[sdiy] UV Printer (Face Panels)

Sat Jun 21 02:43:09 CEST 2025

Possibly the cheapest - but probably not the "best" - UV panel route would
be via those
services that "print your photo on metal". I have not seen examples with
small text, which might be the killer.
But for anyone who wants their cat or grandma on a panel, no problem.
paul perry Melbourne Australia (enjoying the Southern Hemisphere winter.)

On Sat, Jun 21, 2025 at 8:38 AM Tom Wiltshire <tom at electricdruid.net> wrote:

> Some UV printers can print a gloss coat on top, if you need it. That might
> explain some of the differences. Also some stuff that comes out great in
> reality looks terrible in photos and vice-versa. Especially where glossy
> finishes are concerned.
>
> On 20 Jun 2025, at 17:03, cheater cheater via Synth-diy <
> synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM Paul Perry via Synth-diy
> <synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
>
>
> If you look at AliBaba etc, there are plenty of A4 models for around
> $1,000 or less. And youtube comparisons.
>
> Pretty sure Tayda would do panels, they certainly do UV printing on pedal
> enclosures..
> But there are plenty of others such as https://amplifyfun.com
>
> paul perry Melbourne Australia
>
>
> Front Panel Express has UV printing too
>
> https://www.modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=170035
>
> My main problem is that all those UV printing places either have no
> print examples at all, or have print examples that just don't look
> great at all compared to the video examples of Eufy. They all look
> dull, meanwhile Eufy stuff looks really vivid in all the promotional
> materials. So either everyone takes very bad photos, or Eufy has
> people take videos in super high CRI settings only, and then boost
> color vibrance digitally, or Eufy ink is really that much better.
>
> With Eufy, I can easily see putting photos of people on their prints
> and making them look natural. With all the existing front panel
> services, I can't see that happening at all. It's like comparing
> printing a photo on copy paper on a hp deskjet 720 vs a dedicated
> photo printer with photo ink and glossy photo paper. The difference in
> print quality seems huge.
>
> With that said Eufy lock down the ink and apparently also the software.
>
> I asked them for APIs for their UV printer and they said there are
> none and they'll consider it in the future. I don't think they really
> understood why that's something important. At first they thought I was
> applying for a job with their dev team which I had to explain that I
> wasn't.
>
> An interesting thing about Eufy is that they can do thick prints, up
> to what... 5 mm? Something like that. Which makes whatever thing that
> you're operating on obviously even more stunning especially up close.
>
> But it has a texture, so it'll amass dirt and grime unless you first
> put a thiiiiiick cover of varnish or resin on it first. Which, you
> better have a vacuum pump and a dust free chamber to do this in. One
> of those fixed-glove compartments, like for sand blasting, but with a
> hepa filter in it instead. So things aren't as quick and easy as you'd
> think.
>
> One other nice thing is that it can print stickers, which means it can
> go around bends. So if you have an enclosure that isn't flat, it can
> do that. Which means you can have indents, or you can do stomp box
> artwork that'll go off the front panel and onto side panels as a
> continuous part. So that's one thing that's great.
>
> The locked down ink is a really bad thing about Eufy. I'm sure people
> will jailbreak it in no time, but on the other hand I can't imagine
> third party ink being as vivid as Eufy, especially at first. The
> problem is that a print head replacement from Eufy is $500 or
> something. To the point that they even sell an insurance policy for
> it, lmao. So that's a massive expense. It's not like with 3d printing
> where if you gum up a hot end you just clean it out manually or, worst
> case, buy a new one for $20. This is a major expense if you fuck up.
> So, to make things viable for an open market where people will be
> fucking up the print heads, you need the price of a print head to go
> way below $100 for people to want to be "experimental" with what inks
> they use. Only at that point will UV printing really lift off to
> amazing levels the same way we see thousands of different 3d printing
> filaments, for all sorts of uses. You could even begin to imagine this
> sort of thing becoming an interesting avenue with conductive or
> semiconductive resins, which could perhaps lead to at-home
> semiconductors. Or photoresist, which could, again, be used for making
> semiconductors.
>
>
> Anyways I am curious about the Aliexpress UV printers... I haven't
> looked at any yet. If anyone has print examples from any of those that
> look impressive (photorealistic or very vivid colors), I'd be
> interested in seeing them.
>
> So to bring one printer up that I found with photos of prints, the
> ones on here don't look so great. The colors look washed out.
>
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008591572842.html
>
> it's the "A3 A4 UV DTF multifunctional flat cylindrical printer and AB
> film laminating machine kit UV DTF transfer stickers CMYKWW"
>
>
>
>
> On a side note, apparently people are selling funky art blank panels
> now too, not UV printed by the seller, but instead ordered from a PCB
> house, which, I assume, has UV printed the silk screen:
>
>
> https://www.etsy.com/listing/1051950583/12hp-eurorack-blank-panel-with-artwork
>
> $20 gets you a panel. kind of steep but whatever, they look fun. The
> photos have vivid colors, but again the question of digital vibrance
> comes up. The designs are cute.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 7:06 PM Tom Wiltshire <tom at electricdruid.net>
> wrote:
>
>
> It's certainly better priced than the $20k or so that a serious
> professional one from Roland would cost you. Seems like there's a niche for
> more budget-friendly UV printing.
>
> On 17 Jun 2025, at 08:58, Ben Stuyts via Synth-diy <
> synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
>
> Cool device!
>
> Problem is, I just watched (a totally unrelated) video of Techmoan about a
> 4k DLP projector from Eufy/Anker. The comments for that video say that
> Eufy/Anker quality is a bit hit or miss, and their customer support is not
> that great. I have no personal experience with them, so I don’t know if
> this is applicable to this particular device.
>
> Ben
>
> On 17 Jun 2025, at 00:30, Tim Parkhurst via Synth-diy <
> synth-diy at synth-diy.org> wrote:
>
> Okay, this thing could be a mind blower for making face panels. I think
> it's going to run $2500 which seems super pricey for personal use, but the
> results are astounding. And actually, how many of us have spent that much
> on one synth?
> Oh, and it can print with white ink. Cool.
>
> https://youtu.be/IwtKvhBTAi8?si=TD4JcmjIlKMy1g9L
>
> Tim (IV, UV, we all V for UV) Servo
> ---
> "Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein
>
>
>
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