Industrial screen printing for the audio/video devices and home appliance industries – part 1
Both digital printing and offset printing will not meet the entire demand generated by the audio/video devices and home appliance industries when it comes to printing. Instructions for use and product labels are an important component of a product as a whole. However, in today’s article I’m going to focus on an equally or perhaps even more significant aspect – front and control panels. It is thanks to them that the product will be able to fulfil its purpose by carrying out the commands given by the consumer and the target user of the manufactured equipment. From today’s article you will learn:
- What influence good quality front and control panels have on the use of equipment.
- About the types of panels that allow you to control the equipment.
Front and control panels as key components of a device
Electronic equipment would only be a complicated ornament if it did not include a component capable of accepting commands from the user, who will only then use the potential of the purchased equipment. Let’s take washing machines as an example. They offer multiple modes of a seemingly identical activity – keeping clothes clean. It is up to the owner of the washing machine to decide the type or color of the clothes placed in the drum. Here the role is taken by the printing house, and the ideal placement of light elements or legibility of the described functions of the washing machine will depend on its quality and precision of printing. Non-durable paints or lack of attention to the sterility of the premises may lead to a situation in which a still functional device will lose its usefulness, because using it will no longer be intuitive.
Types of device control panels
The needs posed by various shapes and types of electronic equipment have caused us to include in our offer as many as three types of control panels. In principle, they perform the same function. However, they can be used depending on the space available on the device or the capabilities available in each case.
- Membrane panels – used mainly as operator panels for various types of consumer electronics. They consist of several layers and, despite their thinness, are very durable. A transparent polycarbonate film is used to make the top layer. It guarantees high resistance to repeated pressure. On the other layers there are conductive paths with contact points, which make controlling the device possible. They can be completely flat or embossed, and embossed in the place of buttons. Panels are most frequently manufactured with a special adhesive layer on the underside for permanent connection with the casing of the device.
- Control panels – are the elements which are built in the front part of electronic devices and home appliances. They have a significant decorative function, but, above all, they are used to control the whole device. The control panels can be freely molded to fit the shapes of the whole device. Such a panel can be easily transformed into a touch control panel that replaces traditional buttons and knobs. In this way, the control panels improve the aesthetics and functionality of the whole product.
- Front panels – Depending on the type of the device and the function they are supposed to perform, they may contain cut-out holes for knobs, buttons, and sockets for connecting cables. They are used in electric devices, home appliances, power tools and their batteries. Front panels can also have transparent fields behind which digital messages displayed by the device can be displayed.
Our experts will prepare the right offer for you considering your needs. You can count on expert advice on selecting the type of control panels for your device.
If you’re going use front or control panels in your device that will improve the esthetics and functionality of your products and are searching for a company with many years of experience in their production, a vision of their usefulness and a versatile machine park…
