[sdiy] Designing front panels for synths

[ColinMuirDorward]

A "best of panel design" thread would be a fun way to identify common sdiy
design elements!

On Tue, Oct 13, 2020, 1:58 PM David G Dixon, <dixon at mail.ubc.ca> wrote:

> First of all, sorry for the "CAUTION: Non-UBC Email" message that now
> accompanies most or all of my responses -- I usually forget to remove it
> before I reply.  It is something that our IT people decided we just had to
> have to warn us of the dangers of incoming email.  After 30 or more years
> of using email, I figure I was pretty well aware of the dangers, and I
> begged them (twice) to remove this "feature" from the system.  They did
> reduce it (it was originally a yellow banner across the top of the whole
> email message extolling the various dangers of phishing, etc), but they
> won't eliminate it unless, I guess, we storm their building and take them
> all hostage and threaten bodily harm, but, really, who has the time?
>
> Anyway, about panels.  My panels are all, more or less, inspired by DJ
> Thomas White.  Many years ago, I was very impressed with the clean look of
> his panels, so I asked him how he made them, and he gave me all of his FPD
> files.  Ever since, I have used his font choices.  Whenever I want to make
> a panel, I simply copy the file for the last panel I made in FPD to a new
> filename and alter it accordingly.  As far as pot and switch placements, I
> now almost always lay out panel PCBs for all the panel components, and this
> is in Excel, like all of my layouts, and I do it on a strict 0.1" grid.
> This is very convenient for FPD, where the components can be moved
> precisely where you want them on an X-Y grid.  So, now, in addition to
> having nice readable graphics, my panels are all compatible with my panel
> PCBs.  This makes panel assembly a snap, since all of the components are
> already soldered in place, and just have to be poked through the holes and
> have the nuts installed.  Plus, these panel PCBs require little or no
> wiring.  As far as spacing, I just try to make things evenly spaced to make
> everything accessible.  I also largely conform to the MOTM standard of
> having all the jacks along the bottom, since I don't like reaching through
> a bunch of cords to access knobs and switches.  Plus, this allows me to
> make jack PCBs (which are separate from the panel PCBs, since the jacks are
> a lot taller, so the PCBs are on different levels).
>
> Here's a picture of my best panels -- the challenge was to get 18 jacks
> onto it without taking up too much space.  I think it turned out pretty
> well.
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Synth-diy [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at synth-diy.org] *On Behalf Of *
> ColinMuirDorward
> *Sent:* Tuesday, October 13, 2020 1:10 PM
> *To:* Gordonjcp
> *Cc:* *SYNTH DIY
> *Subject:* Re: [sdiy] Designing front panels for synths
>
> [*CAUTION:* Non-UBC Email]
> My best panels were made by cutting out a piece of graph paper to panel
> size, and then playing "chess" with knobs and jacks till I found an
> ergonomically optimal layout.
> But that only gets you the controls/io positioning.
> As for surface treatment, I think this is so subjective that it would be
> impossible to come up with any guidelines to suit all tastes.
> For me, despite that I'm an artist (painter), I still go for a "designed
> by engineer" look. I just want my modules to be legible, without a lot of
> noisy distractions to make them harder for me to use/see.
> Why not just choose an existing style you already like, and copy it? If
> it's just for personal use, I don't see the harm in following a good
> example.
> Curious to hear how others approach panel design.
> Cheers,
> Colin
>
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 12:41 PM Gordonjcp <gordonjcp at gjcp.net> wrote:
>
>> No, no, not whether you should use Inkscape or Excel or some CAD package,
>> actually designing them so they look good.
>>
>> There's got to be some overlap on this list with people skilled in the
>> visual arts.  How do you lay out the controls, connectors etc. on a panel
>> so they look good, and don't look like the nightmarish "designed by
>> engineer" crap that a lot of stuff seems to be?
>>
>> I'm guessing there's some simple but non-obvious principles at work that
>> could be explained if you could get past all the forum discussion of
>> whether toner transfer is better than photoresist or Eagle is better than
>> Illustrator or whatever.
>>
>> --
>> Gordonjcp
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>>
>
>
> --
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> -
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