Friday 8 July 2011

Cheap DIY front panels from UK DIY store!!!

Tone's Top Tip for July

Whilst wandering around my local Homebase DIY store I noticed a rack of metal and plastic extrusions. In there was a range of 2mm thick aluminium clear anodised strip in 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, 25mm and 30mm widths i.e. approximately 2HP, 3HP, 4HP, 5HP and 6HP respectively (note that the online links wrongly refer to it as flat tube and not all widths are listed online). The strips are 1m long and cost between £4.50 and £8.00 each. They have a similar finish to Doepfer front panels but with a slight vertical graining. Here's a pic of 6HP and 4HP strips.


If you are OK at cutting and drilling they are a cheap solution to narrow DIY panels. Good dimension info here. I guess they are available in most large DIY stores so it's worth having a look next time you are there.