Got my control panel overlay in today!

[rhys]

Got my control panel overlay in today from my other office (I work in IT for a printing company).  Image is attached.  It's very generic, but it's just a temporary so I can get the panel assembled till I find something I like.

This is printed on self adhesive vinyl with a heavy duty matte laminate. It feels like polycarbinate, I'll verify with the shop exactly what it is if anyone wants to know.  The outline and holes were cut on a vinyl cutter.

If anyone is interested in having these done, I'm still working out pricing, but likely somewhere in the $25-$35 range depending on size plus shipping (mine is 24x11).  You provide the artwork and vector outlines for the cutter.  I can typically have these out the door in two days or less once I've received the artwork.  Marquee, bezel, and cabinet art can be done as well. Pricing for those will depend on the job size.  Our printer, laminator, and cutter are capable of up to 60" wide by as long as you want.

If there is enough interest to warrant the expense, I'll setup a website/storefront and post it in the vendors forum.  For now, you can reach me by PM if you are interested.  I'll post more pictures once I have it assembled.

[michelevit]

is this sturdy enough as a play surface? or do  you need to sandwich it underneatch clear plexi?

[pbj]

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you can print this stuff off at work and everyone will be cool with it.  You'll lose your job and will have already spent the money you made, then be too embarrassed to admit to anyone what happened.

I have seen this happen time, and time, and time... and time again.

[Nephasth]

Don't fall into the trap of thinking you can print this stuff off at work and everyone will be cool with it.  You'll lose your job and will have already spent the money you made, then be too embarrassed to admit to anyone what happened.

I have seen this happen time, and time, and time... and time again.

Now we know what happened to you!

[rhys]

I'm having them printed by our production team and paying for them.  It's already been sanctioned by management, no worries there.  You can deal with the local location if you have one nearby, or go through me if you want to make sure it gets done right the first time   My sales staff isn't particularly interested in dealing this kind of work, so the boss told me to have at it lol....

I hadn't seen anyone else doing this kind of work who could pre-cut the graphics to spec is the only reason I am offering it.

I'll get the material information on the laminate, but it is very heavy duty and should be fine as a play surface without needing a plastic overlay on top.  Feels like a 5 or 10mil matte polycarbonate.

[wp34]

Having the overlay precut is a real nice add-on.

[yotsuya]

I'd be interested in some smaller cocktail control panel sized overlays, myself.

[pbj]

Right, management's "cool."  Whatever you say.  Start looking for another job.

 

[CoryBee]

Right, management's "cool."  Whatever you say.  Start looking for another job.

 

huh?

[rhys]

PBJ - Just for your information, I never said I was doing this as a side business.  I'm only acting as a coordinator to make sure the orders get handled correctly and in a timely fashion as a helpful service to fellow arcade builders.  I didn't feel there were any particularly good options for getting custom print work done at a reasonable price, and the company I work for offers some services that the few other places I've found don't.  Being THE IT department, if there is sufficient interest, I would be setting up a website on one of my in-house servers to handle orders for this sort of work, and only after I have my production staff familiar enough with the requirements for the work to handle the orders without my supervision.  Is there a possibility that I might make a little extra money by doing this, yes.  If there is enough volume, I might get a small kickback from the sales team once in awhile.  Am I a stupid kid working for a print shop who thinks "Hey, I can make tons of money by marking up my employer's product and reselling it!", NO.  My intention was to handle payment for the first few orders to make things simpler until we had an official process setup for this.  I do other consulting on the side and have the ability to process small one time payments with less hassle.  Our system isn't really setup for this kind of retail work.  That is what management sanctioned.  Saves a lot of unnecessary work for accounting if there isn't enough interest to warrant making this a mass-marketed service.

So, you can take your negative attitude and assumptions somewhere else.  Don't expect any further correspondence from me regarding this, as I will not rise to your argumentative baiting again. 



Anyways....  I haven't gotten pricing back from production yet, as they are catching up from having no power yesterday (storms).  We typically charge by the square foot for our printing services, but I'm trying to work out something that is a little simpler for this type of printing.  Right now I'm just investigating the level of interest, but if anyone has a special request, I can coordinate getting it done now.

The laminate used on mine is 5mil PSA Embossed vinyl, made by Kapco, and I was mistaken, it's typically used for trade show and other indoor signage.  The product description is "Soft embossed vinyl that simulates polycarbonate. Great for trade show and banner stand graphics. Recommended for indoor use only."  If there is sufficient demand for the service, we can get polycarbonate laminate for those who would like the best in durability.  The PSA vinyl is about half the price of the polycarbonate though.  I have two of my overlays, once I make sure I get one mounted properly, I'll do some possibly destructive testing to the extra one to see how the durability is.  It's less expensive than polycarbonate, but if it doesn't hold up, we won't use it for these.  That would of course affect pricing as well.

Non-laminated adhesive or non-adhesive vinyl are also options if you are already planning to use an acrylic/polycarb protective sheet.  There's very little we can't do if there is demand for it    Production won't be happy if they buy a $500 roll of material for this pilot project, use $10 worth of it, and the rest sits untouched forever though....

[pbj]

PBJ - Just for your information, I never said I was doing this as a side business.  I'm only acting as a coordinator to make sure the orders get handled correctly and in a timely fashion as a helpful service to fellow arcade builders.  I didn't feel there were any particularly good options for getting custom print work done at a reasonable price, and the company I work for offers some services that the few other places I've found don't.  Being THE IT department, if there is sufficient interest, I would be setting up a website on one of my in-house servers to handle orders for this sort of work, and only after I have my production staff familiar enough with the requirements for the work to handle the orders without my supervision.  Is there a possibility that I might make a little extra money by doing this, yes.  If there is enough volume, I might get a small kickback from the sales team once in awhile.  Am I a stupid kid working for a print shop who thinks "Hey, I can make tons of money by marking up my employer's product and reselling it!", NO.  My intention was to handle payment for the first few orders to make things simpler until we had an official process setup for this.  I do other consulting on the side and have the ability to process small one time payments with less hassle.  Our system isn't really setup for this kind of retail work.  That is what management sanctioned.  Saves a lot of unnecessary work for accounting if there isn't enough interest to warrant making this a mass-marketed service.

So, you can take your negative attitude and assumptions somewhere else.  Don't expect any further correspondence from me regarding this, as I will not rise to your argumentative baiting again. 



Anyways....  I haven't gotten pricing back from production yet, as they are catching up from having no power yesterday (storms).  We typically charge by the square foot for our printing services, but I'm trying to work out something that is a little simpler for this type of printing.  Right now I'm just investigating the level of interest, but if anyone has a special request, I can coordinate getting it done now.

The laminate used on mine is 5mil PSA Embossed vinyl, made by Kapco, and I was mistaken, it's typically used for trade show and other indoor signage.  The product description is "Soft embossed vinyl that simulates polycarbonate. Great for trade show and banner stand graphics. Recommended for indoor use only."  If there is sufficient demand for the service, we can get polycarbonate laminate for those who would like the best in durability.  The PSA vinyl is about half the price of the polycarbonate though.  I have two of my overlays, once I make sure I get one mounted properly, I'll do some possibly destructive testing to the extra one to see how the durability is.  It's less expensive than polycarbonate, but if it doesn't hold up, we won't use it for these.  That would of course affect pricing as well.

Non-laminated adhesive or non-adhesive vinyl are also options if you are already planning to use an acrylic/polycarb protective sheet.  There's very little we can't do if there is demand for it    Production won't be happy if they buy a $500 roll of material for this pilot project, use $10 worth of it, and the rest sits untouched forever though....

Quoted for posterity.  Good luck, kid.

 

[roknrol]

This looks promising ... thanks for offering it up as a service, rhys. Where is your production department located?