CP Art printing material question...

[Jakobud]

Has anyone here printed out their control panel art and NOT put it under plexiglass?  This is what I am maybe gonna do, except I'm not sure what sort of material to have it printed out on that will be really durable.  I went to Kinkos tonight and talked with some workers there.  They said that the best thing they had was vinyl for durability, but they said that it is not made to have peoples hands on it all the time, as a control panel will.  So they have seen the oils from peoples fingers smear the colors on it.  Anyways, they pointed me to a sign shop I'm gonna go to tomorrow and see what they can do.  But tonight I was looking in the Art section here on BYOAC, and it was saying to go ahead and have the art printed at kinkos, but just get it laminated.  This sounds like it would work well to me I guess.  

What sorts of experiences have you guys had with your control panel art holding up and being durable to a lot of human contact?  Anyone gone the lamination route, with no plexiglass?

What sort of materials did original arcade cabinet control panels use for their art?  It seemed like a tough custom printed formica or something.

jakobud

[neuromancer]

A service bureau has a machine that uses a vacuum to laminate. With this machine, you can laminate on one side only. It lets you (for instance) laminate the top of a graphic that has been dry-mounted to foam core.

Anyway, laminate the top side only, and leave the paper on the bottom; you will be able to use rubber cement to stick it down, and it will hold up to years of use (just not abuse). If you ever want to change it, rubber cement will release easily. There are a wide variety of laminating materials, including 10mil textured surfaces, which are very similar to what some old control panel overlays were made from.

Bob
South Carolina