In case any of you are interested, I thought I'd have a play at trying to create different coloured screens for my Empeg. I've printed some out onto overhead projector film with my Canon bubblejet and I think they're not too bad. I've done some in plain colours and some in gradients. Some look better than others. I've attached a pic of one on my player. The downside of course is that you have to leave off the original Empeg screen so you don't get the AR properties or the conductive layer to prevent RF coming out of the front of the player (at least I think there's a layer to prevent this). What I really need is a screen just like the original but colourless. Maybe if enough people are interested, Empeg (or should I call them SonicBlue?) might be able to get some colourless ones made up to put over the home-made one (alternatively I'll be the only one that thinks it's a good idea and then everyone will laugh at me).
The good thing about this idea is that you can not only get colours that Empeg just don't do (like Purple for instance) you can (with a little experimentation) fine tune the colour to mach the instrumentation in your car. Anyway if you're interested go and have a play for yourself.

beaker
12 gig blue

What I really need is a screen just like the original but colourless.

Someone on the mailing list said that they had a local glass shop cut them a clear face from their sample plastic. They also hand-painted it with semitransparent paints, in much the same way you did the bubblejet stunt.

I would be curious to see if it's possible to print areas of black on your bubblejet film to cover the places on the face where you can see the circuitry. Leaving the proper holes for the VFD and IR of course.



___________
Tony Fabris

That kind of reminds me of the old days of black and white TV. There were stores that sold colorizers for particular models of the TVs. Essentially a piece of colored transparent plastic on a stand that you place in front of the screen. Typically colored blue in the top 1/3, clear in the middle 1/3 and green in the bottom 1/3. Apparantly to simulate a blue sky and green grass...

Calvin

In reply to:

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I would be curious to see if it's possible to print areas of black on your bubblejet film to ...

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Yeah, that's exactly what I've done. I've found it unnecessary to leave a 'hole' in the black for the IR though, the black seems to be transparent enough to let the IR get through OK. I suppose I should put a coloured area in where the standby LED is though. I'm still playing with the idea, trying to find the best way to produce them. The latest ones (shown in the attached pic) have been lacquered on the print side as I've found in the past that this side of the film can absorb moisture from the atmosphere and stay a bit soft. The lacquer should prevent this. As a precaution I'm going to put a layer of mylar film between the lacquered side and the VFD though in case the heat from the VFD makes the lacquer stick to it. I've follow up with a CorelDraw file (version 5.0) attachment to save people who want to have a go themselves some effort. The file may need tweaking (such as adding an area for the standby LED), as I said - I'm still playing with it.

Happy customising

beaker
12 gig blue

Here's the CorelDraw file I mentioned in the last post.

beaker
12 gig blue

For anyone trying to download the file and the browser
complains about not finding the file 23903-empeg, replace
the two occurences of spaces with %20 in the name.

/Michael

Put me down for wanting a clear screen from Empeg that has the coatings on it.

Proud Owner of MK2 080000558 - 18gb Blue

Cool suggestion, Henno and Mike. I'll try that, it should be fun.

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Tony Fabris

I'll try that, it should be fun.

Be careful when painting the display. The glass sits well in front of the display itself and you'll have to account for viewing angle -- don't paint too close to the side of the display.
When done, something for a FAQ, may be ???

Henno
mk2 6 nr 6

Be careful when painting the display.

Oh... I see now.

I thought I'd just be coloring bare circuit traces with a magic marker. Now I see that, to cover some of the shiny bits, I'd have to draw directly onto the VFD glass.

So I've changed my mind. I think I'll pass on doing it that way. But a clear film that I can print and re-do as many times as I want would be something to try.

___________
Tony Fabris

Yep! Empeg providing a clear but AR and conductive layer coated would be cool for some of us. But I doubt they will do 'cause the amount of sold clear display-plates wouldn't be that high to be worth producing.

TeeMcBee
Got my Mk2! # 080000143

That kind of reminds me of the old days of black and white TV.

C'mon, Calvin -- 'fess up. I think that Henno, Bonzi, and myself are the only people on this bbs old enough to really remember that far back! You just read about that in an old magazine or something, didn't you?

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

I've been around since the beginning. Grrr.. :)

Calvin