A possible 'in modern times' method of getting to your own front panel silk screening.
3D printers.
0.02 millimeter repeatable accuracy.
micro fine inking tips
the issue is the software for it, which is all known command components and sequences. (bog standard stuff)
translating fonts.
distance from surface checks, which is now common and cheap. ie bed leveling software and hardware, designed to check many areas of the print surface for level accuracy.
so the hardware can be purchased to do the basic part, for under $300. the 3d printer with self leveling. the self leveling software can be adapted to doing more leveling points, or software is available tha already does so. The aluminum surface will generally not be as perfectly level as any given common print bed for 3d printing, so it needs to use more checks for area leveling than most 3d leveling software does right now.
the trick is the software, and that is standard code. Printers drawing letters for laser cuts is bog standard stuff that already exists, and includes font scaling. so we got that bit already.
the biggest problem is the micro miniature dabbing inking tip for accurate letters and letter edging. to soak a tip of the right size and dab it exactly the right amount. to not drag the tip but to dab-form the letter, much like dot matrix, but with micro-miniature accuracy and overlap to create fine letter edges. the tip would be a 50th to 100th of a millimeter across, as an offhand guess. drip down, through tube, or absorbent/infused dabbing, is the issue. which of the three is most viable. or some combination thereof.
this is all possible, the inking hardware to some degree already exists, and then we just need to adapt it for this task. the given chosen ink might have to be adjusted as well, to work best at this task. thankfully it is black and that is good for particle size issues and conductivity when it comes to adjusting for flow, and hardness and grip to the given surface when dried.
the face-plates are invariably metal and conductive... and thus we can use electrostatics (attractive/ repulsive, whatever is the working formula) as an aid in getting this done, if necessary.
this looks good, it looks quite doable, from here.
The research begins (as i put this post together). First check on bog standard inking pens. 0.15mm is common. which means that smaller specialized ones may be available.
https://www.sakuraofamerica.com/product/pigma-micron/
we can probably adapt these pens into being the source point for tips and a delivery system. just to start.
almost there..already..
then to 3d print an adapter for fitting it to the face of our chosen printer's print head. or to replace said print head entirely and put this in the place of the print head.
shave the inking pen's tip down via some known method, or find an alternative pen that is more suited to this task. then to get the desired enamel based inks into said pen (it's about dried hardness of the ink and how well it attaches to the surface of the metal. this will generally put the ink in the complex aromatic end of the base carrier pool, as opposed to acrylic or water based) adjusted to get the flow right. with a tip that has the resilience to deform and refill it's self after the touch deformation on the surface of the aluminum.
3D printers.
0.02 millimeter repeatable accuracy.
micro fine inking tips
the issue is the software for it, which is all known command components and sequences. (bog standard stuff)
translating fonts.
distance from surface checks, which is now common and cheap. ie bed leveling software and hardware, designed to check many areas of the print surface for level accuracy.
so the hardware can be purchased to do the basic part, for under $300. the 3d printer with self leveling. the self leveling software can be adapted to doing more leveling points, or software is available tha already does so. The aluminum surface will generally not be as perfectly level as any given common print bed for 3d printing, so it needs to use more checks for area leveling than most 3d leveling software does right now.
the trick is the software, and that is standard code. Printers drawing letters for laser cuts is bog standard stuff that already exists, and includes font scaling. so we got that bit already.
the biggest problem is the micro miniature dabbing inking tip for accurate letters and letter edging. to soak a tip of the right size and dab it exactly the right amount. to not drag the tip but to dab-form the letter, much like dot matrix, but with micro-miniature accuracy and overlap to create fine letter edges. the tip would be a 50th to 100th of a millimeter across, as an offhand guess. drip down, through tube, or absorbent/infused dabbing, is the issue. which of the three is most viable. or some combination thereof.
this is all possible, the inking hardware to some degree already exists, and then we just need to adapt it for this task. the given chosen ink might have to be adjusted as well, to work best at this task. thankfully it is black and that is good for particle size issues and conductivity when it comes to adjusting for flow, and hardness and grip to the given surface when dried.
the face-plates are invariably metal and conductive... and thus we can use electrostatics (attractive/ repulsive, whatever is the working formula) as an aid in getting this done, if necessary.
this looks good, it looks quite doable, from here.
The research begins (as i put this post together). First check on bog standard inking pens. 0.15mm is common. which means that smaller specialized ones may be available.
https://www.sakuraofamerica.com/product/pigma-micron/
we can probably adapt these pens into being the source point for tips and a delivery system. just to start.
almost there..already..
then to 3d print an adapter for fitting it to the face of our chosen printer's print head. or to replace said print head entirely and put this in the place of the print head.
shave the inking pen's tip down via some known method, or find an alternative pen that is more suited to this task. then to get the desired enamel based inks into said pen (it's about dried hardness of the ink and how well it attaches to the surface of the metal. this will generally put the ink in the complex aromatic end of the base carrier pool, as opposed to acrylic or water based) adjusted to get the flow right. with a tip that has the resilience to deform and refill it's self after the touch deformation on the surface of the aluminum.
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IIRC, most of these 3d filament printers run on G-Code? this means bog standard CNC coding can be used to control them. DIY faceplate lettering repair may be closer than you think.
this is definitely all (individually and as a package) in the wheelhouse of some of the people here on the forum.
the reason this will work, is that some enterprising person can do this for commercial faceplate and chassis manufacturing-- as a better, more variable, more useful solution than that of traditional silkscreening. as very little, overall, and comparatively, has to be done to get to the point of having commerical grade hardware. Everything required already exists. The cost barrier is low and the knowledge-skill barrier barely breaks the medium-warm level.
If i was REALLY determined to get this done, I could have one of my 3d printers dabbing a surface with a 0.15mm ink-pen, by the end of this day. I could use tinkercad, even, or fusion360 to make a small file of ultra small dots of filament, dabbed on a surface and then with extra high clearance added into the slicing program. I can adjust flow and hold times for the filament, and thus the time the dab sits in one spot and lifts the pen. to keep adjusting the slicer program until it does what I want. Just to check the viability of the method. I can go to my local large arts supply store for the 0.15mm ink pens, for this test. I have a small 5 axis CNC that I bought a few years back but it's all in parts right now, in storage. that used g-code, and I had to learn g-code if I really wanted to know how it works and to tweak it. so I did. but this is best suited to cheap 3d filamet printers with bed level adjusting hardware & software.
this is definitely all (individually and as a package) in the wheelhouse of some of the people here on the forum.
the reason this will work, is that some enterprising person can do this for commercial faceplate and chassis manufacturing-- as a better, more variable, more useful solution than that of traditional silkscreening. as very little, overall, and comparatively, has to be done to get to the point of having commerical grade hardware. Everything required already exists. The cost barrier is low and the knowledge-skill barrier barely breaks the medium-warm level.
If i was REALLY determined to get this done, I could have one of my 3d printers dabbing a surface with a 0.15mm ink-pen, by the end of this day. I could use tinkercad, even, or fusion360 to make a small file of ultra small dots of filament, dabbed on a surface and then with extra high clearance added into the slicing program. I can adjust flow and hold times for the filament, and thus the time the dab sits in one spot and lifts the pen. to keep adjusting the slicer program until it does what I want. Just to check the viability of the method. I can go to my local large arts supply store for the 0.15mm ink pens, for this test. I have a small 5 axis CNC that I bought a few years back but it's all in parts right now, in storage. that used g-code, and I had to learn g-code if I really wanted to know how it works and to tweak it. so I did. but this is best suited to cheap 3d filamet printers with bed level adjusting hardware & software.
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We'd like to print the material right on to the metal, that would be good.
Or, convert a 3d printer to a high speed cheap cnc. After all, we only need the one plane of motion. slow dive into the metal, slow motion upon it, and then..we'd have a faceplate cutter, for that particular effect.
the idea here is to fix existing gear, and re-letter it.
I found an artist's pen at the local "michael's" arts supply store. it is from "artist's loft", as a brand. It has a 0.03mm tip size.
the trick is to clean it out and see if something like testor's black enamel paint can be made to come out the tip. The problem is the paint might have too high a viscosity (thick) besides having graphite or carbon particles that are too big to get through the tip material. thankfully, carbon black can take on extremely small article size and ca be made to not clump.
cleaning it out would take something like a 99% isopropanol (when you wanna get down, down on the ground, propane). Don't use lower purity alcohol, as it will generally have too many solids and ruin the fine tip, via clogging. test by putting a few drops on a mirror or clean glass sheet and look for residue when the alcohol has dried.
This is the simple way, possibly, to get to a re-letterinng scenario. A 0.03mm tip size can accommodate virtually any font style and quality that might be on an audio chassis. said tip is micro deformable, which might lead to good wicking (when dabbing the tip on the aluminum faceplate). the testors paint my also have to be thinned. as well, the tip of the marker might break down due to what is in the paint.
There are caveats here, but not too many.
Or, convert a 3d printer to a high speed cheap cnc. After all, we only need the one plane of motion. slow dive into the metal, slow motion upon it, and then..we'd have a faceplate cutter, for that particular effect.
the idea here is to fix existing gear, and re-letter it.
I found an artist's pen at the local "michael's" arts supply store. it is from "artist's loft", as a brand. It has a 0.03mm tip size.
the trick is to clean it out and see if something like testor's black enamel paint can be made to come out the tip. The problem is the paint might have too high a viscosity (thick) besides having graphite or carbon particles that are too big to get through the tip material. thankfully, carbon black can take on extremely small article size and ca be made to not clump.
cleaning it out would take something like a 99% isopropanol (when you wanna get down, down on the ground, propane). Don't use lower purity alcohol, as it will generally have too many solids and ruin the fine tip, via clogging. test by putting a few drops on a mirror or clean glass sheet and look for residue when the alcohol has dried.
This is the simple way, possibly, to get to a re-letterinng scenario. A 0.03mm tip size can accommodate virtually any font style and quality that might be on an audio chassis. said tip is micro deformable, which might lead to good wicking (when dabbing the tip on the aluminum faceplate). the testors paint my also have to be thinned. as well, the tip of the marker might break down due to what is in the paint.
There are caveats here, but not too many.