Building a control panel.....

[ITG]

Looks good. That said, I’m having second thoughts myself, about using Dibond. I thought I’d build a mock-up before I ordered the dibond, simply because my print source was also going to pre-drill for the LED switches, and I wanted to avoid any errors. I used a scrap piece of 3mm hardboard for the mock-up, and using the DCC Concepts Alpha Switches (combined LED / push button) , I found that 3mm was rather thick for these. (Although that is what the supplier recommends). I’ve also read an odd review/comment or two which stated similar.

So I’m now wondering whether 2mm MDF or ply may be a safer bet, which of course, I’ll drill myself.

 

Anyone else got experience of DCC Concepts Alpha Switch (D) and panel thickness?

[Junctionmad]

While less common, 2mm dibond is available 

[DCCconcepts]

We happily use 3mm MDF on our panels with Alpha Switch-D.

A little bit of care has to be taken after drilling the holes as MDF can "blow" and have furry edges around the holes that effectively make it thicker.

Sand then down or trim gently with a sharp blade.

Once installed, the switch top is flush with the bezel - not proud of it.

 

Best Regards,

The DCCconcepts team

[Ron Ron Ron]

2 hours ago, DCCconcepts said:

We happily use 3mm MDF on our panels with Alpha Switch-D. ......

 

Any chance you might order a sample printed 3mm Dibond panel, to see how well the Alpha Switch-D and Alpha Mimic LED's fit ?

Broadcasting good results might pay back multiple times over the modest outlay.

 

 

.

 

 

[gordon s]

I'm just about to fit the Mimic led's into 3mm Dibond, so happy to report back with pics. If anyone has a spare switch button, I'm happy to drill and fit one and see how it fits.

[ITG]

If only, Gordon, the Alpha Switch D packs are like hens teeth at the moment; I still need another pack of 12 in the set.

[DCCconcepts]

16 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

Any chance you might order a sample printed 3mm Dibond panel, to see how well the Alpha Switch-D and Alpha Mimic LED's fit ?

Broadcasting good results might pay back multiple times over the modest outlay.

 

 

.

 

 

 

3mm dibond is OK with Alpha Switch and Mimic.

 

But:

We recommend using the short screws supplied with the Switch-D to fix them to the MDF (or plywood).

The Switch-D (and Switch-A) also have a thin self-adhesive pad to stick it to the dibond as it would not be easy to "blind drill" in the rear of the dibond. (It may be that a small amount of epoxy adhesive or similar may be required to hold them in position if the screws are not used.

 

As the Mimic LED is a push fit, then thickness of panel is not an issue.

 

Best Regards,

The DCCconcepts Team

[gordon s]

As promised a couple of pics of the mimic led fitted into 3mm Dibond. I tried two different hole sizes, 6.5mm and 7mm.

 

From the front, the led sits comfortably without any problem. These leds already contain resistors, so are a little larger than plain leds with the front bezel measuring 9mm diameter.

 

 

The 6.5mm hole was my preferred size. The led is a tight fit, but certainly won't fall out. The small ribs on the outside of the led are shaved as you press it into the hole.

 

The 7mm hole was still a good fit, but my preference would be to add a small dab of hot glue to hold it firmly in place.

 

 

6.5mm hole size showing the shaved ribs.

 

Overall, easy to fit and a neat solution to creating a mimic panel.

Edited September 4, 2020 by gordon s

[ITG]

On 04/09/2020 at 12:35, gordon s said:

I tried two different hole sizes, 6.5mm and 7mm.

What type of drill bit did you use to drill? I ask because when I drilled mine I got tiny burrs on the upper surface of some holes, which inhibited the bezel fitting flush, which in turn meant the Alpha D LED buttons didn’t sit right below the bezel, ie a fraction too far below the bezel surface level, resulting in finger pressure not connecting fully. Why I got this on some holes and not others, I don’t know.
As luck would have it, the printer of my panel accidentally printed two copies, so only charged me for one. So I can have another go, but want to be sure I don’t get these burrs second time round.

 

Any suggestions or thoughts?

[Vecchio]

For those with the smaller budget I have an alternative to the expensive German stuff. Of course you need your control panel nicely printed, but I do it on paper. Even if you go to a printer because of the format it is little money. I remember for Donnersbachkogel it was approximately 6£ per print on heavy paper.

On top of the paper you go with a plastic foil (not too thin, something like 0.3 or 0.5mm). And below I go with 2 or 3mm model aeroplane ply. (why model aeroplane ply? It has 5 layers even it is 2mm thick and is much finer and much stronger than normal stuff)

Those 3 layers need to be drilled together. And of course if you have a led only you do not drill through the plastic, only through the paper and the ply. To get neat holes into the paper I use a punch like tool.

You think that is impossible? I made 2 control boards using this style, one for Donnersbachkogel and one for Frimingham.

And another hint: make the control bord big enough not to get into trouble with the wiring...

 

DSC_0725 by Gerhard Novak, on Flickr

 

and now inside... I use a bus system (Megapoints controller). Means with pure analog you would have even more wires...

DSC_0723

 

and an earlier version during the "production"

IMGP5356

 

 

Happy modelling

[gordon s]

4 hours ago, ITG said:

What type of drill bit did you use to drill? I ask because when I drilled mine I got tiny burrs on the upper surface of some holes, which inhibited the bezel fitting flush, which in turn meant the Alpha D LED buttons didn’t sit right below the bezel, ie a fraction too far below the bezel surface level, resulting in finger pressure not connecting fully. Why I got this on some holes and not others, I don’t know.
As luck would have it, the printer of my panel accidentally printed two copies, so only charged me for one. So I can have another go, but want to be sure I don’t get these burrs second time round.

 

Any suggestions or thoughts?

 
I will get back to you tomorrow afternoon with some more info after golf, but I have left the panel for a month or two whilst the weather has meant being outside was more fun.....

 

I tend to use Cobalt drills which are sharp, but always drill pilot holes first, say 1mm, then 4.5mm and finally 6.5 or 7mm. I would also use a 10mm drill in my fingers to remove any signs of burrs on the top surface. I will check tomorrow by drilling some more large holes as the panel has been pilot drilled so far and then I should be able to see how they turn out and provide more guidance. For me drilling is generally a bit of trial and error. The material, the sharpness of the drill, rotational speed and vertical feed can all change the finished result. Are you using a pillar drill or hand held?

Edited October 21, 2020 by gordon s

[gordon s]

Apologies for not getting back to you, but a whole stack of events overtook me and my new mimic panel had to take a back seat until today. Checked again the hole size and as previously reported a 7.00mm is fractionally too big and you would need to hot glue the led in place to hold it firmly. I've used 6.5mm and the drill size is actually 6.45mm which is a fraction tight and it does take a some pressure to push in the led's, but they are firmly held.

 

If I step back 40 years or so, a 17/64" drill would be ideal at 6.75mm, so worthwhile digging out some old Imperial drill sizes.

 

All the led's sit nicely on the panel and I shall look forward to wiring them over the next few days.

 

[gordon s]

Still have the enclosure to build, but finally wired up all the leds and control circuits. Great news is that it works, but still a bit of final tweaking on the platform routes via the ECoS. Happy with the outcome even if it did take me weeks to get to this stage (or was it months....)

 

 

 

[arff999]

HI Gordon s 

That looks very smart if I may say so. 

Well done, is it now connected to your ECoS and working.

Regards.

John. 

 

[ITG]

Certainly looks good, Gordon.

My own similar panel design is getting there. I did stick with using Dibond, printed by a local printer. My concerns over cleanness of holes were alleviated when I bought new drill bits! Luckily, my printer made a mistake of thinking I wanted 2 copies, so I got a spare FOC. So, I then used the surplus panel, in which my holes were much better.

I did decide to go for 7mm holes, mainly because I found centring the LED in 6.5mm holes tricky, without it compromising/fouling the insertion of the bezel from above. There was more room for error in 7mm holes!

I haven’t yet inserted the bezels, so may have to use glue as you say. I agree though there was a snugger fit in 6.5mm, so I may still try that when I construct the second panel. ( the first panel is for the layout/storage roads, the second being the terminus station, itself still under construction)

 

My printer has offered - at a cost - drilling the holes as part of the printing process, so even that may be an option. I also need holes for push-buttons for uncouplers.

[GWR57xx]

My panel so far:

 

 

After cutting across the back sheet of aluminium and the centre core the panel folded very cleanly and drilled very easily.