Panel labelling question

[Kregg]

How are these vinyl prints holding up against wear...??
Hmm .... reverse printing and stuck on the back of a piece of plexi....???

A rep from McIntosh Labs told me, "Had we printed on the face of the glass the lettering would have worn off just like Marnantz amps did. Side by side they were both great hi-fi amps. However, collectors like the way our products age with minimal wear.

Just remember to clean plexiglass like you would a nice pair of shades.

[xk49w]

I'm using a local laser etching house that etches black anodized 0.028 aluminum (at least that's what I meaure). Artwork exported to Adobe Illustrator seems to work, though they use CorelDraw native files.

They don't drill holes. I do that once it is stuck to the backing panel, using step drills and after the face is covered with painter's tape. Also, the etching removes the anodize so shoot it with a coating of clear something (Krylon, et al). Cost was $13 for 2" x12".

[img:720:479]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_jpUbIh2UclM/SqhuM ... 0062bg.jpg[/img]

[C Moore]

BNP lazers (nameplate manufacturer) mention using "CorelDraw" software - but that is specific to them.

BNP Lazer link

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I will give another thumbs up for BNP. They/she have done several panels for us. From custom, one off stuff, to making copies of stock panels in Silver. Always thought Gold was such a ghetto looking color. You guys would be amazed at how much better your favorite Marshall clone would look if it wore a Silver panel.

[mike9]

An example of a kinkos vinyl panel.

[img:994:96]http://www.glaswerks.com/images/matchbox.jpg[/img]

That looks sharp - I have two amps that need new faceplate/overlays - thanks for the Kinkos tip.

[Structo]

No Kinko's here either

How are these vinyl prints holding up against wear...??
Hmm .... reverse printing and stuck on the back of a piece of plexi....???

The Vinyl wears very very well. I have been using it on footswitches with excellent results.

The Showverb picture is etched plexiglass. It is laser etched on the back side with the text etched in about 1mm. The panel is completely painted black on the back side, them etched with the laser and repainted with white paint to get the lettering to stand out. It give a nice 3 dimensional look to the panel.

That Plexi panel looks great!

When you do that method do you spray the white lettering or brush?
Then what?
Sand the white off the flats with fine paper like wet sanding then paint over it with black?

[txbluesboy]

I just draw up what I want with accurate dimensions and take to a local shop that does trophies and awards. They lazer etch them and lazer cut the holes out for the pots and jacks. I suspect there are shops like this in most cities. Look in the phone book

[xk49w]

They lazer etch them and lazer cut the holes out for the pots and jacks.

My local shop doesn't do the holes. It looks like I may need another local shop. BNP looks like a good service too. I might have to start a dialog w/them.

[paulster]

That Plexi panel looks great!

When you do that method do you spray the white lettering or brush?
Then what?
Sand the white off the flats with fine paper like wet sanding then paint over it with black?

You start off with a plexi panel with a black back substrate. The laser goes through this so you have completely clear areas where the laser has been.

Then you paint over the back with a thin paint, not dissimilar to whiteout.

It can be brushed because it's like the old cartoon celluloids that were rear painted - you don't see the non-uniform top surface.

You don't need to rub it down; you just use a thin paint.

Then apply double-sided tape and stick on.

I love it because I use Corel Draw for creating my chassis drawings as well as the laser panels, so the same source files are used for both, thereby guaranteeing that my panels will fit and line up perfectly.

[glasman]

No Kinko's here either

How are these vinyl prints holding up against wear...??
Hmm .... reverse printing and stuck on the back of a piece of plexi....???

The Vinyl wears very very well. I have been using it on footswitches with excellent results.

The Showverb picture is etched plexiglass. It is laser etched on the back side with the text etched in about 1mm. The panel is completely painted black on the back side, them etched with the laser and repainted with white paint to get the lettering to stand out. It give a nice 3 dimensional look to the panel.

That Plexi panel looks great!

When you do that method do you spray the white lettering or brush?
Then what?
Sand the white off the flats with fine paper like wet sanding then paint over it with black?

According to the guy that makes them, he first sprays the backside of the entire panel black and then uses his laser to etch out the lettering. This leaves the letters clear an reliefed into the plexiglass. He then sprays a couple of coats of white to fill in the etched out letters. Depending on the depth and panel thickness they can ok very 3D.

He does this as a source of retirement income, if you have corel drawings I can forward them to him and he can price them out. He has also done wooden etched panels for me for special projects.

Gary

[M Fowler]

I get anodized aluminum face plates 2 mm thick for about $47 after all the engraving and holes cut. 17x2 and $54 for 20x2.5 depends on the work involved from FrontpanelExpress.com

I know that kinko vinyl would be cheaper but comparing the high quality panels I am getting. How does that price compare to BNPlazers and other services?

[xk49w]

I know that kinko vinyl would be cheaper but comparing the high quality panels I am getting. How does that price compare to BNPlazers and other services?

My company buys scads of those things from them. 20-30 at a time. It is much cheaper than having a tech spend 10 hrs in front of a milling machine or drill press drilling out 20 holes in a test panel and labeling it. They've saved us a bucket of $$ over the old way we did it - and it is a better product when it is done.

The only drawback to FPE is that you are stuck with their fonts and other graphics unless you pay a bit to them to use your hpgl file for something special. We did it for the company logo, also a swoosh sort of potentiometer background (starts as a point and widens as it goes around). Their stock font selection is pretty good however.

Regarding the cost, considering what just the parts for one of these amps costs I probably wouldn't mind something in the $30 to $40 range for something special that really finished it off.

[M Fowler]

I used the format from Francois on AG here.

Here are two examples Liverpool/Rocket and 80-100w Express.

Using FrontPanelExpress.com