What are you using to design your front panels?

besides front panel designer (you cannot export from it) what are you using for your front panel design? my 19" enclosures for my GSSL are being manufactured in a local factory but they need blueprints for the boxes and the front panel, so i´m looking for something easy to use....

there's a ton of free cad programs

www.download.com

i use frontdesigner

it's by a company called "abacom"

I use Coreldraw. It more suitible for next printing. If somebody wants, I can send GSSL in Corel.

Believe it or not, I use a silk layer on Osmond Quartz, and export it to EPS. Works like a champ, and it's free...

I'm fortunate to have a professional CNC-machine and I mainly use Schaeffer's Front Panel Designer to design front panels. Before I can machine the panels I need to export the FPD-layout to DXF and prepare it in a CAM-program.

Here are a few samples of panels that I have manufactured.

[quote author="neriks"]I'm fortunate to have a professional CNC-machine and I mainly use Schaeffer's Front Panel Designer to design front panels. Before I can machine the panels I need to export the FPD-layout to DXF and prepare it in a CAM-program.

Here are a few samples of panels that I have manufactured.[/quote]

:shock: ...Very nice work indeed!!

What sort of an engraving tip do you use - a "real" engraver tip/nose, or a simple router bit at fixed depth? What sizes bits, cutting speeds and feed rates do you use for those aluminium front panels? Are you using lubricant, flood cooling, or something like that?

Jakob E.

I'll try to answer your questions ...

[quote author="gyraf"]What sort of an engraving tip do you use - a "real" engraver tip/nose, or a simple router bit at fixed depth? [/quote]
I mostly use miniature mills for engraving work. Mills are a lot easier to use compared to engraving cutters since the flatness of the panel won't be that critical. The diameter of the mills I use are:

0.2 mm
0.4 mm
0.6 mm
0.7 mm
1 mm
2 mm
4 mm
6 mm
10 mm

[quote author="gyraf"]What sizes bits, cutting speeds and feed rates do you use for those aluminium front panels? [/quote]
The cutting speed and the feed rates all depends on the tools used. The CAM-program automatically calculates the feed rates and the cutting speed so I don't need to do anything other than just enter the tool parameters into the CAM-program :wink:

[quote author="gyraf"]Are you using lubricant, flood cooling, or something like that?[/quote]
I use a spray cooling system when machining aluminum. For copper and brass I don't use any cooling at all.

[quote author="neriks"]I'm fortunate to have a professional CNC-machine and I mainly use Schaeffer's Front Panel Designer to design front panels. Before I can machine the panels I need to export the FPD-layout to DXF and prepare it in a CAM-program.

Here are a few samples of panels that I have manufactured.[/quote]

Wow!

looks great, lucky you

I use Corel Draw as the laser engraver I use imports them just fine.

Cheers,
--
Don

Thanks, Neriks!

Jakob E.

Ok..I have Front Panel Express....Are there any design programs out there that include a library of xlr connector holes, scales for volume controls etc...
I can never get the xlr holes (mounting screws) matched up on my designs on Front Panel...The program from Abacom looks great but I can't spend 150$ US for a program to design a few panels...any other options? I haven't demo'ed Corel yet...

Cheers,
Ray

it's $39 dollars dude...

I don't go around buying a lot of software, but $40 on something that I really use isn't a bad price.

with Frontdesigner, you can create the graphic overlays for silkscreens/lazertran as well.

all in all, a sweet little package.

You should be able to create a library of your own for it with the neutrik connectors.

My bad! I thought I saw 70 Euros as the price....

I will check it out..wish they had a demo!

RAy

The program from Abacom has a very nice "scale assistant" which lets you define your own scales fairly easy. Unfortunately, the HPGL-export is rather crappy implemented since it can't handle arcs as native HPGL-elements. Engraving panels using HPGL-elements generated by the program may therefore render a poor result ... at least to my experience :?

Here is a picture of an HPGL-element (largely magnified) generated from the Abacom program.

oh wow, i never realised it was that poor.

However, at a "real world" size, is it really noticeable?


Ray -- There is a demo version, look on their website

ok,

i downloaded a ton of freeware cad programs, but i found one that seems to be easy to use so i´ll give it a try and see if it works. I´ts called "powerdraw" so let´s see.

Thanks for answering!

My design of Pico Compressor in Corel [/quote]

If you are on a mac are there any programs that can deal with the front panel express file format, and also is useful for designing a front?

[quote author="Valery"]My design of Pico Compressor in Corel[/quote]

Hmm, maybe you can cooperate with Purusha. :idea: