After a lot of experimenting, I finally labeled the instrument panel today. I wanted something that looked “professional”, but something I could also do my self. Buying a laser engraver was out of the question, with a price tag north of $7k. So a little creativity was in order. I’ve been developing a love for Vinyl lately. Since I wrapped the panels themselves in flat black vinyl (3m 1080), I figured why not try to cut the words for the panel labeling out of while vinyl. So I ended up ordering a Cricut, which is basically a “hobbyist” level vinyl cutter. After some trial and error, I was able to cut out the labels and use transfer tape to apply them. I ended up using Cricut’s own premium outdoor vinyl for the letters. It’s basically “sign vinyl” I tried using the vinyl I usually use to wrap things, but it was to flexible and soft. It would end up dislodging from the backing paper during the cutting process. The sign vinyl was more rigid and worked great. I was able to cut the letters surprisingly small. I think all things considered it came out pretty good.
Here's the finished product
There's not background, like there would be if I used my label printer or something like that. It looks like the words are printed onto the panel
I put some clear transfer tape on the panel, to help aid in aligning all the labels as I applied them
I then used the Cricut to cut out the words for the labels
Here is the left-over vinyl after the words have been removed and applied to the panel using transfer tape
