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By default, the design will have a separate laser-cut faceplate for each individual module. For larger displays you may want to combine front panels into a single piece, and the repo has a script to help with this.
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You can modify:
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* Number of rows and columns
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* Horizontal and vertical spacing/separation of modules
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* Overall outer width and height of the panel
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There are a lot of options; see the `--help` for explanations.
If you want to cut a front panel with a CNC router (useful for _very_ large displays), use the `--tool-diameter` argument to remove kerf-correction and instead add dogbones to the tab slots.
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With the dogbones added to the tab slots, these would be unsightly if cut as through-slots, but because this is CNC cut rather than laser-cut, you can do partial Z-depth slots. For example, for a 6mm thick MDF front panel, I'd recommend cutting the dogbone tab slots to a depth of 4mm. This way, only the 2 front bolt heads are visible from the front, and not the tab slots.
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For CNC cutting, the script supports rendering a vector file optimized for thicker material (e.g. 6mm MDF) where only the bolt-holes will be through-cut. In this mode, the slots for the top/bottom enclosure pieces can be cut as ~4mm pockets so they aren't visible from the front face. The script automatically generates dog-bone shapes for these pocket cuts.
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This example also demonstrates use of the --frame-margin-x and --frame-margin-y options to add an additional margin of 20mm horizontally and 4mm vertically to the front panel dimensions.
If you'd like to customize the font or character set of your display, you can use the `generate_fonts.py` script to generate a vector file that can be used for cutting vinyl stickers or can be sent to a print shop that can produce printed flaps directly.
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If you'd like to print your own flaps, or cut custom vinyl letter stickers, the project includes a script (`generate_fonts.py`) to generate vector design files, which is extremely configurable:
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* Font for text
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* This is further customizable in `flap_fonts.scad` -- this is where font parameters are defined like the overall font scale, position offsets, and even per-character scale and position overrides in case you need to tweak particularly problematic letters (e.g. a really wide "W" or an "@" with too thin of a stroke).
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* Character-set - which letters/numbers/symbols/colors are included and in what order
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* Bleed - extends rendering past the borders of the flaps to compensate for slight misalignment of printing and cutting operations
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* Keepout areas - option to highlight keepout violations for manual review, automatically clip them, or ignore them
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* Rendering options:
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* Single-sided - useful for previewing how all letters will look on flaps
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* Front/back - for batch duplex printing, generate separate front-side and back-side files (e.g. sign shop printing on a flat sheet of PVC)
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* Side-by-side - for individual flap printing, each flap's front design is laid out side-by-side with its back design
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There are a lot of options; see the `--help` for explanations.
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You'll also need to edit `flap_fonts.scad` if you want to use a custom font -- this is where font parameters are defined like the overall font scale, position offsets, and even per-character scale and position overrides in case you need to tweak particularly problematic letters (e.g. a really wide "W" or an "@" with too thin of a stroke).
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#### Example 1 - Epilogue font, rendered in front+back pairs, default character set, 1mm bleed (for printing)
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@@ -432,35 +440,6 @@ There are optional WS2812B RGB LEDs which can be used to indicate the status of
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### Miscellaneous Tools
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#### Flaps and Fonts
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If you'd like to print your own flaps, or cut custom vinyl letter stickers, the project includes a script to generate vector design files
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that is extremely configurable:
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* Font for text (this is further customizable in OpenSCAD)
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* Character-set - which letters/numbers/symbols/colors are included and in what order
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* Bleed - extends rendering past the borders of the flaps to compensate for slight misalignment of printing and cutting operations
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* Keepout areas - option to highlight keepout violations for manual review, automatically clip them, or ignore them
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* Rendering options:
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* Single-sided - useful for previewing how all letters will look on flaps
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* Front/back - for batch duplex printing, generate separate front-side and back-side files (e.g. sign shop printing on a flat sheet of PVC)
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* Side-by-side - for individual flap printing, each flap's front design is laid out side-by-side with its back design
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TODO: finish documenting this and render some example images...
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#### Combined Front Panel Generator
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If you'd like to share a single front face across multiple modules (rather than each module having its own front face), the repo
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includes a script to generate a combined front panel for laser-cutting or CNC milling/routing.
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You can modify:
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* Number of rows and columns
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* Horizontal and vertical spacing/separation of modules
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-
* Overall outer width and height of the panel
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-
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For CNC cutting, the script supports rendering a vector file optimized for thicker material (e.g. 6mm MDF) where only the bolt-holes will be through-cut. In this mode, the slots for the top/bottom enclosure pieces can be cut as ~4mm pockets so they aren't visible from the front face. The script automatically generates dog-bone shapes for these pocket cuts.
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TODO: finish documenting this and render some example images...
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#### 3D Printed Tools
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The project also includes a number of optional 3D printed designs to make assembly easier. These include:
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