Front panel legending success

[The Dark force of dance]

Y-ellow Chris 'n' y'all.

At 08:16 AM 08/25/99 +0100, Chris Crosskey wrote:
>Hi Folks
>
>First definite results with a new legending technique....I use white
>powdercoated steel panels for my synths now (used to be black but I've
>changed) and I've been experimenting with printing techniques for legending
>them. Basically I want a technique that is repeatable (so I can have more
>than one module and they'll look the same) cheap to do on a onesy-twosy
>basis (screenprint is fine if you're doing thirty at once but the set-up
>costs will kill you for less than five), storeable electronically (so I can
>have back-ups all over the place) and easily done....

Have you tried plotting directly onto a sheet or aluminium or something?
The Thought just occurred to me.

>Plot the panel in mirror image onto a piece of plotter film....glue it
>plot-side inwards onto the panel using Bison Hard Plastic adhesive....this
>is a farily fast drying glue so work quickly...It does have its minor
>problems, too much glue can dissolve the ink, uneven glueing shows (just)
>through the film and it's an abuseable solvent so while it's prolly OK for
>six year olds don't let sixteen year olds near it....End result though is
>very nice...I've now got a very nice panel to mount a TB3030 as a module in
>a Digisound and the legending will never wear as it's behind the film...Now
>all I need to do is find some A3 plotter film to do things like an ASM-1
>onto a 12" x 9" panel and a sequencer onto a 9" x 9" and I'll be
>happy.....I'm also goint to experiment with Spray'n'Mount as an adhesive,
>when I can work out where I left the can....

Err I didn't quite get how this works? Are you  plotting on a translucent
or opaque substrate? If it was a clear plastic, surely that would wind up
being too reflective?

But It reminded me of this stuff I haven't thought of for years. When
everyone was "hobbytex"  crazy there use to be this spray on stuff. You
could spray it onto a picture from a magazine for example, let it dry and
then soak it in some water. But judiciously rubbing the paper side you'd
wind up with a plastic film with the printing on it. I don't know what this
stuff was called  or  even if you can still get it but I remember that the
result was a kind of stipple finish. IE: it was non reflective. Depending
on coating, it was ultra thin but strong enough that it would have served
as a front panel easily.

Hobbytex BTW, was fabric paint. It came in tubes with like a ball-point end
on them. You could draw directly onto t-shirts etc. The idea of this stuff
was that you could rip a photo directly from a magazine etc, then some how
adhere it to a t-shirt and it would stay there. Remaining flexible and
washable. But I have no idea what they used to adhere it to the fabric.

It's just a thought.

And speaking of front panels and rack boxes 'n' stuff. I was pointed at
these guys called Eletrix on-line the other day. They make a vocoder and
some other trick boxes. There's probably nothing remarkable about that
except for the way they've done their 2u 19" rack boxes.

http://www.electrixpro.com/products.htm

Whilst none of us could afford to have  extrusions made like  these guys
did, their boxes are certainly very interesting. It looks very much like
they insert a printed front panel inside the boxes and the extrusion clamps
it down. It might be a worthy thing for y'all to have a look at. It might
give you some ideas.

Hope this helps.

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