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Old 30th Jun 2022, 10:29 pm   #21
Junk Box Nick
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

If you want to avoid the Adobe rental trap but want professional standard programs then the Affinity suite is a good rival and is what a considerable number of print graphics professionals are now using.

Affinity Photo is as powerful as Photoshop and has some features that best it. Affinity Designer is the equivalent of Adobe Illustrator and Affinity Publisher takes on Adobe InDesign and QuarkXpress.

It is a one-off payment for each program as in the good old days, except unlike the good old days each can be had for a two figure sum. What’s more the programs are produced by a British software company based in Nottingham.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 1:14 am   #22
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

I use the Affinity suite professionally. It's much better than Adobe as far as integration and power go. Since Adobe's 'Creative Cloud' subscription model came in I imagine Affinity have done very well for themselves with their much more palatable single licence purchase model.

For the dial glass, home silk-screening is eminently possible from what I see the guitar pedal community doing and I intend to try it for my next labelling job. Light-sensitive screens are exposed in a way similar to making PCBs. Small scale silk-screeners are around as well. I have a friend with a studio next to a printshop with screens, and I've been meaning to ask him about detailed front plate prints.

Ask at a local print shop and if they don't do it they might know someone who does. I understand it's mainly a case of providing the graphics in a suitable colour format which any of the vector graphics programmes will be able to do. Then it's being sure the screen is of a fine enough resolution to capture the detail.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 1:26 am   #23
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

I havent seen anybody mention Inkscape yet. I dont use it as such ( I have played around with it ) but I thought it was very good at what it does.
Im not a graphic artist at all, apart from PCB design and layout, right back to tapes and pads from Bishop Graphics.

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Old 1st Jul 2022, 8:05 am   #24
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

Affinity here.

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Old 1st Jul 2022, 9:34 am   #25
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

GIMP is free and open source. Very powerful if you put the time in to learn it:

https://www.gimp.org/
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 9:47 am   #26
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

I think where Adobe has a hold is in studios and ad agencies where their pricing models (bigger clients – bigger fees!) make it easier to accommodate the rental costs plus constant upgrade/replacement of computer hardware required; plus there was always a studio thing about compatability so any freelancers that work for them invariably have to be using the same software/edition.

Once InDesign arrived (about 20 years ago) to complete their print design suite Adobe decided to capture the market by bundling Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign at a very advantageous price. The main object at that point was to squeeze out (the very expensive) QuarkXpress which had been the default professional page assembly program since the the late 80s when it had elbowed out Aldus Pagemaker. Once the market was captured the path was clear to the monthly rental model. Corel never made an impact because most studios used Macs.

However, many independent designers and small print shops have gone to Affinity as the client doesn’t care what program the job is produced in; and since printers have been able to run from PDF it has removed the requirement for them to have a matching software suite.

For vector artwork there a quite a few free ones about. I have had a go with Inkscape and some others – the names of which I cannot remember – and for much of the stuff we might want to do on here they should be more than adequate. The likes of Illustrator and Affinity Designer have tools and capabilities that most folk outside of the design industry will never use.

I have had the Affinity Suite here a while. At the price you couldn’t go wrong and so when Publisher came out I got that too. I have very old versions of Photoshop and Illustrator under the old licence model on an ancient Mac. However, as the software ‘phones home’ periodically the time can’t be far away when “Adobe says ‘No’.” Affinity Designer can open Illustrator files but with some limitations so old files that need changing I do in Illustrator.

A good screen printing company should be able to hold the detail for dials, etc., with little problem. Sadly, the one near to me has gone the way of many printing companies over the last decade or so.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 10:52 am   #27
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

Even the Adobe student sub is taking the proverbial.

At the end of the day, fancy software for show, workflow for dough.
Low cost software will do the job, it's who's working the mouse/trackpad/pen. There was a bass clef symbol being placed in one of the scenes, if you've got the ready made symbol built in, great. You might have to get creative and add some bezier curves and some spline editing to brew your own.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 1:09 pm   #28
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

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Originally Posted by knobtwiddler View Post
GIMP is free and open source. Very powerful if you put the time in to learn it:

https://www.gimp.org/
Although it does have some vector capabilities, GIMP is primarily a raster programme, so less useful for creating dial graphics unless you bear the required high resolution in mind.

Inkscape is a good call - I used it between Adobe CS6 until Affinity came of age. Its great advantage is its tracing mode (the equivalent of Adobe Illustrator's 'Live Trace', or earlier 'Autotrace') which I still use. This has yet to be fully implemented in Affinity Designer.

Any of these would also be very useful for marking out PCB designs.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 1:18 pm   #29
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

Radio repairs have come in for criticism in the past but this example was very impressive demonstrating the high level of skills involved . Dials were replaced by finding another one or more basic repair work [sometimes very good ] previousl but the "scan" techiques produces amazing results. The chap who had his radio smashed [despite courier assurances]
was clearly quietly overcome. Members of the Forum have had similar experiences. Having some culturally appropriate music playing at the big reveal was a nice touch as well. My family would expect me to rate the set as the main interest for me but it was one of those episodes that had all items of interest. The leather elephant had great effect and the ball bearing approach to repairing a telescope suprised me. Great skill again. Even the honey separator was fascinating but as always, it,s the people and memories tha t predominate!

Dave Walsh

Last edited by Radio Wrangler; 1st Jul 2022 at 4:50 pm. Reason: cleaned up whitespace and odd chars.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 2:09 pm   #30
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

As ever with Repair Shop restorations I thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, the vintage test ammeter was a bit of theatre for the masses but I for one was not upset by its use. The whole programme is theatre really with titbits of repair techniques information picked up for good measure. Is it just me that understands that a viewer watching someone recover a chair say is then able to replicate those techniques albeit with less panache, is a million miles away from expecting someone to glean even the slightest bit of information from a wireless restoration given the amount of technical ability one must possess to repair a wireless set? Hence, in a wireless restorations to make it interesting to the masses (that's who the programme is aimed at), 'theatre mode' is often deployed more so than a teddy bear restoration which is much more easy for the average viewer to understand.

I think comparing a commercial TV programme aimed at a mass market with private individuals' Youtube tutorials is pointless. They both have their merits and one is not 'better' than the other. They're different animals, one is a tutorial, the other is for entertainment.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 5:47 pm   #31
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

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Originally Posted by joebog1 View Post
I havent seen anybody mention Inkscape yet. I dont use it as such ( I have played around with it ) but I thought it was very good at what it does.
Im not a graphic artist at all, apart from PCB design and layout, right back to tapes and pads from Bishop Graphics.

Joe
I have used Inkscape for a very similar purpose to that in the programme, recreating an image where I only had a poor quality printed version.
I do have an older version of Photoshop but stopped purchasing upgrades when Adobe moved to subscriptions.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 6:19 pm   #32
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

Ah, so Adobe Illustrator was used (thanks Doug). Just for interest really as I have an Eddystone 870 for which I need to make a new glass scale. Much simpler than that Philips of course, I could probably do it in MS Paint.
I did try using Photoshop once to edit photos, I'll probably be in the minority here but I didn't find it to be very good to be honest, it wasn't user friendly & my personal feeling is that good software should be reasonably intuitive, at least for basic functionality.
I also thought that Mark Stuckey relied on the fibreglass resin to wick into the Bakelite cracks, given the extreme damage to the cabinet he probably felt that taping everything into alignment first was the the best option. Nice result from what we could see on TV.
I can recomment Isopon P40 for filling missing chunks of Bakelite or plastic but it will need to be painted afterwards. I once used P40 to reinforce the interior of a badly cracked cabinet corner & to rebuild the antenna mounting of a JVC TV/radio/cassette, it worked very well (& being on the inside was invisible)
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 6:46 pm   #33
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

Best not go down the scan/photo route, for print you'd need very high resolution, eg 600dpi on a scanner, would produce a huge file and you'd need a lot of RAM to work on it.
Vector based software (think of the artwork described as eg: line from point A in coordinates to point B in coordinates, thickness 2, colour yellow), is the way to go, learning curve at 1st but produces the best results. Still need a scan to 'trace' on top of but doesn't need to be hi res.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 7:03 pm   #34
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
. Is it just me that understands that a viewer watching someone recover a chair say is then able to replicate those techniques albeit with less panache, is a million miles away from expecting someone to glean even the slightest bit of information from a wireless restoration given the amount of technical ability one must possess to repair a wireless set? Hence, in a wireless restorations to make it interesting to the masses (that's who the programme is aimed at), 'theatre mode' is often deployed more so than a teddy bear restoration which is much more easy for the average viewer to understand.

I think comparing a commercial TV programme aimed at a mass market with private individuals' Youtube tutorials is pointless. They both have their merits and one is not 'better' than the other. They're different animals, one is a tutorial, the other is for entertainment.
No, it's not just you Steve, it's at least you and me. I agree completely.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 7:06 pm   #35
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

Thanks for the information Doug, much appreciated. Actually Mrs. General is learning how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements (which I know is raster based) & has a high res scanner but the Eddystone 870 scale is very simple & probably won't be an issue. Probably cost a fortune to get it printed though!
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 7:18 pm   #36
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

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Thanks for the information Doug, much appreciated. Actually Mrs. General is learning how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements (which I know is raster based) & has a high res scanner but the Eddystone 870 scale is very simple & probably won't be an issue. Probably cost a fortune to get it printed though!
Mark
In photoshop, open the bitmap scan then add a new layer for each colour (assuming it's a simple case of eg black writing/lines shapes etc on a cream background, the see-through bit would left untouched). When exporting the final result, exclude the bitmap file.
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Old 1st Jul 2022, 7:21 pm   #37
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

You can always ask. You might get a pleasant surprise, but if you don't, you've lost nothing. Someone might be able to print on transparent film which can be layered with plain glass.

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Old 1st Jul 2022, 9:11 pm   #38
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

I reinforce what Doug says re choice of software. However, if you prefer to work in bitmap (Photoshop, etc.) work at 600dpi (as suggested) at the finished size. With a ‘spot’ colour printing you can produce your artwork black and white (greyscale) and choose an ink colour from the printer’s swatch for the operator to apply to the screen.
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Old 2nd Jul 2022, 8:49 am   #39
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

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Originally Posted by The General View Post
Thanks for the information Doug, much appreciated. Actually Mrs. General is learning how to use Adobe Photoshop Elements (which I know is raster based) & has a high res scanner but the Eddystone 870 scale is very simple & probably won't be an issue. Probably cost a fortune to get it printed though!
Mark
Print onto perspex would be lower cost, there are online shops that just require you to upload a photo. A quick look online I found a 20x20cm for £13 and 20x30cm for £15.

You could also get a clear shop window graphics, the ones that cling onto the inside.
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Old 3rd Jul 2022, 10:46 pm   #40
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Default Re: Philips radio on 'The Repair Shop'

hi folks, thanks for the advice, the Eddystone scale is actually little more than four lines with numbers printed on the inside of the glass. All in white only. It probably could be done using a very simple program. Someone has printed a scale but on a piece of paper stuck behind the needle. Doesn't look great. I'll look into seeing if I can get it printed at a reasonable cost. Something for a future project.
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