[TowerTalk] custom aluminum panels

[Richard M. Gillingham]

WOW.  Thanks.  I've been looking for a service like this for some time.

Gil, W1RG
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Lux" <jimlux at earthlink.net>
To: "Tower Talk List" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 9:08 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] custom aluminum panels


>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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