My first attempt at Lazertran

Hi Guys,

I know Lazertran has come up here time and time again, well I finally got around to trying it out for myself on the SSL.
I'm still racking this box, but thought I would share the panel results



(Sorry about the poor photo quality on the above pic)



It actually is quite easy to work with and you can remove the excess residue with surgical spirits to give it an almost silk screened finish.

If people are interested I could post a step by step guide on baking, though it might have been done before. Thanks to Neeno for all his advise and the scales and Frank (NRG) for all his help.

The only part that didn't work 100% was the Ashton Audio label, I scratch the panel prior to the Lazertran and in 2 tiny spots the toner didn't melt on, but all in all I am very happy with the out come.


Cheers

Matt

This Ashton Compressor looks so goooooood !
What a piece of gear !

Show us a picture of your "Cruel-Icey" meter !

GREAT JOB MAN ! :thumb:
:guinness: :guinness: :guinness: :guinness: :guinness: :guinness: :guinness: :guinness: :guinness: :guinness: :guinness:
Cheeeeers

Hah hah! Thanks Neeno!

Here is the ICEY meter, LOL!




Matt

Is this method the same as doing pcbs with photo paper?

Hmmm. it is a special water slide decal, so it is not the same as photo resist, which is what I think you use for PCB's?

www.lazertran.com

Matt

Matta,

A step by step tutorial on the lazertran would be great! Your SSL looks awesome.

I myself never could get lazertran to work properly...

Tis the same rough idea as PCB stuff

Print your image onto the lazertran decal

For PCBs same idea as press and peel - but... no ironing required... - you stick it in the oven - then ferric cholride - then rub off the lazertran

For label work - put it on the front panel - stick it in the oven... err. that;s it.

Looks very cool, Matt!

stereo buss? sounds sweet! My english is very bad but doesn't "BUSS" mean something like "kiss" ? :roll: Hmm. But api's comp's are BUSS compressors, too. Maybe they're called "buss" when they sound so sweat that you would kiss the compressor? :green: so a beh* compressor is just a bus compressor (with one "s") :green:

Anyway your lazertran work is very good. I would like to see a lazetran step by step guide. That would be cool.

Frank.

Right on! That looks very good. I've got some lazertran around here somewhere, but haven't given it a go yet.

With some minor kicking ( and a brief tutorial), I could be coaxed into doing my green pre in this manner =)

Regard

ju

It looks very good.
I also did three panels with lazertran but somehow they all turned out a little different. I guess it has something to do with the baking time and temperature.

I'd be interested in hearing what your step by step procedure was.

althoguh Frank has links, i think it is always good to have confirmation.


Looks Beautifull By the Way

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the kind words on the panel, it is only my second attempt at a front panel of any kind, and it is a BIG step up from my Ghetto Box with the Green and Calrec!

Neeno will be doing some Lazertran work this week and we can been chatting, he will be taking photos of the steps and we will jointly work on a step by step illustrated guide to making a Lazertran panel, from printing right through to the end product.

I'll post our work when we have completed it. I hope you can use it as a resource in your own panel designs.

Cheers

Matt

Here is a great site about making your own fronts. If you scroll down a bit he explaines the procedure with lazertran in detail:

http://monopole.ph.qmw.ac.uk/~thomas/synthdiy/frontpanel.htm

Robert

Sorry Guys,

I never got round to doing the photo tutorial, but thought I'd post my process here:

After you apply the Lazertran and have removed any air bubbles.

1. Turn up your oven at 50°C for 15 minutes and leave the door opened...
2. Then place your panel inside the oven at 50°C for 10-15 minutes... this will help dry the excess water...
3. Close the Oven Door,
4. To bake it right you'll need 45 minutes... this time period you MUST increase the temperature slowly...
5. Start on to 100°C...
6. After 15 mins go to 135°C
7. After 15 mins to 170°C
8. Finally you'll have 200°C for the last 5-10 minutes...

You'll see the decal become shiny... and you can leave the Oven door open and allow the panel to cool off.

You will notice residue around the decal where the paper has bonded to the panel. This can be removed using surgical spirits, also known as rubbing alcohol.

I used paper towel and lightly rubbed over the excess and it comes away, leaving the fused toner intact.

Note I've only tried this on raw aluminum and anodized front panels, I'm not sure how this will work with powder coated or painted panels and the proces was done using a laser printer.

Nice work, one again.

Which is the right Lazertran for metals ( there are about 4 products on their site) using a laser printer? Also will it look decent on anosized alum?

It looks great on anodized as well.

RE which one is the right one, I'm not sure. Locally it is sold as Fotocal paper, but it the same as Lasertran. There are 2 main kinds here, one for fabrics and one for ceramics, which I use on metal, no problems.

Matt

Beautiful Matt. Great job!

I have the same meters! Did you put an LED in there?

Jim

Hey Jim,

Yip, 2 LED's behind the Meter, mounted on Perf board. Looks well, nice and bright.

Matt

Did you also make your own scale?

jim

Yip,

I made my own scale, I think I have it as a PDF somewhere. I can e-mail it to you if you want, and if I can find it :shock:

Matt