Your electronic project deserves a good looking front panel. This video shows how I make mine using printouts on normal paper which is then protected by a clear foil for protection.
Hi, Heinz, Another great video with good information. I do this process, myself. I also add decorative graphic art work; it is difficult to tell my labels from OEM. My brother just warned me of a printer scaling problem. It goes like this... Even though you have your printer set to scale at 100%, some printers do not actually print 100%. I just tested mine and, for a straight line 100mm long, my printer prints a line of only 98mm; a difference of ~2%. This is particularly important when proofing custom footprints made with a PCB program (KiCad, for me) against the actual component. His warning was in regard to a new footprint that I had just made. I had proofed it, before knowing of the scaling problem. I corrected the scale, printed the footprint out on paper and held the component pins to the paper. Yep, it was off. If I had had the PCB board manufactured without being warned of the error, the component would not have fit. So, obviously this applies to label locations, too. The solution is to find a printer setting, either in the host program, or the printer GUI, that will allow you to change the print scale to a custom number. KiCad does have a custom scale setting and I changed it to 102%. That worked to correct my problem. But, my HP printer GUI only has set percentage numbers, in a drop-down window. So, you have to look around to see what variables that you have to work with. Another neat trick is to have your project box panels manufactured by a PCB board house. You don't have to have any copper on it, necessarily. And the board houses don't care that it will not actually be used as a PCB. You get perfect holes, placement and labeling on a plastic board that will support your knobs and switches. You can even add graphics. PCB boards have become super-cheap, too. Thanks for all you do for us!
Great tips and thanks for the warning on printers messing up the scaling. I never noticed a problem but reading your comment I tested my printer and it produces the correct scaling. I am using a HP Color LaserJet M252dw under Linux. Good idea on using the PCB board houses but isn't that expensive if you need just one board?
No, the board houses have greatly decreased their pricing, from days of old. 10 copies, yes ten, 100mm x 100mm are just $5USD, plus ~$20 shipping. No setup charges, etc. You just upload your gerbers. And, you can panelize different designs, but they will not cut them apart, for that price. I like Seeed.cc (3x "e".) The Asian houses are sponsoring a lot of the YT electronic channels. You should check into that.
Printing of front panel is good, but the cutting out of the outer profile is not so good - for the straight cuts, have you tried a hand-held rotary cutter ? I use one for cutting Brother type printed strip labels into small individual labels for front panel controls - these labels are quite difficult to cut cleanly any other way - scalpel and steel ruler just won't grip properly - rotary cutter solved this as it doesn't drag on the material. Your corner profiles are more tricky, I admit. Could you print a guide line that you could then follow accurately with whatever knife you need ? The cut could be inside or outside the guideline. Just ideas...
@@TheHWcave No, not a Dremel !! That will make a mess I think ! I mean a manual cutter with a blade that looks like a Stanley knife blade but it is completely circular, and is on a pivot, so you roll it along the cut line and because the blade rotates whilst cutting, you get no dragging of the material as you would with a fixed blade. Here is the first video I came across showing such a cutter - they tend to be used in craft work a lot apparently. Look for 'rotary cutter' online, you will find many makes, with different blade diameters available too. I actually use one for front panel labels. th-cam.com/video/srib8JAH2x0/w-d-xo.html
@@TheHWcave Precision pizza cutting :o) Hope it turns out to be some use. I just ordered the small 18mm one for tighter curves - I have the 45mm one presently, which is no good around the bends. Dave
The dots are the grid of LibreOffice Draw. To make it visible, go to View -> Grid and Help Lines -> Display Grid (tick the box). I am using LibreOffice Draw 6.2.8.2.
![ทททททททท #27 [หลุยส์ เค โตมายังไง ณ สระบุรี]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CaKoYw_Xmtg/mqdefault.jpg)
Nice video
Thanks for showing your process. Would love to see your lamination process too
Hi, Heinz,
Another great video with good information. I do this process, myself. I also add decorative graphic art work; it is difficult to tell my labels from OEM.
My brother just warned me of a printer scaling problem. It goes like this... Even though you have your printer set to scale at 100%, some printers do not actually print 100%. I just tested mine and, for a straight line 100mm long, my printer prints a line of only 98mm; a difference of ~2%.
This is particularly important when proofing custom footprints made with a PCB program (KiCad, for me) against the actual component. His warning was in regard to a new footprint that I had just made. I had proofed it, before knowing of the scaling problem. I corrected the scale, printed the footprint out on paper and held the component pins to the paper. Yep, it was off. If I had had the PCB board manufactured without being warned of the error, the component would not have fit. So, obviously this applies to label locations, too.
The solution is to find a printer setting, either in the host program, or the printer GUI, that will allow you to change the print scale to a custom number. KiCad does have a custom scale setting and I changed it to 102%. That worked to correct my problem. But, my HP printer GUI only has set percentage numbers, in a drop-down window. So, you have to look around to see what variables that you have to work with.
Another neat trick is to have your project box panels manufactured by a PCB board house. You don't have to have any copper on it, necessarily. And the board houses don't care that it will not actually be used as a PCB. You get perfect holes, placement and labeling on a plastic board that will support your knobs and switches. You can even add graphics. PCB boards have become super-cheap, too.
Thanks for all you do for us!
Great tips and thanks for the warning on printers messing up the scaling. I never noticed a problem but reading your comment I tested my printer and it produces the correct scaling. I am using a HP Color LaserJet M252dw under Linux. Good idea on using the PCB board houses but isn't that expensive if you need just one board?
No, the board houses have greatly decreased their pricing, from days of old. 10 copies, yes ten, 100mm x 100mm are just $5USD, plus ~$20 shipping. No setup charges, etc. You just upload your gerbers. And, you can panelize different designs, but they will not cut them apart, for that price. I like Seeed.cc (3x "e".)
The Asian houses are sponsoring a lot of the YT electronic channels. You should check into that.
Información muy útil. Muchas gracias
Printing of front panel is good, but the cutting out of the outer profile is not so good - for the straight cuts, have you tried a hand-held rotary cutter ? I use one for cutting Brother type printed strip labels into small individual labels for front panel controls - these labels are quite difficult to cut cleanly any other way - scalpel and steel ruler just won't grip properly - rotary cutter solved this as it doesn't drag on the material. Your corner profiles are more tricky, I admit. Could you print a guide line that you could then follow accurately with whatever knife you need ? The cut could be inside or outside the guideline. Just ideas...
I have not tried cutting with a rotary cutter (Dremel I suppose). I will give that a try next time. Thanks for the tip
@@TheHWcave No, not a Dremel !! That will make a mess I think ! I mean a manual cutter with a blade that looks like a Stanley knife blade but it is completely circular, and is on a pivot, so you roll it along the cut line and because the blade rotates whilst cutting, you get no dragging of the material as you would with a fixed blade. Here is the first video I came across showing such a cutter - they tend to be used in craft work a lot apparently. Look for 'rotary cutter' online, you will find many makes, with different blade diameters available too. I actually use one for front panel labels.
th-cam.com/video/srib8JAH2x0/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the correction. I just bought one on Ebay to see how it works. Reminds me of Pizza somehow.. ;)
@@TheHWcave Precision pizza cutting :o) Hope it turns out to be some use. I just ordered the small 18mm one for tighter curves - I have the 45mm one presently, which is no good around the bends. Dave
How do you add the dots in Libre Draw?
The dots are the grid of LibreOffice Draw. To make it visible, go to View -> Grid and Help Lines -> Display Grid (tick the box). I am using LibreOffice Draw 6.2.8.2.