I use a simple method for front panels. Ink Jet transparencies,
printed on reverse and glued on panel. The glue is important because
it can attack the ink.
The most durable method is to make a sandwitch: the base material (box
wall), printed film or even paper and a sheet of acrylic or plexiglass
bolted to base material.
Adrian
--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "herby1620" <herby1620@...>
wrote:
>
> While not strictly a "PCB" topic, it does relate to something used
for
> making PCBs. I was thinking (dangerous, you know) about making a
> front panel for another project. Given that I desire "nice"
artwork,
> and have access to a laser printer, I was wondering about using
laser
> transfer methods (print to laser transfer "paper", iron on front
> panel) to make a nicely designed front panel.
>
> A couple of questions:
> 1) How well do the laser transfer methods work? I'm assuming that
> one takes the transfer and makes it work on a PC board with an iron
> (or some heat source with pressure).
> 2) If I can get a color laser printer, would I get color transfered
> as well?
> 3) Quality? Would it look "reasonable" for the task?
> 4) Durability? I was thinking of coating the whole thing with some
> clear spray to make it last.
> 5) Am I making any sense? Is this idea a whole waste of time and I
> should look to something else?
>
> It seems to me that the transfer method would make for the ability
to
> have nice artwork/legends on my finished "box". While I am not
going
> to dunk the "box" in some resist, the transfer method should be
> similar, thus the questions.
>
> Thanks for any feedback.
>