front panel layout

 

Here's a representation of my current front panel design.  This is actually a PostScript file which I write and update by hand; if you want a copy (or perhaps, the PDF version), please contact me -- I don't know how to attach such files, here (and/or, one can't).

I will make this PDF file into a nice-looking panel, using my usual panel technique; actually, it should be called "Phil and Ben's Panel Technique", because my friend and mentor Phil Williams (umn.edu) invented the technique, and I have since extended it slightly.  To wit:

(1) Print the PDF file on regular white printer paper.  Since my final panel is about 16" wide, I divide the portions of the panel across multiple pages, in order to print on regular paper.  After printing, I carefully use scissors and/or a paper-cutter to trim the pieces down to just outside the black rounded borders.

(2) Spraypaint the blank front panel, white.  Let first coat dry.  (This is the main limitation: must be white panel with black writing.)

(3) Spraypaint white a second time.  While the coat is still wet, carefully lay the printed paper pieces into the paint.  Smooth them out and press out any wrinkles or air-bubbles.  Let it all dry.  There are all sorts of tricks and rigs to make sure the position is correct as the paper goes down, because there is no correcting it; if any one piece is slightly off in position, best bet is to rip off all the pieces while the paint is still wet, discard, print new ones, and re-paint the panel and try again.

(4) I haven't tried this part yet, but here is where I think it might be good to do a coat of clearcoat on the paper, to seal it.  In Phil's original technique, the clearcoat was the finish, but I tried using clear epoxy instead and results were good -- but I think actually using both may be the best plan, and I'll try it on this project. (***)

(5) Coat with clear epoxy, plenty thick.  I've been using JB Weld's Clear Weld, 2-part epoxy.  Comes out fairly clear, but imparts a yellowish cast which actually looks good to me, a bit "vintage", and more interesting than the plain pale white of the paper.  You need to mix up enough of it to be able to cover the panel copiously (making a practice run on something expendable would always be a good idea).  I simply put a big puddle of epoxy along the middle of the board, and then sort of "squeegee" it with an edge of cardboard or wood, so that it spreads out to all the edges and everything is covered.  The surface-tension of the epoxy while it is liquid, and as it hardens, causes it to produce a rather nice smooth and even surface, all by itself, with none of that annoying sanding and other "craftsmanship" stuff.  Looks real sharp, and should last a long time, though I haven't been doing it for long.  Some of Phil's style of panels with just the clearcoat, have been around for 25 years at this point, still going strong.

After the epoxy is good and hard, hopefully a week or more but patience can be hard to come by, the panel can be drilled with ease, using the crosshair targets in the printed images to line up the holes (thus, we didn't have to exactly position the paper pieces in the first place, other than making sure that they "look right"; when I first started doing panels this way, I would drill the holes first and then fuss around with various techniques to line up the paper, but that effort is not necessary, drilling through the paper and epoxy works great, and then the one printed piece of paper is the drill guide and the "silk screen" and everything).

----

(***) Later: nope, as far as I can tell, it doesn't help to do a clearcoat step.  The hope was that, maybe, the clearcoat would "seal" the paper and reduce the occurrence of little tiny bubbles of air, which tend to appear in streaks throughout the epoxy and can blur the sharpness of the printed graphics.  But no, I saw just about the same amount of bubbles with the clearcoated paper, as I did with several earlier panels made with straight epoxy on paper.  So, forget that idea, skip step (4) above!


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