I willingly admit I am not good at mechanics. I can't saw a straight line or reliably drill a hole on the right place, but sometimes mechanics is unavoidable. Below the modules of the mixer is a 2U panel where the channel rotary faders are to be. It really needs to be made of aluminium so it can be engraved but even 3mm thick aluminium is not strong enough such that it it can reliably span 19 inches and survive being leant on - I know I accidentally did it.
A long time ago, when I was building another mixer that was intended to use the same RackZ 19 inch console housing as this one, I had some special wide aluminium extrusions made that were designed to fit right across the RackZ console. I never used them and still have them so I thought I might be able to use them to add strength to the aluminium panel. Unfortunately, when I 'designed' the extrusion, I forgot to account for the 19 inch rack panel mounting built in to the RackZ console so they don't fit!
However, I have a lot of other bits of extrusion accumulated over the years so I had a rummage through them and found a couple that seemed ideal. Each is just shorter than the panel width and is about 6mm thick and 12mm wide. More importantly, they have several 3mm tapped holes along their length, ideal for attaching to a panel. So I stuck them to the panel with Sellotape and used a small drill to make pilot holes in the front panel where the tapped holes were. I removed the extrusions, drilled out the holes in the panel to 4mm and then bolted the extrusion to the panel. I am pleased to say the result is a very strong assembly that, when fitted to the RackZ console, can be leant on without fear of it bending.
I don't like doing mechanics but occasionally you win.
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