Labeling panel and switches

[gpiney]

Originally Posted by thallock

Greg,

Thanks, I'll have to give that a try. These experiments are starting to get expensive.

Tracy.

One thing I forgot to mention is that none of the methods mentioned above work very well on textured surfaces. I have seen a couple of 'crinkle coat' instrument panels that even silk-screening looked poor.

[thallock]

Actually, the DecalPro stuff works pretty good on textured finishes. My test strips have been several different types and colors of textured Rustoleum, plus a few smooth surface paints. The textured paints are not quite as coarse as the krinkle finish. The decals stick to the textured paint just as well as the non-textured paints.

The reason that the DecalPro decals do a good job on a textured surface is that there is no clear backing for the decal once it is applied to the panel. The plastic carrier is simply used to transfer the pattern, it does not stay on the surface after the decal is applied.

This was one of the problems that I had with using clear labels over textured paint, which is why I looked at screen printing and decals. Unfortunately, I have not had time to document my experiments, yet, but I will sometime soon. However, Mark did a pretty good write up of his experiments on his website. He tried a number of things before he decided to go with the DecalPro decals.

Tracy.

[N941WR]

I too am using the DecalPro but have been struggling with the learning curve. There are a LOT of steps to this process and if you miss any one of them your decal will not work out.

Luckily you can lift the label off with 3M blue painters tape w/in an hour of application w/o messing anything up.

The labels are crisp and clear and just look very professional.

As a side note, I was struggling with the label process and sent Frank Miller (Pulsar owner/pilot/builder wantabe) an email on Saturday evening. Not only did I get a reply Sunday morning he called me to help work through the process. Now that is customer service!

[Davepar]

I also purchased the Decal Pro a while back based on Mark's write up. I've done a few experiments with it with pretty good success, but will start doing some real labeling soon.

That's a great tip about the blue tape. It's true there are a lot of steps, especially when you want a white label. Too bad color laser printers don't do white.

Bill, I was looking at the sample label sheet on your site. I remember one tip in the Decal Pro instructions said to try putting a sacrificial box around each label. That way if there's any separation around the edges, it will happen on the box and not on your actual label. Then right before applying the label, cut off the box.

[Scott Will]

Where can one buy DecalPro?

Would it be that much better than using my Brother P-Touch labeler? (that my 1.5 year old thinks is a really cool computer!)

[Davepar]

Decal Pro is available at:
http://www.pulsar.gs/index.html

Here's the difference between the Decal Pro and the P-touch. The P-touch prints onto a mylar carrier and you stick that carrier to the panel. Most builders seem to add a box around the label and then cut the carrier along the box to hide the edge.

The Decal Pro process glues just the lettering to your panel. There's a mylar carrier, but that's used just to transfer the lettering and then it peels off. I haven't used a P-touch, but I believe the Decal Pro is also more flexible. Anything you can print on a laser printer can be a label, including a color laser printer. The toner from the printer is the label. The only exception is if you want a white or metallic label, which a printer can't do. You add a step to the process to adhere those colors from a sheet on top of the label before transferring it to the panel.

There are some videos on the Decal Pro site that help explain it a little better. There's nothing special about the laminator. The unique parts of the kit are the thin mylar film, the transfer paper, and the colored sheets (if needed).

This ended up sounding like more of a sales pitch than I intended. I've only experimented with the system a little bit so far. I don't know about long term durability yet.

[Paul Eastham]

I have given up on DecalPro and returned the system. I spent many, many hours experimenting and was in constant contact with the proprietor but could not make it work for my particular needs.

Each color behaves differently. With white decals, I could not accomplish the basic steps of applying the pigment without big quality problems.

When I switched to gray (which looks good against a black panel, I think) I had more success, but then had big consistency problems when trying to apply the final decal to the panel. Most of the time it mostly stuck, other times not. Problem was, I was not able to remove the botched decal without damaging the panel paint (rustoleum "professional grade") -- the pigment fused into the paint.

So with any errors requiring a repaint, it would take me years before I got done. P-touch it is for me...

Don't get me wrong, it's a neat (though extremely complex) system if you can make it work. Some of the other pigments/foils (red metallic, for instance) work much better but don't quite fit for this application

[thallock]

FWIW, I was going to order a test decal kit from beldecal (http://beldecal.stores.yahoo.net/moddecpap.html), but decided not to when the shipping came out to be $29 on a $23 order.

A few things that I have found helps with DecalPro are as follows. First, when trying to do white lettering, I was getting a lot of white were there was no ink, which requires the use of the tape to pull it off prior to doing the mylar step. There was so much white that it was nearly impossible to get it all off. Looking at the instructions closer, I decided the problem was moisture in the paper. I had been using a hair dryer to dry the paper, but the instructions said this would take longer, so I tried putting the paper in the oven at 350 degrees for a minute. This fixed the problem with the white transfer sticking where it shouldn't, and I was able to get a perfect white letter decal.

The other problem that I have is when transferrig the image from the mylar carrier to the test panel, I almost always have at least one character or line where part of the image stayed with the mylar (i.e., missng part of the image in the final product). I tried really pushing the image into the test panel, but this did not seem to help. Then I tried not pressing so hardl, and I finally got a perfect transfer. I just need to be able to repeat this every time.

YMMV,
Tracy.

[frankh]

I used the colour laser printer at work (I used a colour inkjet on my last airplane). You make your lables in MS Word, draw a nice box around each label.

Print the labels on a single clear label sheet and print.

Eaxacto knoive the labels out and use masking tape to pick up the labels and keep them aligned.

Then stick 'em on.

If your labels curl up (my last ones still looked good after 7 years) simply print out another set from the MS Word file you saved..

I have to repaint my new panel...Arrgh cus the paint was ****!...But the labels are areleady stored in my laptop...

I used a blue box around my labels and a clear sheet so it shows the panel colour through...Looks hot!

Frank

[skelrad]

Originally Posted by Paul Eastham

Problem was, I was not able to remove the botched decal without damaging the panel paint (rustoleum "professional grade") -- the pigment fused into the paint.

So with any errors requiring a repaint, it would take me years before I got done.

Their website says that the decal should come off easily with rubbing alcohol. Did you try that? I think the system is really cool, but not if it requires repainting your panel every time you want to change something.