instructables

Cheap DIY Front Panels

by dankly1

I wanted a way to be able to design my own front time and cost.

panels for some synth builds and other modular stuff
that was affordable. I will eventually get myself a Just to add, anyone interested in the compressor, it is
CNC milling machine, and drill and engrave them that the Gyraf SSL clone (google) but with my own
way for a much more professional finish, but in the 'Eurorack' sized panel.
meantime i feel i have come up with a decent enough
solution that is of an pretty good standard given the

Step 1: Design and Print Your Panel Graphics

This may not sit well with some because it essentially
involves using free software intended for people that
wish to design and purchase front panels from this
company, but this is the internet after all. Front Panel
Express allow you to download their programme and
come up with your own designs, all done to scale.
There is a print option in the file or edit menu i think
where you need to print your design onto plain white
paper initially. There is also the option to include the
markings for hole centres etc, which it would be wise
to do for this initial copy.

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Step 2: Prepare Your Panel Material

This material that i used is actually used for etched
signs that you may see in the workplace on doors and
the likes. It's basically like a plastic inner with a thin
aluminium sheet laminated onto each side. This is
silver on one side and white on the other with a black
inner but it comes in various colours. I think it's
supposed to be used by etching directly onto the thin
aluminium which then exposes the black plastic,
causing it to look like it has been infilled, but i won't
be using it for that.
I 'acquired' a sheet of the stuff and thought it would be
perfect for this type of application as it is light, easy to
cut and drill, yet rigid. This step basically just involves
cutting a piece of whatever material you are using for
your panel down to the correct size ready for drilling.

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Step 3: Drill!

Tape the design onto the panel and drill all the holes. Mine look a bit jagged in places but its mainly where I've cut
into the aluminium with a knife when removing all the burrs left after drilling. Plus it won't be seen once the pots
and knobs are fitted.

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Step 4: Print Design Onto Clear Plastic
I bought a roll of this stuff on eBay, £13 for a roll 5m x
600mm or something like that, which will last me
ages. Obviously you could buy any colour you like if
you wanted to design a coloured panel, but i stuck
with clear so that the aluminium fascia would be on
show. Worth bearing in mind that if you did buy
another colour, you would still need clear stuff as
well, as you will see in the next step.
As i don't have a laser jet printer at home, i printed
another copy of my deign onto plain paper using a
heavy ink setting, the darker the better. I then
photocopied the design at work using the laser
copier, as this will only work with toner. It took a bit of
experimentation getting the design aligned correctly
in the scanner, but this stage can be done initially
Cheap DIY Front Panels: Page 5
copying onto plain paper. Once you are happy you
have aligned the design fairly central to an A4 sheet,
you need to cut a piece of the clear plastic and stick it
(with the backing still on, stick it with sellotape) to a
piece of plain paper, and load it into the correct tray
for the photocopier to take it through. Make sure you
tape across the full edge that will be entering the
copier head on as it could get jammed otherwise.
If you have a laser printer you could print directly onto
the plastic rather than photocopying, but you'd have
to do a test to see how well your printer takes the
sticky back plastic into the printer, either fixed to a
piece of paper as above, or just on its own (i never
tried this).
 1

1. This is the design printed onto the clear plastic with the back still
on it and taped to a piece of A4.

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 1

1. I used a lightbox to align my design correctly over all the holes.

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Step 5: Align and Stick the Design
This part takes a bit of care. I found the best way to
do it is to firstly peel back some of the adhesive
backer from one side and cut right across it with
scissors so it separates from the part thats still stuck.
Then i stuck it back onto the plastic so it was back in
its initial place, but was not attached to the other half.
Be careful not to touch the sticky side of the plastic
while doing this, it makes sense to leave some
excess round the edges so you can handle it without
worrying. Now you need to align the design over the
light box as the light shines through the holes making
it fairly easy to get right. Once you are happy, sit
something heavy on one side and then carefully lift
the other side of the design up enough to be able to
peel away the one half of the backer (cut earlier) and
allow the design to smoothly return to its flat position,
now stuck on the panel. Repeat in similar fashion on
the other half, safe in the knowledge that the already
stuck side is ensuring the design is aligned correctly.
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Given that there are so many holes in the panel, the
plastic was quite forgiving in that any air bubbles are
fairly easily worked away. This plastic stuff is also
able to be stuck using washing up liquid and water,
but for a design this size, i was confident doing it dry.
Once it was all flat and bubble free, i trimmed the
edges and then the holes. Finally, i played another
piece of the same material with no printed design
over the top to 'seal in' the toner. I left this piece
slightly bigger and wrapped it round to the underside
to give it a smooth edge and hopefully stop it from
peeling away in time.
And thats it! It's not a professional finish, but in a cost
vs outcome i think you'll be happy. Cheers.
P.S Still waiting on the knobs, ill add another pic
when they turn up.
 Ow, wow. I can't thank you enough. I built an enclosure to house my cnc controller about 2 years
ago, and have been using printed label tape ever since to label input x,y,z, and limit switches. I've
always wanted to do something custom and the aluminum panel idea is perfect. Thanks again.
Glad to help!
I actually design and make all my panel designs for everything I build. I use most any program that
allows you to do a layout for your project. I use Visio only because I am very comfortable with that
program, having used it for many years. But any program can be used. Then since I have a large
bed LASER engraver, I transfer my design to Corel Draw and send it to the LASER. And you can
pick any color, texture, and finish you could imagine. Just search on the net for Engravable
laminates and see all the options available. Then LASER cuts the design into the laminate
material. Your method almost copies that idea. And if you don't have a Large Bed LASER
Engraver, no problem, just take your design to most any local trophy shop and they will do it for
you. So any custom panels you could even need are your imagination. I attached a few panels I
made for myself. Thanks you for a great post and project. I like your designs.

Thanks for the message, and great work on those panels! I basically see myself progressing to a
method like you are using once i'm ready, but i like the idea of the trophy engravers in the mean
time! Ill check out Visio too. Cheers.
Ha dankly1, I don't see anything wrong with your approach. I think you did a great project. I just
wanted to show you another option as well. I'd like to see your project when you get it finished with
knobs on it. I bet it looks great. We all are here to learn different ideas and such and I do like your
ideas for panels. Thumbs Up sir!
Really neat solution. Thank you for sharing this. I only have pretty poor printer at home, but I've
found that the local copy-shop is very helpful with doing odd things (like printing to plastic) and it's
not expensive for one or two sheets.
Also, do you have a source for that moving-coil meter? I've been trying to find some recently but
haven't been able to source any which I liked.

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Hi mate, yeah use whatever you need to and when you get a chance to get hold of a laser printer
at home you can do it all in house! In terms of the meter, i honestly can't remember where i got it
as this is a project that i started about 7 years ago and shelved for one reason or another. It is only
a basic version though and will only have been from one of the typical uk electronics retailers such
as mouser or farewell or something like that. If you go on the gyraf site (google it) the forum page
for this project (SSL compressor) has loads of info and you should find what you need on there.
Cheers
Simple and clever idea, I like it!

Thanks!

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