Custom Etched KPL Buttons

[builderb]

Yeah, I never even knew it was a thing until I worked with a few electricians who set me straight. Now I can't help noticing everywhere I go.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[marcin]

 

Finally my  wife was away for a weekend and I was able to set up the laser engraver that I purchased. It took a lot of trial and error but I was able to make my own engarved KPL buttons! 

[jerlands]

Whoo-Hoo!  Nice.  You might have a sideline

 

 

Jon...

[Dr Pepper]

Nice!  What engraver are you using?

[marcin]

I got one from eBay. I believe the brand is called Neje. Thank you for your comments. 

[MikeD]

Wow, that looks amazing. Nice job!

~Mike

[Techman]

I got one from eBay. I believe the brand is called Neje. Thank you for your comments. 

 

Very nice.

 

What's the model number of the engraver.

[paulbates]

Marcin-

 

Looks great. Quite jealous over here 

 

I'm thinking if took the money I sunk in custome KPL keys, I would have a good start on buying one of these things....

 

Paul

[MWareman]

I got one from eBay. I believe the brand is called Neje. Thank you for your comments. 

That is *awesome*!

 

These appear to be <$100 shipped from Hong Kong. Did you get the 300mw or 500mw version (I wonder if it matters for this)?  Would you be able to share any suggestions as to settings?

[Scottmichaelj]

I too would drop the $$ on one of these and help the community out here. Have you tried single switchlinc buttons yet?

[stusviews]

Which model? Is toner available when it runs out?

[Teken]

Which model? Is toner available when it runs out?

 

It uses a laser so nothing to run out besides the money in your wallet to pay for the electricity. 

Edited April 4, 2016 by Teken

[Scottmichaelj]

It uses a laser so nothing to run out besides the money in your wallet to pay for the electricity.

I got one of those fancy Brutech energy monitors to see how much its costing me! Ha!

[Teken]

I got one of those fancy Brutech energy monitors to see how much its costing me! Ha!

 

Pretty sure you have 64 other things in your home consuming more electricity than that 300-500 mW laser ever will.

 

Ha . . .

[Scottmichaelj]

Pretty sure you have 64 other things in your home consuming more electricity than that 300-500 mW laser ever will.

 

Ha . . .

Your right...LOL!

[ccclapp]

If others were to get a similar engraver, are the settings/designs shareable? If so are you willing to share?

How do you make the designs? I've never used an engraver.

[MWareman]

I've ordered one... . Only issue is they take a while when they have to take a boat from Hong Kong....

 

Now to order a bunch of blanks!

[marcin]

Again thank you for your comments 

 

Per Taken I moved intro  post to "How-Tos and Tutorials"  DIY Laser Etched KPL Custom Buttons

Edited April 4, 2016 by marcin

[Teken]

Again thank you for your comments,

 

Fist thing first: SAFETY!

 

Although this is really cool little machine and serves great purpose, please consider few safety things:

 

1. It is areal laser not a laser pointer. Laser can burn you, blind you or cause hazardous conditions to your health!

2. Make sure while using a laser you are the only one in your workshop and any other visitors always have safety glasses on - including family members. Don't let your pets near the laser. Keep them far away from the workroom.

3. KPL buttons are glossy which  reflects the laser beam (enclosure and safety glasses are a must!)

4. If you stare or look at the laser without proper safety glasses you can go blind or cause serious damage to your eyes!

5. Engraving process creates smoke and toxic fumes. Make sure that you are working in well ventilated area!

6. Make sure you are familiar with your state and city safety requirements for using lasers or engraving lasers.

7. You are ordering from foreign country where our safety standards may not be applicable.

8. I'm trying to help you get started and cannot be held responsible for your mistakes. And they will happen.

9. You are using this guide at your own risk, and you understand all precautions and risks involved.

 

I'm sorry for above but I want to make sure you understand what you are working with.

 

To get started you will need:

1. Laser engraver. I got BLACK NEJE 500 mW (Link to eBay). It's available on eBay and Alibaba. Although they claim that there is support and warranty service available it is nowhere close to what you would expect. If the engraver will get damaged during shipping cost of returning back to sender is much higher then buying new one. If there is something wrong with unit you are on your own. Shipping will take between four to eight weeks (east coast)

2. A little power supply for USB power easily available on Amazon.

3. Computer running Windows XP or 7 with USB port. Anything never that you may have to restart the laser after each engraving job or drivers won't work. MAC is not compatible  as the never Windows operating system - so I had to dig out my old windows 7 machine

4. Professional software that can output PNG file format. I used Adobe Fireworks. I tried Photoshop and Corel Draw but images in JPG or PNG always came out pixelated. So far Fireworks PNG native format has the smoothest lines and letters.

5. Build an enclosure for your laser with 120 mm fan attached to it. Make sure that the exhaust from the fan is going outside. And during engraving process you don't want to see a laser light. I built myself a plywood box with hinges for easy access and to the back of it I attached 120 mm computer fan. Then I connected the fan to old dryer exhaust. Fan will also help with brownish residue left on KPL buttons, make laser engraving consistent  and remove fumes and smoke from the work area.

6. Good pair of laser safety glasses. The ones that came with printer are useless. You can google it Amazon has great selection.

7. You will need "The Green Laser Tape" available from laserbits.com. That will make sure that your KPL buttons will not have yellow\brown\black smoke residue on them. It will also allow you to color fill engraved area.

8. While you ordering your green laser tape make sure to get some Pro Color Fill Applicators. Smart Home  is using gray color which personally I found annoying. Once the button is on its hard to see what it says. I went with black, red for alert KPL buttons and brown for ivory switches. As you can see it's much clearer.

9. If you want you can pick up clear lacquer for plastics to spray the buttons after you are done you can, but I found that buttons did not loose their gloss and that fill is glossy - they look ok in my opinion. Lacquer can change a color of plastic slightly. If over time color fill will rub off I will just print another one.

10. Q-tips or makeup applicators to apply Pro Color Fill. I tried both and I found Q-tips easier to work with.

11. Nice set of ultra sharp exacto hobby knives.

12. Cutting or hobby board

13. Few sheets of card stock and few cardboard sheets (cardboard backing from legal notepad works great)

14. Blank KPL buttons from smarthome.com I used white and i did not tried using different colors. Make sure to order plenty (I went thru 6 packs just adjusting laser)

15. Couple small binder clips

16. While you wait for machine think about your buttons. Buttons like mine take approximately 6-10 minutes to engrave. Your design should be vector based. Anything more complicated (meaning more area to engrave can take up to 30 minutes)

 

Keep in mind you are dealing with small "print area" 180 x 200 pixels. Make sure that your icons are in 72 dpi and canvas area is 130 x 130 pixels - line thickness should be set at 4 px. For the font you want to go with something with crisp and evenly spaced out letters. I went with Arial Bold 30 px size in Adobe Fireworks. Make sure to test whatever font you will choose especially little space in A.

 

If you are still interested in the process let me know and I will put together another write up or walk you thru the process.

 

 

Another finished KPL:

 

IMG_2061.JPG

 

Here are some picture of the one that I posted earlier:

 

Before:

IMG_2056.JPG

 

Buttons:

FullSizeRender.jpg

 

Final Product:

IMG_2059.JPG

 

Failures:

Testing of font:

IMG_1998.JPG

 

IMG_1990.JPG

 

 

 

Marcin

 

Marcin,

 

First you're an inspiration for an alternative and professional looking KPL keys! Next, may I humbly ask you create a dedicated thread and link this one so others can follow your project.

 

It will ensure the topic is on point and offers the most useful information for all. Please ensure you use the search terms so others can find it in the future like: Custom KPL, etc

 

Thank You!

[marcin]

Thanks Taken, any suggestions where should I move it?

[Teken]

I believe the how to section would be perfect! Also could you offer a little more detail and photos about positioning of the keys and how it was held down?

 

Did it simply just sit there? Also was there any reason you purchased the open cage style laser vs the closed four corner style?

 

 

=========================

 

The highest calling in life is to serve ones country faithfully - Teach others what can be.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Teken

[jerlands]

There's a number of other sellers and also youtube videos but haven't found any that show in detail alignment.

Also an instructable that's rather vague.

 

 

 

Jon...

[marcin]

Since this engraver does not have a digital controls with exception of the engraving speed and burn time you will have to play around. First you will need to get a  cardboard (from legal pad works perfect) the a card stock. Cut them to the size of the tray 3 cm x 3.5 cm. Stock card stock on top of the cardboard and create a button cutout template in PNG format. Attached cardboard with cardstock to the laser tray using four small binder clips

 

Then you will engrave a cards tock few times and that will cut a shape of the KPL button on card stock leaving cardboard intact. Doing that will ensure that your button is always on center and won’t move while tray is moving.

 

Taken to answer your question I went with open cage style laser to access the tray more easily. I figured it would be much easier to position the buttons or paddles on the tray.

 

 

[mango]

This is very interesting thank you. What DPI can the laser go down to with how fine a point?

[Scottmichaelj]

Maybe we should start sharing icons too for each other to use?