Hello,
try
http://www.pulsar.gs , formerly
http://www.dynaart.com/It's not readily apparent on their website, but the instructions
which come with their dextrin coated paper show how to make decals
and panel labels...
There's another website, with a tag line like "We can show you how
to print on ANYTHING, or your money back!" that also uses toner
transfer to make panels. I'll try to find the URL, but maybe someone
else here knows it in the meantime?
Hope this helps,
Ballendo
P.S. You could always engrave the panels with a CNC machine...<G> (Or
use IT to trim the label and vinyl overlay you're using now...)
--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Thomas P. Gootee" <tomg@f...>
wrote:
> If this is too off-topic, maybe someone could point me to a more-
appropriate group.
>
> Has anyone got a good way to apply computer-generated artwork to
instrument panels?
>
> I currently use the Jameco part number 18876CX cabinets, for the
kits I sell. It's an ∗excellent∗ cabinet, with a low price. But the
front and rear panels are made of soft black plastic, of a type that
melts easily. I print the artwork onto sheet-size peel-n-stick
labels and trim them and stick them onto the panels, AFTER the holes
have been drilled for the controls, etc, and then stick on a piece of
peel-n-stick clear plastic laminating sheet. But THEN the holes have
to be trimmed out, by hand. Drilling AFTER the artwork has been
applied doesn't work, no matter what I sandwich the panels between.
(I already have 1/2-inch thick steel plates for drill jigs for the
panels, with all of the holes already there with the correct sizes
and positions, with bolts to clamp the panels between them. And I've
tried also clamping things like non-slip sheeting in there with the
panels, but the artwork sheets are always damaged, anyway.)
>
> I've tried quite a few other, similar methods. For example, I used
to print in reverse, on the back of a piece of overhead-transparency
sheet, and paint the panels white. But hand-trimming the holes is
still necessary.
>
> I'd LIKE to use something like toner transfer. Otherwise, the only
options I can think of are screen-printing, or a flatbed x-y plotter
with a pen or marker, or maybe a CNC engraver or tiny-point router
that would remove a layer of paint to expose a different color that
was underneath.
>
> Obviously, the soft black plastic panels wouldn't work, for toner
transfer, since they'd melt (and would have to be painted first,
anyway). But maybe I could use ∗another∗ material. I'm sure
aluminum, or some other metal, would work. But I don't really want
metal. And I don't want the silver (or any metal's) color. FR4 PCB
material with no copper would work. But I haven't seen any without
manufacturer's
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]