Assembly Instructions

The following instructions will show you how to build a Digitel Electroluminescent lamp using a Gerber EDGE printer, Gerber enVision plotter, GSP Composer
software, and hot roll laminator. If you do not have the listed equipment, some of these instructions won’t apply to you and/or you may not be eligible for
manufacturing Digitel lamps.
The following instructions are designed for people familiar with using the Gerber EDGE® printer and does not attempt to train or teach anybody how to use
the basic functions of Gerber’s equipment or software. If for any reason you would like to learn more about Gerber’s equipment or software please consult your
local Gerber Scientific Products distributor. ZeroNine is NOT a Gerber Scientific distributor and in fact competes with Gerber by selling 3rd party ribbons for
their printer. ZeroNine promotes the use of ZeroNine electroluminescent products and thermal transfer ribbon colors for the Gerber EDGE® and Gerber EDGE
FX®. ZeroNine’s Digitel substrate or ZeroNine’s foils have never been responsible for voiding a printer warranty. If your distributor or Gerber ever threaten to
void your warranty, ask for the confirmation in writing and they will all decline as this is often used as a scare tactic to get your business back to the OEM. This
is unlawful business practice according to the Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust Acts which says that an OEM must prove that the consumable product is the
cause of a failure and can’t void warranties unless proven. So force them to provide written proof, not speculation for intimidation.
ZeroNine Manufacturing Co., Inc. or Printexs shall not be held liable for any improper or incorrect use of the materials or information described and/or contained in this site and assumes no
responsibility for any user’s use of them. In no event shall ZeroNine Manufacturing Co., Inc. be held liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consquential damages
(including, but not limited to: procurement or substitute of goods for services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in
contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this site or materials and information herein, even if advised of the possibility of such
damage. This disclaimer of liability applies to any damages or injury, including but limited to those caused by any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay
in operation or transmission, alteration of, or use of materials, whether for breach of contract, tortious behaviour, negligence, or under any other cause of action.
ZeroNine Mfg. Co., Inc.
1230 Claussen Drive
Woodstock, IL 60098
800-325-0911
815-334-0911
[email protected]
www.ZeroNine.com
ZeroNine is the exclusive distributor of Printexs electroluminescent materials
©2009 ZeroNine Mfg. Co., Inc.
Gerber EDGE, Gerber EDGE FX, enVision, GSP Composer are registered trademarks of Gerber Scientific Products, Inc.
100409
ZeroNine Mfg. Co., Inc.
1230 Claussen Drive
Woodstock, IL 60098
800-325-0911
815-334-0911
[email protected]
www.ZeroNine.com
INTRODUCTION TO DIGITEL™
Digitel Summary:
ZeroNine’s Digitel™ substrate is the world’s first digitally printable electroluminescent material. With ZeroNine’s Digitel substrate and
ZeroNine’s conductive foil, anybody can ‘print’ their own short run lighted signage that is millimeters thick, completely flexible, and can
animate to your liking. The best part, is that you can make it yourself just the way you want it because we sell the supplies for you to do it.
The name Digitel is derived from two words. The “Digit” comes from Digital and the significance is that it is the only illuminating substrate
in the world designed and engineered for printing using a digital printer. The “el” comes from electroluminescence, which is the technology
that is used to make the substrate illuminate.
What makes Digitel unique:
Electroluminescent products have been around for years and most people have seen them on display as the Indiglow light in your old
Timex watches, night lights, and is even used to backlight your cell phones keypad. The technology has been around for several decades
but never in the form of our Digitel substrate.
What makes Electroluminescent lamps illuminate is the stacking of multiple layers of special coatings (conductive inks, phosphor, etc.) that
when interacted together with an electrical current, the phospher particles get energized and illuminate. The old method for printing these
layers of special materials is by screen printing them in a clean room environment. In most cases, there would be a mininum of five screens
needed to make a simple square panel illuminate. While this method works for large runs of electroluminescent lamps, it is hardly an option
for short run custom jobs.
When producing the Digitel substrate, we used a new method for applying these coatings by roll-coating the layers all at once except for
the final layer (a conductive ink) which is called the rear electrode and we call it the circuit. The rear electrode is left off because it is the part
that controls the electricity and tells the lamp where to and where not to illuminate. Because we want the sign maker to have total control
over their own signs and be able to make one of any size or style of a sign, that rear electrode is printed using ZeroNine’s conductive foil and
a digital printer. The digital printer that Digitel is engineered for use on is called the Gerber EDGE® thermal transfer printer manufactured
by Gerber Scientific Products. We (ZeroNine) are in no way affiliated
Clear ITO (COMMON)
with Gerber. In fact, for 10 years we have actually competed against
Gerber by selling our own 3rd-party colored foils used in their printer
to create signs, stickers, and other graphics.
Digitel is even further unique from all other technologies because
unlike other methods, Digitel lamps can be custom die-cut to almost
any shape, and can be custom animated. Using this instruction manual
will teach you how to maximize the capabilities of the Digitel substrate.
(WHITE SIDE/CIRCUIT SIDE)
Print ZeroNine’s conductive foil here
Summary of how Digitel works:
(PINK SIDE/GRAPHIC SIDE)
Wherever the conductive foil is printed,
As explained earlier, Digitel is a substrate that actually illuminates
it illuminates on this side. Graphics go
when an electrical current is applied. To cause the material to illumion this side.
nate you need some other necessary components like ZeroNine’s
conductive foil. Printing the conductive foil is like printing an electrical
circuit which carries electricity. When you print the conductive foil
onto the Digitel material and add an electrical charge to the circuit, the
electricity ‘excites’ the phosphor particles below the circuit in the
Digitel material and causes them to illuminate on the PINK/GRAPHIC side of the material. The material illuminates in the pattern that you
design the circuit. So if you want to illuminate the material in the shape of a square, all you need to do is print a square on the Digitel material, and a square will illuminate when an electrical charge is applied. The same will happen with almost any other shape or letter. The key
is to remember that you’re printing an electrical circuit which everything needs to be connected that is intended to illluminate. Using
caution and care also is important due to electricution risks, short circuit risks, overload failure, and damaging the circuit which can make it
in-operable.
After becoming experienced with printing, cutting, wiring and laminating a single circuit Digitel lamp, you can learn how to animate your
lamps. In electroluminescent terms, animation is defined as having different areas of the lamp illuminate at different times. So if had an
OPEN sign that turned each letter on in a sequence, it would be considered a 4 channel animation. Any animating Digitel lamp requires
multiple circuits printed as opposed the single circuit that will be explained first. In the OPEN sign explaination, each letter would be it’s
own circuit so a 4 channel lamp needs 4 individual circuits. This will all be explained further in a later section of the manual.
GETTING STARTED
The Digitel substrate illuminates because an electrical charge is applied. As you may know from all other electric devices, there is always
at least two connection points for every circuit and ZeroNine’s Digitel is no exception. All printing and wiring of any Digitel lamp always
occurs on the White/Functional side of the Digitel subtrate. Example 1.1 and 1.2 will show you where the two connection points are, so
you can incorporate them into any design.
Example 1.1
Your first connection point is shown in the illustration to the left. The clear edge on
the functional side ONLY is a connection point and we call it our COMMON. The
COMMON has a clear conductive coating on it, which is important to understand so
you don’t scratch it and break the circuit No matter how complex your lamp is, when
using Digitel one of your connections will always be the COMMON. We will show you
later how to make the connection to the COMMON.
COMMON (1st connection point)
Example 1.2
The second connection point is printed by you using the Gerber EDGE thermal transfer printer and ZeroNine’s Conductive Foil. With the
foil, you must print your connection point along with your design to be illuminated.
Imported File
(2nd Connection Points)
Your printed connection point is an imported file that ZeroNine supplies to you. The
imported file shown is an arrangement of rectangles that have critical dimensions
and spacing which aligns with a special connector (Flextail) that will be discussed
later. When moving this arrangement of rectangles within your design, do not re-size
or change the spacing.
Example 1.4
Example 1.3
Log onto www.ZeroNine.com/Flextail to get the imported connector file.
After importing your connector file, design your lamp as you would like to see it
illuminate. When designing, it is easiest to think that you are printing an electrical
circuit. Like an electrical circuit, power will flow throughout and all sections you want
to illuminate together need to connect together.
When you put power to the circuit from one of the imported rectangles, electricity will
flow from the connector throughout your circuit causing the PINK side of the Digitel
material to illuminate. This is why you need to mirror or reflect your design.
Example 1.4 simply shows you how to connect your design pattern to a connection
points found in the imported file.
Each small rectangle in the imported file is a different connection point. Using printed
wires (traces), connect your desired illuminating pattern to any single connection
point except the long rectangle.
Example 1.6
Example 1.5
Printed Trace
When electricity is applied to the segment #1 connection point (the connection point we
used in this example) then electricity flows through printed trace and into the ‘N’ which
causes it to illuminate on the opposing PINK side of the Digitel material.
Since we didn’t connect the other letters into other connection points or all together,
only the N will illuminate when segment #1 is turned on.
In this example, we connected all the letters together using printed traces. By
connecting all the letters together, we made one large circuit in which the
electricity flows freely throughout. Now, when electricity is applied to segment
#1, all of the letters illuminate together.
We will describe later how electricity is applied.
Printed Trace
ADDING ANIMATION
Safety
#1
Example 2.3
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
segments
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
#13
Each rectangle in the imported design file has a function. The long rectangle on the left is a safety feature only and none of your
circuits should connect to it. All the remaining 13 rectangles represent the 13 segments that you can have in your design.
segment #1 is the small rectangle furthest to the left and segment #13 is the furthest to the right. Not all connection points need
to be used and you don’t have to connect to them in any necessary order either.
If we wanted example 1.3 to have an animation sequence of each letter illuminating
seperately, then we would need to make each letter it’s own circuit or segment. Along
with keeping each letter seperate, they need to connect to different segment connection points from the imported file because that is where the electricity comes from.
Example 2.2
Example 2.1
Examples 1.4 and 1.5 showed you how to build a simple single segment lamp. One of the unique qualities of ZeroNine’s Digitel material is
that you can illuminate different areas of the same lamp at different times. This feature type is called ANIMATION. Animation catches more
attention and adds value to any normally lit sign. Adding animation to your lamp designs requires printing multiple circuits (segments) on
a single lamp as opposed to one segment shown earlier. If you noticed, the imported connector file has 13 small rectangular connection
points which is the maximum number of segments able to be performed. A zoomed in illustration is shown in Example 2.1.
This example should show you how we made 6 different segments on a single lamp,
while all connecting to different connection points.
By flipping the EL lamp over to view the graphic side (Pink Side), you would be able to see the following animation sequence
among many other possiblities if the lamp were wired and completed at this point. When designing letters, remember to connect
to the dots on the j or i, and the inside of letters (if necessary) like o, g or R. With Digitel’s animation capabilities, you can animate
colors and shapes as well, so don’t limit your creativity. Learning how to program your animation will be shown in a later section.
Segment #6
Segments #6, 5
Segments #6, 5, 4
Segments #6, 5, 4, 3
Segments #6, 5, 4, 3, 2
Segments #6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Illuminated Area
As expained earlier, you are printing a circuit on the back of the Digitel substrate. Circuits have limitations and Digitel has it’s limitations
also. When using printed traces in your Digitel lamp to carry an electric current from one area to another, ZeroNine recommends using a
stroke of 0.05 weight thickness or greater. However, if the area to be illuminated is rather large, it is best to thicken the stroke weight or
add another trace to compensate for the extra power flowing through the single channel. A thick stroke weight will also help reduce
defective lamps due to poor print transfer.
Example 2.5
Example 2.4
Thin Trace
Thick Trace
The two illustrations shown help describe the importance of making thick traces when able. The illustration with the thin trace can allow a small amount of
electric current to flow through the trace while the
illustration with the thick trace can allow significantly
more.
Another method for distributing the electrical load besides thickening a trace is to
add additional traces. In this illustration, there are multiple traces connecting to all
desired illuminating areas. This reduces the failure rate from misprints on defective
traces and distributes the electric load.
TIP: Remember that an electrical current will take the path of least resistance so sometimes adding
an additional trace will have less of an impact than adding thickness to a “core” trace.
PRINTING SETTINGS & INSTRUCTIONS
After you designed the circuit and double check that all intended parts are connected to the intended connection points on the imported
Flextail design file, you can print your circuit onto the Digitel substrate. To do this, you need ZeroNine’s Conductive Foil and the Gerber
EDGE® thermal transfer printer. The only difference to printing with ZeroNine’s Conductive Foil and a normal spot color is that you are printing an electrical circuit and that it is okay and encouraged to “double-print” or “double-hit” the same image to patch defects and to insure
that you have adequate coverage throughout.
Before loading the material into the printer, turn the printer ON, press the HOME button on the Gerber EDGE® printer. This will give you the
opportunity to restart the job in the exact same place if any unforseen circumstances happen during printing which causes you to start
over. Also, load the Digitel substrate into the Gerber EDGE® printer with the White/FUNCTIONAL side facing upward. The Conductive Foil
prints onto the White/FUNCTIONAL side and the Pink/GRAPHIC side will never be printed onto.
Modifying CIRCUIT Printing Settings Instructions
In the GSP Plot application (the program the exports your file to your printer or plotter) you can modify your printer settings before exporting
your file to the Gerber EDGE® by following these instructions.
1.) In the title box menu of the GSP Plot application, select SETUP and then PRINT OPTIONS (F11). The Print Options menu should open.
2.) In the Print Options menu, locate the Foil Color box and verify that only JET BLACK listed. (If there is more than one color listed, then your design
was made using more than one color and needs to be changed to all the same by going into your design file and changing all fills and strokes that need
to illuminate (not cut lines) to the color Jet Black.)
3.) In the Print Options menu, locate the Foil Color box again and RIGHT CLICK on the JET BLACK color on it using your mouse, then select DOUBLE
PRINT.
4.) In the Print Options menu, click the SUBSTITUTE button, then click the VINYL button. Scroll through the Vinyl Family films until you locate 3M
Scotchlite 280 Reflective Sheeting. After it is selected, click OK.
5.) In the Print Options menu, click the SETTINGS button. In the GERBER EDGE Print Settings menu that opens, select the DARKER radio button
from both columns, then click OK until you are in the GSP Plot application. Your settings are now changed and can proceed as normal.
The settings given above were tested at ZeroNine and have found to work best for printing on the Digitel substrate. However, no Gerber
EDGE® prints exactly the same because of the tuning that goes into the printhead and the environment that the printer is in (humidity,
temperature). Variances in the foil or substrate production also have effects on the printability. Because of these different conditions
settings can vary and your printer may require more or less speed or heat.
Example 3.1
In general the Digitel substrate needs high heat and a slow printer speed in order to print with the best quality. Both the 3M Scotchlite 280
Reflective Sheeting material setting and the foil Jet Black signal to the printer that it needs to print at a slow speed and a high heat setting.
After printing the circuit DO NOT cut the lamp away from the roll until you have cut the
material with the plotter/cutter. The reason for this is that you want to leave yourself
with enough of a leader or trailer that the plotter has room to manuever and won’t
bind up the material and damage your lamp.
PLOTTER CUTTING SETTINGS & INSTRUCTIONS
Example 4.1
Most applications using this Digitel technology will require the lamp to be custom shapes and sizes. You may decide to cut the lamp with
scissors, but complicated shapes will probably require the use of a plotter/cutter. When deciding which areas of the lamp to cut, always
remember that a plotter’s cutting blade can break a circuit if not thought out correctly.
Never cut the COMMON directly below the Safety, #1, #2, or #3 connection points. Use a 1” inch tall box as a guide to the amount of area
needed to stay intact. The illustration left, has an orange box describing
the area in greater detail.
The reason for leaving this area intact is because the Flextail connector
that attaches to your lamp has a COMMON connection point that is 1”
below the segment connectors. If removed, your lamp would not have
a COMMON connection and would not illuminate.
COMMON area to be left intact
Cut Line
Example 4.2
After identifying the area of the COMMON to leave intact, you may design your plotter
cut line. For instructional purposes, we used the blue dotted line for a cut line.
Never cut through a circuit that you don’t intend to lose power too. Also make sure all
the Flextail connection points remain on the lamp.
COMMON left intact
After designing and printing your Digitel lamp, cutting the lamp is most likely your next step. It is important to wire your lamp AFTER
cutting because you won’t be able to send the substrate through your plotter with wires or connectors hanging off it. We will first explain
how to cut all the way through the Digitel substrate (through cut) using an Gerber enVision vinyl plotter.
Example 4.3
Before putting the Digitel material into the plotter, it is important to apply a transfer
tape to the Graphic side (PINK side) of the Digitel substrate. Make sure you leave the
materials punch patterned holes exposed along the edges.
The purpose of the transfer tape is to keep the material pieces intact after being cut
while it is moving back and forth in the plotter/cutter. Without it, the loosely cut out
pieces can catch onto something and damage your Digitel lamp.
Applied Transfer Tape
After applying the transfer tape to the pink side of the Digitel substrate, load the material into the Gerber enVision Plotter Cutter
White/CIRCUIT side up. The following instructions will show you how to cut entirely through the Digitel substrate but NOT into the transfer tape. The transfer tape will hold all the loosely cut pieces together until you are finished cutting. In order to through-cut, your plotter
settings must be modified so that the blade doesn’t kiss-cut, and instead cuts all the way through the material, below is how to modify.
Modifying Plotter Settings Instructions
In the GSP Plot application (the program the exports your file to your printer or plotter) you can modify your plotter settings before exporting
your file to the plotter by following these instructions.
1.) In the title box menu of the GSP Plot application, select SETUP and then DEVICE SELECT. The Plotter/Printer Select menu should open.
2.) In the Plotter/Printer Select menu, select the DOUBLE CUT box so it has a check mark in it, then click the SETTINGS button. The Plotter Settings
menu should open.
3.) In the Plotter Settings menu, locate the FORCE settings tab and slide it until it reads 50. Depending on your plotters blade depth you may have to
deviate from these standard settings.
4.) In the Plotter/Printer Select menu, click the SUBSTITUTE button then select EDGE POSTITIVE and then hit the OK buttons until you exit.
Using the settings above, plot your material on a slow setting while keeping a watchful eye on the plotter while cutting of the material.
Pause the cutting process often to verify that it is cutting through the Digitel material but not into the transfer tape. If the transfer tape is
being cut through, then you need to cancel your job and turn down the FORCE found in the plotter settings. Example 4.4 will help
illustrate the importance of the transfer tape.
Example 4.4
Through-Cut Groove
White Side
Pink Side
COMMON
Transfer Tape
The illustration shown to the left is of an ideal cross-sectional side view of the
Digitel substrate that has just been sent through the plotter/cutter. The “V”
shape is the cut caused by the plotter blade. As you can see, you should
prevent cutting into the transfer tape but through the Digitel material.
Example 4.5
After through cutting the material using your plotter/cutter, you should double check the cuts to make sure the cut is entirely through the
substrate. If more cutting is needed, start this process over or carefully cut with an modelling knife, otherwise remove the Digitel material
from the plotter/cutter and peel the transfer tape away. If done properly your EL pieces should be loose and cut to your desired shapes.
After the lamp from Example 4.2 and 4.3 was sent through the plotter/cutter, we are able to
remove the waste leaving the desired shape shown.
You can see that the necessary 1 inch box area of the COMMON remains part of the lamp as
discussed in Example 4.1 and Example 4.2.
USING THE FLEXTAIL
Whether your Digitel lamp is a single segment lamp like Example 1.6 or a multi segment lamp like Example 2.2, you will need to use a
ZeroNine Flextail to connect it to your power source. The Flextail is applied by you, and joins the power source wires to your lamp.
Example 5.1
The Flextail’s purpose is to route the electricity from the appropriate wire that powers the lamp to your lamp’s corresponding connection
points (from the imported Flextail Design seen in Example 2.1). It is able to do this because it has the pattern of your lamp’s connection points on
one side and the pattern of the wires on the other. The Flextail adds professionalism and reduces labor costs compared to attaching wires
independently to each connection point.
The gold rectangles (boxes) are the Flextail’s connection pads. Each
connection pad cooresponds to a segment for your lamp, animation
sequence, and connection point.
Segment #9
Connection Pad
Blue Clinch
Connector
goes here
COMMON
Connection
Pad
Use Example 2.1 as a guide to which connection point matches with
which connection pad.
Conductive
Adhesive
Cut the conductive adhesive shapes as large as possible and stick them to
the pad WITHOUT going outside of the gold connector pad borders, as this
will make a connection to other circuits, thus causing unexpected results.
Apply the conductive adhesive to each connector pad like shown.
Flip over the Flextail so the brown side is facing upward and the connection pads are
facing downward.
Example 5.3
Example 5.2
Using scissors, cut ZeroNine’s Conductive Adhesive into rectangles that are approximately the same size as the gold connector pads and
apply them to the gold pads like shown in Example 5.2. Do not forget to apply conductive adhesive to the large pad labeled ‘common.’
Locate your Digitel lamp and verify that the safety connection is on the left for both
the lamp and Flextail. Reference Example 2.1 if you need to remember where the
safety is.
Safety
Connection
Example 5.4
Without allowing the conductive adhesive to make contact with the lamp yet, carefully
align the Flextail’s connector pads with the lamp’s connection points. Be sure that no
Flextail connector pad touches more than one lamp connection point. They need to
align precisely.
Once aligned, stick the Flextail to the lamp by applying pressure thus making an electrical connection using the conductive adhesive.
Example 5.5
The illustrations below explain how anmation can play a role in your design and how to make them more effective. If the Digitel
lamp in Example 5.4 was finished and flipped over, it could illuminate with the following animations (among other options).
This example should also show you the importance of designing & printing your design in a mirror reflection from what actually
illuminates.
Illuminated Area
ENCAPSULATION LAMINATE INSTRUCTIONS
We strongly recommend that all Digitel lamps are encapsulated using ZeroNine’s Digitel laminate. Encapsulating the lamp is very important because it will protect your lamp from moisture and scratches which can cause failure and it also prevents people from getting
electricuted Without the lamination barrier, a Digitel lamp can be considered an open circuit since you are printing with conductive inks
and putting an electric charge to it.
Encapsulation is the process of laminating a material on the top and the bottom all at once so that it is sealed on all edges protecting it.
Before encapsulating your lamp, make sure the top and bottom rolls are aligned and there are no wrinkles or bubbles in the laminate. Try
sending some scrap material through first to see the outcome and if you are satisfied. Clean the work area and the laminator from dust and
debris then with a clean dry cloth dust off and remove any debris on the Digitel lamp before laminating.
Laminator
Side View
Example 6.1
Digitel Laminate
Digitel Lamp
Flextail
Example 6.3
Example 6.2
Digitel Laminate
Laminator
Top View
The diagram to the left shows the proper setup of a laminator ready for encapsulation. You can see how there is a roll of laminate setup on the top and the bottom
rollers of the hot roll laminator.
Our Digitel laminate uses a heat-activated adhesive which makes it easy to setup
on the laminator. The lamination settings we recommend are 175°F for both rollers,
pressure of 60 psi, and 18 inches/min.
Your Digitel lamp should be sent through the
laminator in such a way that the narrow end of
the Flextail consisting of small gold leads, DOES
NOT get encapsulated because we will add a
clinch connector later.
Laminator
Side View
Flextail
Encapsulated
Digitel Lamp
In this illustration, the Digitel lamp was sent through the laminator rollers
(Flextail to the side) and was encapsulated leaving the tip the Flextail exposed.
After the lamp is sent through the laminator (without stopping), cut the lamp
away from the laminator but keep at least 1” of laminate border all around the
lamp.
Laminator
Top View
Example 6.4
In this illustration we show a top view of the Digitel lamp encapsulated with our
Digitel laminate. You can see how the tip of the Flextail is exposed and the rest of
the lamp is encapsulated with at least 1” all around protected.
Example 6.5
Exposed Flextail Tip
3/16”
Scissor
Trimmed
Border
After laminating, the encapsulated laminate is now ready to be trimmed to the
shape of the lamp.
Using scissors or a modelling knife, cut away the excess laminate but leave a
minimum 3/16” inch border around the perimeter of the lamp. The purpose of this
is to keep the lamp sealed from electrical shock and moisture at all edges.
Use caution when trimming near and over the Flextails, as you want to avoid cutting
into the Flextail.
COLOR INSTRUCTIONS
Without adding color to a Digitel lamp, your design will illuminate “white” when it is powered ON and will be “salmon pink” when OFF. If
color is needed in your design, all you need to do is add a printed overlay to the front of the encapsulated Digitel lamp. An overlay is not
much different than a sticker printed on clear vinyl. An ‘overlay’ is a graphic image printed onto a seperate material that will be placed in
front of the illuminating Digitel lamp‘s face so that the light passes through the material and illuminates the colors. We recommend
making a graphic overlay using ZeroNine’s colors on a clear calendared vinyl using a Gerber EDGE® thermal transfer printer.
Only apply a graphic overlay to an encapsulated lamp. To apply an overlay, simply mist mildly soapy water onto the lamp and then place
the graphic ontop of the soapy water. The soapy water keeps the adhesive from being sticky making it easier to align. To remove the soapy
water after aligned, use a felt tipped squeegee to push the water out.
Printing an overlay using an Inkjet printer can result in unsatisfactory results because inkjet inks are very transparent and can appear
‘washed -out’ when placed on Digitel material.
Powered Digitel lamp
Overlay printed on clear vinyl
=
+
Example 7.1
Overlay applied to Digitel lamp
Illuminated Areas
When selecting the colors to be used in the overlay, it is important to know that different colors can illuminate with different outcomes.
For instance, Violet looks like a dark violet when the lamp is OFF but looks like a white-purple when ON because it is so transparent. Meanwhile, Purple is more opaque which makes it look purple when OFF and look like a vibrant Purple when ON. Test your color choices by
printing your graphic overlay on a clear material and hold it over a light source to see how the outcome will look before applying.
Using a high opacity color like ZeroNine’s Super Opaque Black (F250) can be useful when making an overlay because it is designed to block
out all light. The high opacity color can be used to mask out; your traces, the COMMON connection, or parts of your design. An example
of this can be seen in Examples 7.2 and 7.3.
Example 7.2
Super
Opaque
Black
In this illustration, a black border is printed using ZeroNine’s Super Opaque
Black. Since Super Opaque Black is high in opacity, we used it to hide the
COMMON connection area and circuit connection points.
Dark Red In the area we wanted light to emit, we used Dark Red (G206) because it is
semi transparent and of how it looked when placed over a light source.
Using Super Opaque Black (F250) as shown in 7.2 is only a minor example on how to mask out unwanted lighted areas. Example 7.3 shows
a different approach to printing text by printing the entire overlay with Super Opaque Black except the areas to be illuminated. Using this
method can mask out the traces that are undesired to look at.
Example 7.3
Powered Digitel lamp
Overlay printed on clear vinyl
+
Dark Red
Overlay applied to Digitel lamp
=
Super Opaque Black
In this example we made a graphic overlay that uses the opacity of the super opaque black to mask out the ‘salmon pink’ OFF
appearance and also illuminating traces. With this method, the light is blocked and only the red text illuminates because the red
is a semi transparent color.
If your design calls for an opaque color other than black, you can still use this method by printing ZeroNine’s Super Opaque Black
(F250) first, then ZeroNine’s White (G201) on top as a primer, then the desired spot color on top of the white.
PART ASSEMBLY
Digitel EL Lamp
Flextail
Male and Female
Clinch Connectors -
Plug into any 110VAC wall current
Connects Flat Wire to Flextail
Flat Wire
Verticle Clinch Connector Connects flat wire with sequencer
POP Inverter
POP Sequencer
Compatable with POP sequencer
Example 8.1
Female
Male
Controls up to 13 segments
and is re-programmable.
Verticle
Locate the 3 different blue clinch connectors. From the illustrations to the left, determine which of the 3 is the Verticle clinch connector and set it aside. The verticle clinch
connector looks very similar to the female connector except that it has two tabs on
either side that extend down.
The verticle clinch connector will be put on last and is designed for plugging into the
POP sequencer.
Example 8.3
Example 8.2
Tab
Using either the male or female clinch connectors, slide one end of the flat wire inside
the 16 silver clamps that are found on the connectors.
After the flat wire is inserted within the clamps, make sure the 16 clamps are aligned
with the 16 copper flat wires.
Using pliers or preferrably vice-grips, apply pressure to the top of the silver clamps without
losing alignment with the flat wire. When firm pressure is applied, the clamps will penetrate
through the flat wire and will make a connection.
It might be easier to compress only 2 or 3 clamps at a time as opposed to all together. Once
all clamps are pressed down into the wire and are flat, close the blue plastic flap.
Cut the Flat Wire square to the desired length and attach the blue Verticle clinch connector using the same methods shown in Example
8.2 and Example 8.3. The Verticle clinch connector will plug into the POP sequencer once the sequencer is programmed.
ANIMATION SOFTWARE
If you purchased ZeroNine’s Animation software, you will be able to program the POP sequencer to illuminate any segment of your lamp
at any time from your computer. One of the advantages of programming your own animation is that you can customize it and change the
program as many times as you like.
The POP sequencer plugs into your computer and can be programmed and re-programmed by you. To do this, design your sequence
program then send it to the POP sequencer. At that time, you can take the POP sequencer to your lamp and plug it into the lamp and POP
inverter. When the POP inverter is turned on, the lamp should animate with the sequence you programmed.
Example 9.1
Segment #1
1
2
3
4
5
6
Segment #6
Time (seconds)
Install the Animation software onto you PC computer. There is an
instructions file if you have trouble installing it. Once installed, open
the program.
You should find a table like interface consisting of rows and columns.
There are 13 rows that represent the 13 segments that can divide your
lamp into, and many columns representing 1/10 of a second each.
0
1
Example 9.2
Before making the program sequence, determine which segments your lamp was connected to by looking at Example 2.1. Not all lamps
use all 13 segments, so you will not need to use all 13 rows in the software. If you determine that your lamp’s segments were connected
to connection points #1, #2, and #4 then we would only program those rows.
Segment #1
ON for 1/10
seconds
1
2
3
4
5
6
After deterimining which segment are connected to which connection point you
can begin programming the sequence program.
Example 9.2
0
Example 9.3
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
To get more advanced, we are making segment #1 flash on and off at 2 second
intervals, segment #2 is blinking at 5/10 (half second) intervals, and segment #4
runs in no particular pattern. This example should further show you that you
can customize your animations however you like and can even reprogram
them if the campaign is over or want to change it.
0
1
2
3
You can customize any program sequence up to 60 seconds. After 60 seconds,
the sequence ends unless you insert a loop which tells the program to start
over from the beginning.
1
2
3
4
5
6
You can insert your loop at any point in the software and you do this by right
clicking in the column to loop. The loop column turns red which tells you nothing after it will animate. This becomes beneficial if you want your sign to blink,
because you don’t want to program 600 cells to turn animations on and off.
0
Example 9.4
For this example, we have a lamp that consists of only 3 segments which are
connected to 3 connection points (#1, #2 and #4). To make segment #1 illuminate
for 1/10 of a second, I would simply left click my mouse on the very first rectangle
(cell) in row 1. By clicking the cell, the cell turns green which means it will turn ON
for the first 1/10 of a second. Everything else will be OFF.
1
2
Converter Box
1
2
3
4
5
6
0
1
2
3
POP Sequencer
3
Once completed making your program sequence, you need to upload it to your
POP Sequencer. To do this, you need to locate the coverter box (small black box
with two wire ports and a green light). Plug the USB wire into the converter box
and to your computer. The tan wire plugs into the converter box and the POP
Sequencer.
When ready, in the Animation software go to Transfer, then Download to
Sequencer. When the converter box green light stops blinking, your done!
Disconnect the POP Sequencer from the converter box and plug the blue verticle clinch connector that should be connected to the Flat
Wire into the POP Sequencer in the socket near the red bulb. The plug end of the POP sequencer should connect into your POP inverter.
Make sure all blue clinch connectors are connected and secure, then power the POP inverter. If there is a problem, try flipping the flat wire
upside down.