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Subject: Re: [ModularSynthPanels] Bamboo front panels from ponoko.com

From: Jason Nanna <jasonnanna@...>
Date: 2010-04-25

Yeah, I also have to say, the pictures may not show it too well, but the text is very crisp and very legible.  The very dark brown serves as a perfect contrast to the light brown of the panels.  I only did an outline of the font which makes it a bit lighter.  One could have filled the inside of the letters with "raster" (where the laser burns an inside "fill" rather than just engraving the contour of the letters).  This was my first batch, I'm very pleased.  And they smell like burnt bamboo ;)

Through Ponoko you can choose different engraving depths.  You'll notice on the bottom of one of the panels (my CGS wave folder) it says WAVE in heavy engraving and FOLDER in medium, which on the bamboo is very faint.  If anyone decides to do this I would heavily recommend using the darkest engraving.

Also I'm happy to share my designs.  I have to export them from the file they're currently in as they're all together, interlocking and prepared for printing.

So far I have designs for:
Jurgen Haible Living VCO
Ken Stone Simple wave folder
Ken Stone DC mixer
Ken Stone Synthacon VCF
Ken Stone VCA
Ian Fritz ChaQuO
Thomas Henry Mega Percussive Synthesizer
Bridechamber/Ken Stone waveshapers
Thomas White's Buchla 292c LPG clone

Keep in mind these will be deeper than other front panels; without milling the tops/bottoms they will stick out above other panels in your rack...
On Sat, Apr 24, 2010 at 3:20 PM, Greg James <gjames@...> wrote:
 

Let me chime in here too – those arethe best looking panels I’ve seen in a long time. I’ll bet painted bamboowould be a nice alternative for other applications as well (like panels for DIYkeyboards, etc.). I’m definitely going to remember this material goingforward. Thanks for sharing.

 

-Greg

 

From: ModularSynthPanels@yahoogroups.com [mailto:ModularSynthPanels@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Kyle Stephens
Sent: Saturday, April 24, 20101:50 PM
To: ModularSynthPanels@yahoogroups.com


Subject: Re: [ModularSynthPanels]Bamboo front panels from ponoko.com

 




Whoop! Incomplete email there!

Continuing, they are just gorgeous. I've thought about wood as a quick and cheap way of setting up panels, but the time and effort here really shows what pursuing that line more ardently can do. Pretty light I would imagine too!

Cheers,


_Kyle

--- On Sat, 4/24/10, Dave Garfield <daveogarf@...> wrote:


From: Dave Garfield <daveogarf@...>
Subject: Re: [ModularSynthPanels] Bamboo front panels from ponoko.com
To: ModularSynthPanels@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, April 24, 2010, 10:29 AM

 

These are GORGEOUS!  The bamboo gives them a really organic feel, and there's no question as to its durability.  Plus, it's a recyclable material which, with care, should last as long as a metal panel.

 

The labeling seemed a little hard to read in the pictures, though.  I'm assuming that the lettering can be made bold, or of higher contrast.

 

All in all, EXCELLENT!  Thanks for showing it off!

 

All the best,

Dave Garfield - "lost" in the wilds of Colorado...


 

From: jasonnanna <jasonnanna@gmail. com>
To: ModularSynthPanels@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Sat, April 24, 2010 7:37:16 AM
Subject: [ModularSynthPanels ] Bamboo front panels from ponoko.com

 

Hi all... New to the list. Just wanted to share with you an experiment I've been pursuing for a few months now -- laser cut and engraved front panels for my burgeoning modular.

I decided to use ~5mm laminated bamboo because it's very hard. I wasn't sure, with all of the holes, how fragile wood would end up being. Ponoko also (occasionally) offers another bamboo which I believe is lighter and thinner. This may be the ideal material to use, but I don't yet know.

My main objective was to have an economical solution. My estimation would be that it costs approx. $10/1U rack space in the MOTM format I'm working with. I think that's awfully cheap. If anyone has a cheaper, easier solution, I'd be very interested to hear it.

My biggest problem thus far has been the material depth. Not all jack styles go all the way through, and the nuts for the pots JUUUUUUUUUST thread and tighten without stripping.

Beyond that, I just got my first module wired up and tested, and I'm concerned about grounding... Several of the pots needed their bodies grounded to keep interference out; I'm wondering how much this is going to be a problem, and if I can't do something like gluing a piece of aluminum foil or some such thing down to the back of the panel before installing pots & jacks....

Anyway, would love to know your thoughts.

http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/ModularSyn thPanels/ photos/album/ 766034300/ pic/list