Panel (outsourcing)
Outsourcing panels produces professional quality, especially for small scale analog-synth manufacture. Some of the firms listed here have been successfully used by well know synth brands.
Sheet metal
Cutting, drilling and inscribing
Europe
- Fahrion GmbH
- Fractory Ltd
- Frontpanels.de
- GravoPrintec
- Grawart
- Polychromal
- Schaeffer AG, provides the free Front Panel Designer program.
- KnK MeFab
- Silmor, silk screen printing
UK
- The Beast UK Ltd
- PCB-Pool
- Re:Synthesis, Moog style panels.
- Screencraft
- Meface Ltd
USA
- ALCO Metal Fab Inc., electronic sheet-metal specialist. Can do powdercoating and screenprinting.
- Cam Expert, as good as Front Panel Express, 30% cheaper and they can do work that FPE cant like anodizing after machining.
- Epinasty Metal Works
- Front Panel Express LLC, and Canada. Well-known maker of low-production metal front panels, provides Front Panel Designer program free. Engraving and paint-filling are available. Is a division of the German firm Schaeffer, which offers a similar service in Europe.
- Hubs
- Lasergist
- Metalphoto of Cincinnati
- OSH cut
- Pretty Lil Panels
- SendCutSend LLC
China
Painting and printing
Metalprint is a commonplace process that prints color ink on aluminum, which is then anodized into place. The result is a very high-resolution artwork, better than screenprinting, and tougher than other methods because the anodized oxide coating is very tough and protects the artwork.[1] Many companies offer this service. They typically do not perform drilling, punching, or other sheet-metal fabrication; such operations would have to be performed by a sheet-metal specialist or by the manufacturer. Most Dotcom and all Doepfer module panels are made with the metalprint process.[2]
Europe
UK
USA
- Bay Photo
- Image Wizards
- Metal Mural
- Nor-Cal Powder Coating, powder coater with considerable experience in electronic sheet-metal coating.
- Chemi-Graphic, offers screenprinting and chemical etching on metals or other materials.
PCB
Far cheaper than aluminium, use a PCB fab house to produce 3 mm FR4 panels. Also fiberglass is lighter and stiffer than aluminium. BugBrand synths panels were manufactured using this method, the copper layer and soldermask to the front, with silk-screened labeling.[3][4] PCB front panels need to be designed for normal PCB fabrication.
PCB fab houses known to have been used for PCB front panels
How to do it
Vidéos :
- Nic N : Kicad, Freecad, Librecad
- Nick Gallagher : Creating Custom Eurorack Panels Part 1
- EurorackDIY : Use PCBs to Make Awesome Modular Panels - Part 1 The Passive Multiple
See also
References
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Mod Wiggler Wiki:Manufacturing (View authors).
- ^ Who does silkscreened panels in the US?, Mod Wiggler forum, Aug 2011, reply by ersatzplanet
- ^ Manufacturing by Eric Barbour, Mod Wiggler wiki, Jan 2012
- ^ Grant Richter on Cutting Down Modular Costs, Matrixsynth, March 2007
- ^ OldBlue Overview (archive)
- ^ PCB front panels, Mod Wiggler forum, Oct 2015
External links
- Front Panel Designer
- Schaeffer, Front panel Designers tips and tricks, electro-music.com forum, Oct. 2007
- The Holy Grail of Front Panels?, YouTube, economical aluminium front panel production by pcbway.com
FR4
- PCB material front panUse PCBs to Make Awesome Modular Panels - Part 1 The Passive Multipleels advice, Mod Wiggler forum, Jul 2013
- KiCad templates for Euro front panels? ModWriggler Monday August 07 2017
- how to build beautiful enclosures from fr4 aka pcbs Hackaday