If you've ever done this before - by creating masks from "scratch" or from a scanned image of an existing panel - I would like to talk to you.
Have a recently arrived TenTec tuner which is in need of a front-panel repaint/re-lettering and I need to know how to create a screen.
"Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."
Just for giggles, have you talked to Ten Tec? They might still have one lying around. I'd love to redo the panel on one of my Omni D's.
And some Heathkit amps. I might do the amps in my own color scheme. I do like the green, but it's an easy panel.
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman
Create the artwork, have it output as a film positive, right reading, emulsion down. Have a screen burned from that.
All the world’s a stage, but obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.
Who/what/where...school me, if you know of sources for this stuff.Originally Posted by KJ6BSO
"Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman
There is a big market for replacement panels to things like Heathkit SB-200, SB-220 and the Drake lines. Some have already started making those, and they occasionally show up on Ebay. One Restorer here in San Diego has been involved in getting Johnson equipment re-screened (Ranger, Valiant, etc) I will be making a panel for a Re-designed Heathkit SB-230 and wish I had access to silk screening.
In a town the size of Akron, you should have no problem finding it all locally.
Scan the old faceplate and use it as a template to create new artwork on your computer. Adobe Illustrator is the best software to use for that. Take your file to a service bureau, have them output it to film on an image setter (film positive, right reading, emulsion down), then take it to a screen printing shop. They'll know what to do with it.
All the world’s a stage, but obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.
Thanks for the tips, folks.
I am going to scan the old panel, have some paint color-matched to the front of the unit then construct a new one out of aluminum...spray it, letter it then install the Ten Tec logo and reattach to the tuner when finished.
Next project is to do this with Drake R7 front panels. Several different screens to be used here: One for the "stock" lettering, another for a combo notch/squelch control and yet another for a combo notch/IF Gain control.
"Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."
Talk you into taking some pics of the process? Would love to see...
Be glad to. I may utilize Dave's suggestion for an online screen builder, then create 5 or 10 panels "just in case". (One of the online fabricators with an interactive CAD program may come in handy for this.) After I get the paint/letter process down I may keep a spare or two then sell the rest. Ten Tec no longer carries the panels.
"Everyone wants to be an AM Gangsta until it's time to start doing AM Gangsta shit."
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