front panel express, your experience?

[el_matt0]

ive heard alot of great things around these forums and have seen a lot of VERY nice results thanks to FPE. im just wondering roughly how long (ballpark) they take to make and ship you your panel. im just interested in getting 1 single front panel for a b22 im building...u think id be looking at a matter of a week or two, or are we talking month +?

 

[el_matt0]

oh also, one more question for anyone that has used the FPE program to any extent. im new to it but it was pretty straightforward..the one question i have is. i want a small hole (0.125 inches) to put an LED into the front panel, however since its a 4 inch thick panel, i think i need a small countersink on the opposite side (the INSIDE of the panel) so that the led will sit slightly proud when viewed from the frontside. can anyone tell me if i was correct in selecting the "place on reverse side" option, and then filling out the details for the manual countersink? its not 100% clear as the picture it shows you doesnt indicate really which side the countersink is on, but i ASSUME this was right? THX for any help

appreciate it

 

[n_maher]

I believe if you look at the pricing options for the panel there is place where you can choose expedited turn-around time. I've ordered from them a couple times and the standard turn-around has been about two weeks.

 

[warrior05]

I believe Fitz ordered one for his modded Darkvoice and he had favorable things to say about them. Don't remember the turn around though.

 

[MrMajestic2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by el_matt0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif oh also, one more question for anyone that has used the FPE program to any extent. im new to it but it was pretty straightforward..the one question i have is. i want a small hole (0.125 inches) to put an LED into the front panel, however since its a 4 inch thick panel, i think i need a small countersink on the opposite side (the INSIDE of the panel) so that the led will sit slightly proud when viewed from the frontside. can anyone tell me if i was correct in selecting the "place on reverse side" option, and then filling out the details for the manual countersink? its not 100% clear as the picture it shows you doesnt indicate really which side the countersink is on, but i ASSUME this was right? THX for any help appreciate it

Im assuming you mean a 4mm thick panel and not 4 inches, right

Also, I think its slightly cheaper to make the 0.125 inch hole and then put a blind hole on the reverse side instead of a countersink. But otherwise your
way should work fine.

I've used FPE a couple of times and they have always met the delivery date stated in the ordering part of the software. Im using the european version though so I get my panels from germany.

 

[greatfool]

Their workmanship is excellent and they respond to emails very quickly so I would highly recommend FPE. My panel took about a month from order to my door but thats mostly UPS's fault, so my only complaint would be that they only ship UPS.

 

[MASantos]

I worked with them once, for the Alien DAC project and the 24 panels came with excelent finished and quality. Very good and recomended.

 

[cgrums]

I just ordered panels for my mini^3 yesterday. Went through the drawings this morning and noticed that I had a piece of engraved text too low. Made the change, fired off a new file and emailed them this morning. They were very prompt to respond to my change request and very courteous to boot.

For smaller panels you're looking at ~7 business days to fabricate for the standard and 3-5 business days for shipping.

Unless you live in Seattle (like me) and can just pop down to their office to pick up the panels.

I'd definitely recommend working with them.

 

[DaKi][er]

I'm very happy with the panels I got the other week, I forget the turnaround but it was pretty much what they said it would be plus shipping was pretty good coming half way around the world too. The finish is fantastic and I am very happy with the results (at $250aud shipped for amp panels you'd want to be)

 

[el_matt0]

one more FPE question. i have some engraved text that is quite large, to the point that with the script ive selected (a 4 stroke script) and using even the biggest 0.6mm engraving tool, i can visibly see sections of black(color of my panel) showing within the supposedly all white infilled text engraving! now, the only way i can get it to display nicely and rectify this problem, is by choosing one of the cutter tools rather than one of the engraving tools. it now LOOKS fine in the FPE program...but im a little unsure. is it exactly as seen (ie if i had left it the way it was it wouldve had the black showing right?) and secondly is the cutter tool OK to choose for this, what is really the difference from our points of view in terms of the end product? thanks guys again

 

[n_maher]

At this point I think your best course of action is the pick up the phone Monday and call them. I could only guess and it sounds like you're getting a big panel made which wouldn't make for a cheap mistake!

 

[el_matt0]

ah yes...probably true...just figured someone with some experience in the program would definitely know the answer to such a question...

 

[MrMajestic2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by el_matt0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif one more FPE question. i have some engraved text that is quite large, to the point that with the script ive selected (a 4 stroke script) and using even the biggest 0.6mm engraving tool, i can visibly see sections of black(color of my panel) showing within the supposedly all white infilled text engraving! now, the only way i can get it to display nicely and rectify this problem, is by choosing one of the cutter tools rather than one of the engraving tools. it now LOOKS fine in the FPE program...but im a little unsure. is it exactly as seen (ie if i had left it the way it was it wouldve had the black showing right?) and secondly is the cutter tool OK to choose for this, what is really the difference from our points of view in terms of the end product? thanks guys again

The engravings I've done with FPE looks the same in real life as in the software. I've also done HPGL engraving which also turned out really well.

 

[seroxatmad]

Hi

My first experience of them....

Only problem is both top and bottom edges you can see marks were the panel has been held.

John

 

[el_matt0]

hmm :\ so nobody knows the answer to my question regarding the cutter tool?