Custom meter scales

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weiss

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 16, 2014
Messages
1,436
Location
Germany
Do some of you guys make your own custom vu meter scales? If so, what materials do you use and what are the best settings to print?

best regards
 
I once bought a boatload of meters from a local kit manifacturer that stopped doing business, so, yes I do.

I do have a colour laser, but I stopped trying DIY in this case. I use a digital printing service. They can print on most anything, including thin aluminium. 20 vinyl labels cost me around 12 €, if I do the artwork myself. One label costs 10 €...

The main reason is that the thin vinyl I could do reliably, was rather stretchy and not very handy to apply. It also was a bit translucent, so the original scale shines  through. And the printing service cuts them to a very precise form, even with rounded corners. Beats cutting them by hand.

My laser (Samsung) also doesn't lay a thick enough toner layer to get deep colour.
 
cyrano said:
I once bought a boatload of meters from a local kit manifacturer that stopped doing business, so, yes I do.

I do have a colour laser, but I stopped trying DIY in this case. I use a digital printing service. They can print on most anything, including thin aluminium. 20 vinyl labels cost me around 12 €, if I do the artwork myself. One label costs 10 €...

The main reason is that the thin vinyl I could do reliably, was rather stretchy and not very handy to apply. It also was a bit translucent, so the original scale shines  through. And the printing service cuts them to a very precise form, even with rounded corners. Beats cutting them by hand.

My laser (Samsung) also doesn't lay a thick enough toner layer to get deep colour.

Very interesting! Do you have any pics? :)
 
The meters or the scales?

I don't have any pics of scales and they're all out in the wilderness now.

I do have some pics of the meters, but they're not online atm.

 
Thanks for your replies.
What digital printing service do you use and what specific options am i looking for?
can i also just use my own printer and use some transparent foils or something?
I am asking myself what material is used for this typical yellow background of the scale..
 
cyrano said:
The meters or the scales?

I don't have any pics of scales and they're all out in the wilderness now.

I do have some pics of the meters, but they're not online atm.

No problem. I was just a bit curious to see how the print scales look like. All good :)
 
weiss said:
Thanks for your replies.
What digital printing service do you use and what specific options am i looking for?
can i also just use my own printer and use some transparent foils or something?
I am asking myself what material is used for this typical yellow background of the scale..

It's "Digital print" in Antwerp. I notice now they went broke in 2015. Their domain has been recuperated by a printshop in A'dam.

They offered several "vintage" looking vinyls. From "broken beige" to marbled.

Seems I'll have to look for another one...  ::)
 
cyrano said:
It's "Digital print" in Antwerp. I notice now they went broke in 2015. Their domain has been recuperated by a printshop in A'dam.

They offered several "vintage" looking vinyls. From "broken beige" to marbled.

Seems I'll have to look for another one...  ::)

Oh haha. Probably.
 
I had really good results with thick yellowish cardstock, printing with a decent laser jet. Then I cut out the scale and it looks good to me. What am I missing about the need for vinyl?
 
You don't need to use vinyl.

I only used it because it's available with adhesive back, can easily be cut and had the right colour. The service I used back then doesn't offer adhesive paper with the right color. Typical paper labels come in "hard" colours, like white, blue, red, black...
 
cyrano said:
You don't need to use vinyl.

I only used it because it's available with adhesive back, can easily be cut and had the right colour. The service I used back then doesn't offer adhesive paper with the right color. Typical paper labels come in "hard" colours, like white, blue, red, black...
Makes sense. Thx!
 
Phrazemaster said:
I had really good results with thick yellowish cardstock, printing with a decent laser jet. Then I cut out the scale and it looks good to me. What am I missing about the need for vinyl?

Do you have a brand name/type or a source for the card stock you used? I’ve tried this, but the paper I used never quite looked right to me.
 
rackmonkey said:
Do you have a brand name/type or a source for the card stock you used? I’ve tried this, but the paper I used never quite looked right to me.
Sorry no - I just went to an office supplies store and asked the copy guy for a few sheets of thick manilla card stock...
 
So, do you guys totally replace the original scale or you just attach the new one on top?
 
warpie said:
So, do you guys totally replace the original scale or you just attach the new one on top?

i tried putting it on top but the lamp behind it makes the old scale shine through so that makes no sense
 
That's partly why I chose the vinyl, even if my meters have lighting from above.

And I didn't change the aluminium scale from the meter cause the vinyl was relatively thin. Besides, I needed something to stick it on ;D
 

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