Remember, if you import steel or aluminium into the United States you have to pay punitive tariffs. The paperwork alone is probably enough to deter importers. The local producers can thus charge whatever they like and get away with it.
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I bought some stuff at Gie-Tec. I remember finding this when reading one of the articles at the Doepfer-site explaining where they get (or got) their panels from. So far I have 3D-printed my front panels, some are in green, some are in black pla. They are sturdy enough, so that works for me.
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I was so ready to order from Gie-Tech a few weeks ago, but they also donāt currently ship to the US 
Gie-Tech is the source of the rails Doepfer uses. I donāt know of any US sources. A number of alternatives exist. Thereās a fairly comprehensive writeup here:
I bought TipTop rails with M3 threaded inserts for the case I use now. But theyāre pricey: $40 for an 84HP pair from Perfect Circuit (includes inserts). My next case probably will have Vector rails. You can buy a package of four 60 inch rails (thatās 600HP!) for under $75 (not including inserts or nuts).
One minor caveat is that they wonāt take M3 nuts, you have to use M2.5.
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If you are using the same jacks as the ones I am using. Get a Countersink drill bit and drill on the back side too allow enough clearance too put the jacks on.
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good idea . doh , the same thing I have done for years working with wood .
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I just went back to https://www.onlinemetals.com and noticed this:
Cut tolerance will be +.125" -0" (+1/8 -0)
So ā unless Iām misunderstanding something ā if you order a 7.87" by 7.81" panel what you get could be up to 8" by 8"? Could be a problem if you have a case design that doesnāt allow for a few millimeters height variation (or if you object to modules whose heights mismatch at the 1/8" level; I guess you could have a strip that covers the edges to hide that, though).
Metals4uonline.com also quotes the same tolerances for cut-to-order. Iām guessing thatās probably typical of any cut-to-order supplier but I also looked at https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/ and couldnāt even find mention of tolerances. And certainly I havenāt seen that large a variation in heights of commercial Eurorack front panels, even ones from 1-person shops that probably do not buy in great bulk, so they must be getting tighter tolerances or cutting their own.
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Yep, they came in yesterday, I was hoping that was going to be more a liability disclaimer, they are slightly larger than spec but only 1/16ā strong. So yah thatās annoying, but not to hard to fix
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yeah I noticed that to , an 1/8th of an inch is quiet a bit . I have run brake sheers in shops and they can cut to .001 tolerance every time . so there is no reason to be that sloppy unless they just donāt give a shit .
Did a little more looking and found this place
https://www.metalsdepot.com
advertising cut tolerance Ā±1/16". However, if I put in 5 pieces 6061 T6, 3 15/16" by 7 7/8", it rounds the 3 15/16 to 4! And then quotes a price of $81.60.
This one
https://www.coremarkmetals.com
says shear cut Ā±1/16" and charges $80.60.
By contrast this one
https://www.midweststeelsupply.com
says Std. cut tolerance -.00/+.125" and quotes a price ofā¦ $12.70!! For five pieces. Plus $10.16 ground shipping to me. Though they also wonāt take 3 15/16" for a dimension, only 4".
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Itās an extra step, but Iām gonna pick up an aluminum grinding wheel for the peanut grinder. 3$ and I bet it chews thru aluminum pretty quick.
Next time Iād just buy a bigger sheet and cut my own, but Iāll make these work. I built my case with about 1/4ā of extra space left to right so chances are I wonāt even have to mess with them
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Iāve been reading that grinding aluminum is a bad bad idea:
https://www.finishing.com/317/17.shtml
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I think Iāll stick with plywood.
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Yeah you canāt use a typical wheel meant for steel, but they make special ānon-loadingā wheels that donāt get gummed up like a steel disc would
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I really think itās one of the cheapest solutions, for me itās recup
I use 5mm and itās easy to work
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What I just got, relatively cheap (for the US) aluminum:
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Hi
Have you spoken nicely to your local fabrication shop/auto repair shop?
Aluminium is pricey - but honestly, for synth panels you could likey get 2mm thick offcuts from them. Theyāll probably even guillotine them to close to size for a very small fee.
After that, get in with a file to even them up.
They will look funky - but they will also be cheap!
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