Modular Synth Panels

A friend of mine has a small company that builds electronic devices and 
he invested in one of those lasers. It's kind of like the old X/Y flat 
bed plotters except there's a laser. One thing that works very well is 
using the laser to remove anodizing. So start with a black anodized 
panel and end up with silver lettering. Very sharp and long lasting. The 
other thing to do is use plastic that has two layers of different color 
(commonly used for signs). The laser takes off the top layer and can 
make the holes and cut the edges, which it can't do with aluminum. He 
made me a plastic panel for a MOTM-440 filter I crammed into Frac Rack 
format and that worked fine backed up by a metal plate but in the future 
I think I'll make anodized aluminum panels at Front Panel Express (or 
some place like that) and use the laser to do the graphics. FPE's not so 
expensive if you're only making holes. Oh there is also a chemical you 
can apply to non-anodized aluminum which makes it photosensitive for the 
laser. This produces black lettering and it's a very permanent bond. My 
friend has not tried this yet. I think this may be what's used on the 
PlanB modules. Run your finger over it and you don't feel anything, 
unlike silk screened graphics.