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Cutting panels

If you are "unconstrained" in the layout, then you could opt for one that doesn't put as much stress on the panel material. E.g., locate the "slots" *more* than an inch apart; add stiffeners to the rear of the panel, etc.

Part of the current problem is trying to take advantage of commodity equipment (e.g., existing patch panels) to reduce the cost and fabrication time. For example, damn near anyone should be able to pick up a 24 or 96 port patch panel from "someone" they know, locally, who is tossing one out (upgrading to CAT6/Gb).

If you have to fabricate the entire panel from scratch, then it gets to be a project in and of itself. And, adds a lot to the cost. E.g., I suspect buying the 72 connectors "individually" for *my* panel would set me back at least $100 (e.g., $1.25 each?). Whereas you can get the assembled panel for free (or dirt cheap on eBay, etc.)

What sort of money do they typically want -- if they are just cutting a handfull of "long slots"? (e.g., imagine drilling all the mounting holes yourself) I'd like to be able to describe different approaches so folks can pick whichever fits their patience/purse/persistence.

--don

Reply to
Don Y
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My experience filing thick stock is that it is too hard to get the edges straight in all three dimensions! I.e., the file has to remain normal to the front surface at all times. If you tilt it, the front edge gets "rounded" in one or more spots -- which makes the slot look "not straight". (i.e., even deburring becomes something that you can't do casually)

If you file too far in one spot, then there is no way to build that area back up. And, this is right up front for all to see.

No. The jacks tend to exist in clusters. Either single jacks soldered onto a PCB assembly or groups of 4/6/8/12. I have one panel that has a custom "snap in" module of 6 connectors -- but it requires a really weird shaped hole:

+---+ +---+ +--+ +----------------------------------+ +--+ | | | | | | | | | | +-+ +--------------------------------+ +-+ +-----+ +-----+

(not to scale)

But, if you can *cover* the surface, then all mistakes are forgiven! :>

I had thought of having a *thick* "board" fabbed out of FR4 or whatever - hoping the PCB house could do the cutouts in that board as a matter of course. But, that started to look pricey. And, for other people to try to do the same it would require too much technical expertice on their part.

I think I am going to try a *thick* piece of lexan (or some other plastic) as an alternative technique. This should be relatively easy to cut, readily available (local hardware store) and, with the overlay approach, very tolerant of imperfections. I can pull the PCB connector assemblies off of one of the spare panels and

*reposition* them so there is more lexan available to support each successive row of connectors. I can accommodate the increased thickness of the lexan (over that of the existing aluminum panel) by simply shortening the standoffs by which it mounts *to* the panel!

At the very least, I will be able to comment, first-hand, as to the (un?)suitability of that approach!

(sigh) Tomorrow will involve lots of "running around" Hopefully it won't be *too* hot/humid! (Gack! Maybe I will have to get up *early*... before NOON!! :-/ )

--don

Reply to
Don Y
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Yes. 6 sets of 12 contiguous, individual ports. I.e., each "hole" is 0.625 x 7.5 inches. I don't think they make punches with such extreme aspect ratios. They'd either have to be very beefy *or* intended for use on really thin/soft material. (or, have many "bolts" along their length that must be tightened simultaneously)

I'm going to play with some THICK lexan and maybe a 3mm sheet of aluminum (I probably have a spare "blank" in the garage). But, I'm *not* going to worry about making things nice and "square". Instead, count on an overlay to hide the blemishes (and give the thing a custom look)

--don

Reply to
Don Y

Draw it up in a PCB cad package or use a free online one & get it made out of PCB material (even get it made thicker if you want).

That will get you accuracy, looks, colour choice & labeling all in one go.

Reply to
Gonadicus

On a sunny day (Mon, 22 Jul 2013 19:00:30 -0700) it happened Don Y wrote in :

From that POV, why not use relais, and some [i]pad or other monitor as display, with touch screen squares?

And then you can have configuraton pre-sets too, flashing lights, and text all for free, just some coding. May even work out cheaper in the end, and provides remote control from anywhere in the world. And hides the ele tron nix.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

I don't know as we bought our own laser cutter - at GBP12K it wasn't that expensive for a tool you can use pretty much 24/7 with no consumables (apart from a 400GBP cutting bed every few months). So I'd guess the main cost of a cutting shop would be the time of the operator, with the laser cutter folded into the overheads of running the shop (similar to a car mechanic's tools).

Let's say you were cutting a series of RJ45 holes into 4mm acrylic. My rough guess would be 5s per hole, 48 holes that's about 5 mins. Cut rate, guess, 2 inch per second? Loading up the files etc etc maybe another 5 mins. So what's 10 mins of pro car mechanic time, that sort of ballpark?

For the plastic... we get it at about GBP20-30 per 1m x 600mm sheet, so work out what area you need...

If there's a local 'Makespace', 'Hackspace' etc nearby you can get rather more hands on with the laser cutter and experiment yourself.

Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos

Why can't you use each half and do two 3 x 12 from one 4 x 24?

Definitely cutting down existing panels would yield the best results at the lowest price. Using a 14" metal cut off saw you could make a straight, fairly clean, cut and use linear grommets to cover the edges.

You can buy a new 4 x 24 for $120 and there are a lot of used ones for well under $100, i.e. .

Reply to
sms

Forgot to mention, when laser cutting it's straightforward to engrave legends too. If it's clear plastic, do it from the backside (and reverse the text), if opaque you'll have to do it from the front. You can get special contrasty plastic (white layer on top of black layer, so the cut shows the black through) but often just engraving normal plastic will suffice.

For example, this is backside marked onto clear 4mm acrylic:

formatting link

Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos

I have used clear label material to do something like this. You can get 10 8.5" x 11" sheets for $11 and just print it up in a color laser printer.

They also made a silver set of labels that I used to make serial number panels for.

Charlie

Reply to
Charlie E.

On a sunny day (23 Jul 2013 13:46:43 +0100 (BST)) it happened Theo Markettos wrote in :

How you get new text after the boating? You make moire penels in advaced?

Reply to
0bama

If you need a professional look have it done by professionals!

Find a place that does laser, plasma, or water jet cutting and have them cut them for you. Someone's paying you for the look, right?

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would be one example.

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?? 100% natural 

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

photocopiers will print on polycarbonate film, and presumably full-on rigid lexan sheet stock if you've got one with a straight paper path.

If you print a mirror image and then back it with an opaque layer you can face the clear side to the environment and protect the artwork,

Else print on ordinary paper and run it through an ordinary laminator, almost as good (as long as you keep it dry) and less technically demanding.

--
?? 100% natural 

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---
Reply to
Jasen Betts

I discovered these recently.

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(admittedly this is a wholesaler who is hiding the original brand, and probably on the wrong side of the world for you - but you may find something similar locally)

these will fit flush with the wall between 18" studs, and the holes in the back accept 8-way patch block units (2 across) and a bunch of other things will fit too, the patch blocks are wired on the front so they look kind of ugly, but there's a nice white door with a lock so noone else needs to see that!

--
?? 100% natural
Reply to
Jasen Betts

perhaps just a doubly-inclined (V shaped) cutter backed by a truss

--
?? 100% natural 

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---
Reply to
Jasen Betts

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have a laser cutter

(typically the kind of laser cutter a hackerspace might have would be suitable for acrylic but not any kind of metal)

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

[...]

We do, in a utility closet. Phone, LAN, TV distribution, vidoe modulator feedback lines, central sprinkler circuit control, things like that.

I would recommend locating it in non-living space. It is best to have a utility closet in a house but unfortunately many builders skimp or want to boast the highest living square-footage possible. That's how stuff ends in garages where it cooks all summer long and gets dirty.

With smoked glass doors and mood lighting :-)

Mine was real happy after I installed the system, when I showed her how we can now watch a movie anywhere, including outside.

[...]

Ah, ok. It was a misunderstanding. I thought you meant wall studs.

[...]

Never. But I keep a number system. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... and then there is a printed sheet next to it saying what goes where. Reconfiguring would be totally easy. The numbers correspond to laocations and are followed by a

2nd number which indicated the kind of connection (Phone, LAN, TV, modulator feedback). Some locations only have TV going there.

Between Placerville and Folsom. There might be a crafts store in Folsom, somewhere. Placerville has the oldest hardware store west of the Mississippi.

[...]

Same here. We just painted the house. It would have cost us around 7k. This way it cost about $400 in paint and several Saturdays.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

Perspex(tm) is a brand name acrylic (PMM or polymethylmethacrylaye) Lexan(tm) is brand name polycarbonate (i forget)

They are similar, IIRC Lexan is slightly harder.

I've a cutter that could follow a hand-drawn line (this one could only follow drawn lines)

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?? 100% natural
Reply to
Jasen Betts

Mine wouldn't do that. Thin film, ok, but it has to be able to roll around a tight radius.

I've done that before. It's ok, but not quite "dog and pony show" quality.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

Polycarbonate (Lexan) is much softer and a bit less stiff than Acrylic (Perspex, Plexiglas, Lucite), but it is much tougher. Lexan scratches easily and tends to have a yellow cast in the clear variety. Acrylic will shatter, but it's quite scratch-resistant. Neither one is very good compared to aluminum for a largeish panel.

Eg. PC 2.2 GPa Aluminum 69 GPa Young's modulus, so you'd need ~3x the thickness to get the same stiffness.

Eg. for similar stiffness

Aluminum panel one piece - 3mm thick Aluminum panel cut in 2 lengthwise 6mm (about 1/4") thick PC panel 9mm (5/16") thick PC panel cut in 2 lengthwise 18mm (almost 3/4") thick

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Just finished a project for a friend who wanted to update his home entertainment system. Replaced his 10 year old HDTV, AV received, new blu ray, added in a separate amp for his whole house speaker system.

Boss wanted to know why it took so long! She had to just sit there while I seemed to take 10 minutes just to plug in one cable. The reason? The carpenter who had built the cabinetry had made each shelf just big enough for the equipment that went into it, probably 17.5 inches. He then put on a front piece and door that was about 2" narrower! You couldn't put out any of the equipment without removing all the shelves and turning it on its side. You could only access the connections on the back using a flashlight and mirror without pulling them out or moving the shelves to give you enough room to get a hand back there. Running a new cable was a multi-step process of lower equipment shelf A, making connection on back, drop cable down behind shelf. Raise shelf back into position, drop cable behind next shelf. Raise that last shelf as high as it could go to reach behind it and feed it through hole in bottom or side to get to next cabinet, etc....

I usually design with racks that I can either open up the rear panel, or slide out to get to the rear!

Charlie

Reply to
Charlie E.

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