Cutting panels

[Attributions elided]

A lot will depend on the preferences of the individual as well as its installed location, etc. E.g., here, expansion is out of the question as running additional cable is painful (no basement/attic). So, I've run everything I'll ever need (and hope none of the cables fail!)

Also, in my case, the panel is fastened to the *wall* (i.e., the individual cables that terminate at the panel connect to it from behind -- *in* the wall). So, the size and shape of its footprint becomes a concern (e.g., studs on 16 inch centers don't accommodate

19" panels! :> ).

The problem boils down to a "mis"application of some commodity product to a domain where it wasn't (currently) intended to be deployed. I.e., the patch panels are typically designed for use in equipment/"relay" racks.

[Some "consumer" manufacturers are now entering this market with the growth of "home media". But, their products are off in a completely different direction (all "proprietary" solutions) and with an exhorbitant price tag. "Hi, I need to service 72 ports. How many of my arms/legs/children do I have to give you??"]

The "veneer" approach makes this a piece of cake! Folks can pick whatever material they are best equipped to handle (maybe even wood?). And, can be as inept as they want (within reason) "machining" that. Then, hide all their sins behind a dressy $2 "decal"!

In *my* case, I'll just sacrifice two 4x(12+12) panels -- cutting each one in half (roughly) vertically (yielding 4x12) and then trimming off the bottom row (for 3x12). This gives me the nice clean *punched* holes from the original product. Slap a nice applique on top to dress it up and I'm done! Repeat for the other panel...

--don

Reply to
Don Y
Loading thread data ...

And it's from Harbor Freight, so you know it's a well-designed, high-quality piece of gear. :)

--
Grant
Reply to
Grant Edwards

Well, in my teenage days I did both inside and outside strictly by hand. The only power tool I had, and only on occasion, was dad's electric drill. But strictly no milling or routing with that because it would have ruined the bearings. When I was 15 or so my parents gave me a new Metabo drill but I didn't want to wreck its bearings either. I didn't really have any other power tools until after my EE degree except for a huge and rather dangerous home-brew grinder.

For the insides I glued sandpaper on a piece of plywood, made the smoothing job quite easy.

True, when they are on a PCB they do not cover the slots. But it ain't so bad to get the slots done cleanly. A couple of years ago I did that for an audio rack. Looked like it came that way from the manufacturer.

Back in Europe engineers had to go through part of the apprentice program that journeymen go through. It teaches students precision filing and all that. We were only allowed to use simple power tools such as the drill press. And woe to him whose piece of workmanship was 0.005" off somewhere. The master would make you start all over, from scratch.

--
Regards, Joerg 

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

Hey, can you elaborate on that Costco deal? I am always looking for a fast way to make nice-looking front panels. Do they offer some sort of thick-plastic printing?

[...]
--
Regards, Joerg 

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

Not yet. We live 35mi east of Sacramento.

[...]

I wear down at least one pair/year, sometimes two. My car mileage is around 2000mi/year, my hoofing mileage in the same ballpark. Yet the cost for shoes for myself is easily $100/year while the pro-rated car tire expenditures are less than half that. Day and night quality difference. It's so not fair.

--
Regards, Joerg 

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

but there is still no internal cutouts with the edge visible, the pots and meter all mount so they cover the edge

you could just bolt the alu to a piece of wood and do kinda like this:

formatting link

for a simple rectangular hole the template is really easy

-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

I've used

formatting link
for some milled alu front and rear panels they look great and wasn't very expensive,

The design program is very easy to use, calculates and breaks down price for each operation so it is real easy to tweak it

they even have options for for colored lettering, threading etc.

-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

This was under the assumption of occasional use, not industrial 24/7 use. So far Harborfreight stuff has been good to me.

--
Regards, Joerg 

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

They aren't visible but they are smooth. Unless I was in a hurry I wanted it to still look nice after someone takes a meter out. I made gaskets for my Citroen 2CV from copper in a similar way. When I sold the car to a scrap dealer who wanted its 16hp engine for a client in Norway they couldn't believe it.

With metal you'll need a bit more guidance but yes, it can be done in a similar way if the router and bit are ok for it.

[...]
--
Regards, Joerg 

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

So the price for one 3x12 panel is $539.99 PLUS the cost of material and labor.

Cheap at twice the price ! ;-)

Reply to
hamilton

Dunno. I was just advocating a *regular* 8x10 glossy photo print rubber cemented onto a plastic/aluminum panel. That way, you can get the "graphics" as a commodity product.

[Realistically, a glossy photo would probably not fare well. But, that doesn't mean you can't take advantage of some other "print from PC" technology to come up with a nice legended overlay. I.e., separate the cosmetic from the structural requirements...]

Decades ago, we used to make those stick on "serial number/product ID" plates on a 1-off basis in the blueprint room. Some sort of aluminum(?) with a black coating that could be etched away (or, maybe it was *deposited*?). With the sort of technology available today (photo processes), it should be possible to do at least that same sort of thing (IIRC, we made a template from clear film and stick on lettering -- then "exposed" this onto the aluminum product)

In any case, something like the above solution(s) should be available for hobbyists trying to make 1-offs without dropping a lot of money into something with little *functional* value.

Reply to
Don Y

I think HF is "OK" -- if your expectations are "suitably adjusted".

A friend has a hammer drill and set of bits from HF that I have used several times with great success:

- holes in the slab to support new walls

- holes in the wall/fence surrounding the property to support pipes

- holes through the concrete block to get wires in/out of the house

[Actually, as of an hour ago, I appear to have inherited this toy! Yay! If it was 100 degrees cooler, I might think it was Christmas!!]

Damn thing makes these task almost enjoyable! Really cool to be able to drill a 1" hole through concrete without breaking a sweat!

OTOH, I certainly wouldn't want to depend on it if that was the essence of my *livelihood*!

Likewise, I need a tile/wet saw and a drywall lift. I am leary of HF as the quality issue *can* have repercussions in each of these scenarios.

E.g., if you have to "fight" the saw to get it to do the job, you are more likely to end up with unacceptable results. (tile tends to be located in highly visible locations!) And, if the drywall lift opts to *slip* under load, you end up with a broken back!

Reply to
Don Y

There is. More or less a spin-off of the laser transfer system used to prepare PCBs for hobby etching.

I have used their green stuff for PCB layouts (ages ago). Have not tried making the DIY dry transfers.

Reply to
Rich Webb

Hi, Don:-

Protocase does this sort of thing at a fairly reasonable price- they'll put markings on too. I think frontpanelexpress.com as well, but never tried them. They use CNC punching so you get almost smooth edges (a bit of a burr where the successive punch hits overlap, which could be smoothed off with a file, but is usually unnecessary).

You could also make a relatively crappy panel with a scroll saw and file (lots of light, magnifier lamp or safety glasses up close, and clear the chips often), and cover it with a (eg. plastic) bezel that is thin enough to cut with an Xacto(tm) knife. I assume you're using something like 3mm hard Al so hand punching or pneumatic nibbling would be a bear. Oh, and use appropriate file sizes and the type with no teeth on the sides so as to get sharp corners. A skilled person can do wonders with a file. ;-) Supposedly one 'hiring' test for machinists was to make a square peg and square hole with nothing more than a file and a hacksaw. Had to fit within a thou or two to pass.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward" 
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com 
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

I've used the European arm frontpanelexpress

formatting link
it wasn't punched it was cnc milled, absolutely perfect edges, letters and logo fill-in in color and everything

-Lasse

Reply to
Lasse Langwadt Christensen

Try Front Panel Express

formatting link

--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI  Vancouver BC 
peterbb (at) telus.net 
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Peter Bennett

Ah, so they sort of tackle it like an oversized "nibbler"?

Yes. I think this is the right approach. Separate the cosmetic from the structural/functional.

In my case, I can take a pair of panels and cut each slightly beyond the halfway point. E.g., given something LIKE:

imagine cutting vertically, halfway between the "13" and "14" markers. So, you end up with as much "panel" extending to the right of the 12th (and 36th and 60th) connectors as you do to the left of the *1st* connector. This acts as an "ear" with which the panel can be mounted to .

[You must cut *outside* the "black dots" that mark the locations of the studs/standoffs/bosses onto which the PCB *behind* the panel is fastened. And, still leave enough material to provide a mounting surface]

But, cutting at the 13-14 point leaves you with a real mess! I.e., the right edge of this new panel now has these big cutouts into it (for connectors #13, #37, #61, #85).

If, however, you can apply some thin sheet of plastic (0.062") over the whole thing, it *appears* to be a much finer product.

[The connectors can be coaxed into protruding further through the panel -- to align with the outer surface of this plastic overlay -- by trimming down the standoffs on the rear of the panel]

Exactly. Trying to "machine" it turns it into a project of its own! (sort of like making your own spark plugs *before* you start on that tune-up!)

I'd rather come up with a solution that lets more folks achieve "acceptable" results than require people to expend a lot of effort in something as "unimportant" (?) as a "device to hold connectors". I think the more you can do to cause "good" results encourages people to undertake projects that by which they might otherwise be intimidated. E.g., the "Photoshop overlay" lets folks feel like they've done something completely unique -- without having to understand some other (more important!) detail...

This also lets folks adapt the solution to their particular needs and the materials that they have available to them. E.g., I also have a bunch of 12-port panels intended for vertical orientation. Rotate them 90 degrees and slap something on top and no one knows that the *obscured* legend is now "sideways".

Keep cool! Regards to wife.

--don

Reply to
Don Y

Well, at those prices you could have one or two spares on the truck. But for serious hammer drilling I've got a Bosch Bulldog. That thing is next to indestructable.

I bought an $88 wet tile saw from Home Depot, then a professional-grade "Mad Dog" blade to replace the cheapo blade that came with it (that's key), and it served me well for almost 1000 sqft of quite complicated tile laying. We have a Frank Lloyd Wright style house where hardly any wall is right-angle.

It was hot, and sometimes I'd just let it run, stand in front of it and let it rain on me. Poor man's evaporative cooling.

--
Regards, Joerg 

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

No, no, this is the _excuse_ to buy it ... "Honey, I really needed to have this". Of course you could have easily made the piece by hand if it's a one-off, but she doesn't have to know :-)

[...]
--
Regards, Joerg 

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

Hey why not... some standard Al strip. Counter sunk holes on the ends. Then two end pieces of Al with milled slots and tapped holes. If it's DYI it can look a bit home brew.

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.