Crazy idea.. how to make a Matchless-style glowing faceplate

[marshman]

So there's this guy, 'newbie' member here (longer than I, but hey, I digress) goes by JoeV, and has a company that will custom make you any faceplate you wish...

www.amplates.com

He's probably the guy to talk to for any of us. If he can do anodized aluminum, reverse-engraved plexi and custom grillecloth, he's seems a good place to start.

[52ftbuddha]

I hope this works
Rob

[52ftbuddha]

JKL 47

[Gauge]

that's backlite, right? - i think the paul ruby way is to line the top of the chassis (directly on top of the edge of the faceplate with lights)
your way seems to gaurantee a brighter display
would those bulbs introduce any unwanted noise, to the signal path or by virtue of their presence in the chassis
Looks like really clean work there

[52ftbuddha]

The lamps do not add any noise, Thanks for the kind words.

Rob

[Gauge]

did you dremel out those eliptical ports in the chassis or did you order it that way from somewhere

[52ftbuddha]

I used a drill press a chassis nibler and files. The nibler is the best chassis tool going.
Rob

[tubetwang]

Ampeg are bad to work on...

Rat's nest.

Do-es-nt help much for the recognition...

They do clean and reverb great but...

[lagerdog]

just putting this out there, but instead of a plastic faceplate in black and engraved from the rear in creme or some other semi-transparent color, why couldn;'t i print out a transparency and mount it to a piece of clear plexi glass (printing in black with the letters in creme or white or whatever

You'll never get there that way... you can't block enough light with the ink... Worked for years in the control panel lighting industry, and the only way for appliques or rubber is to have a barrier coat of white down under the black or whatever color you are trying to use. And it should be thick and opaque... A laser printer won't do it...

[markd]

I'm working with Jeanne at BNP on a backlit faceplate. Sort of like Paul Ruby's, with the 1/8" plexi like you would see the lettering etched into a colored pastic layer at the back. Only with the colored layer on the front with the lettering etched through. And with 2mm led's mounted into the edge of the plexi instead of the incandesent bulbs Paul used. Hope it looks as good as his.
mdurham

[Gauge]

hmm - so my transparency in front of the plexiglass with black and creme lettering - you're saying the black won't block the light from comming through - what if it was 2 transparencies thick - or is plastic the only way to go

would it matter if it was backlit versus lit from the edge

[JoeV]

If you're doing a backlit plate, you should do a reverse engraved plastic plate without the text backfill (leave the lettering clear). It would look killer.

I can do this for you. Go to my site (www.amplates.com) for more info.

Thanks!

[Dynaflow_Donnie]

Of course its cheesy. Thats the point.. haha... Course I like hula girl grill cloth too...


Regards,

Dyna

[LeeMo]

http://www.beingseen.com/ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007L ... n=15684181
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AU ... n=15684181

It's amazing what Google will turn up.

I have some blue plazma glow that I used in one of my son's show cars. I made a Mitsubishi triple diamond with it wired to the trunk lid light. It does use a 12 volt transformer but I'm pretty sure that it's all D.C. so the noise shouldn't be a problem. You could wrap it around the faceplate at the edge. You can trim it to length. You can't, however, make sharp turns with it. To make the diamond , I put holes at the points and looped the wire out and back thru to avoid kinking.

LeeMo

[tubetwang]

those are all the rage in Thailand...

[okstrat]

just putting this out there, but instead of a plastic faceplate in black and engraved from the rear in creme or some other semi-transparent color, why couldn;'t i print out a transparency and mount it to a piece of clear plexi glass (printing in black with the letters in creme or white or whatever

You'll never get there that way... you can't block enough light with the ink... Worked for years in the control panel lighting industry, and the only way for appliques or rubber is to have a barrier coat of white down under the black or whatever color you are trying to use. And it should be thick and opaque... A laser printer won't do it...

What about using clear plexi, and go to a sign shop and have your 'block' made in thick white sign vinyl with a black vinyl cover over that?

Pete

[dubs]

Yeah I've done it with my spitfire clone using rear etched plexi plates that were made (I've got some spare if anyone's interested):


made a light box using sheet aluminium, routed a hole in the front panel, attached some 6.3v bulbs which is wired the 6.3v heater wiring:


My only comment is that the plexi will flex alittle from the heat from the bulbs so you should glue the plate on as well as screw it to the front panel and it will be o.k. Otherwise you could use coloured leds with current limiting resistors to the 6.3v heater and that will give off less heat..

[cbryant]

That looks fantastic dubs! What exactly is the faceplate made of? And how do you etch it? A friend of mine came up with the idea of using copper-plated circuit-board material, buffing it so its shiny, protecting it with a lacqure and then etching-in the logo.