Design: Front Panel


To design the front panel, a 2D drawing package was needed, I tried a few of the free ones, but couldn’t get on with them. I eventually settled on QCAD which is a paid for program, but not hugely expensive.
To design the front panel, the following plans were needed: drill, hole sizes and dimensions; silk screen, (may not be done using silk screen, but lettering etc will be needed); and physical sizes of things fitted to the front panel, which I split into those behind, and those on the front of the front panel, to make sure there was enough separation between them.
I was worried that the quality of my hole cutting would not look great, but luckily a friend came to my rescue. The drill design was used to laser cut the front panel in aluminium. Thanks to my friend Dan Hessing for that.
I wasn’t sure of the exact colour I needed for the front panel, but I knew it used to be a colour called Duck Egg Blue, which is sort of a pale bluey green. I went to my local graffiti paint supplier GraffHQ, as I knew they had a large selection of colours. They also supplied me with an alternative spray cap, which directs the paint in a small line, rather than a circle, which was ideal for painting the panel. I didn’t know different spray caps existed.
The colour I chose can be seen above. I think the colour is a bit too dark, and a bit too green. But, this is the prototype panel, and that’s what prototypes are for. The paint can said the paint was for graffiti, and wouldn’t work well in other applications, but, to me, the paint finish looks fine.