Material ideas for control panel with switches and lights...

[Al (astral highway)]

In my flat I have a very limited 'workshop' - in fact none at all - everything gets taken out for a few hours and put back away again - and I do soldering on a small tray and cutting, filing, and other heavy prep on a small picnic table on my balcony...it all takes a lot of extra planning and organisation!

So, I'm looking for ideas for a suitable material for a control panel to finish a project I'm working on. It will ideally be able to accommodate those rectangular neon indicators that were popular in the 80s. It means cutting a small rectangular recess in whatever material ...which is the crux . I can drill, hacksaw and file things but my material cutting options are limited when it comes to making small , neat, rectangular apertures.
Current plan is to use a piece of thin brass (of the kind originally designed to be used on a door that's being pushed open all the time ) but it will be very hard work to expand near apertures for the indicator lights from a starting point of holes drilled close together and then filed to shape .


Any ideas at all most welcome . Thank you

[ms660]

Drill one hole then use a piercing saw, then trim true with a file?

Lawrence.

[Refugee]

I have got some kit with square lamps and they have 24V bulbs in them and are likely to get LEDs in them when they blow.
You want to try making a cut out in a bit of 10mm thick steel.

[Al (astral highway)]

Originally Posted by pwdrive

Drill one hole then use a piercing saw, then trim true with a file?

'Piercing saw'...shows how little I know about metal work, I'd never heard of that before. Looked a few up on EBay and they look ideal for fine work such as this. Perfect , thanks Lawrence .

Also any ideas , please, anyone, for actual materials apart from thin brass. Is acrylic something that can be used for this sort of thing ?

[camallison]

I quite often use perspex for such a panel. It is available in many different colours and offcut sized pieces are quite often advertised on auction sites.

Colin

[OscarFoxtrot]

The 'standard' material is Traffolyte (or engraving plastic) which is a multi-layer plastic sheet which can be engraved or cut to produce labelled panels.

http://www.traffolytelabels.co.uk/Ca...rol-Panels.htm
http://www.impactsignsolutions.co.uk...s/prod_79.html

If you don't want or can't justify spending on the whole panel engraved you could get 'bezels' made up for the indicators, which would conceal any roughness in the sub panel, like the top middle photo here
http://mrsengravers.co.uk/mrs/engraving/control-panels

Small control panels might be made up of a gridswitch facia holding 1-4 modules
https://www.scolmore.com/products/minigrid/

[TonyDuell]

Before I had (simple) milling facilites I used to carefully avoid those snap-in rectangular switches and indicators. I found it difficult to make a hole of the right size, if you make it even slightly too large they fall right through.

You probably have (and want to use) said indicators, but it might be a lot easier to go out and buy some ones that fit circular holes.

Is there anyone near you with a milling machine (or a lathe with a vertical slide)? Perhaps a model engineer (the sort of person who makes model steam engines) or a hacker space.

I don't know what you are making, but have you looked at things like MK Gridswitch. This is more normally used for fixed wiring (but there is no reason why it has to be. It uses the same mouting boxes as normal light switches and power sockets, but you have a metal 'grid' plate into which you can clip special switches, neon indicators, cable clamps, coax sockets, light dimmer,s fuseholdetrs, etc. That mounts in the box, then there is a plastic or metal trim plate that goes on top. No cutting at all. It's not cheap, but it is neat.

Other companies make it, not just MK, but I've only ever used the MK one.

[Bazz4CQJ]

A piercing saw is definitely an extremely useful tool; buy a few spare blades as you will probably break a few getting the hang of it! However, when working with relatively thin plastic, I now find that my high-speed mini-drill, fitted with a burr tool, can cut very much faster than the saw, and can be quite precise. It's ideal for cutting square holes for LCD meter modules. Poor man's milling machine.

It's a strange thing, but when I chose to do 'O' level metalwork at school it was looked down upon. Nearly 50 years later, I can quote the numerous wise words of wisdom the metalwork master would oft repeat (in a dour West Yorkshire accent) in a way that I cannot for any other of the teachers of that time.

B

[Al (astral highway)]

Thank you all. Very interesting replies and ideas. It's a big, heavy power supply built inside a vintage six-bottle wine box with some external hardware added. It won't be finely finished but I'd like a competent front panel for safety reasons as well as to accommodate several indicators and switches and accompanying labelling . Think 'soviet' design , maybe ...

[Boater Sam]

Do they still sell "Q Max" hole punch cutters? They were not very expensive and had a large range of square and round punches. Definitely the easy way.

[TonyDuell]

I think Q-Max are long gone (incidentally, while best known for hole punches, I believe they started out making RF coils, hence the name). The well-known brand now is Greenlee. Some of them can be used with a handheld hydraulic device, but AFAIK they can also be used with the nut and bolt like the Q-Max ones

RS sell some of them, along with their own brand. But be sitting down when you look at the prices. 'Not very expensive' is of course relative, but these are a fair number of 10's of pounds each.

[Craig Sawyers]

Q-max are still very much around. Just do a google. I buy them on as as-needed basis.

These guys seem to stock the whole metric and imperial range https://www.stakesys.co.uk/hole-punc...x-cutter-round

There are also rectangular ones, but they really are more pricey.

Craig