Is anyone making replacement clear labels for DEC gear?
Jon Elson
elson at pico-systems.com
Thu Sep 29 11:50:35 CDT 2016
On 09/29/2016 11:12 AM, Rod Smallwood wrote:
>
>
>
> I seem to remember that at least some of the markings
> were not actually labels but screened onto the chassis.
>
> White for black metalwork and black on unpainted cad and
> pass metalwork.
>
> There is a process used for decals. You peel the back off
> and press on to whatever. Then peel the front of and there
> you are.
>
I use some expensive stuff from Vital Presentation
Concepts. It has 2 parts. There is a photosensitive label
material that has a sheet of dye and a sheet of
photoactivated superglue. What you expose to UV gets sticky
and pulls the dye off the other sheet. Then, you turn this
sheet over and stick it down to a double-sticky base layer.
The image is between the two plastic layers, so it is quite
durable. They have many dye colors, and they do have a
clear base sheet, too. So, it looks like they have the
combination of colors to do white lettering on a clear
base. This stuff is NOT cheap, it will cost about $200 to
get the basic stuff (5 sheets of imaging film, 5 base sheets
and the peeling pad). You will also need a way to make
master images (laser printer transparencies should work) and
a UF exposing frame.
See
https://www.vpcinc.com/Category/Quick-Mark-UV-Photographic-49.cfm
for more details.
I use this stuff for instrument panel labels. I use blue
imaging film on a white base. Then, I use an Xacto knife to
cut out for around all the switches, etc. I make the photo
masters on a laser photoplotter, which assures the lettering
all comes out right where it is supposed to. (A laser
printer will not be as accurate, but would be fine for a
simple label.)
Here's an example of one of my units that shows the label well :
http://pico-systems.com/switcher.html
I'm not suggesting this is what anybody should do, I'm just
pointing out that this material does exist, and can be used
to make some good-looking labels.
(I am also NOT volunteering to make DEC labels for anybody!)
Jon
More information about the cctech
mailing list