HP 15C printable overlay template

[Idnarn]

I am looking for a printable template that I can print on a translucent sheet and cut out with a blade, so I can stick tiny tapes with text on it and overlay it on a HP 15C. Is there such a template someone has made before with the correctly dimension-ed cutouts for the keys?

Something similar the overlay on the calculator in the photo (it is not a 15C): https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c...P-41CV.jpg

(The Calculator Store makes silicone overlays with printed functions, but that's not what I mean.. I am looking for a template to print on a flat sheet so they can be made DIY with things in the office.)

[brouhaha]

I print HP Voyager and Swiss Micros DM1xL overlays with a laser printer onto cutable vinyl, and cut them with a Silhouette Cameo 4, though probably any Silhouette model will do. I've attached the PDF files for the Silhouette cutters. I think that you have to have the "business" license for the Silhouette cutters to be able to import PDF. I might be able to turn these into some other format, but I haven't tried.

I've attached the voyager-overlay-cut.pdf and dm1xl-overlay-cut.pdf used for the Silhouette. You could also print those and cut them with a knife, but it would obviously be a huge amount of work.

I've also attached as examples the voyager-overlay-print.pdf and dm1xl-overlay-print.pdf, which I used to print shifted legends and registration marks with the inkjet printer before cutting. These are overlays for my WIP 16C with trig and exponents microcode. For testing the overlay was printed in black, but the intention is to later print them in color, for a black background and gold and blue legends.

These were generated by a C++ program. At the moment the program is broken due to API changes to the podofo library it uses, so it doesn't make sense to publish the source code just yet. Currently the legends to be printed are hard-coded in the C++ source file, but I'll probably change that to reading legends from an XML file.

I showed some overlays made this way at HHC 2023.

[rprosperi]

Eric,is there something special or unique about these files, when I open them in Acrobat Pro, the first 2 appear blank, and the 2nd 2 display an error upon opening? Yet I see many other people have also downloaded them and no other comments, so I'm suspicious they are not what I may be naively expecting, just vanilla .PDF files??

[Idnarn]

(10-15-2024 09:46 AM)brouhaha Wrote:  I print HP Voyager and Swiss Micros DM1xL overlays with a laser printer onto cutable vinyl, and cut them with a Silhouette Cameo 4, though probably any Silhouette model will do. I've attached the PDF files for the Silhouette cutters. I think that you have to have the "business" license for the Silhouette cutters to be able to import PDF. I might be able to turn these into some other format, but I haven't tried.

I've attached the voyager-overlay-cut.pdf and dm1xl-overlay-cut.pdf used for the Silhouette. You could also print those and cut them with a knife, but it would obviously be a huge amount of work.

I've also attached as examples the voyager-overlay-print.pdf and dm1xl-overlay-print.pdf, which I used to print shifted legends and registration marks with the inkjet printer before cutting. These are overlays for my WIP 16C with trig and exponents microcode. For testing the overlay was printed in black, but the intention is to later print them in color, for a black background and gold and blue legends.

These were generated by a C++ program. At the moment the program is broken due to API changes to the podofo library it uses, so it doesn't make sense to publish the source code just yet. Currently the legends to be printed are hard-coded in the C++ source file, but I'll probably change that to reading legends from an XML file.

I showed some overlays made this way at HHC 2023.

Excellent, thank you very much. I will have to go the ruler+blade route to cut the holes for the keys. I didn't even imagine there was such a cutter machine.. every day you learn something. But it would be overkill to get one just for the calculator overlays. I'll hand-cut them out of some durable material, something translucent so the underlying markers show through.

If you can share the dimensions from your code, I can write a Cairo C program to render PDFs which should have better API stability.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello,

(10-15-2024 12:19 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Eric,is there something special or unique about these files, when I open them in Acrobat Pro, the first 2 appear blank, and the 2nd 2 display an error upon opening? Yet I see many other people have also downloaded them and no other comments, so I'm suspicious they are not what I may be naively expecting, just vanilla .PDF files??

I can confirm that, but the problem seems to be related to Adobe Acrobat. The files display perfectly well both in my browser (Firefox) and in Preview, the native pdf reader of the Macintosh.

Regards
Max

[rprosperi]

Thanks Max, and I can confirm your results as well, I can open files in FireFox's PDF view. Perhaps Silhouette (whatever that is) uses a special, possibly non-standard type of .PDF file? Anyhow, mystery solved.

[MeindertKuipers]

(10-15-2024 09:46 AM)brouhaha Wrote:  I print HP Voyager and Swiss Micros DM1xL overlays with a laser printer onto cutable vinyl, and cut them with a Silhouette Cameo 4, though probably any Silhouette model will do. I've attached the PDF files for the Silhouette cutters. I think that you have to have the "business" license for the Silhouette cutters to be able to import PDF. I might be able to turn these into some other format, but I haven't tried.

I have an older Silhouette just for this purpose for printing and cutting HP41 overlays. Do you use the vinyl as it is or stick it to a background paper, or stick it to the calculator? I have used photo paper, which is a bit thicker and works fine, except the paper curls a bit.

[brouhaha]

(10-15-2024 12:55 PM)MeindertKuipers Wrote:  I have an older Silhouette just for this purpose for printing and cutting HP41 overlays. Do you use the vinyl as it is or stick it to a background paper, or stick it to the calculator? I have used photo paper, which is a bit thicker and works fine, except the paper curls a bit.

The vinyl I use has an adhexive backing, and is sold by Silhouette. It normally sells for about USD $7 per pack of eight sheets, but I've stocked up when it's been on sale for half price. Perhaps they may have it on sale again for Black Friday.

Of course, the printable vinyl can't be used in a laser printer!

The newer Silhouette cutters (Cameo 4 and newer, Portrait 3 and newer) have an optical sensor for reading printed registration marks, which improves the registration considerably.

[MeindertKuipers]

(10-15-2024 01:23 PM)brouhaha Wrote:  

(10-15-2024 12:55 PM)MeindertKuipers Wrote:  I have an older Silhouette just for this purpose for printing and cutting HP41 overlays. Do you use the vinyl as it is or stick it to a background paper, or stick it to the calculator? I have used photo paper, which is a bit thicker and works fine, except the paper curls a bit.

The vinyl I use has an adhexive backing, and is sold by Silhouette. It normally sells for about USD $7 per pack of eight sheets, but I've stocked up when it's been on sale for half price. Perhaps they may have it on sale again for Black Friday.

Of course, the printable vinyl can't be used in a laser printer!

The newer Silhouette cutters (Cameo 4 and newer, Portrait 3 and newer) have an optical sensor for reading printed registration marks, which improves the registration considerably.

I will do get some printable vinyl, I use an inkjet printer, and do some tests. And I do have a machine that reads the registration marks, and make a template sheet with the marks, and the results are really nice.

[HPing]

Joey Shepard has a great DIY calculator template and key design presentation. HHC2023.

This is not exactly what OP is asking for but Joey tried so many different ideas it may be helpful. For the rest of us, it is a great watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYiYUGSROLs

[brouhaha]

(10-15-2024 02:31 PM)MeindertKuipers Wrote:  I will do get some printable vinyl, I use an inkjet printer, and do some tests. And I do have a machine that reads the registration marks, and make a template sheet with the marks, and the results are really nice.

It's possible that the registration marks on the print files I provided may be incorrect. I discovered that for some different projects, so I need to double-check them.

[Idnarn]

(10-15-2024 09:46 AM)brouhaha Wrote:  These were generated by a C++ program. At the moment the program is broken due to API changes to the podofo library it uses, so it doesn't make sense to publish the source code just yet.

I extracted the dimensions from the PDF file and wrote a tiny Cairo program to create the PDF for A4 paper size (it's simple to change it to letter paper size too in main(), add text, etc.). The dimensions are still hard-coded, but it's easy to modify and adapt it to one's needs. Hope it helps someone.

Code:


/*
 * Needs the Cairo library.
 *
 * Compile using the following command:
 *
 * gcc -O2 -Wall `pkg-config --cflags cairo` -o voyager-overlay-cut-a4 voyager-overlay-cut-a4.c `pkg-config --libs cairo`
 */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <cairo.h>
#include <cairo-pdf.h>

static void
draw_outline(cairo_t *cr, double y) {
    cairo_move_to(cr, 1386, 2268 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 1386, 2277.94 + y, 1394.06, 2286 + y, 1404, 2286 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 4716, 2286 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 4725.95, 2286 + y, 4734, 2277.94 + y, 4734, 2268 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 4734, 792 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 4734, 782.059 + y, 4725.95, 774 + y, 4716, 774 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1404, 774 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 1394.06, 774 + y, 1386, 782.059 + y, 1386, 792 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1386, 2268 + y);

    cairo_close_path(cr);
}

static void
draw_button(cairo_t *cr, double x, double y) {
    cairo_move_to(cr, 1479.6 + x, 1092.24 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 1479.6 + x, 1102.18 + y, 1487.66 + x, 1110.24 + y, 1497.6 + x, 1110.24 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1706.4 + x, 1110.24 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 1716.34 + x, 1110.24 + y, 1724.4 + x, 1102.18 + y, 1724.4 + x, 1092.24 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1724.4 + x, 897.84 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 1724.4 + x, 887.898 + y, 1716.34 + x, 879.84 + y, 1706.4 + x, 879.84 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1497.6 + x, 879.84 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 1487.66 + x, 879.84 + y, 1479.6 + x, 887.898 + y, 1479.6 + x, 897.84 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1479.6 + x, 1092.24 + y);
    cairo_move_to(cr, 1479.6 + x, 1110.24 + y);

    cairo_close_path(cr);
}

static void
draw_enter_button(cairo_t *cr, double x, double y) {
    cairo_move_to(cr, 1479.6 + x, 1092.24 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 1479.6 + x, 1102.18 + y, 1487.66 + x, 1110.24 + y, 1497.6 + x, 1110.24 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1706.4 + x, 1110.24 + y);
    cairo_curve_to(cr, 1716.34 + x, 1110.24 + y, 1724.4 + x, 1102.18 + y, 1724.4 + x, 1092.24 + y);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1724.4 + x, 897.84 + y - 360.0);
    cairo_curve_to(cr,
               1724.4 + x, 887.898 + y - 360.0,
               1716.34 + x, 879.84 + y - 360.0,
               1706.4 + x, 879.84 + y - 360.0);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1497.6 + x, 879.84 + y - 360.0);
    cairo_curve_to(cr,
               1487.66 + x, 879.84 + y - 360.0,
               1479.6 + x, 887.898 + y - 360.0,
               1479.6 + x, 897.84 + y - 360.0);
    cairo_line_to(cr, 1479.6 + x, 1092.24 + y);
    cairo_move_to(cr, 1479.6 + x, 1110.24 + y);

    cairo_close_path(cr);
}

static void
draw_calculator(cairo_t *cr, double y) {
    unsigned int xi, yi;

    draw_outline(cr, y);

    for (yi = 0; yi < 4; yi++) {
        for (xi = 0; xi < 10; xi++) {
            /* Skip draw_button() for Enter key */
            if (yi > 1 && xi == 5) {
                continue;
            }
            draw_button(cr, xi * 324.0, y + (yi * 360.0));
        }
    }

    draw_enter_button(cr, 5 * 324.0, y + (3 * 360.0));
}

static void
draw_page_of_calculators(cairo_t *cr) {
    unsigned int ci;

    for (ci = 0; ci < 4; ci++) {
        draw_calculator(cr, ci * 1692.24);
    }
}

int
main(void) {
    cairo_surface_t *surface;
    cairo_t *cr;

    /* A4 paper is 595x842 points */
    surface = cairo_pdf_surface_create("voyager-overlay-cut-a4.pdf", 595, 842);

    cr = cairo_create(surface);

    cairo_set_line_width(cr, 2.83465);
    cairo_set_source_rgb(cr, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
    cairo_scale(cr, 0.1, 0.1);

    draw_page_of_calculators(cr);

    cairo_stroke(cr);
    cairo_show_page(cr);

    cairo_destroy(cr);
    cairo_surface_destroy(surface);

    return (EXIT_SUCCESS);
}