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Old 8th Dec 2017, 4:44 pm   #1
Station X
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Default Lettering a back Panel?

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to letter a replacement back panel?

I assume the original would have been silk screen printed.
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Old 8th Dec 2017, 5:34 pm   #2
dseymo1
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

White dry-transfer lettering would produce a passable imitation.
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Old 8th Dec 2017, 5:38 pm   #3
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

Water slide paper might be passable too as it looks like you have one to copy.
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Old 8th Dec 2017, 5:43 pm   #4
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

I know not a lot about printing but I've often wondered with those fibre board backs whether hot stamp printing was used?

Lawrence.
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Old 8th Dec 2017, 6:20 pm   #5
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

Quite possibly Lawrence, on a lot of backs I have seen, the lettering appears to have been pressed into the back so there is a slight indentation.
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Old 8th Dec 2017, 6:21 pm   #6
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

My suggestion would be to go to one of the online providers of custom self-adhesive vinyl lettering. Although most companies only do letters of 25mm or larger, there are some companies which go much smaller. If I remember rightly www.minilabels.co.uk will produce lettering of 6mm and perhaps smaller too.

All you do is give the supplier your text and the font style, font size and colour and they then produce it for you on a vinyl strip or sheet which you then peel off and stick to your object.

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Old 8th Dec 2017, 7:33 pm   #7
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Boom View Post
Water slide paper might be passable too as it looks like you have one to copy.
I doubt that the original back or any other backs for that matter, will have been screen-printed. More likely done on a standard 'platen' printing press, but I guess we'll never know. The cost of screen-printing a replacement would be prohibitive of course, which I think leaves two low-cost DIY options - either a paper label or a water-slide transfer printed on a standard home printer.

If you can get a high resolution scan, although the lettering is white(ish), you don't need a printer which will print white (no home printers do of course). You just need to print the image as it is, either on plain printer paper, which you can spray with a couple of light coats of acrylic lacquer to fix the ink or toner, then cut out and stick the paper label on the back panel. Or alternatively, if you preferred you could easily produce waterslide transfers using white 'decal' paper (not clear), which is plastic film much thinner than paper, which comes on a backing paper. Below is a copy of the low resolution image taken the pic in your post - that's how the transfer would turn out. You can get decal paper for both ink-jet and laser printers.

The second and third pics are of a couple of water-slide transfers of front panel labels I recently created for two AM/FM converters I made from the BVWS Bulletin article by Guy Fernando. They could just as easily have had white lettering on a coloured background had I wished.

The fourth pic is of an assortment of back panels I made on a router jig I designed, with labels that I created and printed on my ink-jet printer. (The Wartime Utility radio label was courtesy of Tony Thompson - 'Aerodyne'). They're not of course as authentic as the original backs, but then they're all for low value sets of no particular note, which had no backs at all. They were bought as 'scrappers' from BVWS events for a fiver or so to restore, so there's no 'headroom' for expensive commercially produced printing. Maybe for a round Ekco - not for sets which barely qualify for anything more than electronic waste.

The last pic shows the damaged original back of a Little Maestro 'woodie', along with a replica back I made and a paper label I created and printed on my ink-jet printer. The paper labels could just have easily have been printed as water-side transfers, though in most instances the originals were printed on paper so I did likewise.

Hope that gives a few ideas to consider Graham.
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Old 8th Dec 2017, 8:01 pm   #8
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

That's first class work David.

I have a few valve sets which require replacement back covers due to heat damage from the mains dropper resistor.
I've done little work with my plunge router but I now have a good project to put it to good use! I'll try my hand at making a suitable replacement sometime in the new year. Looks an interesting challenge and hopefully my efforts will be worthwhile.

Regards
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Old 9th Dec 2017, 12:54 am   #9
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

Graham

I seem to remember printing letter headings on a neighbour's Adana printing press when I was a teenager. These machines are still around e.g. www.caslon.co.uk/Adana/Letterpress , but I'm not sure if they would accept a panel larger than the platen.

If type in the correct typeface and spacers can be obtained cheaply, then it might be possible to make up a wooden type frame, load it with type and use a lever press with a platen made from a heavy plate to support the panel whilst printing. Getting an even coat of ink on the type and separating the type from the panel without smudging might be a problem with this technique.

Here is a video using a vintage printing press, showing the basics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJa5anhdmYs

Ron
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Old 9th Dec 2017, 8:22 am   #10
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

Letter & Number punches and fill with white paint?
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Old 9th Dec 2017, 11:31 am   #11
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

I did investigate hot stamp printing last year in connection with some books I am restoring. A bookbinders in London charges a setup fee of about £25 plus so much per item stamped. OK for a production run, but wholly uneconomical for the one-off's I was after. I have tried using letter and number punches that you can get from tool stores, filling the impression with gold oil paint the you can get from model shops. It does work, but I found it difficult to get the letters to line up neatly with uniform spacing.
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Old 9th Dec 2017, 1:30 pm   #12
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

Thinking aloud:
How about sensitizing a sheet of copper foil, and photo-etching it in a similar way to PCB to produce a stencil? This could then be used with spray paint or an airbrush to letter the back panel.
Probably not worth the experimentation time involved unless the stencils were to be re-used a number of times.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 9:26 pm   #13
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

hi graham, do you mind me asking if you made the back panel or 'had it made' ? Looks good.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 10:37 pm   #14
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

Kevin.

You have a PM.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 10:43 pm   #15
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Default Re: Lettering a back Panel?

I've just noticed that I haven't replied to all those members who offered me advice in this thread. Thank you to all of you.

I'm still considering how to letter the panel as other work has taken preference. Once I have lettered it I'll post a picture of the results.
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