Printing on to a Front panel

[RJFreeman]

I am sure I am not the only one who has wanted to make a nice printed front panel so figured I would share this technique (ok it was experimental so I haven't yet taken pictures of the process but it is pretty straightforward)

Inspired by the Toner transfer method of etching circuit boards I have worked out a similar technique for doing front panels.
immediate short comings are that this will not work on plastics, and is best against a light coloured (white or silver) back ground.

Since I was using Aluminium I started with an etch-primer undercoat and then a matt white enamel spray paint (I used Ultracolor brand, but am sure other brands will work - they do need to be able to handle high temperatures though).

My image was printed (in reverse) using a Laser Printer (note this will NOT work with an Inkjet) onto water soluble paper I found on Ebay listed as "Judikins Rinse Away Paper"

The image was cut out and the paper placed print side down onto the painted panel, I then applied a hot iron (clothes Iron NOT Soldering iron) to the rear of the paper (I used a layer of regular paper between the iron) set to 'wool' (my IR thermometer suggested the surface of the iron was around 150C) for 2 or 3 minutes until the 'Rinse away paper' had turned slightly brown and discoloured.

I allowed the panel to cool and then placed in a dish of water - the rinse away paper turned to mush pretty well straight away I then rubbed the printing with my finger tips until the panel no longer felt slimy.

The panel was dried (although I patted with a paper towel this left some fluff on the panel so next time I might just try a hair dryer on low or something or just sit out in the sun? - still pondering this).

When the panels were dry I then applied a few light coats of clear enamel spray paint to protect the lettering.
The enamel was allowed several hours to dry and then heated (to 50-60C) with a heater for several more hours

there is still some room for improvement, but the initial results are below.
 

[RJFreeman]

ok just a minor update, the toner does not seem to fuse reliably to bare aluminium - although as this was a print out from yesterday it may be that the printout needs to be transferred promptly rather than any inherent problem with bare aluminium. (My printer is playing up at the moment)

[SeanB]

You need to either scrub the aluminium to roughen the surface, or chemically etch it to make it more adhesive. then you can do the transfer and seal it with some spray lacquer.

[RJFreeman]

You need to either scrub the aluminium to roughen the surface, or chemically etch it to make it more adhesive. then you can do the transfer and seal it with some spray lacquer.

That was what I suspected but since I had some of the print left over and a few scraps of aluminium and was wondering about printing directly on bare aluminium I figured I would try.
of course lacquer is not going to adhere reliably without an etch primer of some sort so it would seem this technique does require a painted (matt) surface - although I suspect if I could get a white etch primer (I could only find Grey) it should adhere to that.

[SeanB]

Use sodium hydroxide ( caustic soda) to etch the aluminium, it will grow an oxide layer quite fast if you use a stainless steel dish to act as a cathode. A few seconds in the bath and it will have a porous oxide layer on it. Rinse in white vinegar solution to neutralise then rinse in water. When dry it will hold the toner well, and will also hold the lacquer as well.

A tablespoon of the chips in a quart of warm water for the alkali, and a tablespoon of white vinegar in a quart for neutralising. Immerse fully in all cases.

[RJFreeman]

Use sodium hydroxide ( caustic soda) to etch the aluminium, it will grow an oxide layer quite fast if you use a stainless steel dish to act as a cathode. A few seconds in the bath and it will have a porous oxide layer on it. Rinse in white vinegar solution to neutralise then rinse in water. When dry it will hold the toner well, and will also hold the lacquer as well.

A tablespoon of the chips in a quart of warm water for the alkali, and a tablespoon of white vinegar in a quart for neutralising. Immerse fully in all cases.

ok, I will have to try that (probably not get a chance before New years) how noticeable would the oxide layer be? just wondering since the only reason for doing this would be to have a metallic background.

[SeanB]

Depends on time in NaOH, a few seconds will strip the existing oxide and grow a new layer, so dip in a few seconds at a time on some scrap aluminium till you get a look you like. A short dip will not be noticed, but will have porous oxide.

Can also be used to strip the dye out of coloured sheet selectively, just use a regular photoresist or toner transfer on a sheet and it strips the dye out in the unmasked areas. If you use a strong dye again you can make 2 colour panels by holding the dye in the oxide layer holes.

[nali]

A method I've used before is to use OHP transparency - print a mirror image so the toner side faces the panel then use an aerosol contact adhesive to stick it to the panel.

On the plus side you get full colour & resolution, the down side is it can peel and is quite soft so prone to scuffs & scratches.

[RJFreeman]

A short dip will not be noticed, but will have porous oxide.

yep that sounds worth trying - like an etch primer without the primer.....
 

[RJFreeman]

A method I've used before is to use OHP transparency - print a mirror image so the toner side faces the panel then use an aerosol contact adhesive to stick it to the panel.

I have tried similar methods, but you really need something that protects the label around the edges to stop it peeling.
The method I have suggested here does allow full colour and resolution, maybe not as dark as a silk screen, but it would seem with the right back ground the results appear quite acceptable

[0xdeadbeef]

Another way is to cut and engrave panels from acrylic glass. There are materials which have a different color on the outside than on the inside, so if the laser removes the top layer, the inner color comes out.

There are services like Ponoko/ or Formulor which allow to upload SVGs, select the material, calculate the cost and order online.

[hamdi.tn]

I certainly like the way mike  ( mikeselectricstuff ) did it

[RJFreeman]

I had also ordered a pack of "Heat Toner Transfer Paper" off Ebay - less than 1/10th the price of the "Rinse away paper" at $8:55 a pack of 50 A4 sheets against $11:90 for a pack of 5 letter sized sheets
However my Laser printer has trouble with this paper (possibly too glossy and/or too thin) and is unable to feed the paper through the printer.
I will have to try another printer to see if I can get one that can handle it....

[pickle9000]

So I guess the old way of laser printing on a full page sticker an covering with the sticky side of a self adhesive lamination sheet is too "old school". Fast and cheap.

[jetwolfk2]

i was thinking of getting a cheap DIY screen printing kit with ink used for metal

[RJFreeman]

i was thinking of getting a cheap DIY screen printing kit with ink used for metal

I was originally looking at something like that, the screen printing kits are cheap enough but I had memories of mucking about getting photo etching exposure right for PCBes and figured that to do that you really need a decent UV lightbox with a timer etc, etc and I already had a laser printer so figured I would try this.
to be honest while my results are quite good, and certainly look almost professional I would expect a silk-screened front panel to be darker/clearer and Silk screening would let you do Light printing on a dark background whereas this way you are limited to darker colours on a lighter background.

So I guess the old way of laser printing on a full page sticker an covering with the sticky side of a self adhesive lamination sheet is too "old school". Fast and cheap.

I have used that method in the past but this method does look a lot neater, as noted above, not quite as good as Silk screening and it does have limitations but it also does not peel off.....

[VK5RC]

I have used the good old "Letraset" or an equivalent that my local art store sells, I have different sizes and fonts in black and white and then spray laquer. Costs a bit to buy but then lasts forever.
Pretty quick and durable, not commercial quality though.

[RJFreeman]

I have used the good old "Letraset" or an equivalent that my local art store sells,

Your Letraset-ing is a lot straighter than mine ever was....

[SeanB]

So I guess the old way of laser printing on a full page sticker an covering with the sticky side of a self adhesive lamination sheet is too "old school". Fast and cheap.

You do need to take care there. You need a printer with a straight through paper path, as the self adhesive backing stands a very good chance of delaminating in a printer which curls the paper, which can often be terminal to the printer as it will jam up the path and often will destroy the gearbox.

As well buy sheets with the score lines in line with the feed direction, as then it will not peel in the printer as it is slightly bent during passage.

Putting laminate sheets through a printer with a compact paper path ( your modern typical laser these days) will only lead to grief.

[Howardlong]

For one-off and low volume, I am currently experimenting with self-adhesive matt vinyl printed on an inkjet, then cut with a Silhouette Portrait. This is then placed on top of acrylic cut with a laser cutter. It looks pretty good. A bit too much effort for anything more than low volume, but it gives a reasonable looking result, certainly good enough to show someone who might be interested in taking your product for retail or distribution.

The print seems to stay in the vinyl pretty well too without further lamination, although possibly for production you might want to laminate it.

The Silhouette Portrait itself is quite good: you design both your legend and the cutout in the same software, and it prints registration marks on the vinyl when you print it in the inkjet printer. You then put the printed vinyl in the Silhouette Portrait, it reads the registration marks, and precisely cuts out the panel for you. There are thousands of tutorial videos online, the only trouble being that they're geared towards a different demographic, that of the craft person.

What I haven't figured out yet is how to use the same cut out source for both the laser cutter and the Silhouette, I am sure there's a way to do this without having to lay out the panel twice, but I'm new to this.

I found cheap 3D printers really not very good for showing something off. They take ages to print, and the results are rough to say the least, probably not even good enough for a fit check, which is what I originally bought it for.

[david77]

For my current main project I had to experiment with a few ways of making frontpanels over the past year. The way that works best for me is to design the frontpanel using the software that Schaeffer provides
http://www.schaeffer-ag.de/en/downloads/front_panel_designer/

Then instead of sending them the files I simply print it out on regular paper and laminate it with a cheapo laminator. The lamination is cut to size with a scalpell and hole punches. This I stick onto the already drilled frontpanel using spray glue. The right glue is important, it has to be a very fine spray otherwise you get lumps on the panel or extra glue spills out on the sides. I found this works very well
http://www.uhu.com/de/produkte/kreativ-produkte/detail/uhu-spruehkleberpermanent-transparent.html?step=1852.9411764706&cHash=8c6821684fd83c1fe3d5fe916c57f998

The Front Panel Designer also allows for a print out of a template with markings for drilling/machining of the panels. This is very handy.

In a last step I cover the whole panel with sticky transparent film that is commonly used to cover books with, like this stuff:
http://www.herma.de/en/protecting-of-books-and-exercise-book-covers/self-adhesive-film.html

This stops the edges of the laminate from peeling off.
The photo shows one of the earlier examples using this method.

It also works reasonably well for making panels with white letters on a black background, but then it's important that your printer prints large black areas in a homogenous way. Mine doesn't. Haven't experimented with colours yet as I have no colour printer.
This method isn't perfect, the major drawback beeing if any liquid gets into the lamination the paper wicks it up and looks ugly afterwards.
Robustness is quite good on the other hand as the lamination films are relatively sturdy.

[voltsandjolts]

So I guess the old way of laser printing on a full page sticker an covering with the sticky side of a self adhesive lamination sheet is too "old school". Fast and cheap.

Yeh, I second that. I've had great results using Inkscape (Free open source SVG editor) to create the artwork and then colour printing on Avery Heavy Duty Laser Labels. They are super tough polyester, come in white or silver, no need to coat with anything and stick fine on the plastic and stainless steel cases enslosures I've used. Stick on your panel and use it as a drill template too.

http://www.avery.co.uk/avery/en_gb/Products/Labels/Labels-for-Protection-%26-Security/Heavy-Duty-Labels

[SeanB]

For my current main project I had to experiment with a few ways of making frontpanels over the past year. The way that works best for me is to design the frontpanel using the software that Schaeffer provides
http://www.schaeffer-ag.de/en/downloads/front_panel_designer/

Then instead of sending them the files I simply print it out on regular paper and laminate it with a cheapo laminator. The lamination is cut to size with a scalpell and hole punches. This I stick onto the already drilled frontpanel using spray glue. The right glue is important, it has to be a very fine spray otherwise you get lumps on the panel or extra glue spills out on the sides. I found this works very well
http://www.uhu.com/de/produkte/kreativ-produkte/detail/uhu-spruehkleberpermanent-transparent.html?step=1852.9411764706&cHash=8c6821684fd83c1fe3d5fe916c57f998

The Front Panel Designer also allows for a print out of a template with markings for drilling/machining of the panels. This is very handy.

In a last step I cover the whole panel with sticky transparent film that is commonly used to cover books with, like this stuff:
http://www.herma.de/en/protecting-of-books-and-exercise-book-covers/self-adhesive-film.html

This stops the edges of the laminate from peeling off.
The photo shows one of the earlier examples using this method.

It also works reasonably well for making panels with white letters on a black background, but then it's important that your printer prints large black areas in a homogenous way. Mine doesn't. Haven't experimented with colours yet as I have no colour printer.
This method isn't perfect, the major drawback beeing if any liquid gets into the lamination the paper wicks it up and looks ugly afterwards.
Robustness is quite good on the other hand as the lamination films are relatively sturdy.

Tip for that is to sandwich a second copy ( or another panel) before laminating, then cut the edge to give a single sided laminate that the adhesive works better on to hold the paper backing. Saves on the cost of the panel if you are making a few, plus the adhesive will adhere better than to the plastic laminate, which is pretty non reactive with most adhesives, and which tends to peel with time.

I have some that I made 30 years ago, which are still legible.

[Rory]

With the toner transfer paper, you can also spray a few coats of clear lacquer over the toner to produce a decal which will float off and easily applies to smooth surfaces. I've had good results from this method to produce dial markings using a frosted plastic disc and on aluminum surfaces. Not necessary to print in reverse, and the lacquer protects the toner.

[uChip]

As sort of a cross between 0xdeadbeef and hamdi.tn I have developed a method for generating a laser engraving file from the Eagle board layout.  This makes it easier to ensure everything lines up. 

The enclosed photo is of a "sampler" project done to show some of front panel elements that are available. 

The laser cut/engraved pieces are transparent or translucent in spots so you can easily do backlit indicator text or LED/LCD displays that show through the panel.

You can check out the details at https://www.github.com/stdbx/series100.

Edit: moved the dot.  Punctuation! Bah! 

  - Chip