# Printing on Metal - Panel Swap



## THRobinson (Jun 29, 2014)

Yup... time for my monthly WTF question. 

Was buying an amp, then building one, and now came across one I was after that's local so Friday picking that up (if it works as advertised).

As usual, I can't be happy unless I customize something. In this case, grill cloth and tolex to make it more vintage. Knobs look a bit worn, but I prefer the chicken head or Marshall style knobs anyways.

Now, I don't have it in hand yet but, so not sure if the front panel (behind the knobs) can come off or not... hoping it can. If it can, I'd like to replace it with brass and have everything printed off on it, which made think... who prints on metal?

I know for DIY circuit boards you can get transfer paper for laser toner. I have waterslide decal paper, but no way it'll go across a foot long strip of metal without wrinkling. Could print on clear vinyl maybe? would save from needing to clear coat it when done I guess.

Anyone know who in Ontario does small print jobs like that? Silkscreen be best but probably expensive since setting up for 1 print only. I've seen on YouTube printers that print on metal just like it would on paper, but not finding anything in Ontario yet.

Getting the Silver Stripe Bandit 112 Transtube... ideally, I'd like the black panel with white type to be black with brass showing through instead of white. Then the silver stripes replaced with brass with black type on them. 

Black with white isn't bad though. I could waterslide decal the type onto brass and just replace the silver stripes. Otherwise, I'd scan everything in, and recreate it with Illustrator as an EPS vector file. I'd also modify the right side so I can put a jewel power light indicator and a toggle switch like the Fender amps.


Just looking to see what you guys do, if anything, when it comes to the metal parts of the amps and printing.


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

I want a nice nameplate made for an amp I built. Laser etching seemed to be the way to go but one-offs were pricey. I’ve “watched” his thread to see what comes up.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

Pm'd U ........  THRobinson


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