Graphic Overlay FAQ

3M ADHESIVE TYPE & DESCRIPTION

- 3M GENUINE QUALITY ASSURANCE -

3M Adhesive Type #

Substrate Thickness Color Temp. Range Adhesion

3M55236

- Cheapest -

Non-woven cottonpaper adhesive 0.12mm Translucent 90°C (LT) ~ 120°C (ST) 11.5N/10mm

General used double-sided tapewith durability, Good temperature resistance and strong adhesion,
Recommended for regular indoor use. ( Couldn't be repeated used that the glue will be broken )

3M9448A

Non-woven cottonpaper adhesive 0.15mm Translucent 70℃(LT)~150℃(ST) 14N/10mm

Good initial viscosity and easy die cutting. For plastic, rubber, rough surfaces, All have good adhesion;
Good adhesion at high temperatures ( Couldn't be repeated used that the glue will be broken )

3M467MP

- Thinnest -

Substrate-free pure adhesive 0.05mm Transparent 149℃(LT)~204℃(ST) 5.5N/10mm

Excellent bonding effect, Can prevent shedding and excellent waterproof , Good process-ability, Better holding power, The product is resistant to high temperature, super sticky and no residual glue. ( Couldn't be repeated used)

3M468MP

Substrate-free pure adhesive 0.13mm Transparent 149℃(LT)~232℃(ST) 8.5N/10mm

The thickened type of 3M467MP, Excellent bonding effect,Can prevent falling off with waterproof performance, Good process-ability, good temperature resistance, and good adhesion;The release paper is polymer-coated waterproof kraft paper, Will not wrinkle in high humidity environment, good temperature resistance.( Couldn't be repeated used)

3M300LSE

Best
Waterproof

PET substrate adhesive 0.17mm Transparent 93℃(LT)~149℃(ST) 9N/10mm

Excellent waterproof performance, Good temperature resistance Strong holding power; High physical and chemical stability, It can insulate humid gas and have a sealing effect, Solvent resistance, Anti-ultraviolet rays, Resistant to rapid temperature changes. Good die-cutting process-ability.Provides excellent adhesion to surfaces such as glass, plastic, polypropylene, powder spray paint and oil pollution.

JRPANEL FIRMLY SELECTED 3M IMPORTED GENUINE ADHESIVE!

JRPanel Graphic Overlay 3M Genuine Anti-Fake Label

ADHESIVE USE GUIDE

1 Avoid touching the rubber surface
( glue parts ) with your fingers.
2 Keep the adhesive surface dry
3 Keep the adhesive surface clean
(Oil-free, no dust, no lubricant separating agent)
4 Apply appropriate pressure
5 Avoid distortion of parts to be glued
(Note that the parts match each other well)

EMBOSSED TYPES OF KEY / BUTTON

For graphic overlay, there usually will do embossing for the keys, which can help the operator to quickly determine the position of the button, make the button feeling better, and also make the product more design and three-dimensional.

The key embossing is to do embossed for the key area with a drum press on the graphic layer. This method has strict temperature and pressure requirements based on the natural and convex-concave characteristics of the material.

It has the following advantages: (1) Improve the decorative effect of the appearance of the graphic overlay. (2) The operator's sense of touch is relatively sensitive. (3) The range of the key body is accurately given. (4) Improve the recognition speed.

JRPanel provides a variety of embossing types, which can reach customer's requirements with different types of keys. Circle Embossed (Default), Flat- Embossed Key, Edge- Embossed, Key Shape Embossed, Flat- Key ( No embossed ).

Following are 2 reminds: 1. The default key type is the circle embossed ( the first on the left) ), If need to do with other kinds embossed type, kindly pls noted in the remarks or drawings when placing the order. 2. when designing embossing, please design the corner of rounded corners, It couldn't do not sharp corners ( this will break the graphic layer )

Circle Embossed
Flat-Embossed Key
Edge-Embossed
Key-Shape Embossed
Flat-Key
(No embossed)

MATERIAL SURFACE TYPE ( GLOSSY / MATTE )

Graphic Layer Material:

It is mainly choose PC/PET material.

According to its surface type,
it can be divided into:

① Matte surface ( translucent film )

② Glossy surface ( transparent film )

JRPanel Graphic Overlay MATERIAL SURFACE TYPE ( PC / PET )

If you need a smooth window, other surface matte,
JRPanel can also provides an option:
"Glossy window with Matte surface"
This can achieve the window glossy and the
effect of other surface matte.

JRPanel Graphic Overlay MATERIAL SURFACE TYPE ( ALL MATTE SURFACE )

Surface Effect Matte Material

Glossy Material with Matte oil covered

Comparison of Colorless Glossy Transparent Window & Colorless Matte Translucent Window

Distance 20mm - Display Effect

Colorless Glossy Transparent Window

Colorless Matte Translucent Window

No distance - Display Effect

Colorless Glossy Transparent Window

Colorless Matte Translucent Window

For the Graphic layer material, it is to be selected according to the actual use and environment.
LCD display, choose glossy surface;
Digital Tube, it is recommended to use matte surface.
The LED window can be glossy surface or matte surface. But matte surface is recommended, the effect is better, not very dazzling.

GRAPHIC OVERLAY THICKNESS

The total thickness of the product depends on the thickness of the material & the type of adhesive, etc. These can be selected by the customer when placing the order. You can check the thickness of the material and adhesive on JRPanel online quoting page conveniently. Quote Now

CUSTOM GRAPHIC OVERLAY STRUCTURES

For the Graphic Overlay, commonly has 2-layers structure, see following picture shown:
JRPanel can also support the customization of other special layers, such as adding a spacer to increase the panel thickness (Graphic layer, Spacer, Adhesive), also can only do with the Graphic overlay. Kindly pls note when ordering.

Graphic Overlay
Back Adhesive

JRPanel can also supported another design, that adding metal dome at the bottom of the graphic overlay , it is Graphic overlay + Back adhesive + Metal dome, which can be directly attached to the metal dome pad on the PCB.
( Note: When ordering , it need to tell the size of the metal dome used, and the size of the metal dome needs to be the match with the size of the PCB pad , this can avoid being unavailable due to size discrepancies.)
If in doubt, you can consult customer service directly for further communication and know more about the specific requirements of metal dome included in the graphic overlay.

NOTES ON GRAPHIC DESIGN OF GRAPHIC LAYER

Main design specifications for Graphic overlay

In the membrane switch, the design of the graphic overlay is mainly graphic design, because JRPanel use the silkscreen printing to make the graphic overlay. In the graphic design, the minimum process capability of the actual silkscreen printing process must be considered.
In order to be more suitable for factory production and improve the speed of product completion. When designing the drawing of the graphic overlay, please refer to the following parameters:

Outline tolerance:	±0.2mm【Outline do Lower tolerance as default; Cutout do upper tolerance as default 】	Key border line	≥0.3mm (Adjacenting Color border ≥ 0.5mm)
Min.Text/pattern line width:	≥0.2mm	Embossed key spacing	≥2mm
Min.Silver track width	≥0.5mm	Safety distance between outline /cutout to silver track:	≥0.7mm
Max. Panel size:	800*400mm	Tail-exit to the edge:	≥0.7mm Better not design to close to edge. If requirement of waterproof, it need ≥5mm
Embossing height	0.3~0.8mm	Tail-exit to the edge:

JRPanel NOTES ON GRAPHIC DESIGN OF GRAPHIC LAYER

About Add Edge Border【Generally choose a dark color】

JRPanel uses silkscreen printing to produce patterns and texts of the membrane switch & graphic overlay. When designing, there will encounter adjacent colors. In the following two situations, it need to consider drawing borders to make the product more suitable for silkscreen printing and obtain better screen printing effects.
(1) When two colors and multiple colors are adjacent to each other, they may be misaligned or shifted because they are printed separately.
It needs to add a dark outline to cover the uneven edges.
(2) Sometimes the colors are mixed when the colors are adjacent to each other, there will be a mixed-color between the 2 colors.
So it also need to add a dark stroke to cover the color line.

① adjacenting colors may be misaligned

It need to add a edge border to cover the uneven edges.

②Some adjacenting colors may be mixed

It need to add an edge border to cover the mixed line.

Light background: Because the light background needs to be printed one more time in order to get a good graphic effect, additional charges are required. For details, please check at link with : Light Background Description

<20% Gray, It need choose the "Light Color Process", as it need do 2 times printing for this color.

10% Gray

>=20% Gray, It doesn't need choose the "Light Color Process"

10% Gray

Color Numbers: JRPanel can make according to Pantone Formula Guide ( Solid Coated & Solid Uncoated ), RAL-K7 CLASSIC,CMYK (May have much difference) and sample (this color is the closest). Please note the Pantone color numbers or CMYK value in the design, and better to send us the samples if have high requirement for the colors ( that be more closest to previous products.)

JRPanel Graphic Overlay Pantone Formula Guide

For the Pantone color numbers, it can be tracked on the Pantone website.

You can check and find the PANTONE numbers in website: https://www.pantone.com/color-finder

ABOUT SILKSCREEN PRINTING

Silkscreen printing refers to the use of a silkscreen frame as the base, and use the method of film exposure to make a screen printing plate with graphics. When printing, the ink can be printed on the substrate through the fine holes of the screen. For the non-graphic area, the fine holes of the screen are blocked, then the ink cannot pass through the screen. Finally, it will print the graphic of customer needed on the substrate material, such as PC / PET. This is the basic principle of silkscreen printing. During printing, firstly, Pouring the ink on one end of the screen printing plate, then applying a certain pressure to the ink portion on the screen printing plate with a scraper, and moving at a constant speed toward the other end of the screen printing plate. The ink is moved by the scraper from the graphic during the movement part of the mesh is squeezed onto the substrate to produce the graphic design that the customer needs

Advantages of silkscreen printing:

(1) Not limited by the size and shape of the substrate (5) Strong anti-rotation performance (2) Soft layout and small pressure (6) Flexible printing methods (3) Strong coverage of ink layer (7) Strong adhesion (4) Suitable for various types of ink (8) Suitable for long-term display, the outdoor advertising is expressive

Silkscreen Printing

Screen printing with exquisite
Patterns and text

Graphic Overlay

Thickness≤1mm
PET/PC Colorless Film

ABOUT WHITE AND WHITE TRANSLUCENT

In the design of membrane switches/graphic overlay , some customers will design white semi-transparent windows and white patterns & characters in 1 design, but only submit one color when ordering. This calculation is not correct. For white color, it is printed with conventional white ink, and For white semi-transparent color, it need to blend white ink and varnish into a white semi-transparent ink, which can be finally achieve a semi-transparent effect when printing. So the two inks are different and need to be printed separately. Therefore, when calculating the number of colors, it cannot be counted as 1color, but 2 colors. Hope this can be clearly for customer to understand this.

In the membrane switch design, if there is an LED design below, the LED window is designed to be white translucent, which can weaken the LED light and make the LED light relatively soft.

JRPanel Graphic Overlay ABOUT WHITE AND WHITE TRANSLUCENT

Erin KOU