Making Custom Eurorack Front Panels?

[McLilith]

I'm thinking of building some of my own custom Eurorack modules, but I'm not sure what to use for front panels for my modules. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to fabricate inexpensive, custom front panels that actually look nice?

[whyterabbyt]

Depends a bit on what tools/equipment/chemicals etc youve got access to, and maybe what processes you're comfortable trying.

Ive got some early Music Thing DIY modules that were lasercut/etched perspex. Also meant you could fill in the etch with your own choice of colour.
Bastl used lasercut and etched wood.
Aluminium is fairly easy to work with hand tools. Can be DIY etched too, with seemingly fairly safe chemicals see MW thread and this http://nontoxic-printmaking.co.nz/copper-sulphate/ but dont try until youve done your due diligence.
More than a few manufacturers actually use PCB material, but probably that's a service based option, not DIY.

And if I was doing it myself, I'd personally consider etched copper. That's probably the one with the potentially nastiest chemicals, tho, but Ive done copper and silver acid etching (with string/nasty hydrochloric and nitric) before on a smaller scale, so Im quite comfortable with that. Maybe ferric chloride/citric acid style etchant might be safer (poogle for 'edinburgh etch')

[whyterabbyt]

Sometimes I wonder why I bother.

[imrae]

I've been wondering about buying aluminium blanks from Thonk and using waterslide decals for panel art/labels. Works ok for guitar pedals with enough spray lacquer, but the slightly tacky finish doesn't feel very "pro". Maybe I need a better brand of lacquer?

[pekbro]

A lotta guys actually use hand drawn/printed paper glued to the front of the panel.

[des]

I’ve been going thru the same dilemma lately and decided to try buying some blank panels from Antique Electronics Supply in Arizona. 2hp thru 20hp silver one side and black on the other. Due to arrive on Wednesday. I hope they’re decent. Price was really good. I’ll put a link to them below. I do a layout in Inkscape and print it out, transfer it to the aluminum and mark/punch my holes. The panels I ordered already have the mounting holes drilled, so no worries there. For the front graphics I’ll print them out on a laser printer then laminate them. Then glue the laminate to the aluminum panel making sure the holes are lined up. Trim around the edges. I believe I picked this up from Ken Stone’s site at Cat Girl Synth a while ago. It works pretty well as long as you don’t go too tight when tightening nuts. Ordering the panels precut to size saves me a bit of time and adds a bit of consistency to my projects. Ideally I would like to powder coat then laser engrave text and graphics but I just don’t have time nor the laser engraver to do that now...

https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/p ... minum-16mm

[xtp]

And if I was doing it myself, I'd personally consider etched copper.

The good thing about copper is that it is easy to solder especially if you have a gas soldering iron, drills easy, is soft to bend and paints up well. Many years ago I had [as they do] the copper hot-water cylinder in the house fail, when I replaced the cylinder I kept the old one, removed the element, cut the top and bottom off, sliced the cylinder lengthways and still have what is left stored as a huge sheet of copper out in the garage. The tinned side is a light grey and great for drawing directly onto or affixing adhesive templates printed from the computer, the other side for doing coppery things like etching [as in the link you supplied] or in my case being a lazy arse, painting. I have made a number of enclosures [not eurorack but the principle is the same] out of this copper sheet for guitar effects-units I have designed based on the size of the Boss half-rack effects of the 80's.

[pekbro]

You can make em out of beer cans.
Even 2 year old beer cans.

[vurt]

You can make em out of beer cans.
Even 2 year old beer cans.

you should probably tidy up and clean out the garbage a little more often

[pekbro]

No way, ive got nearly enough for that giant chithulu action figure i was gonna make.

[BertKoor]

You can make em out of beer cans.
Even 2 year old beer cans.

They don't make 'em like that anymore indeed.
Yesterdays beer cans won't hold a potmeter firmly.

[vurt]

No way, ive got nearly enough for that giant chithulu action figure i was gonna make.

ok, you win

[karsa]

The good thing about copper is that it is easy to solder especially if you have a gas soldering iron, drills easy, is soft to bend and paints up well. Many years ago I had [as they do] the copper hot-water cylinder in the house fail, when I replaced the cylinder I kept the old one, removed the element, cut the top and bottom off, sliced the cylinder lengthways and still have what is left stored as a huge sheet of copper out in the garage. The tinned side is a light grey and great for drawing directly onto or affixing adhesive templates printed from the computer, the other side for doing coppery things like etching [as in the link you supplied] or in my case being a lazy arse, painting. I have made a number of enclosures [not eurorack but the principle is the same] out of this copper sheet for guitar effects-units I have designed based on the size of the Boss half-rack effects of the 80's.

Copper is really easy to solder. It quickly transfers heat due to its excellent thermal conductivity. This makes it a popular choice for various applications, including PCB panels. I usually get mine from https://www.andwinpcb.com/ceramic-pcb, so if someone is looking for a good place for PCB, I highly recommend this one.
What I learned about soldering such panels is that it's important to ensure clean and properly prepared surfaces, using flux to promote solder flow and good adhesion.

[AT4_Backblast]

I have a lot of blanks that I cut myself. In all sizes. MSG me if you want to buy them outright....I'll send you pics. I was planning on Cerakoting them. I already sandblasted them all.

[des]

Updated info…
I mentioned earlier using laminates over the Antique Electronics Supply panels but shortly ditched that idea. I picked up a Ortur LaserMaster 2 laser engraver…it was an early 5w unit. I engraved the graphic and text on the black side of the panel. Comes out really well - there is a white/cream color under the black that looks good. I hit it with matte clear coat after. I still have to manually punch holes. Since then I upgraded to a CO2 50w laser and do my panels using 1/16” black acrylic (you could do any available color) which allows me to engrave text/graphics and cut holes. I then fill in the engravings with acrylic marker paint then matte clear coat. After that I use copper tape like that used for lining guitar cavities and cover the back of the panels and cut holes in it as needed. This a takes a little bit of time but comes out really nice. I found a company called Rowmark that sells layered acrylic sheets (like guitar pick guards) in all kinds of color selections. I’m thinking engraving this would eliminate having to fill the engraving with paint…unless I wanted multiple colors. Then I just apply the copper tape.

Laser engravers cover a wide price range….as low as ~$150 and a lot more. You need to research which laser type is best for what you want to work with. For example blue diode lasers won’t cut clear acrylic and can have issues with blue and green paint. Diode and CO2 won’t cut metal. If you can swing it, the xTool F1 might be the best small format as it will engrave metal directly - sometimes in color. The two drawbacks are somewhat small work area unless you get the conveyor option and the price…it’s ~$2k plus..

EDIT: I was mistaken about the xTools F1. I thought it was a fiber laser…it’s actually a combination diode and IR laser that uses a galvo mirror system to aim the beams…like a fiber would use…