12 switch horizontal fuse panel

[robmcg]

I want to replace the aged Westerly fuse panel in our Discus with a new one and tidy up the wiring going to it but can't seem to find a horizontal 12 switch fuse panel. Any ideas? Don't want to use 2x 6 switch panels next to each other if possible. Also not hoping to break the bank!!! Here's hoping

 

[Simondjuk]

I wouldn't buy a cheap panel. They're generally really nasty.

I'd go for a Blue Sea Systems panel from the 360 range, such as this, as a good balance of price and quality.

I can only find the price for a 12 position vertical panel online at £158 from Aquafax here,, but imagine they could order you the horizontal version for around the same price.

 

[Lodesman77]

Don't want to use 2x 6 switch panels next to each other if possible. Also not hoping to break the bank!!! Here's hoping

I was in the same position as you last year; it's difficult to find a decent quality twelve switch/horizontal panel that doesn't cost a fortune. I did consider having one made but in the end settled on two six switch BEP panels which are good quality and fit together better than most (IMO)...

 

[Barry Jones]

Try these people:

http://www.midservicecentre.co.uk/products/inland/

 

[vyv_cox]

If a complete new panel is too expensive, or won't fit the space available, you could try these people as an alternative. I got the link from an article in PBO a couple of years ago. You could transfer your switches and fuses to a new panel, which would be pretty cheap. From memory the very nice custom panel in the PBO article cost about £35.

 

[Ruffles]

If a complete new panel is too expensive, or won't fit the space available, you could try these people as an alternative. I got the link from an article in PBO a couple of years ago. You could transfer your switches and fuses to a new panel, which would be pretty cheap. From memory the very nice custom panel in the PBO article cost about £35.

Your local sign maker can get them done engraved into black plastic. I think mine was £40 but you could get it done cheaper.

 

[prv]

If a complete new panel is too expensive, or won't fit the space available, you could try these people as an alternative. I got the link from an article in PBO a couple of years ago. You could transfer your switches and fuses to a new panel, which would be pretty cheap. From memory the very nice custom panel in the PBO article cost about £35.

I tried them when I was looking for someone to engrave KS's new panel - largely because of their price in that article. They quoted me a lot more for mine!

Andrews and Arnold (an ISP with some odd sidelines) did the cutting and engraving for £70 which was the cheapest of quite a few quotes - it's a fairly large and complex panel, not just two rows of holes.

Based on that, you ought to be able to put together a custom panel (with nice personalised labels, boat name, etc) for less than Simon's ready-made one.

My panel (red indicates cutouts):


Pete

 

[Barry Jones]

Since the conversation has turned to getting your own panels made up, I wonder if I can ask what materials you got the panels made from ??

There is a plethora of modern plastics and they all seem to have different pro's and con's.

Also, what thickness did you go for ??

 

[robmcg]

I tried them when I was looking for someone to engrave KS's new panel - largely because of their price in that article. They quoted me a lot more for mine!

Andrews and Arnold (an ISP with some odd sidelines) did the cutting and engraving for £70 which was the cheapest of quite a few quotes - it's a fairly large and complex panel, not just two rows of holes.

Based on that, you ought to be able to put together a custom panel (with nice personalised labels, boat name, etc) for less than Simon's ready-made one.

My panel (red indicates cutouts):


Pete

How did you go about placing an order with them?

 

[prv]

How did you go about placing an order with them?

Email to laser at aaisp.net.uk .

Here's an email I had from them with various useful details:

Hi Pete,

The .eps artwork looks good. We can work with that. The panel will be
cut from a larger sheet of plastic, so a red "cut line" round the outer
edge will be needed. I suggest you make the 'paper' size of the eps
about 2mm larger than the outmost line.

I also note that the cutout for the panel on/off is slightly higher than
the cutout next to it. I assume that is deliberate, but I thought I'd
check, just in case!

Pricing wise, we charge £1/minute for the time it takes on the laser
plus cost price for the material and postage. Your job is quite a large
item and took 37 minutes - so £37.

We use Rowmark LaserMAX plastic, and can get hold of any colour
combination they make. The available colours are at:
http://www.rowmark.com/laser/LaserMAX/lasermax.asp

The 3mm black sheet with a white core that you mentioned earlier would
be LM942-402. The material for that for your panel will cost £10.

So in total, it will cost £47 plus postage. All prices are exclusive of VAT.

Let me know if you need more details.

This is starting to look like a bit of a plug - no connection except a very happy customer (of both engraving and Internet services).

Pete

 

[Ruffles]

There is a plethora of modern plastics and they all seem to have different pro's and con's.

No idea what sort of plastic it is but it's extremely tough. You certainly don't need to mount it onto anything to stiffen it. It has a white core which is revealed when it's milled.

Robmcg, do they actually mill the letters from your drawing or are they interpreting the drawing into a cutting plan. Wish I'd made mine more fancy now

 

[prv]

Robmcg, do they actually mill the letters from your drawing or are they interpreting the drawing into a cutting plan. Wish I'd made mine more fancy now

I think you might mean me rather than Rob.

Engravers with a modern laser machine can feed the drawing (as Postscript or similar) directly into the machine. I think part of the reason some quotes were much more expensive is that they didn't have this facility, and had to budget for staff time in converting my drawing by hand.

The drawing I've shown is not quite the final version - to feed the cutter I had to swap the colours so that the text and lines were black, on a white background. The laser machine was programmed to engrave black lines, and cut red ones.

All the cutouts were sized, in the drawing program, to the exact dimensions specified in the datasheets for the switches, gauges, etc (RS and similar component suppliers have the datasheets online alongside each part you order). The laser cut them out at exactly those dimensions, and the switches snapped beautifully into place. A round toggle switch with a nut is fairly tolerant of hole sizes, but the snap-in rocker switches I used would have wobbled if the holes were too big.

Pete

 

[robmcg]

I think you might mean me rather than Rob.

Engravers with a modern laser machine can feed the drawing (as Postscript or similar) directly into the machine. I think part of the reason some quotes were much more expensive is that they didn't have this facility, and had to budget for staff time in converting my drawing by hand.

The drawing I've shown is not quite the final version - to feed the cutter I had to swap the colours so that the text and lines were black, on a white background. The laser machine was programmed to engrave black lines, and cut red ones.

All the cutouts were sized, in the drawing program, to the exact dimensions specified in the datasheets for the switches, gauges, etc (RS and similar component suppliers have the datasheets online alongside each part you order). The laser cut them out at exactly those dimensions, and the switches snapped beautifully into place. A round toggle switch with a nut is fairly tolerant of hole sizes, but the snap-in rocker switches I used would have wobbled if the holes were too big.

Pete

Pete - What did you use to create the design (software?). It looks fantastic, and has now got me thinking about a bigger, better panel than I have now.

Rob

 

[prv]

Pete - What did you use to create the design (software?)

OmniGraffle.

The Kindred Spirit logo is one I'd already made for embroidering onto canvas smocks (for me) and fleeces and polo shirts (for my parents). Can't remember what tools I used for that; the difficult part was getting something to smooth all the fuzzy bits of a photo into a crisp vector line (I'm no good at doing that kind of thing by hand).

Pete

 

[robmcg]

OmniGraffle.

The Kindred Spirit logo is one I'd already made for embroidering onto canvas smocks (for me) and fleeces and polo shirts (for my parents). Can't remember what tools I used for that; the difficult part was getting something to smooth all the fuzzy bits of a photo into a crisp vector line (I'm no good at doing that kind of thing by hand).

Pete

Looks like Apple software (with the price to match). Will have to scout around for a PC software that does the same. Not really had to draw anything to scale on a computer before. Any pointers?

 

[prv]

Will have to scout around for a PC software that does the same. [...] Any pointers?

Nope. I use Linux and AIX at work, and Mac OS at home - haven't used Windows in anger for a decade

EDIT: Just seen the price of the current versions! Mine is an older one that cost about £20...

Pete

 

[prv]

Actually, I believe A&A recommend Inkscape as input to their laser process. I think there's a Windows version of that.

Pete