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robin1(at)mrmoisture.com
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 Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:14 pm Post subject: DIY Panel Labeling $20.00 |
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RV-List,
I thought I would share a sweet way to do your own panel labeling that is fast, inexpensive and great looking. In fact your graphic choices are nearly unlimited.
I had the unfortunate situation where the graphics on my panel we not acceptable. I paid to reshoot the panel and decided to label some of the items myself. I had considered using clear labels and a Dymo style label maker like I used with my RV-6A. The results were actually quite good but with limited choices in font selection, size and spacing. The ideal system would be to use my graphics software to design the correct labels and then transfer them to my panel in Decal form. With a little research I sourced:
Color Laser Water Slide Decal Paper by papoilio. www.papoilio.com
I purchased the large pack of 10 sheets ($13.00) in case I screwed up but I only needed one sheet as I was able to fit duplicate labels all on a single page. I designed my labels in Adobe Illustrator because it is a vector based program making the text and borders ultra crisp. I also happen to own a Minolta Magicolor 2400W color laser printer which gave me excellent results. If my printer didn’t work well my plan was to run a thumb drive down to Kinkos and use their large Color Laser Printer but there was no need after I output and tested the first sheet. If you are OK with Black graphics any Laser Printer will do.
From here the process was straight forward, trim, soak in bowl of water for 15 seconds, don’t spill the bowl of water in the plane (hardest step), place the decal on a pre-moistened portion of your panel and properly position. Do the next decal while the first one is drying.
I purchased a special rubber squeegee and floating agent at the same time I purchased the paper but never found the need to use them. If you are confident you only need the 5 sheet pack your cost may be as low as $10.00.
For high wear areas they suggest a clear coat over the decal but these are in a low touch location and they seem pretty durable to me.
[img]cid:image005.jpg(at)01CA12E4.5C3B6400[/img]
With your own graphic designs your panel labeling choices are virtually unlimited including photographs or multi color process:
(note: labels below are fuzzy due to .jpg conversion)
[img]cid:image006.jpg(at)01CA12E4.5C3B6400[/img]
Robin
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stein(at)steinair.com
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| Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:11 pm Post subject: DIY Panel Labeling $20.00 |
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This is similar to what most of us panel shops do now, but ther are a few more things to consider. First, if you don't clearcoat them the truth is thru will come off, you'll see the decals in the sun, and they are not very durable once they cure. Second, laser inks don't hold up well regarding uv and humidity. Third, in order to try and get white (you can't print white on a laser) you have to try and use dark borders for everything. That's ok on large fonts, but gets a bit klutzy on small labels or large rows of things like switches & cb's.
I would suggest if you want to go this route you just buy a sheet of printed decals from one of the shops (there are a number of us) that print the decals with high quality (and high buck) thermal printers. You get good uv and waterproof inks that can still be printed in colors, but also in pure white as well as metallic foils too. Most places still only charge about $20 per sheet of decals.
Robin's solution is a good start...but wihout good inks and a clearcoat the long term result will be less than stellar. We've tried almost every solution over the years and have learned the hard way.
My 2 cents as usual (from OSH)!
Cheers,
Stein
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 1, 2009, at 10:12 PM, "Robin Marks" <robin1(at)mrmoisture.com (robin1(at)mrmoisture.com)> wrote:
[quote]
RV-List,
I thought I would share a sweet way to do your own panel labeling that is fast, inexpensive and great looking. In fact your graphic choices are nearly unlimited.
[b]
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