Best carcase materials for switch/mimic panels.

[collectors]

Have you found good materials for a carcase/faceplate for switch/mimic panels. I found steel if not to thin very good. Aluminium i found terrible to work with. Perspex is a no, no. ply can splinter easily on the surface. I have read that Polycarbonate is very forgiving & nice to use. Have any of you used this with good results ??. I am hoping to make another panel up like the one in the photo & what i did with this was made the layout using the Hornby software, then added the other bit to the plan & sent it off to Vista print & they printed it onto a plastic type of paper for under a fiver. Then stuck it to my ally plate.
Now the ally is what i want to avoid.

[Bigmet]

Got to ask what was the problem with aluminium? Easy to work and cut, robust, I have used nothing but for control panels, but then again I had a stash of aluminium sheet. (Samples of deep drawn sixteenth inch sheet from BA, Pechiney and VAW. The dimension may just suggest how long ago these were obtained.)

[Bufferstop]

Mine is a piece of 3mm white faced MDF, the stuff they provide for the back of flatpack bookshelves, the framing is 6mm ply.

The diagram is printed onto OHP transparency the black tape around the edge hides the double sided tape which keeps it in place. The two meters are wired between the socket for the right hand controller and the track feed switches, and the polarity is flipped by a sub miniature microswitch mechanically connected to the slider of the reversing switch. It puts 12v down a spare wire in the connecting lead which operates a relay which "unreverses" the output for the meters then "re-reverses" it before feeding it to the section switches. The lower panel covers a shelf with the various transformers, 3 for the hand-held controllers (there's a third one on a sub panel, plus a multi voltage one for lights etc. It's held in by four dome headed screws and the first thing it uncovers is a reminder to disconnect the whole lot before going any further.

[collectors]

Thanks for the reply. I have ordered a box from amazon that might save me some work. The unit i have at the moment is in a hand made box & mounted on a TV wall bracket. So i have splashed out £19 for this box & will see what i can do with it. its 400x300x140mm. I have a few relays to mount in the back as well.

[Bufferstop]

That could be a useful box for many things, do you have a link for it, or an Amazon reference?

[collectors]

Have a scroll through their Amazon shop. They do lots of handy things.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Creativ ... f_=ast_bln Wooden items.

[Bufferstop]

Thanks collectors, I've bookmarked it for further investigation.