Custom instrument labels

Good. Now I don't have to do it.

The first product is the QL-01, a 1 uA FS photoreceiver

We use an inkjet printer to make labels for the first few, and they look pretty good. After sales pick up, we use Melrose for serious laser-cut polycarb labels. $3 isn't much.

The Melrose guy likes us so drops by now and then. We're working with him on a really spiffy silicone rubber front-panel thing with backlit light-pipe pushbuttons and stuff.

Thanks. I'll make sure not to sell to those on-the-run research guys that screwed you folks over.

Using ink-jet mockups for the first ones is probably the ticket, thanks. I'd like to have this product line be self-financing as far as possible.

Reverse polarity, Mr. Scott!

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Well, it was educational, getting an inside look at another big player in the semi industry. (This was L, not C). They were mostly obnoxious.

Rebecca makes and prints the labels, using some Photoshop-like software, and we cut them with an x-acto knife. It's not bad. If sales pick up, we can just send the file to Melrose.

Do you laminate them somehow?

Rebecca makes and prints the labels, using some Photoshop-like software, and we cut them with an x-acto knife. It's not bad. If sales pick up, we can just send the file to Melrose. ======================================================================

I've had dies made by Ace Steel Rule Dies and was very happy. I sent them a CAD file (autocad but I'm sure dxf is ok), they laser cut the slots into hardwood plywood, then cut and bent steel rule material to fit, and presto, high quality long lasting die. We mostly punched 1/8" and 1/4" foam rubber for gaskets but they work great on paper and plastic films. We dealt with the NJ location but their website shows several choices. A 3"x12" rectangle with about 10 holes scattered inside was in the $100-150 ballpark so very cost effective. Depending on what you are punching and what volume you can use a $50 1 ton arbor press from HarborFreight or a megabuck high volume machine :-). Anyway, just an option for punching polycarbonate labels, especially if you have any through holes for screws, etc. An example of a flange gasket with bolt holes from their website:

----- Regards, Carl Ijames

Interesting, thanks.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

We have some thick glossy paper that we use to make the home-made labels, and it seems to be pretty good by itself. The Melrose labels are polycarb with some clear surface treatment.

Back in the day, I did nice labels for the custom lab jobs with rub on letters and clear spray over them. A bit too tedious for any sort of production.

I'd suggest laserprint and laminate over that - depending on size you need, a hot pouch laminator is not terribly expensive and does good work

- I find the cold laminating films (giant clear tape) less reliable. A color laserprinter quickly becomes cheaper to own than an inkjet, in my experience, but inkjet should be fine if you prefer to go broke buying supplies for it, since it was so cheap to buy in the first place.

Start with careful hand cutting (and if hot pouch laminating as I suggest, cut the paper 1/8" undersize before laminating - print a cut line right on it.) Use a paper cutter for the straight edges to get them neater than scissors.

I have not bought any, but I recall that there was a corner rounding cutter in the graphic arts lab back in high school, so you could cut things with a regular paper cutter to make them square and straight, and then pop them in that for perfect round corners. Probably start with scissors.

I have no idea what they do or can be made to do, I but I vaguely recall that there are silly little CNC paper cutters sold to the "scrapbooking" market - if at all flexible they might be able to cut labels. They may not be all that flexible, I really don't know.

For sticking the laminated label to the box, use something from 3M or regret the decision later, if using a tape-product. Hot-glue might also work - test it. Put it in the freezer, put it in the car in the sun, see if it peels off.

Another option these days (probably not for this project) is to have the box itself CNC engraved. A third is to screen print right on the box.

Letraset & lacquer doesn't last well in use. It gets very dirty, is an issue to clean & rubs off. With metallic paint & coloured letters it can look impressive at first, but not for long.

Lacquered card & laminated card don't last well either.

ISTR people saying Cricut is a closed loop system, ie you can't feed it your own designs. A great way to kill a product's usefulness!

NT

What's underneath the label? Plastic? Aluminum?

We get all our panels from a small place in NJ. Mostly some photosensitive Aluminum sheet... (They sand off the plastic on the back side for panels that need a good ground plane.)

$3 for art work doesn't seem like much. (add's ~$10 to the sales price.) ~$5-600 NRE setup charges is about what I expect to pay.

You don't want cheap looking art work. Well, maybe for the first ~10 prototypes. We will sell the first "prototype" units at a discount (~40%) with the understanding that there might still be a "bug" and they might have some "uglies". George H.

Powder coated aluminum. The current box is a Hammond 1457L1201EBK, which is expensive but available in any quantity.

These ones have die cast aluminum end panels and EMI gaskets. The sticky la bels fit into a slight recess in the top of the box and on one of the ends.

(add's ~$10 to the sales price.)

Not awful if they actually sell, I agree.

We'll make some mock-ups to see how they look.

It seems unreasonable for printed sticky labels to cost as much as the PCB.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

is expensive but available in any quantity.

labels fit into a slight recess in the top of the box and on one of the end s.

B.

you could make the end plates a pcb

-Lasse

Using a PCB as a panel would be OK for the photodiode end, but I need the mechanical strength of the aluminum on the BNC connector end.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

You could use clear "paper" (i.e., transparencies) & print mirror image. That puts the printing on the back of the film. Then you do need to glue the labels on. It's a trade off.

We use a similar Hammond box. It has a number of annoyances.

You have to remove most or all of the end-plate screws to access the PCB, and that's tedious with those cheap self-threading screws. The screws dump metal filings inside the box.

Without a removable top cover, securing and accessing the PCB is another pain. We press four PEMs into the bottom of the PCB and machine countersunk holes in the bottom of the box. It's a sort of blind operation to mount the board in the box.

Our bigger boxes have removable top covers, a slightly lower hasslefactor.

You have to remove six screws and one end-plate to slide off the cover and access the board.

We plan to make our own extrusions when we get time. Extrusions are cheap when you own the die. The top cover will be removable without unscrewing the end plates. The screw holes will all be tapped.

Users often want to bolt the box to a surface, so you should provide a mounting flange.

The box, machining, and labels can easily exceed the cost of the electronics.

is expensive but available in any quantity.

the boxes that are two halfs are a bit easier, only have to remove four screws, and you can get halfs with heatsink fins or mounting flanges

-Lasse

If you need EMI shielding you should be able to get the extrusions alodyned for electrical conductivity rather than the usual anodize.

I guess I'd also at least consider press-fit inserts for the screws rather than tapping half-open extruded holes. That woudl be a real quality job.

--sp

The part-open extruded holes are awful. The self-tapping screws are clumsy and make shavings inside the box. If you try to tap the holes for real machine screws, the taps tend to break.

If we anodize and then tap the extrusions, and countersink the cover holes after anodize, the screws will make good electrical contacts.

Press-in threaded things are a possibility. The main side extrusions will need to be drilled anyhow (solid metal) so the next step is to either tap or press in the threaded inserts.

Something like this:

Phil put your label design on "transparency" film with your laser printer so that you can view the label through the transparency. Now slice the film as required and spray with "Duro all purpose spray adhesive" as directed. Viewing through the "transparency", which, if memory serves, is about 3 mils thick, has a nice effect similar to the glo-coat seen on autos. If you're working in hundreds or thousands or more, this isn't of much value except getting a quick look at the label before commiting your self to a quantity order.

Hul

Phil Hobbs wrote: