[Hallicrafters] Panel lettering NEW THREAD

[kc9cdt at aol.com]

Paul,
I am in need of a way to make new dials from thin plastic for Drake A, 
B and C lines.
They are about 4 1/4 in diameter and have a simple black painted dial 
markings.

This will be a project involving a few dozen of the dials at least. In 
each of only 2 formats.


What is the best way to do this??
Thanks,
73,
Lee, KC9CDT



-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Kraemer <elespe at lisco.com>
To: hallicrafters <hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sun, Jan 22, 2012 4:14 pm
Subject: [Hallicrafters] Panel lettering NEW THREAD


Greg, Todd, Carl, group et al
To clarify, that would be me you are probably talking about, Paul K0UYA
located in SE Iowa.  I purchased the assets of films (approximately 60
pieces) for panel screen printing from Lynn, N0ALO, about a year ago.
I did it for two reasons. One, it represented a potential opportunity 
to
accomplish something I always wanted to do. Two, I could see the entire
collection being disseminated piecemeal and lost forever so I did what 
I
thought was responsible and bought the entire collection with the 
intention,
if nothing else, scanning and saving the lot to disc where it could 
become
available to others.
At present it is a collection of photgraphic film as used to expose and
develop screens for the purpose of screen printing. Each piece is an 
actual
tried and proven work which Lynn actually produced panels from. Many 
are in
reality pieces of film taped together to establish the proper 
registration.
I don't think I have to elaborate that in this form it is only a matter 
of a
few years until it is probably lost forever. In any case, there is a 
whole
lot of time, talent and expense involved in the steps between these 
films
and a finished piece that anyone would want.
As many may know, or are finding out, The days of printing by pushing 
ink
through a screen are going the same direction as large sheet film 
cameras,
producing circuit boards from taped artwork, and buggy whips. The 
method
today is by a large flat bed printer driven by artwork on a computer 
and uv
cured ink (actually paint). The technique still can't compete with high
volume work (T shirts) produced on semi automatic printers run by third
world operators making nothing in wages but it certainly is a no 
brainer for
the only reasonable method for one off custom work.  I do have a local 
asset
which has such a printer (the bed is 4 ft x 5 ft) and I am currently 
working
with them to purchase small blocks of custom time when they are not 
busy
making their own product. It may come down to train me to do it so I 
can
rent it off hours. We have a close relationship where I provide 
significant
engineering and service work to them so the possibilities are positive 
at
this time. But, we are all busy, and it does take time. Theirs and 
mine. All
that said I believe it is THE way to go. With four paint colors plus 
white I
don't think I need to elaborate on the possibilities. I have seen 
downloaded
images of artworks reverse printed on lexan sheets with white printed 
over
the background to make very high resolution backlit images  A panel 
with two
or three colors is a proverbial piece of cake. A quantityof matching 
panels
at one pass, easier than one at a time.
OK, so what are you waiting for, why haven't you done something with 
this?
That is your next question is it not?  All I can say in my defense is 
that I
am living one of life's lessons that you play the hand you are dealt. 
At 67
years young self employed entrepreneur I am finding I am far from
retirement, have no one to pass on the business to, and living in a 
small
rural area have many customers counting on me to keep doing what I do 
for
them as long as there is life in my body. I am grateful for their past
support (and as self employed that is exactly what it is) and feel it 
is not
the resposible thing to do to suddenly say sorry, can't help you, I'm
retired, go find someone else if you can. I have, on ocassion tried, 
and it
keeps coming back home. Then there is also the reality that it is what 
pays
the taxes and utilities on keeping this shop open to the possibilities 
of
doing hobby work at reasonable cost.
All that being said, I felt , and still do, that painting and printing 
of
panels was something that was a nice fit to my existing business of
industrial circuit board design and manufacturing.  Through that, in
addition to my own in-house resources,  I have access to local assets 
of
bead blasting,  powder coating,  metal fabrication, and nc machining 
and
have always been willing to share with anyone who asked for help.
If anyone has panel that just absolutely needs done---email me off list 
and
we will make that happen. If anyone has a web site where I can post a 
list
of current artwork I have available I'd be happy to do that. If anyone 
wants
to help me develope a website of my own---the job is open.
As far as other questions of who bought what ---you should ask Lynn. 
After
purchasing the film and realizing the breadth and depth of his business 
I
inquired to him about the paint formulae and Lynn told me that someone 
in NC
had already bought those along with some of the mechanical printing 
assets
but was not going to pursue that and in fact wanted to sell them back.  
A
brief look at the asked price of some paint formulae,  the knowledge 
that
the world of paint is changing,  plus recognition of difficulties of
inventory and actual shipping made me disregard that aspect of the 
business
rather quickly.  After all, the color is never exasctly how we 
remembered it
and that is a whole other service problem.
That is my story and I am sticking to it.
Please don't hesitate to ask if you have some specific request or if 
you
just want to jaw. I always seem to find time to answer every email in a 
day
or two.
One final BTW, if you have a panel you want reproduced and it is not in
inventory my posture has always been send it to me, I'll do the artwork 
(at
no or very little charge) and return the panel to you unharmed. I would
rather duplicate the panel totally than take a chance making a booboo 
on
someone's priceless one of a kind only one in the world panel.
One final word on artwork. It is just that. We artists grow weary of 
hearing
"all ya gotta do is take a picture with a digital camera and that is 
all
there is to it" Remember WYSIWYG.
73
Paul K0UYA

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