Just as an info kinda thing.... Having been an engraver and working
in the sign biz for since the 80's, I can tell you that reverse-engraving (or
front engraving) and paint-filling (or spraying) is going to be more expensive
since it is so much more labor-intensive. I had, at one time, considered
reverse-engraving either plexi, or lexan... and illuminating it either from the
side(s) or the back. The rear is painted black, and the graphics are painted
whatever color you want (or use colored a light-source and leave the
engraved clear)... That makes all of the text, graphics, and tickmarks light-up
(and looks very impressive). When I was in Nashville, I worked at a sign company
which did all of the engraving work and awards for the Country Music Awards....
Opryland... all of the big hotels.... and our engraving department was the
largest department in the whole place, with 5 fulltime engravers working 5 days
a week, 9 hours a day. We built a lot of stuff from scratch in plexi and lexan,
and had every type of equipment needed... from plainers to routing tables...
from acetylene torches to 'weld-on' (plexi glue) and paint-booths. Like most
things, you get what you pay for... and if you go with 'cheap', it's gonna look
'cheap'.
A much cheaper way would be to have the 'dial' (with the tickmark
calibration) printed onto adhesive vinyl. But here again, quantities are really
needed to make it cost effective. Where it can be printed more cheaply on a
Fargo or any large-format printer... cutting-out the 'stickers' becomes the
issue. There are a few large-format printers which are also plotter/cutters...
and they can do the entire operation from the file. But- it's still a matter of
'do you want 'stickers... or silkscreened, or engraved'? The 'look' one wants,
is gonna have everthing to do with the cost... just like the quantity is going
to affect the price... (or price per unit).
Laser-engraving is the way to go with many materials. And usually, besides
the laser doing the engraving, it also cuts-out each unit from the material
blanks.
Making the tickmarks is no big deal... that is, with the proper
software. I know that CasMate and Flexi Sign are both used for engraving,
vinyl-cutting, and large-format printing... and both do vector-graphics, and
generate all sorts of dials, rulers, calibration and tickmarks... and all
you do is select the option you want in the drop-drown menu, then, assign the
variables... size of the dial, thickness of the strokes, depth, how many,
numbers or characters and where you want them... etc. But like silkscreening...
it's the first layout that takes a little time designing. After that, you're
just pulling-up a file and reproducing it, or editing it.
Just my $02/100
I'll shut-up now. : |
~Morbius~
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 5:10
PM
Subject: Re: [ModularSynthPanels] saving
money with tickmark discs
That's cool. I didn't know about that. I just saw Dave's CVS
module -- crazy! I love it!
I can't legally use fpd files, though I
think I can view them and go from there. But they did make the software, and
it's very handy indeed. It's a morally gray area :)
Scott Deyo
The
Bridechamber
contact@...
www.bridechamber.com
On Sep
28, 2007, at 3:50 PM, xamboldt wrote:
If you use HPGL to
make the tick marks, it saves some money. I
believe
you can find some example fpd files on Dave Brown's site.
-Chris
On
Sep 28, 2007, at 4:21 PM, David Griffith wrote:
>
>
It seems to me that making tickmarks around pots is one of those
>
things
>
that really add to the cost of panels. Suppose you make up a bunch of
>
thin discs with tickmarks on them and use those instead of putting
>
tickmarks directly on the panels. Would this be cheaper? Would it look
>
or feel ugly?
>
>
--
>
David Griffith
>
dgriffi@...
>
>
