Archive for all of Lexicraft’s Blog Insights posts.
The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 do not simply require a marking. They require one that is affixed “visibly, legibly and indelibly”. That third word is doing a lot of work, and it is where most labelling non-conformances begin. Applying a mark is a printing job. Keeping it readable through fifteen years of UV…
Most overlay enquiries arrive as a PDF of the artwork and a question about price. The artwork is usually fine. What is missing is the information needed to quote the part properly: the panel drawing, operating environment, cutout positions, the substrate it will bond to, and how frequently the buttons will be used. That gap…
Most overlay problems start with a drawing that was never finished. A panel outline, a logo, a few legends, and a note reading “printed fascia, black”. No material called out, no adhesive, no tolerance on the display aperture, and nothing about what the panel gets wiped down with at the end of a shift. The…
Walk through a plant hire yard or trade show floor and you can usually tell which badges were specified by an engineer and which were ordered from a promotional catalogue. The machine itself may still look immaculate, while the manufacturer’s badge on the side panel has lifted at one corner or the red in the…
A drawing lands on your desk specifying a digitally printed overlay because the artwork includes a photographic background and a tonal gradient behind the logo. The same drawing calls for a Pantone-matched corporate blue across the full fascia, and a dead-front window that must stay invisible until the LED behind it illuminates. Those requirements do…
When a domed badge starts lifting at its edges after eighteen months on a machine, the adhesive takes the blame. In many instances, the adhesive was never the problem. The dome shrank, pulled the edges of the label upward and broke the bond from the top down. That failure has almost nothing to do with…
Open a control panel that has been in service for ten years and you can usually date the labelling by how legible it remains. The engraved laminate tags on the DIN rail still read cleanly. The printed label on the door, which has taken a decade of IPA wipes, has faded to a grey suggestion…
The nameplate is often the last component specified and one of the first to fail. By the time it reaches the drawing, the machine’s housing material, duty cycle, wash regime and export market have all been decided, and the plate gets ordered using whatever template worked last time. Three or four years into service, the…
The most aggressive chemical a domestic oven encounters is often the one its owner sprays on deliberately. Caustic oven cleaner, bleach-based kitchen spray, limescale remover, neat washing-up liquid, alcohol wipes. Then the fascia gets wiped down in a hurry with whatever cloth is nearest. Few industrial control panels see that combination of chemicals and repeated…
A rolling stock design review can quickly expose a weak specification. Someone asks which fire requirement set applies to the cab overlay, and the supplier provides a data sheet that only says “flame retardant”. That is not a classification under EN 45545-2, and sourcing a compliant replacement can put the programme under pressure. Even low-cost…
