[Amps] Panel Lettering

[Bill Fuqua]

   Two possibilities, one is to get a Brother label maker with transparent 
tape. It works well in a pinch.
The second is to get the paper the Rick has mentioned. It is basically a 
paper coated with a water soluble glue.
A laser printer will deposit the small black plastic beads on to the glue 
side and then fuse them.
The trick is to transfer them to the panel.
    You may possibly transfer thermally but you may have a panel that  is 
too massive to heat up with out
ruining the  transfer paper.  One method that has been used is to spray 
clear Krylon on the print and let dry and
do this several times until you get  a large layer of it. Then soak it in 
water and the Krylon will separate with the
print making a clear material that can be transferred like the decals we 
used to use on our model airplanes in the
50's.
   I am not sure that is much better than the clear label tape.
   You can use the Collins method and that is to make a complete overlay 
for the panel, but that would require
a large printer.
   I have used the transfer paper to make PC boards but have not personally 
used the Krylon method.
That method is mentioned in the instructions that came with the paper.
73
Bill wa4lav



At 06:34 PM 12/30/2012 -0500, WB3EXR wrote:
>Good evening Charles,
>
>I did a search for water slide decal paper and one of the first sites to 
>come up was:
>
>http://www.decalpaper.com/
>
>You can make your own decals and apply to the front panel ... they offer 
>"normal" slide decal paper for both laser and inkjet printers.
>
>For those that don't remember these from your model-building days, you cut 
>the appropriate decal out of the sheet provided with the kit and dropped 
>it into a cup (or bowl) of water and let the paper saturate. Once fully 
>wet, the paper and the decal would part ways, and you then wet the surface 
>the decal was going onto, and slid the decal from the backing onto the 
>final surface. You gently burnished the decal to force all the water out, 
>and the adhesive (water activated) would hold the decal in place.
>
>To provide long-term wear protection, you can spray the finished panel 
>with several coats of clear poly or acrylic.
>
>Sure beats the dry transfer letters or -- the Dymo Embossed Tape labels 
>from the 1960s! (Yea, they still make those too!).
>
>73 and happy labeling,
>
>Rick
>NM3G
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