Face plate woes

[rutledj]

I went to Kinkos yesterday to see what it would cost to print a metal faceplate and backplate (after reading on this forum that some of you did the same).

They wanted $50 just for a piece of 24" wide metal (have to buy the whole piece as they don't have a way to cut it) and then whatever the printing costs (they couldn't open the Adobe Illustrator files. They said to put it in pdf format).

Just curious if any of you found any alternatives other than the plastic type from BNP?

Thanks,
Rut

[Bob-I]

I've had good success with cardboard faceplates from Kinkos. Have them laminate a piece of poster board and cut it to size, then use the spray on contact cement to glue it on. Kinkos can read a .jpg. Save it in the highest resolution possible.

[Funkalicousgroove]

Before i started doing the regular chassis that I sell I used to have great luck with a trophy shop, of course the initial setup was $80, but the faceplates were only like $25 after that, laser etched aluminum.

[rutledj]

I asked for a posterboard print and they said they only had sizes up to 11 x 17

[Funkalicousgroove]

try www.amplates.com they specialize in what we do.

[heisthl]

If you live in a large metro area, find the Kinko's that does the outdoor signage. Just have them do your panel on outdoor sign vinyl with an adhesive back. Have them fill the whole width with duplicates.
Hint: use doublesided tape to mount the label initially and sight through the holes from the inside to get it lined up(I put a dot on the graphic for the center of a hole). Exacto a couple of the control holes and peel off the adhesive and use your pre cut holes to get it placed perfectly.

[Tonegeek]

If you live in a large metro area, find the Kinko's that does the outdoor signage. Just have them do your panel on outdoor sign vinyl with an adhesive back. Have them fill the whole width with duplicates.
Hint: use doublesided tape to mount the label initially and sight through the holes from the inside to get it lined up(I put a dot on the graphic for the center of a hole). Exacto a couple of the control holes and peel off the adhesive and use your pre cut holes to get it placed perfectly.

+1
Great tip about lining it up too!

Rut,
I went an extra step and had the vinyl laminated, but that may be overkill. The plain vinyl is pretty tough. heisthl made me a peel and stick vinyl label for my footswitch and it is holding up under daily torture.

[rutledj]

So is the vinyl sign done on a clear background or on colored ie. white on black?

The only vinyl material they showed me was colored with a small square pattern on it. Nothing smooth.

[heisthl]

If you go to the right Kniko's they have a choice of about every color - they like to use the color that has the most area so you don't have any print gradiations.

[bluefireamps]

BNP does aluminum as well as plastic. They can use the AI files.
Dave

[rutledj]

Yep. I've used some of the plastic ones before. The actually look pretty nice. I don't think you can get white on black in metal though.

Has anyone tried getting their chassis screen printed? Just curious of the cost for 1 off.

Rut

[Pete]

Has anyone tried getting their chassis screen printed? Just curious of the cost for 1 off.

Rut

I had 2 done about 6 years ago. At a small town screen printer shop (mostly doing tee shirts etc.). Took some effort to convince him to take on the job. Turned out pretty good (not quite like the Funk ones but sim). He could not use my graphic files and suggested I take them to this copy shop to have copied to the special paper he needed to have it on. He rigged up a way to screen print onto my powder coated chassis. Cost about $120 total if my memory is not too off.

[skyboltone]

OK.
This one is made from a 2" X 12" piece of brass sheet from McMaster-Carr. They come three to a package for $12. The art work was done on Microsoft Visio by me. Once you get rolling it's not too hard. Kinkos used a bitmap and made a vector file out of it then printed it transparent sticky back vinyl. They made two fronts and two backs on a piece 11" X 13" or so and charged me thirty bucks. The thirty bucks was a setup fee and you can get pretty big before the price goes up.

I needed both fronts and both backs because I had the back printed upside down and needed to cut and splice it and the front I just screwed up.

Total for this panel was $34. I just used the raw chassis with the transparency on the back.

[img:800:600]http://tinypic.com/4tk5j02.jpg[/img]

[rutledj]

Looks good. How durable is that? Did you coat it with clear coat?

[skyboltone]

Looks good. How durable is that? Did you coat it with clear coat?

No I didn't coat it. This is the same product they stick those big swoopy lines on the sides of motorhomes with. It's meant as an outdoor advertising product.

Oh, almost forgot, the brass cuts with a table saw. Just tape it securely to a scrapt of plywood and use a carbide saw blade.
Only time will tell

Dan H