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FPE Panels for MB-6582


fussylizard
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I'm sure this has been said a zillion times before, but I just got my panels from Front Panel Express for my MB-6582.  Perhaps not the cheapest option (US$150 shipped to my door in Texas), but they are a pro operation all the way.  Perfectly packed (including a hand-signed thank-you note with a pack of gummi bears included LOL) and more importantly, perfectly manufactured 1.5mm thick panels.  Highly recommended!

(FWIW I did the "medium priced" option on the front panel and the "cheap" option on the rear panel.)

Regards,

C

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@Wilba - I wanted yellow lines to separate each section to match my yellow LEDs and display.  I couldn't do it with the cheap option since it uses a single pen, and I didn't need the flexibility of the expensive option.  Here was my impression of the options after playing with FPE:

- Use the cheap option if you like the panel as-is or want to change the color of everything (all text, lines, etc.).  You can add additional elements as desired.

- Use the medium-priced option if you want to change the colors or engraving widths of each type of element (i.e. make all the text red, make all the section dividing lines a different color/width, etc.).  You can add additional elements as desired.

- Use the expensive option if you want any of the above plus the ability to change text and graphics used, delete individual lines, etc.  You can add additional elements as desired.

- You can also make a panel from scratch and do it however you want.

It's interesting that the same design rendered via HPGL is cheaper than when the elements are placed separately in FPE...

@m00dawg - I'm in Austin and I placed my order on Sunday April 19.  The panels shipped on April 28 using their standard (no rush) service.  They arrived on May 4 via UPS.  I have no idea if the April 19 - 28 time is standard manufacturing time or if it is sometimes slower or faster with their normal service.  I'm 100% happy with the panels, so if the $ are not a limiting factor I can't see going anywhere else.

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Not much to show since I haven't built the control surface yet, but here's an image of the front panel.

The plan is for yellow LEDs, yellow display, gray Albs knobs.  For some reason the gray + yellow makes me think of a neoprene wet suit, but hopefully it will look good on my MB-6582. :-)

BTW Wilba just posted my SIDs (thanks!), so I'm getting close.  Now I'm just awaiting my knobs from the bulk order and I'll have all my parts.  Hopefully I can build the frontpanel this weekend and try everything out with my one 6581.  Work's been killing me lately, so I've not even had time to start the JB Welding on the panels yet... :-(

Regards,

C

5071_frontpanel1_jpgde9e45e4224d8be55c1f

5071_frontpanel1_jpgde9e45e4224d8be55c1f

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@Wilba - I wanted yellow lines to separate each section to match my yellow LEDs and display.  I couldn't do it with the cheap option since it uses a single pen, and I didn't need the flexibility of the expensive option.  Here was my impression of the options after playing with FPE:

- Use the cheap option if you like the panel as-is or want to change the color of everything (all text, lines, etc.).  You can add additional elements as desired.

- Use the medium-priced option if you want to change the colors or engraving widths of each type of element (i.e. make all the text red, make all the section dividing lines a different color/width, etc.).  You can add additional elements as desired.

- Use the expensive option if you want any of the above plus the ability to change text and graphics used, delete individual lines, etc.  You can add additional elements as desired.

- You can also make a panel from scratch and do it however you want.

Actually not correct...

The "cheapest" option uses three pens, so you can change line thickness/colour for divider lines and the arrows left of the menu encoders separately from the lines for the rest of the artwork. The description for this file might have suggested there was only one pen, sorry... I've fixed that in the wiki.

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Actually not correct...

The "cheapest" option uses three pens, so you can change line thickness/colour for divider lines and the arrows left of the menu encoders separately from the lines for the rest of the artwork. The description for this file might have suggested there was only one pen, sorry... I've fixed that in the wiki.

Gah!!!  I spent an extra $5.98 by going with the medium option instead of the cheap option?!  Argh!  :-)

It took me a while to pick through the three files so I'm surprised I didn't notice that the cheaper one would have worked.  At any rate, the panel came out perfect, so I have no complaints.

BTW I JB-Welded the four corner bolts last night.  Went pretty smoothly and everything is looking good this morning.  I picked up 9 x 2" clamps yesterday which made the process super easy.

Hopefully I can get the spacers glued tonight, and then I can start soldering the CS tomorrow night!

Regards,

C

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fuzzy:

Out of curiosity, where did you get the bolts/nuts, etc.? I thought I'd ask since you're in Texas as well. I'm hoping Hope Depot or Lowes has most of what I need in terms of screw hardware?

I ordered most from McMaster-Carr (the first # is the M-C part #):

  92925A023 25x countersunk bolts

  90591A121 100x M3 nuts

  92005A116 100x M3x6mm bolts

  91111A118 100x M3 lock (spring) washers

  91100A120 100x M3 washers

  7605A11 JB Weld

13.61 + shipping

There are pack sizes of 25x and 100x for the above parts so I have plenty of extras.  It would probably be cheaper to just order it in bulk from M-C than buy it at a hardware store.  M-C is cheap and fast but all this stuff is probably available at HD or Lowe's.

However, you do need spacers (~25) and I doubt they will have these at HD or Lowe's.  I got mine from Mouser along with the zillion other parts I ordered for the front panel:

  855-R30-1001002 Metric Spacers M3 x 10mm THREAD HEX BRASS 5mm A/F

Unfortunately these are backordered at Mouser now.  I bought some extra so if you get desperate I can mail you a set.  You could also try Digikey.

I didn't buy anything specific for mounting the fan or the LCD, but I think I can use stuff from the above parts list for this...watch this space. :-)

Once I've finished and verified everything I bought works I'll post my parts lists so others won't have to spend as much time as I did trawling mouser.com and mcmaster.com.

Regards,

C

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Dude thank you very much! These parts are awesome! And, correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like I can order the spaces from McMaster as well:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#92080a415/=1sskgz

Looks like the same things Mouser has. You weren't kidding, either. These puppies are back-ordered by a month at Mouser.

Wilba, maybe you should add this to the wiki page?

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Yeah, those look like the item.  I'd found them at Mouser, so I hadn't even bothered checking M-C.  M-C is great, I've ordered tons of stuff from them over the years.

If you're mounting a fan you might consider getting M3 bolts for mounting it.  (You can then use the nuts and washers leftover from the other parts in the order list.)  The bolts in the parts list I gave above look sort of weird for this purpose (they are blue-ish to help us Texans remember these are "strange" metric bolts instead of normal, "American" bolts, LOL!), whereas I'd prefer a chromed/zinc look to match the fan guard, and probably a normal pan head instead of the countersunk head.  I'm sure M-C has them somewhere.  I probably have some bolts that will work in the disaster area known loosely as my shop.

I'm pretty sure I can mount the LCD using extra bolts/washers/nuts from my M-C order, so I should be good there.

I'm trying to keep track of all the extra parts needed for future reference.

I have some work to do today, but I'm hoping to start soldering the control surface today.  I got all the JB Welding done Wednesday and Thursday, so I'm ready to solder.

BTW, did I mention how helpful it is to have a wife that's a former pastry cook?  She piped all 23 of my JB Weld blobs out like icing in about 2 minutes. :-)  I'll have to get the pics off my camera and upload.  POIDH, right?  Maybe Wilba can add this as the standard way to create blobs of JB Weld on the control surface. :-)

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Haha that's awesome! Pictures of that would be great! I haven't yet decided about whether or not I should use a fan. I'm using an external power-source so there will be no regulators inside to get hot. The SIDs tend to get warm, I know. I was going to heatsink them and also cut slits or holes on the bottom of the PT-10. I didn't want to do a fan initially due to concerns over audio noise. But we'll see :) I can always add one later I suppose. If I do, I'll definitely keep your advice in mind! With all the work going into this thing, I certainly don't want it to look "ghetto" because of the fan mounts :)

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Piping JB-Weld... great idea! You got me thinking though, perhaps a small 5ml syringe would work too, and be disposable afterwards.

BTW $1.20 each for those spacers is pretty expensive... I buy packs of 100 for $30 AUD ($23 USD)

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BTW $1.20 each for those spacers is pretty expensive... I buy packs of 100 for $30 AUD ($23 USD)

I thought so too, but it was very nice to be able to buy everything in one go. So much time and energy seems to be spent finding parts. I'm eager to be able to start building my control surface so for me the cost was worth it. *shrug*

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BTW, the parts came in a few days ago. I got my extra SIDs from Wilba (thanks!), panels, and hardware from McMaster all in the same day.

Panel looks awesome! I too got some gummy bears with it. I went with a dark-blue/light-blue combination and am going to use amber/yellow LEDs.

Anyways, I haven't put anything together yet, but thought I'd point out that FPE, Wilba, and McMaster did an awesome job! Now the only thing I have left to buy is knobs and print a board for my power module (which is external to the PT10 case.

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I'll take a few over the weekend :)

Dunno when I will get to start building the control surface itself. The mainboard is complete except for the headphone jacks, but hasn't yet been fully stuffed (still running into lower voltages on the +5V). If all goes well, I hope to at least do the JB Weld stuff.

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I'll take a few over the weekend :)

Dunno when I will get to start building the control surface itself. The mainboard is complete except for the headphone jacks, but hasn't yet been fully stuffed (still running into lower voltages on the +5V). If all goes well, I hope to at least do the JB Weld stuff.

I just finished soldering the control surface board last night.  As long as you take your time on the JB Weld and soldering, it's pretty straightforward.  Wilba's instructions were spot-on.

FYI I discovered last night that the 3mm bolts that are used for the threaded standoffs are too big for the holes in the board for attaching the LCD.  I'll have to dig around in my scrap box for smaller bolts (2mm?) or buy some at Home Depot to attach the LCD.

Can't wait to see the pics of your panel.  Mine's looking pretty nice w/ the yellow LEDs and the yellow lines...pic soon.

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