[R-390] Re: R-390 Digest, Vol 6, Issue 10

[Mahlon Haunschild]

I am also surprised that no one has talked about using water-slide 
decals to restore a panel.  A water-slide decal, properly applied, looks 
just like ink printing.

The tricks, of course, are matching fonts and actually making the decal.

Fonts are no big deal what with the wide selection that comes in Office 
these days, but there are certain exceptions.  Two of us are working on 
a round-serif font made from a Leroy lettering instrument which should 
match R-390 and other Collins/military lettering.

As for the printer, you need a dye sublimation printer to make the 
decal; nothing else will work.  And if you have white lettering, you 
need a printer that can print white.  The older ALPS MD-1000, MD-1300, 
and MD-5000 printers are capable of all of this.  Or I'm sure that there 
are commercial alternatives.

Needless to say, I have such a printer.

We're working on an ART-13 decal sheet right now.  Other possibilities 
include the TMC GPR-90 and, of course, the R-390A.  Will write further 
if I have anything interesting.

regards,

Mahlon - K4OQ

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Subject:
> Re: [R-390] Silk screen
> From:
> Bob Camp <ham at cq.nu>
> Date:
> Sun, 10 Oct 2004 16:23:56 -0400
> To:
> R-390 HF Receiver List <r-390 at mailman.qth.net>
> 
> 
> Hi
> 
> One thing I have never seen done is to make up dry transfers that 
> directly do the marking. Obviously there is a process that generates 
> them but I don't know what's involved in setting it up. It would be the 
> perfect way to patch up marking on a panel without much effort. The down 
> side would be that most of the ones I have seen are not very durable.
> 
>     Enjoy!
> 
>         Bob Camp
>         KB8TQ
> On Oct 10, 2004, at 11:54 AM, Bob Camp wrote:
> 
>> Hi
>>
>> I certainly have seen a lot of silk screen kits in craft stores. They 
>> seem to be a bit simple for a front panel project. The problem is that 
>> you need a fairly high resolution photo process to generate a nice 
>> sharp screen. Without a sharp screen the lettering is going to look a 
>> bit rough. I have not tried any of the kits so I really can't say what 
>> the result would be.
>>
>> Doing a limited number of labels with a silk screen is easy. As a 
>> matter of fact it's probably easier than doing the whole panel.
>>
>> To do a small area you just line up the screen over the right area on 
>> the panel and use tape or what ever to hold it in place. You then just 
>> rub the ink on the part of the screen you want to print through. Next 
>> you hit it with a hair dryer for a while and you're done.
>>
>>     Take Care!
>>
>>         Bob Camp
>>         KB8TQ