[sdiy] Re: Front Panels

[Colin Fraser]

I wonder if this would look OK -
Take your sheet of glass/perspex after drilling any holes and coat the
inside surface with PCB photoresist.
Print your panel artwork as a negative on the usual PCB film, expose the
resist coated side of the panel, then develop it to leave transparent gaps
to form your lettering and graphics.
Then if you fancy, fix some translucent material on the back to diffuse the
light. Maybe a thin coat of white paint ?
Or mask off different areas of the artwork and colour them separately.
You could sandwich the printout from an ink jet on thin paper to have
precise colour layouts - maybe dials with green gradiations turning to red
at full scale.
Install the panel on your unit, and backlight with white LEDs for a panel
with illuminated graphics.
Even if you didn't want to use backlighting, you could sandwich a thin layer
of perspex with black photoresist and transparent graphics over an aluminium
panel for alu lettering against a glossy black background. If you
illuminated the perspex from the side, the alu lettering should catch the
light.

Colin f