know it was do to my own ignorance, as I stated in the email to them, but thought it was worth a shot.

[bloxstompboxes]

That Steve Daniels is a cool guy. He updated the listing to include a note about the protective film and gave me a $3 credit to my account. I still feel like an idiot but maybe not as stupid of one as before, lol.

[italianguy63]

Ha!  That reminds me of when we bought our son some of those little cool cheeses for his school lunches.  He said they "didn't taste so good."  We figured out he wasn't removing the red wax coating first.

MC

[JerS]

This is a great thread, and a great video - thanks for making it!

To help reduce the "edge" of the waterslide decals, I lifted a tip from John at Basic Audio. I spray the enclosure with clear lacquer before putting the decal on. Once the clear coat dries overnight, then I add the decal. After the decal dries, I respray with clear lacquer. It seems to re-wet the clear underneath and melts the edge a little reducing the visibility.

[John Lyons]

Here's how I do it.

[bloxstompboxes]

Sorry I forgot what I had promised above. This is verified. One of my favorite distortions.

Eyelet board is definitely not needed. Used to use it as just a visual guide when drawing a layout.