Faceplate making material

[davent]

Thanks, that one's easy to get to, nice and close to Queen.

dave

[KindaFuzzy]

on a rack at the top of the stairs on the second floor, hang a left.

[KindaFuzzy]

Man that Safmat stuff works great, after a couple of thick coats of clear it looks great. Just wish I could get 18" lengths to do a whole faceplate, this one was two pieces:

[img:500:375]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5298/544 ... a3f2db.jpg[/img]

[img:500:375]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5300/544 ... 10a192.jpg[/img]

[Structo]

Looks good!

[Rich M]

[img1236]http://webpages.charter.net/rmweb/Parts ... panels.jpg[/img]

I had the lettering printed in reverse on 0.040" PETG and shoot the gold over that.

I tried prototyping with decal film but I had issues with decal stretch when I tried to smooth out the air bubbles, poor adhesion, esp around edges or drilled holes and finally gave up and had them screen printed.

I hope to get back to the decal method someday as it would make one-offs possible.

[Structo]

Those look nice but isn't .040" pretty thin and delicate?

[Rich M]

No, it is plenty strong and provides adequate" meat for alpha pots, if needed. The originals are similar in thickness <0.062" IIRC and, of course, made a acrylic which is a much more brittle material.

[ToneMerc]

[img1236]http://webpages.charter.net/rmweb/Parts ... panels.jpg[/img]

I had the lettering printed in reverse on 0.040" PETG and shoot the gold over that.

I tried prototyping with decal film but I had issues with decal stretch when I tried to smooth out the air bubbles, poor adhesion, esp around edges or drilled holes and finally gave up and had them screen printed.

I hope to get back to the decal method someday as it would make one-offs possible.

Rich, you just need to find the time to get around to the backplates.


Mike

[surfsup]

I think I'm about ready to make a faceplate and backplate. Where did you print these PETG sheets? Did you have this done at Fedex Kinkos? Did they supply the sheets to you?

I saw some art shops sell pre-cut PETG sheets but didn't do printing.

[Rich M]

I had them screen printed by a print shop. I should warn you the setup costs were prohibitive unless you printed ~100 sheets, which provides 400 panels.

[rogb]

I get my panels made on traffolite by the same company hiwatt use and they're very well priced!

They also do reversed engraved stuff that is really smart looking!

Anyone with any ideas on what the company Hiwatt use is called?

Cheers

Rog

[surfsup]

Man, i just checked out amplates.... $80 for a faceplate! That's 25% of the cost for the whole amp. Can't justify that for just a piece of alumium. That is sad to see, as i have a bunch of amps ready for faceplates....sigh.

[sonicmojo]

I've been thinking of trying this (http://www.pulsarprofx.com/DecalPRO/index.html). I think you should try it and let me know how it goes.

I recently got this kit for some pedals I am making. I'll report back once I get to using it.

[husky]

Any laser place can back etch Plexi for you with Corel artwork and then you just paint the back whatever color you want. I'll consider cutting and etching for anyone as long as it is in Corel, all fonts broken down in to curves so I dont need to think about fonts and all cuts done in a different RGB color than the text and graphics. I usually have Gold black and silver in stock. No adhesive sprays and it will never rub or scratch off since it is not on the surface

[sonicmojo]

I've been thinking of trying this (http://www.pulsarprofx.com/DecalPRO/index.html). I think you should try it and let me know how it goes.

I recently got this kit for some pedals I am making. I'll report back once I get to using it.

I got around to using my Pulsar Pro FX kit. After some trial and error, I managed to get a decent result for my pedal. You can use the different "foils" to make the graphics any color you want, including metallic colors. This method is not for the impatient since there are several precise steps and you will need to make multiple labels to cover an amplifier faceplate and be very careful with alignment. Smaller labels are easier to work with. In the case of my pedal, I used three separate labels for each row of graphics and did it with the knobs and switches still on it! For single color labels you need a B&W laser printer, GBC laminator, heat gun, and time......

Frank Miller of PulsarFXPro also helped me by phone when I had a question.