Modular Synth Panels

I was over at Great River Electronics (Dan helps me w/ PCB stuff), and 
I can't remember how they do their panels; I'll have to ask again. They 
are well-nigh indestructible and look beautiful, but you pay for it. I 
think a 2U rack unit frontpanel was $100 for them. When your equalizer 
is $2k, you can get away w/ that :)


Scott Deyo
The Bridechamber
contact@bridechamber.com
www.bridechamber.com


On Sep 28, 2007, at 6:21 PM, ~Morbius~ wrote:

> Well... my guess is that the type of paint used is what forms the 
> texture. You may be thinking "well yeah... duh?!". In the engraving 
> world (by and large), 'textures' are made, or formed into the 
> engraving material blanks themselves. These aren't usually thick 
> pieces of metal (like module blanks), but usually plastic... and 
> certainly not what one would use AS a module. Again, it goes back to 
> numbers... if you know you are going to do X-100 or X-1000, then it 
> becomes much more economically feasible....  to do metal blanks, and 
> silkscreen them. It seems to me that there is a place near me, which 
> my tech told me that this company does exactly that... make just about 
> anything out of any kind of sheet-metal... be it aluminum, or 
> whatever. The can make control-boxes (the housings), or module 
> faces... the do the cutting, bending, painting, punching, printing... 
> everything (so he said). I think the name of the place is "Ten-Tech" 
> or "Tenn Tec"... something like that... and they're in Sevierville, 
> Tn., on Dolly Parton Pkwy. I've passed by the place, but have never 
> gone in. As I understand it... you could take them a sample or example 
> of what you want done, and they can take it from there.
>  
> As for engraving on textured metal... I dunno. That seems to be an 
> element from two different worlds... in that, by using textured paint 
> on aluminum, I think the only option may just be to silkscreen the 
> graphics. Engraving metal is done, but it's usually a very thin 
> gauge... and basically, it's scratched into the surface. Think of 
> trophies and plaques. When you see something engraved with two or more 
> colors, it's either multi-colored engraving materieal (which is 
> plastic), or something like plexi or lexan, and engraved, and 
> sometimes paint-filled, or spray painted. The quick and simple 
> method... spray-paint the back side one color... let it dry... then 
> engrave the lettering, and paint-fill or spray the letter/grahic 2nd 
> color into the engraved part... and this is all on the back-side of 
> the material. But- that's only good of plastics/plexi/lexan... not 
> metal.
>  
> There are some metal blanks, made for laser-engraving, which are one 
> color on the front surface, and the laser-engraving burns away that 
> top surface color, revealing a second color beneath.... usually gold 
> or brass-looking color. There may be some new materials on the market 
> now. I've been out of it for 5-6 years.
>  
> Hope this was of some help... or at least, of interest.
>  
> ~Morbius~
>  
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From:  Scott Deyo
>> To: ModularSynthPanels@yahoogroups.com
>> Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 6:11 PM
>> Subject: Re: [ModularSynthPanels] Re: saving money with tickmark discs
>>
>> Hi Morbius,
>>
>> If that's your $.02, I'll throw in a dollar to hear more! It's really 
>> good to know the biz side of things, and how other places do it.
>>
>> How hard is it to have a nice textured paint finish (like DotCom, for 
>> instance ;) on an engraved panel? That's my biggest beef w/ FPE -- 
>> they just look so flat, and scratch easily.
>>
>> Scott Deyo
>> The Bridechamber
>> contact@bridechamber.com
>> www.bridechamber.com
>>
>>
>> On Sep 28, 2007, at 4:44 PM, ~Morbius~ wrote:
>>
>>> Just as an info kinda thing....  Having been an engraver and working 
>>> in the sign biz for since the 80's, I can tell you that 
>>> reverse-engraving (or front engraving) and paint-filling (or 
>>> spraying) is going to be more expensive since it is so much more 
>>> labor-intensive. I had, at one time, considered reverse-engraving 
>>> either plexi, or lexan... and illuminating it either from the 
>>> side(s) or the back. The rear is painted black, and the graphics are 
>>> painted whatever color you want (or use colored a light-source and 
>>> leave the engraved clear)... That makes all of the text, graphics, 
>>> and tickmarks light-up (and looks very impressive). When I was in 
>>> Nashville, I worked at a sign company which did all of the engraving 
>>> work and awards for the Country Music Awards.... Opryland... all of 
>>> the big hotels.... and our engraving department was the largest 
>>> department in the whole place, with 5 fulltime engravers working 5 
>>> days a week, 9 hours a day. We built a lot of stuff from scratch in 
>>> plexi and lexan, and had every type of equipment needed... from 
>>> plainers to routing tables... from acetylene torches to 'weld-on' 
>>> (plexi glue) and paint-booths. Like most things, you get what you 
>>> pay for... and if you go with 'cheap', it's gonna look 'cheap'.
>>>  
>>> A much cheaper way would be to have the 'dial' (with the tickmark 
>>> calibration) printed onto adhesive vinyl. But here again, quantities 
>>> are really needed to make it cost effective. Where it can be printed 
>>> more cheaply on a Fargo or any large-format printer... cutting-out 
>>> the 'stickers' becomes the issue. There are a few large-format 
>>> printers which are also plotter/cutters... and they can do the 
>>> entire operation from the file. But- it's still a matter of 'do you 
>>> want 'stickers... or silkscreened, or engraved'? The 'look' one 
>>> wants, is gonna have everthing to do with the cost... just like the 
>>> quantity is going to affect the price... (or price per unit).
>>>  
>>> Laser-engraving is the way to go with many materials. And usually, 
>>> besides the laser doing the engraving, it also cuts-out each unit 
>>> from the material blanks.
>>> Making the tickmarks is no big deal... that is, with the proper 
>>> software. I know that CasMate and Flexi Sign are both used for 
>>> engraving, vinyl-cutting, and large-format printing... and both do 
>>> vector-graphics, and generate all sorts of dials, rulers, 
>>> calibration and tickmarks...  and all you do is select the option 
>>> you want in the drop-drown menu, then, assign the variables... size 
>>> of the dial, thickness of the strokes, depth, how many, numbers or 
>>> characters and where you want them... etc. But like silkscreening... 
>>> it's the first layout that takes a little time designing. After 
>>> that, you're just pulling-up a file and reproducing it, or editing 
>>> it.
>>>  
>>> Just my $02/100
>>> I'll shut-up now.   : |
>>>  
>>> ~Morbius~
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: Scott Deyo
>>>> To: ModularSynthPanels@yahoogroups.com
>>>> Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 5:10 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [ModularSynthPanels] saving money with tickmark discs
>>>>
>>>> That's cool. I didn't know about that. I just saw Dave's CVS module 
>>>> -- crazy! I love it!
>>>>
>>>> I can't legally use fpd files, though I think I can view them and 
>>>> go from there. But they did make the software, and it's very handy 
>>>> indeed. It's a morally gray area :)
>>>>
>>>> Scott Deyo
>>>> The Bridechamber
>>>> contact@...
>>>> www.bridechamber.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sep 28, 2007, at 3:50 PM, xamboldt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> If you use HPGL to make the tick marks, it saves some money. I
>>>>> believe you can find some example fpd files on Dave Brown's site.
>>>>>
>>>>> -Chris
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sep 28, 2007, at 4:21 PM, David Griffith wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> >
>>>>> > It seems to me that making tickmarks around pots is one of those
>>>>> > things
>>>>> > that really add to the cost of panels. Suppose you make up a 
>>>>> bunch of
>>>>> > thin discs with tickmarks on them and use those instead of 
>>>>> putting
>>>>> > tickmarks directly on the panels. Would this be cheaper? Would 
>>>>> it look
>>>>> > or feel ugly?
>>>>> >
>>>>> > --
>>>>> > David Griffith
>>>>> > dgriffi@...
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>  
>