I've just picked an old MIDI keyboard for free and want to custom paint it. However, I want to custom label some of the knobs etc on there. DIY silkscreening sounds a nightmare so not even going there!

Instead I am considering applying thin decals for the labels before covering the entire thing with a clear sealant.

Any suggestions on how to do the labelling for cheap? Something like water slide decals that come with plastic model kits would be perfect but I have no idea where to start?!?!?!

 

I've used dry transfer lettering in the past. Worked great, and pretty sure it could be clear coated afterwards.
https://kitkraft.com/products/dry-t...-AkwAJxjRPlYRRirMI9L6cypIVZwIB3_5QaAker8P8HAQ

 

This is a problem I have had with my little DIY electronics projects. One of the conclusions I made was printable adhesive transparent film.

I had a quick look and found this sort of thing: (I have never tried these things yet!)

Ink-Jet-Adhesive-Film-8.5X11-6-Pkg-Clear

grafixarts

 

Last edited: May 5, 2017

Just found these in Uk. Not sure if they ship internationally. Almost sound too good to be true and not too badly priced if you can utilise a full A4 sheet in one go. With smaller labelling needed for MIDI keyboard labelling (or similar smaller projects), an A4 sheet could potentially be enough for many devices.

https://www.craftycomputerpaper.co....ls-c562/inkjet-water-slide-decal-paper-p11228

 

I have had good luck with waterslide paper in my inkjet printer. I think they have them for laser printers as well. Small decals are pretty easy to work with. The larger ones (6-8 inches) are a lil tough to work with....the ends often curl up. There are ways around those problems and I think you will find the waterslide decal paper will meet your needs well. If you only have a few that you need done, I can do them for you and mail them to you, just not sure how long it would take to get to you.

Here is the product I purchased. Price was competitive with similar products. https://hobbyking.com/en_us/water-based-ink-jet-water-transfer-paper-a4.html Cost was about $7 USD for 20 8.5"/11" pages.


V

 

You could try vinyl lettering at a local print shop. The price is really cheap. You take your own designed lettering in a vector drawing file, and they print out perfect labels and decals. there's a shop in my hometown where I get anything printed out. It looks highly professional.

 

Ive just ordered some white inkjet decal paper from Amazon that will get to me tomorrow. Hoping to spray the midi keyboard this weekend too.

It's an EMU Xboad 25, so a small 25 key MIDI keyboard with 16 knobs and a few buttons. The LEDs on the keyboard are blue. Undecided on a colour scheme yet, but as its to control soft synths I want to give it a synth-like look. I do quite like the Novation Bass Station 2 look, so that kind of colour scheme is leading at the moment. Any suggestions?

 

Any idea where I could get png files for rotary knobs etc. I can do the fonts for the text, some basic design lines to fit with the paint job etc, but just looking for some rotary indicators?!?!

 

@Bunford Try JKnobMan. It's free but if you want to sling a quid or two over to the developer, it's up to you.
http://www.g200kg.com/jp/software/knobman.html

There's a fairly large community of JKnobMan users who shared their designs online. So, there's no need to spend hours scratching yer bonce over how JKnobMan works. Just grab a pre-made design that takes your fancy, import it and export a bitmap file to Photshop for layout as a printable sheet.

 

I found some decent idea stimulators with similar amount of knobs. Any idea what program I could easy create something like this in, though I want to invert it as I will have a black keyboard and there have white labelling on it (like bottom example)? I want to create my own labels and the 'boxes' around certain section. I'm a bit crap with things like Photoshop, but willing to look up some step by step videos if there are any easy ones out there, so the easier the programme the better



And for an idea, this is the MIDI keyboard being modified. I am spraying it all black and trying to give it a bit of a more synthy look. I am planning to custom label the 16 rotary knobs. Hell, I might even go as far as adding wood panels to the sides! I just want to convert it into something that will give the immediacy and form factor of something like the Novation Bass Station, but for controlling soft synths:

 

Last edited: May 6, 2017

IMPORTANT DETAIL (kind of)

I would suggest getting a spray can of clear lacquer to spray your decals before you use them. Otherwise, they will come off the first time you look away. I hit mine with a light coat of clear spray, let dry naturally or if in a rush - hairdryer. Most decal papers will benefit from spraying some clear on them. I use the decals on some RC jets that I fly and they take a beating and never had a decal peel off. If you are printing some larger sizes, watch the edges....they like to curl up and piss ya off. Just slide them slowly left to right, up to down or whatever. Prolly 20 YT videos on howTo.

Just a thought.
V

 

Good to see you ordered the white decals paper. Good call.

I'm sorry I can't bring to mind a dead simple app for making panelwork decals. I'm so used to using Adobe and Autodesk stuff that I find it easier to faff around with those big apps.

Here's something that I threw together in less than fifteen minutes with Autodesk toolz. I took your photo of the Xboard 25 and blew it up to actual size in Photoshop, imported it as a texture map into 3DStudio, applied it as a material to a rectangular block and used the vector tools inside 3DSMax to draw and transform (i.e. rotate) a bunch of 2D white circles in front of the textured rectangle.

Not 100% sure if I got it exactly right. Here's the result sized to fit on an A4 sheet at 300dpi. It should fit to scale around the XBoard25 the rotary knobs but, if I fk'd up the scaling, don't waste your time printing it out to decals paper.

 

Last edited: May 6, 2017

This is fab and super appreciated! However, some of the rubberised knobs on the controller have begun peeling though, so I will be replacing them and not sure what type of knobs I will be putting on them. Therefore, if i put more reto and larger knobs on, not sure if your dials will work? Need to try and figure out what size knobs I need first!!!

 

You would probably want to use a vector based drawing program rather than a raster based one.

Inkscape is open source and free to acquire legally. These programs are complicated though and assume you have a certain knowledge of things but they do offer the best precision at any resolution, and when used properly can be much faster than raster based PES to replicate and place objects quickly and cleanly.

 

No worries.
The dots are merely a quick tute on how to use a vector based approach rather the usually more chunky Photoshop bitmap format. I agree with @mozee that a vector art package is loads better than a bitmap app. The edges don't look like Lego when you change the scale.

Don't worry, @Bunford, if you get stuck on putting your designs down on paper. There's AS members here who would be pleased to collab with you on the actual process of turning your design concept into printable pages.

 

Just installing Illustrator and gonna give it a go myself first rather than burdening others with favours, but thanks all the same for the generous offer!

Might try and put something together later today and upload as an idea...if i pick up Illustrator easily enough. I used to paint digitally using Corel Painter so understand some of the concepts, such as layers etc, but not from a strict design to fit a product and techniques involves with design.

 

Yay! Ardderchog, ddyn. Cer amdan'i. Go for it. It's a great app to have in your bag of tricks.

Hey, I learned something from this thread. I never knew there was white-backed decal paper. Heck, I've been struggling for years with the transparent variety. Wow, that's so cool. I'm chuffed to bits. Thanks, guys.