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Re: [TowerTalk] custom aluminum panels

Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] custom aluminum panels
From: Les Kalmus <w2lk@earthlink.net>
Reply-to: w2lk@earthlink.net
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2006 21:27:09 -0500
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Thanks. This makes things real easy.

73, Les

Jim Lux wrote:
> A great resource when you need an aluminum panel with holes, notches, 
> lettering, etc. at a reasonable price is a company called Front Panel Express.
>
> http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/
>
> you download their software, design up your panel and send the order 
> off electronically. They've got libraries with all manner of weird 
> cutouts: D holes for things like BNC connectors, Sub D multipin 
> connectors.  And, they do holes of all shapes and sizes (including 
> tapped), pocket milling, engraved legends, etc.  Essentially anything 
> a good NC mill can do to a piece of flat aluminum.
>
> You can also get it finished in a variety of passivations, or paint, etc.
>
> Delivery time is usually less than a week (depending on how much you 
> want to pay).
>
> It's remarkably cheap (standard 19" rack panels 4 U high with a bunch 
> of connectors run around $50, and most of the cost is the aluminum.. 
> tapped holes are something like 0.38 each and so forth) and I daresay 
> you'd have a very hard time duplicating their product at home, unless 
> you have a good NC mill and a lot of programming time.
>
> We use them at work for things like breadboarding microwave circuits 
> (you know, you get all those little modules from Minicircuits and 
> need to screw them down to something).  I've made waveguide pass 
> through panels (the WG opening and the 4 tapped holes for the flange 
> bolts) to mount into the side of, strangely enough, a NEMA 4 Hoffman box.
>
> Truly an amazing service.
>
> The software and machinery is made by a German company, and 
> occasionally, the software displays an error message in German, but 
> you can figure it out, and go on.  The place you send your order to 
> and which does the work is in Washington state.
>
>
> No excuse for ugly connector panels where the bulkhead feed throughs 
> keep spinning when you tighten the connector!
>
> Jim, W6RMK
>
>
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