The control for the VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) on my lathe was pretty shoddy, so I decided to build a new one. I got a 3 X 6 inch piece of 1/8 thick aluminum sheet from Hobby Metal Kits, and drilled and bored the holes for the switches and the potentiometer.
The really cool part was that I found out how to create the “brushed aluminum” finish on the panel.
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Glue a bit of Scotch Brite to a stick, put it in the drill press, and spin the pattern onto the aluminum sheet. I thought alignment would be tricky, but if you just slightly overlap the circles and then offset the next row it looks pretty good, I think.
From there it was just a matter of building the box and wiring it up.
