[sdiy] Cheap method for front panels

[Seb Francis]

Peter Cornell wrote:

> Hi Seb
>
> using the 'Blue Peter'
>
>> method (UK people will know what I mean ;) of a computer-printed 
>> sticker and a layer of sticky-back plastic ..
>
>
> Can you expand on this? Any links?
>
I will write it up properly and put it on my website soon (I'll mail a 
link when I do), but to expand on this a bit ...

'Blue Peter' refers to a childrens TV programme in UK where they always 
make things with sticky-back plastic.  It's not a well known SDIY method 
of making panels!


I used a sheet of 1mm Zintec for the panel which is a kind of steel 
that's fairly easy to cut and drill and, although it feels smooth to 
touch, it has a very fine rough surface that makes it quite good to 
stick stuff too. (The reason it's made like this is so that paint sticks 
easily to it - this type of metal is very often used for equipment cases 
when it is generally electrostatically powder-paint coated, then baked 
to give a smooth hard finish).  To be honest though any type of sheet 
metal would have done - I just happened to have this lying around.

I first cut the panel to size.  Then I printed my design on paper, cut 
it out, and blue-tacked it to the front of the panel. I used a 
(automatic) centre punch to punch through the paper where the position 
marks were printed, marking the drill holes and cutouts in the panel.  
Then I drilled and jigsawed out the holes in the panel.  Deburring is 
important otherwise the sticker won't stick flat.

Next I printed the design onto a normal self-adhesive paper label and 
carefully stuck it onto the panel.  I printed some bleed so I just 
trimmed the edges of the panel with a scalpel to get an exact edge.  
Because the sticker sheet was only A4 size, there is actually a join 
just to the right of the DATA pot area, but you can hardly see it ..
http://burnit.co.uk/sdiy/images/joykontrol/front_panel_populated.jpg

Then I stuck some sticky-back plastic over the top to protect the print 
and give a smooth glossy finish.  I folded this over the edges by about 
1cm and stuck it round the back to make sure the front will never peel off.

Finally I cut through the paper and sticky-back plastic with a scalpel 
around the holes.  This is just a question of gliding the blade round 
the edge.  For the LED display window (the only place where the edges of 
the cutouts will be visible) I cut about 5mm away from the edges and 
folded the flaps around and stuck them to the back of the panel.  This 
gives a really nice edge..
http://burnit.co.uk/sdiy/images/joykontrol/front_panel_unpopulated_closeup.jpg


Hope this is clear enough .. like I said, I'll stick it all on my 
website soon.

Cheers,
Seb