Inspired by PRV's switch panel

[Reptile Smile]

Hi all,

For the 'new' boat, I needed to buy a new switch panel, and then got to thinking about one of Pete's replies to one of my previous threads about how he'd had a switch panel laser cut, and then somehow remembered that we have a laser cutter at the school in which I teach, so banged this together at lunchtime today. Making it out of ply was more of a test, but actually I rather like it (though of course it could be acrylic or anything else...)

https://youtu.be/tkl-v-zyxEI

Cost was £2.25 for 10 switches and £1.40 for 10 fuse holders (both from China via eBay) = £3.65. Rather satisfying...

 

[Hadenough]

Very nice but why not use breakers instead of glass fuses?

 

[Reptile Smile]

Largely because I'm a bear of very little brain, and I don't know what breakers are. Do you have a link? nothing is wired in yet, and it's just a case of pressing print again. What is a breaker, and what would the advantage be? Are they cheaper? Or smaller/neater? Or re-usable?

 

[Jungle Jim]

A breaker is basically a resettable fuse. If your fuse blows you take out the blown one and throw it away. With a breaker an overload trips a switch. Once you have sorted the problem that tripped it,you press the reset button on the breaker which closes the switch again and you're good to go. They work in a similar way to the trips in your household electrical distribution panel (aka fusebox).

 

[Reptile Smile]

So they're neat and elegant, which is a good thing, but seem to cost rather more than £1.40 for 10 - would that be a fair summary?

 

[GrahamHR]

Well, I wish I had a laser cutter. Not having access to one it took me some 4 hours today to cut out a battery switch and breaker panel from a sheet of polycarbonate.

At my last hourly rate of pay before I retired that would have been many hundred pounds ! I should have been a teacher and had access to useful kit like a laser cutter, flux capacitor etc.!

 

[nigelmercier]

So they're neat and elegant, which is a good thing, but seem to cost rather more than £1.40 for 10 - would that be a fair summary?

A couple of quid each, but we'll worth it. http://cpc.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/s...st=W28&mf=100303&pageSize=25&showResults=true

Are you taking orders?

 

[halcyon]

So they're neat and elegant, which is a good thing, but seem to cost rather more than £1.40 for 10 - would that be a fair summary?

Does that include the fuse holders ?


Brian

 

[prv]

Well, I wish I had a laser cutter. Not having access to one it took me some 4 hours today to cut out a battery switch and breaker panel from a sheet of polycarbonate.

I wish I had direct access to one too, but failing that, Andrews and Arnold provide a quick turnaround for my cutting files, and were extremely helpful when we were initially getting things set up.

The trouble is, once you've had one or two panels made, you end up wanting them everywhere

(These are just the ones I happen to have photos of handy, there are several more in different places around the boat.)

Pete

 

[prv]

Does that include the fuse holders ?

Probably, and the postage

Pete

 

[Reptile Smile]

Probably, and the postage

Pete

Exactly I like the borders engraved on yours. Might put one of those on...

 

[Strolls]

I wish I had direct access to one too, but failing that, Andrews and Arnold provide a quick turnaround for my cutting files, and were extremely helpful when we were initially getting things set up.

…

These black and white panels are very nice.

Are these the ones A&A did for you?

I guess the white lettering is done by "cutting" only to a shallow depth or something?

 

[prv]

Are these the ones A&A did for you?

Yes - and many of the panels in the picture you didn't quote too.

I guess the white lettering is done by "cutting" only to a shallow depth or something?

Exactly. The material is white plastic with a thin black top layer, so for drawing they just burn away the black with the laser to reveal the white. Same as the old Traffolyte stuff. It's available in a fairly wide range of colours (both top and middle) - I have a couple of warning notices in red and white, but otherwise just the black.

Pete

 

[Strolls]

Many thanks.

 

[LadyInBed]

If you don't have access to the equipment you can get the lettering done in shoe repair / key cutter / engraving shops. Nowhere near as cheap though.

 

[Strolls]

On reflection, I think Dymo tape is more my speed.

Sod's law that if I got plates like prv's made up, I'd very soon want to change something - add a switch or change the layout.

I won my LetraTag in a local newspaper promotion years ago, but checking prices now, the handheld ones are dead cheap.

 

[prv]

Sod's law that if I got plates like prv's made up, I'd very soon want to change something - add a switch or change the layout.

But you have a laser machine! So just burn a new one

I generally design the panels a long time before getting them cut (months in some cases). Partly because I try to batch them up into one order per winter refit period, and partly so that I have time to reflect and make changes to the designs before they're cut. There were many iterations of the main switch panel, most rather more complex than what I ended up with, with various gauges and sockets etc.

As for expansion, you will note that there are four unlabelled switches on the left hand side, which are not yet connected. If I add something new, I will label its switch with white-on-black TZ tape - the spaces below the switches are specifically sized for two rows of it.

Pete

 

[nigelmercier]

If I add something new, I will label its switch with white-on-black TZ tape ...

My main panel has many such labels. I bought a high-res printer to make them nicer.

I have found that lightly rubbing the surface with a very fine non-woven abrasive pad removes the shine, so it matches the panel better.

 

[GrahamM376]

Laser engraving machines quite cheap - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/2717...1=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

 

[Anthony]

Laser engraving machines quite cheap - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/2717...1=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

That's a very low power laser and will not cut or engrave many things, by the time you go up in size and power, then start to realize that the machines out of china are a starting point and need more work done to make them reliable and accurate the costs soon add up.