Professional Control Panel Lables

[Karl_T]

I've finished up the AutoCAD work on the design of my operator control panel for my hardinge CHNC retrofit. I'd like the labels on all the switches, pushbuttons, and dials to look like a professional machine control.

Any suggestions? I'm hoping maybe there's a way to get a sheet of vinyl or plastic with unremovalble print. I could then bond this to the metal panel face.

Karl

[Bear]

Hello,
Maybe machine them the way you want them.Then have them annodized
and/or machine inlays.(more machine time)
Bear

[2muchstuff]

Check with the people who make name badges. They use a plastic that has a different color on top with usually a white substrate. They router out the letters revealing the substrate. Instead of just a rectangle name plate placed next to the switch you could incorporate the switch hole in the nameplate. Just an idea.

[stupidog]

Try a trophy shop. They can engrave whatever you want and are usually cheap.

[CJL5585]

Originally Posted by Karl_T I've finished up the AutoCAD work on the design of my operator control panel for my hardinge CHNC retrofit. I'd like the labels on all the switches, pushbuttons, and dials to look like a professional machine control. Any suggestions? I'm hoping maybe there's a way to get a sheet of vinyl or plastic with unremovalble print. I could then bond this to the metal panel face. Karl

You can take a thin piece of plexiglass the same size as your control. Do a Reverse image of your CAD drawing. Spray the reverse side of the Plexi with a couple coats of paint the color you want the enclosure to be -- engrave the reverse image thru the paint -- then you can spray the reverse side of the Plexi in the second color that you want the letters, dials, to be. You can also have different colors for the different functions.

Once mounted, the plexiglass front will look extremely sharp, and with the paint being on the rear, it will not get dirty, or show wear on the letters, etc. Also, the unit will have a really great look as you would have with etched glass.

Works for me.
Jerry

[2muchstuff]

I've another idea, Take a thin opaque piece of plastic and glue it onto a clear piece of plexiglass. Cut your letters thru the opaque into the clear and back light with colored L.E.D.'s. Oh-I've been thinking too much again.

[Karl_T]

Originally Posted by CJL5585 You can take a thin piece of plexiglass the same size as your control. Do a Reverse image of your CAD drawing. Spray the reverse side of the Plexi with a couple coats of paint the color you want the enclosure to be -- engrave the reverse image thru the paint -- then you can spray the reverse side of the Plexi in the second color that you want the letters, dials, to be. You can also have different colors for the different functions. Jerry

This sounds cool. If very small thin lines aren't a total b*&( to machine. What sort of cutter can you use? The lines in some of the text will only be 0.020" wide. My CNC mill has only 4000 rpm to speed, any idea what feed rate I can go with this cutter?

Karl

[MetLHead]

Karl,

We use a two layer plastic from Ability Plastics. It has a clear top layer with a colored back layer. We reverse etch it from the back and fill in the etching with paint. The plastic is not stiff enough by itself so we also make a backer plate for support.

Regards,
Scott

[Karl_T]

Originally Posted by MetLHead Karl, We use a two layer plastic from Ability Plastics. It has a clear top layer with a colored back layer. We reverse etch it from the back and fill in the etching with paint. The plastic is not stiff enough by itself so we also make a backer plate for support. Regards, Scott

Looks BEAUTIFULL. Can you tell me exactly how to do the etching?

Karl

[MetLHead]

Karl,

We etch it out on a CNC mill that we mounted a Rotozip motor and a .020" V-bit. You only need to go just deep enough to get through the solid color layer. The software that we use to draw and convert to G-Code is custom, so I can't give that to you. But you should be able to find something that can take your AutoCAD drawing and convert the text to G-Code. The text or G-Code has to be mirrored because the etching is on the back side of the plastic.

Regards,
Scott

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by MetLHead We use a two layer plastic from Ability Plastics. Scott

Scott, We make our own panels up like you rather than use the Mitsubishi Op. panel.
I think the trade name we use is Lamacoid, for one-offs we just email the DWG drawing over to a local specialty engraver and he does it for such a reasonable price it is not worth us trying to do our own.
In quantity and slightly higher quality we also have panels made up in Lexan, this resembles the membrane type of overlay on alot of newer panels.
Both methods allow the inclusion of Graphics and Logo's etc.
Al.

[MetLHead]

Al,

Not to toot my own horn, but we make one of the Op panels that Mitsubishi sells.

Scott