Need some advice

[vader]

Designed my panel and had it all put together with a plexi cover and was ready to do some slot cutting today.  Well low and behold my little brother decides to remove the film because he thought I forgot to.  Grrr....well no big deal, I'll just put some masking tape on the bottom of the router and it won't scratch the service, guess what...didn't work.  Got some gouges in the plexi and I really am
quite down about it.  Everything to this point was going great.  Well since I need to redo the plexi, I figured, what the heck, lets go for a new layout.  Originally had the Project Arcade layout and it was nice, but I wanna be different. Oh, btw if your thinking, why didn't he just take the plexi off and cut, all the joystick bolt mount's were countersunk and under the contact paper.   I guess what this
is coming down to is....what is a good program for designing a panel that doesn't have to steep a of a leaning curve ?  Thanks for any advice guys and you have been a great help.  Kudo for MLCS woodworking....their bits make life real easy to...

Tim

[Quazi]

You might try here: http://www.move360media.com/mame/icpd/ICPD.htm


Easy to use and no software needed to download.

[DougHillman]

I use Adobe Illustrator.  If you have access to it, it's a great multipurpose program.

While it's an extremely powerful program, doing something like basic panel design is NOT complicated.   If you grab the .ai file that's linked to down towards the bottom of this[/url thread, you can just cut & paste the various controls onto your own panel.  

The bonus of a program such as illustrator is that you can use multiple layers and design over the top of each.  The basic CP layout template can be printed at full size.  Just tape it to your CP, mark the centers of the holes, and drill away.  Then design your CP overlay on another layer, print it, and everything will line up.

D

[paigeoliver]

I always just lay the parts on the panel and draw the holes I need to cut and then cut them, it has worked for over 30 panels now.