DIY Laser Etched KPL Custom Buttons

[marcin]

PART I - 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:

 

 

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

 

Before:

 

Buttons:

 

Final Product:

 

Failures:

Testing of font:

 

 

 

 

Marcin

[Brian H]

Thank you for the very detailed instructions on creating custom KPL Buttons

[Teken]

Hello Marcin,

 

Can you provide some pictures of the card stock and how it was positioned to hold the KPL keys. Also, does the tray have any kind of center (home) position?

 

Does the laser have any kind of very low setting like a flash light mode to show where the pointer is? Lastly, can the power output be adjusted from 0-500 mW?

[marcin]

Sure I will add little walk thru tonight once I will get home and add pictures.

[TheFallenAngel]

GREAT DIY, THANK YOU! The eBay is off stock but you can find it even cheaper from GearBest http://m.gearbest.com/3d-printers-3d-printer-kits/pp_242560.html

[Teken]

Sure I will add little walk thru tonight once I will get home and add pictures.

 

Marcin,

 

Looking forward to the step by step guide and photo's. I don't think you fully realize the fire storm you have created with this project you started!

 

LOL . . .

 

I fully realize there may be a larger investment in the tools and supplies for the privilege of making ones own custom KPL keys. But given the massive amount of money Smarthome wants for just 6-8 keys at $50.00 a set. The initial cost will be paid back in short order over time.

 

This may also push Smarthome to rethink the custom KPL keys too once the news comes out and the orders stop coming in!

 

Ha . . . 

 

On Point: Is there a cheaper material available for the laser tape? It seems like a lot of money for such a product.

[marcin]

As I was doing my research for the purpose of engraving on the plastic aka KPL buttons and then filling the engrave area with color, The Green Laser Tape kept coming up. Apparently  it’s the best for the plastic and color fill. I’m pretty sure that there are other tapes on the market that will get job done. Since I never had an engraver and it is my “first time” I went with the advice from experts.

 

Taken asked me a question re style of the engraver open cage vs. closed four corner style.

 

“Also was there any reason you purchased the open cage style laser vs the closed four corner style?”

 

The reason I purchased open style was to access the tray area more easily. I figured it would be much easier to position the buttons or paddles on the tray. Not being limited by corners. Keep it mid that I also plan on engraving faceplates so I will need extra room….

 

 

As far as the cost:

Engraver: 100

Laser tape and fills:100

Q-tips: Free (Source my wife’s makeup caddy)

Enclosure (I had plywood in garage, fan was about 12)

 

Now let’s do the math even if supplies including machine will run up to 250 and you have 8 keypads you already saving 150 dollars vs. 400 that you would spent in SH. That’s pretty good beer money and at least you are learning something new and your keypads look amazing…



[jerlands]

As I was doing my research for the purpose of engraving on the plastic aka KPL buttons and then filling the engrave area with color, The Green Laser Tape kept coming up. Apparently  it’s the best for the plastic and color fill. I’m pretty sure that there are other tapes on the market that will get job done. Since I never had an engraver and it is my “first time” I went with the advice from experts.

Laser tape and fills:100

 

How is the tape used to fill in with color?

 

 

Jon...

[Teken]

How is the tape used to fill in with color?

 

 

Jon...

 

Jon,

 

The tape is only used for masking to protect the surface. The fill in is by the paint you can purchase from pretty much any hobby shop.

[Teken]

As I was doing my research for the purpose of engraving on the plastic aka KPL buttons and then filling the engrave area with color, The Green Laser Tape kept coming up. Apparently  it’s the best for the plastic and color fill. I’m pretty sure that there are other tapes on the market that will get job done. Since I never had an engraver and it is my “first time” I went with the advice from experts.

 

Taken asked me a question re style of the engraver open cage vs. closed four corner style.

 

 

The reason I purchased open style was to access the tray area more easily. I figured it would be much easier to position the buttons or paddles on the tray. Not being limited by corners. Keep it mid that I also plan on engraving faceplates so I will need extra room….

 

 

As far as the cost:

Engraver: 100

Laser tape and fills:100

Q-tips: Free (Source my wife’s makeup caddy)

Enclosure (I had plywood in garage, fan was about 12)

 

Now let’s do the math even if supplies including machine will run up to 250 and you have 8 keypads you already saving 150 dollars vs. 400 that you would spent in SH. That’s pretty good beer money and at least you are learning something new and your keypads look amazing…



 

I agree once you purchase five custom KPL kits the entire parts list for the laser unit is so over paid for its not even funny. Even if you bought three custom KPL's kits from SH that's $150.00 before shipping and exchange rate for people like me.

 

So if you break it down using the three KPL kits it comes out to be something really stupid like $241.36 CDN!

 

Yeah, pretty sure investing under $125.00 USD is the future moving forward for this guy!

[marcin]

Jon,

 

As Taken mentioned tape is used to protect a surface of the plastic take a look at the picture under “Failures” the very first button was engraved without the tape. as you can see there is yellow \ brownish residue around the letters. Tape will prevent that from happening. Also will make it easier to color fill.

 

Jumping ahead but….

 

1. Take blank KPL button
2. Remove protective clear film that came with it
3. Make sure that Button is clean
4.  Apply laser tape (make sure that there are no air bubbles)
5. Remove protective film from laser tape
6. Place KPL button in the engraver
7. Once done use Q-tip to apply paint \ fill
8. Let it dry
9. Once dry remove the laser tape.

 

Here is more info on the laser tape  , and more info on color fills.

 

If you want you can probably skip the laser tape and then clean the residue and then apply the paint and then clean the button (I'm not sure what you would use. Maybe Isopropyl Alcohol. But not sure how that will effect the plastic). Personally I went with the tape to make it easier for myself. You can shop around for different supplier. I bought it from LB because they spent over an hour with me on the phone walking my thru various filler options and tapes. They also sell something called liquid mask that acts similar like a laser tape but you have to brush it on let it dry etc. Adds time to the process.

 

 

[marcin]

Here is another supplier little bit cheaper: IKONICSIMAGING

[jerlands]

Jon,

 

As Taken mentioned tape is used to protect a surface of the plastic take a look at the picture under “Failures” the very first button was engraved without the tape. as you can see there is yellow \ brownish residue around the letters. Tape will prevent that from happening. Also will make it easier to color fill.

 

Thanks for the clarification!

 

 

 

Jon...

[marcin]

In preparation for my engraver arrival I watched videos on YouTube  (Link for the one of them) Then I did more searching on the internet and I found instruction on instructables.com (First) (Second)  that will give you a basic idea how the machine works. You can also built yourself an enclosure for your laser.

 

You can install the software and the drivers as in the instructions included with the machine. Software and drivers are located on the microSD card. Make sure to look for it in the box. Really small and easy to miss. You will need either USB microSD card reader  or Micro SD Adapter () or if you are lucky your computer came with it.

 

PART II - Prepping for engraving (this step is crucial to ensure consistency – learn on my mistakes)

1. Laser tray is 3 cm x 3.5 cm
2. Take a legal pad and remove cardboard from back, get a sheet of cardstock (make sure is not glossy)
   1. You want to stay away from glossy objects that may be coming in contact with laser beam they will reflect the laser bean onto you or laser will not work properly.
3. Cut cardboard and cardstock to 3 cm x 3.5 cm make sure that is clean cut and corners are perfectly straight. You can use good pair of scissors or Xacto knives. If  you have access to professional table top paper cutter you can save yourself a lot of headaches. Usually  “copy \ print shops” will have one (for few dollars somebody can cut it for you)
4. Double check your corners using triangle ruler or L-Square you want to be dead on 90 degree
5.  Align cardstock on top of the cardboard make sure the edges and corners are flush

1. Align cardstock and cardboard on the laser tray making sure that edges of cardstock and cardboard are flush to the edges of the tray.
2. Secure them to the tray using four small binder clips.

 

This will allow us to make a template for our KPL button. You can follow same logic for the bigger buttons, face plates or paddles. If you will need to switch templates let’s say from small to large button you will just need to replace a card stock on the tray and your button always will be located on the center of engraving area. Use the Origin mark and edges as reference.

 

1. Open software that came with the engraver
2. Click on settings and select motor speed to 95

1. Switch burning time to the max

1. Now either make your own button template or use one attached to this post CUT OUT.jpg 
   1. If you are doing your own create a canvas Width 180 pixels Height 200 pixels

1. Draw a rectangular shape without color fill set a thickness of the line to 2 pixels and color to black

1. Export to JPG or PNG
2. Click on “Restart” that will re align the laser to the “Origin” position
3. In the software select “To Origin” Laser will move to the upper left hand side. Use extra sharp pencil and mark the “ORIGIN” spot. That will become your reference point to make sure that your laser is aligned and if you switch templates to make sure it’s always on point.
4. Take a CUT OUT.jpg drag and drop to the preview area. Software will center the JPG for you. Press on “Send Image To Machine”

Since we are working with image that is “one to one” stay away from using Image editing.

1. Click on “Carving Preview” laser will move and simulate engraving are (not all the details of your design).
2. Click on “To Origin” and make sure that your pencil mark matches with the laser.
3. Put your safety glasses on and \ or close the enclosure
4. Click “Start” and open a beer
5. Machine will start engraving you will have to repeat process several times until you will cut thru cardstock. If you don’t want to wait you can do it two or three times return laser “To Origin”  and use Xacto knives to finish cutting thru card stock white everything is on the tray.
6. Test the cut out are by selecting “Carving Preview” laser bean should be “running” inside of our cut out.
7. 
8. Now you have a template that will hold your button and prevent it from moving during engraving process and make sure that each button is straight and consistent. Your button should fit snag into the area. Cardboard is there to protect tray from Xacto knives, from cutting to deep and to help you align the templates.

 

 

Word of caution: you want to use motor setting consistent thru out the process. If you are making a template using 95 motor speed make sure you are doing same while you engraving. Otherwise laser will become misaligned with your template. Burning time won’t have any effect on the alignment. For sake of this “How To” let’s assume that each machine has been manufactured consistent  and comes with this same settings. Keep in mind that I came up with the settings by trial and error and it took me entire day and whole bunch of buttons to get this figured out. But since we are not in perfect world you may have to adjust settings on your own by trial and error. Don’t give up.

 

Few more buttons from my weekend adventure:

 

Next in line prepping the buttons and engraving. I may not get to this this week, but by the weekend I will post another write up.

[Teken]

In preparation for my engraver arrival I watched videos on YouTube  (Link for the one of them) Then I did more searching on the internet and I found instruction on instructables.com (First) (Second)  that will give you a basic idea how the machine works. You can also built yourself an enclosure for your laser.

 

You can install the software and the drivers as in the instructions included with the machine. Software and drivers are located on the microSD card. Make sure to look for it in the box. Really small and easy to miss. You will need either USB microSD card reader  or Micro SD Adapter () or if you are lucky your computer came with it.

 

PART 2 - Prepping for engraving (this step is crucial to ensure consistency – learn on my mistakes)

1. Laser tray is 3 cm x 3.5 cm
2. Take a legal pad and remove cardboard from back, get a sheet of cardstock (make sure is not glossy)
   1. You want to stay away from glossy objects that may be coming in contact with laser beam they will reflect the laser bean onto you or laser will not work properly.
3. Cut cardboard and cardstock to 3 cm x 3.5 cm make sure that is clean cut and corners are perfectly straight. You can use good pair of scissors or Xacto knives. If  you have access to professional table top paper cutter you can save yourself a lot of headaches. Usually  “copy \ print shops” will have one (for few dollars somebody can cut it for you)
4. Double check your corners using triangle ruler or L-Square you want to be dead on 90 degree
5.  Align cardstock on top of the cardboard make sure the edges and corners are flush

IMG_2067.JPG

1. Align cardstock and cardboard on the laser tray making sure that edges of cardstock and cardboard are flush to the edges of the tray.
2. Secure them to the tray using four small binder clips.

IMG_2068.JPG

 

This will allow us to make a template for our KPL button. You can follow same logic for the bigger buttons, face plates or paddles. If you will need to switch templates let’s say from small to large button you will just need to replace a card stock on the tray and your button always will be located on the center of engraving area. Use the Origin mark and edges as reference.

 

1. Open software that came with the engraver
2. Click on settings and select motor speed to 95

4-4-2016 8-59-55 PM.jpg

1. Switch burning time to the max

4-4-2016 8-57-40 PM.jpg

1. Now either make your own button template or use one attached to this post CUT OUT.jpg  CUT OUT.jpg
   1. If you are doing your own create a canvas Width 180 pixels Height 200 pixels

4-4-2016 9-02-11 PM.jpg

1. Draw a rectangular shape without color fill set a thickness of the line to 2 pixels and color to black

4-4-2016 9-00-42 PM.jpg

1. Export to JPG or PNG
2. Click on “Restart” that will re align the laser to the “Origin” position
3. In the software select “To Origin” Laser will move to the upper left hand side. Use extra sharp pencil and mark the “ORIGIN” spot. That will become your reference point to make sure that your laser is aligned and if you switch templates to make sure it’s always on point.
4. Take a CUT OUT.jpg drag and drop to the preview area. Software will center the JPG for you. Press on “Send Image To Machine”

Since we are working with image that is “one to one” stay away from using Image editing.

1. Click on “Carving Preview” laser will move and simulate engraving are (not all the details of your design).
2. Click on “To Origin” and make sure that your pencil mark matches with the laser.
3. Put your safety glasses on and \ or close the enclosure
4. Click “Start” and open a beer
5. Machine will start engraving you will have to repeat process several times until you will cut thru cardstock. If you don’t want to wait you can do it two or three times return laser “To Origin”  and use Xacto knives to finish cutting thru card stock white everything is on the tray.
6. Test the cut out are by selecting “Carving Preview” laser bean should be “running” inside of our cut out.
7. IMG_2069.JPGIMG_2070.JPG
8. Now you have a template that will hold your button and prevent it from moving during engraving process and make sure that each button is straight and consistent. Your button should fit snag into the area. Cardboard is there to protect tray from Xacto knives, from cutting to deep and to help you align the templates.

 

 

Word of caution: you want to use motor setting consistent thru out the process. If you are making a template using 95 motor speed make sure you are doing same while you engraving. Otherwise laser will become misaligned with your template. Burning time won’t have any effect on the alignment. For sake of this “How To” let’s assume that each machine has been manufactured consistent  and comes with this same settings. Keep in mind that I came up with the settings by trial and error and it took me entire day and whole bunch of buttons to get this figured out. But since we are not in perfect world you may have to adjust settings on your own by trial and error. Don’t give up.

 

Few more buttons from my weekend adventure:

IMG_2064.JPG

 

Next in line prepping the buttons and engraving. I may not get to this this week, but by the weekend I will post another write up.

 

Marcin,

 

Once again thank you so very much for taking the time to explain and illustrate the steps for a successful custom laser cut.

[stusviews]

When will you start taking orders? Do you have a name for your possible side business like BurnMyButton or LaseMyLabel

[Scottmichaelj]

Marcin,

 

Once again thank you so very much for taking the time to explain and illustrate the steps for a successful custom laser cut.

Yes, Thank you for your time to share this with us. Very much appreciated.

[marcin]

Thanks Stusviewes I was thinking LaseMySceneB LOL

[marcin]

PART III – designing your buttons.

 

I realized that not many will have access to Adobe products which I pretty pricey. I figured that I will find alternate that is widely available and gives you good results. You can use MS Paint for the button creation. Here are step by step instructions how to create a washer machine icon. As alternative you may always find icons that are widely available on line for nominal fee, but creating your own will allow you to customize them, and save you few bucks in the process. In this process you will be using black color only. Whatever will be black on your drawing it will be engraved on your button.

 

• Download “BLANK.bmp” double click and that will open MS Paint, select “Resize”, in the dialog box switch from “Percentage” to “Pixels”. Confirm the settings: Horizontal to 180 and Vertical to 200

        

• Click on “View” and turn on “Rulers”, “Gridlines” and “Status Bar”

        

 

• Click on Home, Shape and draw a Rectangle with the 3^rd line size and we will be using only black. Your starting point should be 4 “square from left and 2 from top

           

        

 

• Draw vertical line from “Shapes” thru rectangle.

 

        

 

• Draw a circle position it on the center using gridlines, pay attention to the sizing on the status bar, once you draw it you can use arrow keys to position circle.

 

• Draw another two circles 8px x 8px and a rectangle 25px x 200px. Make sure that you will use Fill option with Solid Color and that Color 2 is black as well (Those are washer controls) position them in upper part of the washer machine.

        

 

• You have few options here you can either: draw few more circles in the washer machine doors or draw a straight line or draw another circle. It is completely up to you, you are only limited by your imagination, be creative….

 

          

 

 

• Once you are happy with the results you can add text Arial Bold 23 or 24 . Position text in middle. Once done save your icon as PNG.

        

 

 

Somebody mentioned that we should create on-line repository with icons and buttons so people can download designs and engrave them, I agree I think that would be very helpful. I’m not sure how to handle it, but maybe UDI can help us with little server space….

 

On separate note, yesterday I went with my wife shopping to the mall, and they had little crystal engraving stand (I’m pretty sure they are in every mall) so as I was waiting for my wife I asked the gentlemen at the stand if he would be willing to give or sell me little of laser masking tape – he said yes so I gave him few dollars and he gave me a roll of the green laser tape and scissors - he said cut as much as you want. Since you don’t need 100 yards of the tape that could be good alternative…

BLANK.bmp

[MWareman]

As an FYI - I've decided to try LiquaMask (http://www.laserbits.com/laser-supplies/liquamask.html) instead of the tape. Much cheaper for small quantities.

 

And again - *Thank You* to @marcin for all the info!!  We need to write this up on the Wiki...

 

Michael.

 

[Teken]

Marcin & Michael,

 

Both of you are my 2016 Super Hero's of the year don't ever forget that . . .

[MWareman]

Somebody mentioned that we should create on-line repository with icons and buttons so people can download designs and engrave them, I agree I think that would be very helpful. I’m not sure how to handle it, but maybe UDI can help us with little server space….

 

The Wiki seems to be a good place for this - if Michel does not object. I would hazard a guess that Michel would want contributes to confirm submitted graphics are of our own creation (or of an origin with a right to redistribute) though - and indicate that they have a right to redistribute (for the self created art) or a link to the origin (for art under creative commons or similar).

 

Also - do you happen to know the pixel size of the larger buttons?

 

Michael.

[marcin]

W: 360 px x H: 200

[mango]

Wow. Amazing. So my question to Marcin would be to consider producing some for clients. I would be interested in about 30 just text in the future.

[Guitartexan01]

I'm with mango! Please consider taking our orders! I only need around 20.

 

 

GT