How to Make a Great Looking Front Panel in Minutes!

It's easy to make your project cases look professional. Once you have designed and printed your artwork, it takes only a few minutes to produce. It's also cleanable with anti-covid wipes.

Supplies

You will need your artwork printed or photocopied (or even hand drawn), a laminator and laminating pouch, and a craft knife or scissors.

Step 1: A Short Video

Watch the short video for more detailed instructions

Step 2: Create Artwork

Design the artwork for your panel. Here we designed a front panel for a central heating controller. We used Inkscape as it's popular and free.

Step 3: Cut Out Artwork

Carefully cut out the panel. For our panel we needed a window cut-out for the OLED display. To hide the ragged edges, use a black border and color the edge with a black Sharpie.

Step 4: Laminate

Place the design in a laminator pouch, and send through the laminator.

Step 5: Trim Laminate

With scissors or a paper cutter, trim the laminate border to within 1mm of the artwork. Don't cut too close as the laminate seal will be broken. Try it on the project box, ensuring it will fit.

Step 6: Fix to the Project Box

After cutting the holes in the box, you can re-fit the panel. In this design we used tac switches just beneath the buttons, and a hole in the box large enough to flex and operate the switch. You may decide on touch switches. Either way try not to make openings in the laminate, and this will prevent it being waterproof and wipable.