- #1
NTL2009
- 597
- 381
There are many web sites and videos about various methods for producing one-off labels/graphics for our DIY project front panels. Most of the ideas I've seen involve printing on a laser or ink-jet, and transferring this (laser), or applying it (ink-jet) to the front panel with adhesive or varnishing it in place. They seem like a fair amount of work and questionable results. I don't want to go the chemical etching route.
I'd like a professional looking panel for a project that I'm working on now. An alternative I'm trying is to create the 'artwork' in LibreOffice Draw, then convert to .png or .jpg format for printing at a local photo lab (I'm using Costco, but there are many places with probably similar quality/cost). My panel is 9.25" by 7.25", so an 8" x 10" will do, and costs < $2.
I will cut holes (more on this below) for the pots and switches, and the nuts/washers (plus maybe some adhesive) will hold it in place to the underlying panel (I'm using a thin sheet of plexi-glass, but aluminum sheet would work well too. I'll have mechanical support posts every few inches to keep deflection low.
I haven't seen anyone else doing this, but maybe my searching skills are failing me, I get a lot of hits using printers as above, so maybe this method just gets lost?
Any recommendations for increasing the durability of the photo? I'm not sure how it will hold up to handling. I could laminate it, or maybe spray with lacquer or poly? Ideas for reducing glare? I have some test prints done, they are pretty good as far as glare ('lustre' finish), I'm also doing a test with a slightly less black background to see if that will help. I'll try to upload a sample pic.
I could cut the holes manually, but the switches I'm using have only a small lip ( ~ < 1/16"), so it needs to be fairly precise. Fortunately, my wife wanted one of those craft making kits that is an x-y plotter with a cutter head (Brother Scan-N-Cut), and it takes .svg files ('outline' types of drawings), and I've generated that file from my drawing - a test run on plain paper worked great. They aren't exactly cheap machines, and she was a little sheepish to ask for it, but I kinda figured I'd come up with a use for it for myself!
My first real attempt looked great (even got a "wow" from my wife), but unfortunately, the scale was off. I tried again, this time in Draw, I set the printer paper size to 8.00" by 10.00" with 0.00" margins. The program threw out a warning, but allowed me to continue. This appeared to be accepted into the photo lab program correctly, I haven't picked up the photos yet though. But I also couldn't seem to get Draw to convert to jpg and keep high res (it seemed stuck at 100 DPI), so I had to export as pdf, then import into GIMP, and that would let me export as a 1200 DPI (overkill?) png file. Using minimal compression (#1) got me to a reasonable 3.2MB file size (lossless compression was 422MB!). Hopefully, I can find a way to avoid the multiple import/exports.
If I get the pic uploaded, the 8 'stars' are where pots will go, so most of the radial lines will be covered by the pot knob ('chicken-head' style, for better visual and tactile feedback), and the 13 smaller circles are where 1/2" momentary switches (with center ring indicator LEDS) will go. I'll upload a pic later, right now I can't seem to get the file small enough to be accepted here (update, heck a pdf was only 19KB - smart compression).
Anybody use this method, or see any references to it?
I'd like a professional looking panel for a project that I'm working on now. An alternative I'm trying is to create the 'artwork' in LibreOffice Draw, then convert to .png or .jpg format for printing at a local photo lab (I'm using Costco, but there are many places with probably similar quality/cost). My panel is 9.25" by 7.25", so an 8" x 10" will do, and costs < $2.
I will cut holes (more on this below) for the pots and switches, and the nuts/washers (plus maybe some adhesive) will hold it in place to the underlying panel (I'm using a thin sheet of plexi-glass, but aluminum sheet would work well too. I'll have mechanical support posts every few inches to keep deflection low.
I haven't seen anyone else doing this, but maybe my searching skills are failing me, I get a lot of hits using printers as above, so maybe this method just gets lost?
Any recommendations for increasing the durability of the photo? I'm not sure how it will hold up to handling. I could laminate it, or maybe spray with lacquer or poly? Ideas for reducing glare? I have some test prints done, they are pretty good as far as glare ('lustre' finish), I'm also doing a test with a slightly less black background to see if that will help. I'll try to upload a sample pic.
I could cut the holes manually, but the switches I'm using have only a small lip ( ~ < 1/16"), so it needs to be fairly precise. Fortunately, my wife wanted one of those craft making kits that is an x-y plotter with a cutter head (Brother Scan-N-Cut), and it takes .svg files ('outline' types of drawings), and I've generated that file from my drawing - a test run on plain paper worked great. They aren't exactly cheap machines, and she was a little sheepish to ask for it, but I kinda figured I'd come up with a use for it for myself!
My first real attempt looked great (even got a "wow" from my wife), but unfortunately, the scale was off. I tried again, this time in Draw, I set the printer paper size to 8.00" by 10.00" with 0.00" margins. The program threw out a warning, but allowed me to continue. This appeared to be accepted into the photo lab program correctly, I haven't picked up the photos yet though. But I also couldn't seem to get Draw to convert to jpg and keep high res (it seemed stuck at 100 DPI), so I had to export as pdf, then import into GIMP, and that would let me export as a 1200 DPI (overkill?) png file. Using minimal compression (#1) got me to a reasonable 3.2MB file size (lossless compression was 422MB!). Hopefully, I can find a way to avoid the multiple import/exports.
If I get the pic uploaded, the 8 'stars' are where pots will go, so most of the radial lines will be covered by the pot knob ('chicken-head' style, for better visual and tactile feedback), and the 13 smaller circles are where 1/2" momentary switches (with center ring indicator LEDS) will go. I'll upload a pic later, right now I can't seem to get the file small enough to be accepted here (update, heck a pdf was only 19KB - smart compression).
Anybody use this method, or see any references to it?