UK AV Faceplates

[bh00]

Not quite on the direct subject of Electronics, but I'm finishing off a product and am looking for a way of mounting AV connectors on standard UK faceplates. I need 4x 3.5mm stereo jacks, 1 phono, 1 svideo & 1 9way-dsub. Would it be easy enough to just buy a standard blanking plate and fit the connecters myself, or can you buy this kind of thing already? A quick google led me to a few automation sites that do it but they seem to be very expensive module based systems (clipsal) or not have the kind of combinations I'm after.

Any help appreciated,
Ben

 

[djtaylor1]

Personally, for low volume, I think i'd just mount them myself on any of the metal choice of faceplates. The plastic ones (bakelite?) are very brittle and crack and flake. If you're just drilling one or two holes you might get away with acceptable results but it would be frustrating to drill most of the holes then have one go bad and have to start all over again.

David.

 

[jpanhalt]

Let me add a little trick to drilling plastic. The lips on typical drill bits tend to hog into the plastic, which is what leads eventually to cracking. Make the lips blunt to the drill tip with just a little grinding. That is, rather than have the cutting edge an acute angle to the tip, make it perpendicular. Then, the drill tends to scrape or peel the plastic rather than hog into it. Also, keep your speeds low so as not to melt the plastic.

 

[djtaylor1]

Let me add a little trick to drilling plastic. The lips on typical drill bits tend to hog into the plastic, which is what leads eventually to cracking. Make the lips blunt to the drill tip with just a little grinding. That is, rather than have the cutting edge an acute angle to the tip, make it perpendicular. Then, the drill tends to scrape or peel the plastic rather than hog into it. Also, keep your speeds low so as not to melt the plastic.

It's more that the UK faceplates tend to be bakelite or similar and are just very brittle. Even breaking through with a drill with bits of wood behind and so on still tend to cause flaking on the other side.

David.

 

[natural_orange]

If you already have all of the connectors you need i would go with building it yourself...unless you need a lot of them.

 

[jtallent]

I've done it both ways. It depends on a variety of factors, however. I personally would not use anything other than metal, however, I'm used to doing pro audio installations in public spaces where a plastic plate would simply be unacceptable. If you want a nice, professional look with real labeling (either laser or engraved with white fill) you should just have it sent out for a professional manufacturer to make. In the US there are a handful of good AV plate manufacturers and I'm sure there are plenty in the UK as well. I've done them myself as well, however, you aren't going to be able to make the labeling look professional and the D-SUB is going to be a real pain to get cut nicely. Here's a link to a US company that I use a lot and could at least give you an example of something professional that you can find closer to you. (I guess you could always order it from them and have it shipped - I'm sure they can make a standard UK plate).

https://www.rcicustom.com

Good luck.

 

[jtallent]

I've done it both ways, however, if you want a nice professional look with labeling (either laser or etched with paint fill), you should just have it custom made. I'm used to having these plates made a lot for pro audio/ performance space installations and I typically prefer to simple have them made. In the US, they would cost somewhere around $40 (US) punched, engraved, and loaded with connectors so I'm guessing you could find it somewhere in the UK for a similar price. There are a few companies I use in the US that do primarily pro A/V plates such as RCI custom products or RAPCO that you could search for to see some examples - they probably even make standard UK sizes. Even if you do it yourself, I would stay away from a plastic plate and keep in mind how much of a difficult time you may have punching the 9 pin D SUB if you do decide to tackle this yourself. Either way, good luck.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

It's highly unlikely to find anything as cheap in the UK, everything is far more expensive then the USA

 

[bh00]

Hi,

Thanks for all your suggestions, I actually went for a DIY solution in the end using plastic faceplates like these. This allowed me to get pretty much everything I wanted mounted on one size of faceplate or another and all just slotted together.