Support Forum

Hi Mike,

You can find a walkthrough for scales in our FAQ section under 'How do I create a round scale?'

Here is an example for a basic scale with 5 positions done with Front Panel Designer.

Posted By: Diane Haensel on Jan 15, 2009 05:42AM

Hi Carl,

1. We offer plexiglas in 2, 3 and 4 mm thickness. See here

2. Plexiglas is available in clear or red. Other colors are available upon request, please contact our office at (206) 768-0602 or info@frontpanelexpress.com for details.

3. Our standard colors can be selected in Front Panel Designer. Please use the 'Remark-Box' in Front Panel Designer to leave us a note for any special requests.

Best regards,

Diane

Posted By: Diane Haensel on Jan 14, 2009 04:45PM

Can the Plexiglass Red Filter you offer be used

for VFD or LED Display Filters.?

Posted By: Jorge de la Paz on Jan 02, 2010 04:13AM

We offer the brand Plexiglas GS from Evionik (Product description) for both clear and red acrylics.

You can find the optical properties on page 6. It has a pretty good transmittance percentage of 92 and blocks UV. Basically, it depends on what kind of filter you are looking for. There are acrylics available on the market with integrated light guiding material or non glare surface texture.

If you are looking for UV protection and a couple of percent in transmittance loss aren't a problem, our plexiglas will be usable as VFD or LED display filters.

Posted By: Diane Haensel on Jan 05, 2010 04:36AM

(1) For transparent/translucent plastic materials , pLease add Clear Lexan (Polycarbonate) material to your available materials. In many instances the proximity of a polystrene or plexiglass material to an lcd or other electronics can build up a static charge and transmit it to the lcd/electronics ,possibly zapping it.

(2) For Opague plastic materials ,please add ABS materials like black. No issues with static unlike Plexiglass/POlystyrene materials.

Posted By: Jeff Wilson on Jul 10, 2010 05:49PM

Hello Jeff,

I can sympathize with you in regards to static discharge. Having worked for many years in the plastics industry, I can offer some insight.

Both polycarbonate and acrylic will have immense static discharge potential, but this appears to be more of an issue with the masking that is placed over the sheet. A sheet with poly-mask will have immense discharge capability (I have experienced a 1/4" arc from a sheet of 3mm polycarbonate), while a sheet with paper masking tends to have almost none. At Front Panel Express, we always remove the masking on any sheet we machine, and it sits on a giant grounded metal mill for significant periods of time. When the plastic is packed, if two pieces of plastic are to be packed one on top of the other, a piece of tissue paper will be placed between them. I would imagine, however, that a material like FPVC might still have issues, even with those efforts taken.

We are able to machine plenty of different opaque plastic materials, and we can special order these quite easily. For the amount of this type of machining that we do, it does not make a ton of sense to keep all of these materials around. For something like black ABS, you will typically see one day added to your order for us to receive the material.

Many thanks,

-Paul

Posted By: Paul Birkeland on Jul 12, 2010 07:04PM

Hi,

On this page, it is mentioned that the clear acrylic comes in thickness from 2mm to 10mm.

But, in the quoted post (below) and in designer, the maximal thickness is 4mm.

1. We offer plexiglas in 2, 3 and 4 mm thickness. See here

What information is good, because I would like to make a led edge-lit window whit engraving. So I will need a thickness of 6mm minimum.

Thanks

Julien

Posted By: Julien on Mar 19, 2013 09:46PM

Hello Julien,

The forum post is from 2009 and outdated. You can order clear acrylic up to 10mm in thickness.

Best regards,

Diane

Posted By: DianeHaensel on Mar 20, 2013 11:33PM

Hello Jeremy,

A vector import does not bring information of the z-axis. Everything with 'depth information' as countersinks, cavities or threaded holes would not be correctly defined.

We are working on an import option in Front Panel Designer to allow more complex shapes. This will be available with the next version. We will keep you informed about the release date.

Posted By: Diane Haensel on Dec 09, 2008 07:59PM

Hi Jeff,

You don't have to to design this shape in Front Panel Designer. The combination of several curved slots can be tricky especially when smooth arc-arc transitions are needed. We can import dxf files for 'complicated' outer shapes in our milling files so that panels aren't only restricted to rectangular or circular shapes.

In Detail:

Just design the panel in a rectangular shape (in your case 14.17" x 16.63").

Place all cutouts and engravings as wanted. Please add a note for us that you want the shape modified by dxf import and submit your order as usual. As soon as we receive your dxf file (please send to order@frontpanelexpress.com with the reference number of your order) we will let you know the additional cost for the modification, usually between $15 and $45.

It is also possible to provide just a pdf with the dimensions you want and let us do the rest.

Posted By: Diane Haensel on Dec 03, 2008 05:48AM

Hi James,

we can send you samples of our available materials so that you can give your polish products a try.

Please call us at (206)768-0602 or email us at info@frontpanelexpress.com to give us your address. We will send out the samples shortly.

Regards,

Diane

Posted By: Diane Haensel on Nov 18, 2008 05:26PM

In the thread titled "Beveled edges" it was revealed that a part can be machined on its edge if the material is thick enough. What are the constraints to this?

For example, can I machine a M2 hole in 4mm material? What position tolerance is there between features machined on the front and features machined on the edge?

That is possible. Our position tolerance of objects on different sides/edges is +/- 0.1mm. M2 in a 4mm panel works fine, M3 would be pretty tight and is not recommended.

You can set up your design as the following:

- Design an additional panel with height of 4mm and length in accordance to the front panel. This will give you the top view on the edge. Choose 4mm thickness, we will fix the panel thickness for you later. You can go up to 4.5mm deep with a M2 hole.

- Check the box for customer's material, the material price is already included in the front panel.

- Place the M2 holes where needed. Please let us know how the holes are related to the front if they are not symmetric (a note in "Remarks" is fine).

Also, is it possible to machine on the perpendicular faces of right-angle aluminum? The sides are 25.4mm wide and 3.2mm thick. Is it possible to machine on the two outside faces of this material? How about the inside faces?

In general, yes for the outside. But it depends on your design, e.g. distance to edges etc. Inside is a little more tricky and really depends on what you want to have cut or engraved. I can give you a more specific answer if you could provide a drawing or even better a Front Panel Designer file.

Regards,

Diane

Posted By: Diane Haensel on Nov 11, 2008 01:18AM