Best way to sand a pedal?

[Benn Roe]

I have a DL4 I want to repaint. I bought it used and it was in pretty sad shape from the previous owner, including notes scribbled all over it with Sharpie. I managed to separate the board from the housing (no easy feat), and I picked up one of these. I plan to just buy replacement faceplates from Line6, so I peeled off the originals. Does anyone have any advice for best sanding off the original paint? What grit? Should I use my Dremel, or sand by hand? Anything else I should know? Thanks!

[repoman]

Easiest thing would be to lightly rough sand it with something like 400 grit, spray it with primer and then then spray paint it. You don't need to sand all the paint off. Just make sure the primer is compatible with the paint. Theres a lot of nooks and crannies in those enclosures and it will be really annoying to get it all completely bare.

I've used a dremel to sand enclosures to get it bare to polish the aluminum and it can make deep scratches in the enclosure and make it all ugly.

[CyaNitrate]

That's what I would do. And if in the future you plan on doing other spraybomb DIY jobs, you might want to pick up a toaster oven at a Goodwill or other thrift shop. It doesn't look like it will work with the paint you got, but for regular enamel, baking between coats (and the final coat) makes the finish much more durable.

[Invisible Man]

Yeah, if you're gonna paint it, I wouldn't even bother with sanding. Really, you just need some texture for the new paint to stick to. Get a flat (read--'rough' texture) spray primer. Do a lot of light passes of each coat--you don't want it to get soaked or runny. I'd think two or three light coats of primer and then three of the finish color would be good.

For what it's worth, I do this all the time--just painted an enclosure last night, though not one as persnickety as the XL-4 enclosures. Those things are kind of a nightmare.

[Invisible Man]

Oh, and clear coat when you're done is a good idea. The spray can finish pretty soft depending on what brand you use...a protective layer will help prevent scratches (unless that's what you want).