[sdiy] Plexiglass Panels

[Dave Kendall]

> What makes metal panels expensive is that you have to have them
> made. You can't easily cut sheet metal at home.


Try a sheet metal works in the local town. On a suggestion from my uncle and
with his help talking to the works foreman, I got 35 2mm aluminium blank
panels ranging between 1U and 4U in width really cheaply -  £15, or about
$56 USD. They were beautifully cut. The trick was to suggest using off-cuts,
and offer cash. Off-cuts are often big enough to get several MOTM or similar
sized panels, and the works usually throw them away.

For drilling I mounted a home-built wooden jig under a cheap chinese-made
pillar drill ( £25) got from Netto. A series of wooden lateral and vertical
spacers allows the panel to be moved one standard pot hole or socket/switch
hole centre at a time - the panel moves while the drill and jig remain
fixed. No pilot hole needed, and it's WAY more accurate and quicker than
doing it by hand.
The only screwups were when I didn't blow the swarf away thoroughly before
putting in the next spacer.

It's cheap, and it works well. If like me, you decide on your own form
factor, you can use local standard timber width/sizes to set the correct
spacing. It may prove more challenging to reproduce existing standards e.g.
Moog, MOTM etc. with this method.

just my 2 pence worth...


cheers,

Dave