Control Panel Labeling.....Give us some ideas!

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Brewmoor

Brewmoor

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I have searched the site and can not find a thread that covers this. I have seen some random posts on other threads, but I would like to see a comprehensive thread on the subject. I know there must be a million ways to do this.

I think there are a few others who were thinking about this as well. Lehr was asking about it in another thread and maybe a few others. My poor control panel looks a little too bland. As The Pol would say: It needs some bling.



I would like to label the switches, two therms, and probably my logo too!
 
I like the way Airbalancer screen printed his. I think I'm gonna go that route.
 
These are little plastuc tags that are engraved.......

Cntl_Panel1.jpg
 
Staples sells water proof labels that you can use on a laser printer. I am planning to use those for simplicity and price
 
I like that idea! We have a sweet color label printer here at work. I might have to stop by staples at lunch.

If I put some sort of border around it. It may not show the sticker shadow or line between the label and the panel.

I think I am going to try it.
 
Yeah he silk screened it. I thought he had a description of what he used. I'm not sure if this is the product, EZScreenPrint

Edit: He did use Hi-Res Ez Screenprint. Here's the thread About half way down the page.
 
Yeah that is what I am going to try. Staples has some industrial versions for labeling gear. I am going to see if the local store has it. Hopefully I will have some labels done by the end of the day for testing.
 
Find a signpainter / pinstriper. They can lay down some beautiful paint.
custom holmes!
Also check with any signmaker business. They should have a plotter and can make vinyl decals. I have done this for a few projects. The colors are endless, including glitter.
This guy has made stuff for me in the past, and so has a local sign guy: http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/motorcycle-graphics-decals.aspx
-Ben
 
The silk screening wasn't to difficult. If I were to do it again I would have made the font thicker. It was a bit hard to get it to fill tiny areas. Not cheap either, probably close to a hundred bucks. But now I know how to silk screen. :)
 
Off topic.

Airbalancer, can you give a short description of the "Water Fill" switch on your panel? I assume it opens and closes a valve of some sort, which must be inline on your incoming water line somehow? I poked around the forums but didn't find anything on that (sorry if it's been covered elsewhere)
 
Where are you getting the engraved tags? At a place like things remembered in a mall? If I can not get the stickers to work the way I want, I might do the engraved tags.
 
Brewmoor said:
I have searched the site and can not find a thread that covers this. I have seen some random posts on other threads, but I would like to see a comprehensive thread on the subject. I know there must be a million ways to do this.

I think there are a few others who were thinking about this as well. Lehr was asking about it in another thread and maybe a few others. My poor control panel looks a little too bland. As The Pol would say: It needs some bling.



I would like to label the switches, two therms, and probably my logo too!
Click to expand...


Ha ha, BLING it out!

I have been looking into Electro-engraving SS. It is sort of like silk screening, except with electricity, and engraving... not ink. Great for a steel panel or a name plate
 
Go to http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/. They have free software to design your panel. I used them when I designed and built the amplifier, preamplifier, line preamplifier, phono preamplifier and turntable speed controller for my audio system. I can vouch that they do quality work. Here is a picture of the front panel they did the the turntable speed controller I designed. BTW...I am Kilowattski Audio. They annodized, engraved the front panel and filled the lettering with white.

speed.jpg
 
SawDustGuy,

That is sweet looking. I am definatly going to use them for some electronics projects. I am going to put together a electric boil kettle controller prototype. See what it would cost to make for others. A nice panel like that would be sweet.
 
Great thread!

I'm building my control panel soon and I, too, will be looking to label it. I've thought about stenciling with spray paint, but said "no way, I'm not spending all this time and money on this project to have it look like a New York City subway wall."

I like the simplicity and value of the engraved vinyl tags. Although the anodized panel that sawdustguy had made looks pretty good too.

Besides silk screening and the above mentioned, are there any other methods anyone has done that worked?

TiberholdthegraffitiBrew
 
I used the label maker idea and it really looks ghetto. I'm on to something else. The best idea I've found in my research is what diatonic and OhioEd did on theirs with cutout vinyl from a sign company. HERE is a link to diatonics panel. I believe he said it was around $30.
 
I'm going to go Brother P-touch hooked up to a pc. Since I have both it's cheap. Maybe once I stop changing things I'll have a panel made.

I did buy a stainless box for my control. It will be a shame to cover it with crappy labels.

B
 
Waterslide paper - you can make your own decals. And you can buy it by the sheet (or 5) instead of buying like 50 sheets - on ebay, of course. clear, and white.

Inkjet or laser, clear spray, cut out, soak in water, slide decal onto project....
 
Here's my panel. I started out to silkscreen it, but between the trouble I had transfering the art from powerpoint to a large format printer, and then photocopying onto acetates for burning the silkscreen and the eventual problem I had with the metalflake ink I wanted to use having too large a particle size to pass through bleedin' screen, I eventually abandoned that approach and used cut vinyl lettering done in half an hour at a local signmakers shop.

I had to go up in typeface size to get the letters to transfer well, but I am well pleased with the result. If I had to do it again, I would probably get the aluminum panel powdercoated instead of using rattle can spray paint.

Control panel pics 2101.06.25 002.jpg
 
AiredAle said:
Here's my panel. I started out to silkscreen it, but between the trouble I had transfering the art from powerpoint to a large format printer, and then photocopying onto acetates for burning the silkscreen and the eventual problem I had with the metalflake ink I wanted to use having too large a particle size to pass through bleedin' screen, I eventually abandoned that approach and used cut vinyl lettering done in half an hour at a local signmakers shop.

I had to go up in typeface size to get the letters to transfer well, but I am well pleased with the result. If I had to do it again, I would probably get the aluminum panel powdercoated instead of using rattle can spray paint.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing that.

I've got a hinged door metal electrical enclosure, so I won't have a panel that I can send off to get powder coated, so I was thinking of spray painting and having the local sign shop make a vinyl label for it. Maybe they could make something that covers the whole surface, so I wouldn't have to paint it?
 
I had FastSigns do cut vinyl letters. They are a chain with locations all over the place. (fastsigns.com) They were a bit concerned about the small size, but got it done. They also cut a complete set of extra letters/labels in the waste area in case I have a problem with any peeling. The face of the panel is 16"x16" and the letters fall into a space of about 14"x10". This ends up on a single sheet that gets applied all at once. This was about $30.

Here is a few pics;

IMG_3324.jpg


IMG_3329.jpg


IMG_3330.jpg


IMG_3335.jpg


IMG_3338.jpg


IMG_3326.jpg
 
Bobby_M said:
I think you overpaid a little due to having it applied in one sheet but if it made it easier, no big deal. Looks great!
Click to expand...

It definitely could have been cheaper had they printed all the letters/labels without actually spacing for the panel.

I didn't want to have to align each "label". They cut circles where the buttons went, so it was literally 2 minutes to install. In fact, I had the panel with me when I picked up the lettering, so I let them do the install (I didn't want to have to go back to the shop if I screwed it up).
 
dont want to jump in and post an unwanted ad, but I own a graphic design, vinyl, and screen-printing business if anyone wants this stuff shoot me a message and we can get you set up.
 
Ohio-Ed said:
I had FastSigns do cut vinyl letters. They are a chain with locations all over the place. (fastsigns.com) They were a bit concerned about the small size, but got it done. They also cut a complete set of extra letters/labels in the waste area in case I have a problem with any peeling. The face of the panel is 16"x16" and the letters fall into a space of about 14"x10". This ends up on a single sheet that gets applied all at once. This was about $30.
Click to expand...

Great job Ed! You have a beautiful control panel! The geek in me gets excited to see such beautiful work.;):)
 
Sawdustguy said:
Great job Ed! You have a beautiful control panel! The geek in me gets excited to see such beautiful work.;):)
Click to expand...

Thanks.
The credit goes to HBT. :mug:
Most all the inspiration, design, help, and even some of the components have come from the users here.

As for this specific thread, I followed Diatonic's lead on the vinyl lettering.
 

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