Samstag, 26. Februar 2005     DIYstudiomail

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i found the following infos from Steven Thomas in the net: http://monopole.ph.qmw.ac.uk/~thomas/synthdiy/frontpanel.htm

INKJET(LASER) ADHESIVE FILM

In the past I had tried making front panel artwork from inkjet transparency film. Whilst the artwork was fine and stood out nicely against the painted background of my panels, I found a problem with gluing the ‘decal’ to the front plate. Even using clear epoxy there was a tendancy for the edges to lift from the panel..even after overcoating with clear lacquer. I put this down to the thickness of the film. Also even though the artwork is clear, the clarity is worstened when you look at the panel from an angle as you get the usual problems with sheen.

Recently I discovered an inkjet film called Safmat Inkjet Film made by Letraset(the company who make dry transfer decals). This is very thin (30 micron) very clear matt finish self-adhesive film. It can take quite high resolution artwork easily and its very easy to apply to the front panel (and can be repositioned). After the final position is achieved, you have to burnish the decal quite vigorously to the panel. This removes any airbubbles and aids adhesion. Even though the film is thin its quite strong so you can burnish quite hard without fear of tearing. I made a panel using this method recently..see pics below of the results. I was pleasently surprised by the resulting finish. Because the film is quite thin, it becomes practically invisible after burnishing,so that the resulting finish is quite close to silk-screening in appearance. It is important to overspray first with inkjet fixative (available from camera shops, art stores etc) and then a couple of coates of matt clear lacquer. Again its better to cut your decal slightly smaller than the front panel. Then the lacquer coat produces a hard sealed finish. The clarity of the final artwork is very good ..even when viewed at angles.

A plus point compared to the toner transfer method discussed above is that you can get higher resolution legend. This is because the toner inevitably spreads slightly in that process and degrades the resolution slightly.

Here are a couple of pics of a module I made with Safmat film. The panel consists of two

Modules . The top is a Noise&Filter module by Tony Allgood and the second (yet to be build) is a Sample&Hold module designed by Juergen Haible.