On Tue, 03 May 2005 14:56:37 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman
wrote:

On 3 May 2005 06:16:47 -0700, (Mark) wrote:

Also for now, i was going to spent about 500 (could go up to 800) to
label the cases, from my research that pretty much makes it hard to
get an embossing machine. But thanks to you all, i think i got
another idea. one of my business partners used to paint cars and
maybe we airbrush the case(or leave it normal aluminum look), and then
put a silk screen ontop of it.

Airbrush through a stencil would certainly work, though it is partly
dependent on the skill of the painter getting the paint on evenly.
And even if you spend on a nice airbrush it'll be simpler than
silkscreening. But maybe not as permanent due to the nature of the
paints, in airbrush you don't apply a very thick film unless you sit
there for a half hour going back and forth...

If someone touchs the silk screen, would the paint come off?
Sometimes people put their machines on the floor and their legs rub
against it, or it may be near a vent. Would tempature or touching it
wear it out? Does the colour fade? Would I be able to do it myself
if i got a template made? or would it be economical to get it done by
a professional?

The paint or ink sticking to your cases and monitors is all
dependent on what kind of paint or ink you use, and it's compatibility
with the surface you put it on. Almost every decorated tee-shirt you
see was silk-screened onto the fabric, and I have some 20 year old
shirts that have been laundered hundreds of times, and the ink still
looks good.

It is simple enough to do yourself, though it will take a modest
investment in tools and supplies. Screen frames pre-stretched with
silk fabric, frame hinges with clamps, photo-resist stencil material,
masking paper for the non-image areas of the screen, several types of
special inks for almost any surface, squeegees, solvents...

You'll want to have a printing shop expose your stencils and stick
them to the silk, they're the only places that still have large format
cameras and the UV plate burners to expose them.

The custom work will be making a screen holder setup to hold the
screen and your parts to be marked in the right position - unpack the
monitor or assembled case, lay it on the table face-up in a special
jig, and then the screen lowers into the right place.

Doing multi-color is where it gets tricky, because you need a turret
press - a lazy susan that holds all 3-4-5-6 screens (Yellow, Cyan,
Magenta, Black, Metallic or detail colors like flesh pink...) so they
spin and index into exact alignment over the print table with your
target product. And forget about half-tones, one screen per color.

You're lucky - with a hard painted surface, if you screw up in the
printing process you can take a rag and solvent, wipe off the ink, and
start over. When they screw up tee shirts, they're trash.

Should i totally drop the idea of embossing, or would it look more
professional then silk screen?

Embossing is only useful if you order the cases done that way from
the factory, they'll form them in one press shot. They'll get the die
geometry right so it doesn't crack around the letters, or warp, and
the paint (or powder-coat) will be done right so the finish sticks.

But that's a huge investment in tooling and case parts, because
they'll want to do a few hundred to a few thousand cases in each
manufacturing run - you want to fill a short container and ship in
bulk... You can have them done 10 at a time, but that will make each
case very expensive.

And if they arenice at all, and don't have your actual name on them,
you'll find them advertised in "asian computer source" magazine before
you get your first shipment

HP has the sheetmetal sides of their cases embossed, but they sell a
few million units a year, too. Spread the costs around that much,
order that many cases at a time, and the embossing is almost free.

Not that I've done some printing and silkscreen work in my past, or
anything... ;-)

-- Bruce --