Ian Thompson-Bell wrote:
I am building a tube based mic pre into a 19inch rack case which is
painted black. I want to label the inputs, outputs and controls. What
options are open to a hobbyist?
Cheers
Ian
Undoubtedly the most professional way to do it is to design the art in
a page layout or other vector art programme on your computer and have
it professionally silkscreened onto the metal. Probably expensive for
a one-off, as there are several distinct labour-intensive processes
involved. Raymond Koonce published on RAT not too long ago a
description of how he did it himself in his shed.
Next, possibly easier for you to do yourself if you are dexterous and
patient, and certainly cheaper, is rub-down letter called Letraset
which you buy at any graphic art supply house. Also buy art tape,
because the trick is not to work directly on your black case but on
another special sheet (which you must also buy, it is called frisket)
with a pencil line or lines on it for alignment; when you have your
words in a straight line and correctly spaced, you lift them off the
frisket with the art tape and rub them through the art tape onto the
metalwork. Protect by varnishing. Amateurs with a lot of patience and
a good eye are supposed to be able to make a decent job at modest
cost.
Next, easiest of all to do, is to design whatever you want for the
front panel in full colour in a vector art programme on your computer
(anything that can handle postscript type is a vector programme --
even the better word processors will work). Reverse the entire thing
in the computer, make a PDF of the result, save the PDF in each of the
saving modes, copy to CD, then take to anyone who offers laser
photocopying and printing from your own disk. Ask them to print it on
a transparency as used in overhead projectors. You might have to bring
your own transparency film as the smaller instant print shops may not
carry stock. At the same place you buy the transparency film you can
buy colorless spray glue. Spray on printed side of transparency (after
guillotining to size -- if you print trim marks to the PDF, you can
cut it very precisely to size; this is the purpose of printing to
several versions of PDF, that there are different shrink-rates) and
glue onto the metal. If you want white text, you run into the
difficulty that you cannot print white. Simply make your design in
black on white, then invert so the film is printed black except where
you want letters. Then overspray the film white, or spray the
casefront white, and voila, white letters.
I haven't done any of this for years, though I have all the skills and
all the necessary connections, and don't get charged for little jobs
for my hobby. It's just too messy and tiresome. What I do instead is
somewhere in between:
Small printers, the kind of people who print business cards and
calenders for local businesses, also do plexiglass signs. They can
silkscreen on these, and that is usually much cheaper than
silkscreening on your case because they are set up to handle flatwork.
That can be very nice, especially if you reverse the design and get it
screened not on the front but on the back of the lexan, which gives
some depth to the assembly. But they can also machine-engrave designs
into the lexan. Get this done in reverse from the back, spray with
some colour (gold or silver is good), wipe off excess so that
everywhere not engraved is clean, spray with another colour (my house
colour is maroon, take it or leave it) or leave clear, and voila, you
have three dimensional script appearing to stand proud of the facia,
as if you had lettering handcut and chromed -- all for the price of a
sign for an office door.
That last idea is also the process required to remake a Quad II
nameplate if one of yours is cracked. (I assume everyone intelligent
in tube audio has a pair of Quad II salted away for reconditioning or
already perfect and saved for his old age. Don't disillusion me.)
If your amp is destined for studio use, I highly recommend the last
method. I put a reverse-engraved panel on a banksaKT88 amp I built for
a rocker down the road to use in his home recording studio, and years
later it still looks good because the entire facia wipes clean and the
lettering can't wear off.
HTH.
If you're interested in reprographics, some of my graphic design books
are he
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/T...%20GDitCA.html
and some more here, about halfway down the page below the novels:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/T...re%20Jute.html
Andre Jute
Labelling Metalwork
Hybrid Mode
