Where can I buy 1-2mm thick alum panels

McMaster-Carr

Thanks, great idea! I found what I need, there. Can I use regular hole saws to make holes in aluminum? (for installing roung bodied gauges)

Try Yarde Metals Drop Zone, it'll be much less than McMaster(perhaps 75% less), but you do have spend $75 to avoid an $18(?) service charge.

I modified (read "ruined"?) a cheapo hole saw to make a single hole for the same purpose by grinding off all but four groups of six teeth each, spaced evenly. My thinking was that it would both reduce the power requirement and provide a lot of chip space. Using a smallish drill press and copious fluid it worked fine. Haven't had to make another hole with the tool so I don't know if it lived through the experience, but it seems OK.

If you want a really nice professional looking panel. check out these folks.

Find a speed shop that caters to circle track racers. They should have

I am most extremely impressed. I am already downloading their software and will give it a try!!!

I just downloaded and tried the program. It is awesome and prices are, indeed, reasonable. I might well spend the $$ instead of spending endless hours doing basically an inferior job.

I already designed something, see

You might just get a trammel cutter rather than using a hole saw. This will give you a nice clean hole. Just be sure you have a chunk of wood backing up the work.

You can use these by hand, but it is much easier in a drill press or mill.

Hum - is that a rich text file - format - 9GB ? sure was loading slow so I aborted. Martin

It is 9 megs, not 9 gigs. Yes, it sure is kinda big. See

Most road signs are painted on material like this so you could either liberate enough material at great discount or visit a local sign shop and purchase new blanks. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Actually, most of them aren't painted. They're plastic laminate, with the bottom layer reflective white/yellow/orange, and the top layer black, and they cut the sign with a CNC swivel knife and peel off to show the bottom layer.

Also, you can frequently get bent or faded ones from a local town/county DPW. Not all of them will give them away, so you may have to ask around a bit. --Glenn Lyford

You're right, of course. This is a good part of what keeps a certain Minnesota based industry alive, only in the cheapskate municipalities do you find the painted variety. Gerry :-)} London, Canada