Graphic Overlays

A Graphic overlay is the printed interface that users touch and feel.  It can be the mounted on top of a membrane switch or a Duraswitch™, or simply mounted over buttons on a printed circuit board.

First appearances are important and a well designed and attractive graphic overlay can improve the perception of the quality of your product, therefore improving its perceived value.

Unfortunately the reverse is also true.! Poor material choices and design can damage your product causing cracking and delamination.  You often see switches on a range of equipment where the buttons have cracked rendering the machine inoperable or susceptible to damage. Substituting an inappropriate material is a short cut that low cost manufacturers may use, the consequence of which may not become apparent until after the product has been in use.

Designing the most appropriate overlay requires an understanding of the working environment and the user. We will always use the most appropriate materials and adhesive and ensure that the embossing techniques are matched to the degree of use.

Overlay Options

Material Finish

There are a number of different material finishes ranging from gloss to a textured finish. Textured finishes are popular because they avoid fingerprints and reflection. We can use texturing techniques to make custom finishes.

We supply all of the current trends and popular finishes including stainless steel, chrome and brushed aluminium, allowing you to cater for all market tastes.

Windows

A window is commonly required for LED or LCD displays. Even when textured materials are used, we can "print" windows that allow custom degrees of clarity. To disguise the segments on LED displays we can also print tinted windows in a range of colours.

Embossing

Embossing is a technique that creates a ‘bubble’ or a raised section of the switch to highlight button positions or give a tactile feedback to the user. Embossing does require additional tooling. There are a number of different techniques that vary in their tooling cost, durability and quality of the finish. We can advise the style that best suits your application.

Adhesive

We always match the adhesive we use to the surface on which the overlay will be mounted. In this respect we have a number of choices ranging thick adhesives for textured surfaces, special adhesives for low surface energy substrates and very high bond adhesives.

With overlays it is important that the adhesive is selectively removed from button areas and windows, and optionally for led windows. We can do this by printing the adhesive or using tooling or digital cutting to selectively remove adhesive before it is mounted to the decal. We only use adhesives from leading companies such as 3M and Avery.

Want some more information or a quote?

Call us now on 1800 652 242 or get a quote online!