To engrave or not to engrave?

[braeden]

I've recently finished designing my front panel in Illustrator for my Gyraf G9 (thanks again for this great project!).
What do you guys think? Would it be better to have it silkscreened/printed?

http://i.imgur.com/CUvAT.png

Any feedback is appreciated :-X

Thanks!

 

[gemini86]

I like the design! Silkscreen will cost a ton more than engraving... you may look into laser engraving, it can have a very similar look to silkscreening.

 

[Kingston]

The font you have selected is such that it will probably look incomprehensible when engraved or silkscreened. It'll turn to gibberish. Might as well engrave by hand if that's the look you're going for. Dremel makes an inexpensive engraving tool for this kind of stuff. Kind of pointless to employ an expensive workshop for a design that will look hand made. DIY. I should add that for print screening your fonts are far too thin and for engraving the size is far too small.

For more clear cut design - whether you're engraving or slikscreening - you will have to take in account a "smudge factor". This depends on many things, for example the CNC programming skill of the engraver. The best thing to do is the select as clear and readable font as possible, and simplify the graphics as much as possible. With better font selection you can have smaller spacing, and fit more text in a smaller area. It won't turn to gibberish as easily.

[edit]

here is the engraver I was talking about. They usually sell for less than €20, which is still like hundred euros cheaper than even the cheapest engraving shops. They also have a selection of templates to get clean results, kind of like stencils for painting.

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/Tools/Pages/ToolDetail.aspx?pid=290-01+Tool

Another direction for that "authentic DIY look" (tm) it's hard to beat Dymo.

 

[braeden]

Clearly I've been up for too many hours... I'm actually considering having the panel laser marked, not engraved.. just to clarify, heh :

Thanks for the information on the silkscreening.

 

[Kingston]

Clearly I've been up for too many hours... I'm actually considering having the panel laser marked, not engraved.. just to clarify, heh :

ok, that will work slightly better for your design. Just make sure to do it on anodized black panel because the fonts are so thin that's probably the only material where they will adequately show. To avoid any surprises you should try to make the fonts bigger and use a thicker line width in illustrator. There's still plenty of room for that. Try a factor of 1.5X for font size and 2.0X for line width.

 

[zebra50]

Your design looks pretty, but I have to agree with Kingston's comments that the text is rather thin - both from the engraving/marking point of view, and when in use.

I find it it is very useful to be able to see settings at a glance from across the control room! Big and bold works.

 

[braeden]

... I went with engrave here's the final result for those that are curious.

http://i.imgur.com/wK9VS.jpg

Not sticking with these aluminium knobs... going to go with these for the top 4 knobs (gain/output)
http://au.element14.com/mentor/476-61/knob-high-torque/dp/1282528

... and these for the lower few.
http://www.mammothelectronics.com/4SK1510-p/700-1209.htm

Stay tuned... or not?

Thanks to everyone for their opinions by the way!
Braeden

 

[etheory]

That panel is fantastic well done!

 

[Kingston]

... I went with engrave here's the final result for those that are curious.

http://i.imgur.com/wK9VS.jpg

Looks great now with the bigger and thicker fonts.  8)

 

[etheory]

Not sticking with these aluminium knobs... going to go with these for the top 4 knobs (gain/output)
http://au.element14.com/mentor/476-61/knob-high-torque/dp/1282528

... and these for the lower few.
http://www.mammothelectronics.com/4SK1510-p/700-1209.htm

Stay tuned = yes, I will be.

When it comes to knobs, and yes, without qualification, the start of this sentence is mildly amusing, but, I digress - you are best to buy one of each of a few different types and check them out in situ.

In my experience you can NEVER guess exactly what it will look like until you have the physical unit in your hand ( I've tried photo-shopping and doing image composites from manufacturer photos etc. etc. etc. and every time I get the physical item, it's different to what I imagined it would be ).  As some of them are quite expensive, just ordering 10 knobs is not always the most economical way to realize you have made a mistake.  However, saying all that, the links above look like great choices for the type of project you are doing and I doubt you could go wrong if their mold quality is good.  Stylistically your choices seem very consistent.

 

[braeden]

Thanks etheory! that is very true actually... I'm stuck with a lot of knobs that either don't suit or don't fit
I notice you're from Sydney as well, always good to have locals on here!

I managed to get it all wired up this evening (took around 12 hours because I ran into some troubles  :)
But! It's alive!

I'll upload some better pictures tomorrow when I get a chance,
Braeden

 

[Moose]

I'm stuck with a lot of knobs that either don't suit or don't fit

That's just the way it goes. I've got parts drawers full of knobs of a dozen flavors. I think lots of us are in that boat. If you're like me, and a knob isn't right, eventually you'll use it on another project or pass it on to someone else.

Looking forward to the better pics. This is a cool build.

 

[ncoak]

cool panel man.