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Labelling plastic boxes

J

Jason S

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi guys,

I have a few plastic (mainly ABS type) boxes that I put my completed PCB's
into. I want to label all the LED's and switches etc. somehow onto the box
itself without making a stick-on "label" as such. Is there some sort of
lettering you can buy that you can do yourself instead of getting
silk-screened professionally? I want it to look professional but don't want
to spend a lot of money.

P.S. I have tried the "clear inkjet labels" that you can print on, but find
it's not very transparent and rubs off easily.

Any ideas?
Please provide web links if relevant.

Thanks in advance.

Jason.
 
M

Mike

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi guys,

I have a few plastic (mainly ABS type) boxes that I put my completed PCB's
into. I want to label all the LED's and switches etc. somehow onto the box
itself without making a stick-on "label" as such. Is there some sort of
lettering you can buy that you can do yourself instead of getting
silk-screened professionally? I want it to look professional but don't want
to spend a lot of money.

P.S. I have tried the "clear inkjet labels" that you can print on, but find
it's not very transparent and rubs off easily.

Any ideas?
Please provide web links if relevant.

Thanks in advance.

Jason.

You might try inkjet or laser decal paper. I've only used it a couple
times, but it seems to work pretty well. www.beldecal.com

Mike
 
P

Pooh Bear

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jason said:
Hi guys,

I have a few plastic (mainly ABS type) boxes that I put my completed PCB's
into. I want to label all the LED's and switches etc. somehow onto the box
itself without making a stick-on "label" as such. Is there some sort of
lettering you can buy that you can do yourself instead of getting
silk-screened professionally? I want it to look professional but don't want
to spend a lot of money.

P.S. I have tried the "clear inkjet labels" that you can print on, but find
it's not very transparent and rubs off easily.

Any ideas?
Please provide web links if relevant.

You can't beat engraving.

Graham
 
Jason said:
itself without making a stick-on "label" as such. Is there some sort of
lettering you can buy that you can do yourself instead of getting

Letraset. Advise putting clear nail polish over it if on a surface that
is handled.
 
I

Ian Stirling

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jason S said:
Hi guys,

I have a few plastic (mainly ABS type) boxes that I put my completed PCB's
into. I want to label all the LED's and switches etc. somehow onto the box
itself without making a stick-on "label" as such. Is there some sort of
lettering you can buy that you can do yourself instead of getting
silk-screened professionally? I want it to look professional but don't want
to spend a lot of money.

P.S. I have tried the "clear inkjet labels" that you can print on, but find
it's not very transparent and rubs off easily.

Any ideas?

I made a very professional looking - you couldn't tell it from stock
microwave front panel overlay.
Simply from an inkjet printed bit of paper, laminated, and glued with
contact adhesive over the membrane.

To replace the existing dark grey on black 10 point (or so) text, with
bright pastels on black 24 point, which can actually be read.

Lasted fine over a year or sos use.
 
P

Pooh Bear

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jason said:
Hi guys,

I have a few plastic (mainly ABS type) boxes that I put my completed PCB's
into. I want to label all the LED's and switches etc. somehow onto the box
itself without making a stick-on "label" as such. Is there some sort of
lettering you can buy that you can do yourself instead of getting
silk-screened professionally? I want it to look professional but don't want
to spend a lot of money.

P.S. I have tried the "clear inkjet labels" that you can print on, but find
it's not very transparent and rubs off easily.

Oh..... the trick with them is to print in reverse. Then the print is underneath
the surface. You need to find a clever way of printing in reverse though. I
forget how I did it now.

Graham
 
D

Deefoo

Jan 1, 1970
0
Pooh Bear said:
Oh..... the trick with them is to print in reverse. Then the print is underneath
the surface. You need to find a clever way of printing in reverse though. I
forget how I did it now.

Graham

Use drawing software like Paint Shop Pro or something and mirror the image
before printing it.

--DF
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
You mean printing on the sticky side? Is that possible? I fear for my
printer.

My wife has a Dymo LabelWriter 330 (had to walk over to her office and
look ;-) THERMAL prints on clear stick-on labels. Since it's thermal
it doesn't rub off.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

Global Warming is God's gift to the Blue States ;-)
 
P

Pooh Bear

Jan 1, 1970
0
You mean printing on the sticky side? Is that possible? I fear for my
printer.

I've printed on plain transparent plastic film and then used spray adhesive to fix it
to the box. For small legends you can also use double sided tape to fix it.

Graham
 
J

Joseph Legris

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ian said:
I made a very professional looking - you couldn't tell it from stock
microwave front panel overlay.
Simply from an inkjet printed bit of paper, laminated, and glued with
contact adhesive over the membrane.

To replace the existing dark grey on black 10 point (or so) text, with
bright pastels on black 24 point, which can actually be read.

Lasted fine over a year or sos use.

Or even simpler, buy some blank adhesive-backed paper labels in the full
sheet size, print with laser or ink-jet, spray with matte finish
artist's fixative (basically a clear spray paint available at art supply
stores) and cut to size. Go easy with the spray on laser printing - it
dissolves the toner, which gives it a nice finish if done right but can
smear the image if you're sloppy.
 
J

Joseph Legris

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
My wife has a Dymo LabelWriter 330 (had to walk over to her office and
look ;-) THERMAL prints on clear stick-on labels. Since it's thermal
it doesn't rub off.

...Jim Thompson

I've heard that in Arizona thermal print-heads get COLD and you wind up
with a negative image.

Seriously though, thermal labels are as unstable as thermal fax-paper.
Better use ink.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
I've heard that in Arizona thermal print-heads get COLD and you wind up
with a negative image.

Seriously though, thermal labels are as unstable as thermal fax-paper.
Better use ink.

Not this one. It BURNS an image... not your usual heat sensitive
paper.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | |
| E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat |
| http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

Global Warming is God's gift to the Blue States ;-)
 
I

Ian Stirling

Jan 1, 1970
0
Or even simpler, buy some blank adhesive-backed paper labels in the full
sheet size, print with laser or ink-jet, spray with matte finish
artist's fixative (basically a clear spray paint available at art supply
stores) and cut to size. Go easy with the spray on laser printing - it

The clear spray paint is unlikely to be nearly as hardwearing though.
 
T

Tim Wescott

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mike said:
You might try inkjet or laser decal paper. I've only used it a couple
times, but it seems to work pretty well. www.beldecal.com

Mike

For a truly professional job there are front-panel companies out there
that will do one-offs. I don't have any URL's, unfortunately.

Stick-on labels that have been run through a laser printer work well --
inkjet ink is water based and will probably come off no matter what you do.

Personally I would use the inkjet label, or just a good quality adhesive
paper label, and overlay it with clear adhesive.
 
P

Pooh Bear

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tim said:
inkjet ink is water based and will probably come off no matter what you do.

Not the case with my Xerox Docuprint.

Graham
 
T

Tim Wescott

Jan 1, 1970
0
Pooh said:
Tim Wescott wrote:




Not the case with my Xerox Docuprint.

Graham
Good for you. Most of the cheap ones that I've used have been water-based.

A long time ago I worked for a company that manufactured a few test
boxes a month. We made the front panel labels on a copy machine with
the same toner system as a laser printer. The labels looked nice, but
had durability problems over the span of a few month's hard use -- so
even with that 'indelible' process we still overlaid the things with
clear plastic.

Then we just went out and bought a few hundred labels...
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
Letraset. Advise putting clear nail polish over it if on a surface that is
handled.

It takes a little patience, but if it's done right it looks better than
screen printing. But be careful when you cover it - brushing laquer over
it can lift the letters and move them around. I've always used clear
spray. And even _that_, very sparingly.

Cheers!
Rich
 
G

GregS

Jan 1, 1970
0
It takes a little patience, but if it's done right it looks better than
screen printing. But be careful when you cover it - brushing laquer over
it can lift the letters and move them around. I've always used clear
spray. And even _that_, very sparingly.

Hmmmm, I have been lettering black plastic panels this morning!

Used to be standard around here to use rub on's. Mostly
used on white aluminum panels. We also used to paint those panels
white. After the black letters were put on, Krylon Crystal Clear
in coats to set the WHOLE panel, not just parts.
Sometimes if you put too much on and the panel was at
an angle, the letters would start to tumble! Plastic panels are no different
except these with the embossed pattern, are harder to work with
than smooth material. We used to have many old packets of Datak
Dry Transfer lables. Trouble was when they dried up they were harder
to use.

I was using Brother white on clear this morning. Need white letters for black panels.
Results are nice and neat but not spectacular. I'm looking at the glossy lables
over the semi gloss black panel. If I would put a sheet of mylar
over top the glossy labels, the lable may disappear and look really neat!

greg
 
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