Electrical Switch templates

[Randy Digby]

Are there sources out there for engrave/cut templates for Allen-Bradley, Westing House, Square "D", etc. legend plates for industrial switches / push buttons / controls, or is it a "design your own" world?

I used to make a few for the industrial manufacturing company I retired from but finally stopped because of the time involved in producing one legend plate on a rotary engraver. With a new laser on the way, I may pursue that option again.

[Adam Orton]

I'll be watching this thread as I have just started dabbling in the idea. There is demand for nice laser label work..

[Rodne Gold]

Estucheon plates for 22mm switches arent great business..where the money comes from in terms of "switchplates" or the electrical business is full faceplates and , even better , mimic panels.

[Mike Null]

Such plastic items are available blank but why do that. Plastics are just about the most profitable thing you can do with your laser. Cut your own to the customer's specs.

On second thought, don't do it, I'll take care of your customers.

[Randy Digby]

While I was working as a maintenance manager for a large plastics plant (37 years in industry), I would do labels for a couple of electrical contractors when they had major installation projects in other companies. The economy downturn pretty much took care of that work. I continued to do one and two along for my old company after I went into this business full time but stopped that because of the time required for one label with rotary. With the new laser, I want to get all the patterns set up doing the small jobs and maybe in a year or so, some of the larger jobs will start coming back. Makes a fair filler to our normal business.

I'll post some here as I build them in the weeks to come. I am purchasing EngraveLab for my machine and I know most users use Corel. Can Corel import EngraveLab files?

Watching and waiting on the site...Thanks.

[Mike Null]

Randy

I don't know why anybody would purchase Engravlab for their laser when CorelDraw costs only 25% as much as the Expert version and will do a better job. Speaking from experience, just wait (and wait and wait)until you need tech support with Engravlab.

You can get help on CD from this forum and others not to mention a large number of tutorial sites on the internet.

I have Engravlab because I had to buy it for my rotary engraver--believe me if I could have used Corel I'd never have spent the money on Engravlab.

[Eric Seest]

I just happen to run up on the same question except I need to find a supplier that makes metal ones that I can engrave on. I can cut the plastic ones out all day long but the customer needs metal ones, which I plan on using CerMark to engrave the information on them. Any suggestions on a supplier for metal legend tags.

[Tony Lenkic]

Eric

Try Royal Oak Name Plates (RONP.COM) out of Michigan (Detroit area).

[Randy Digby]

Eric, depending on which brand of controls the legends are for, a local electrical distributor may be able to supply those for you. Allen Bradley (owned by Rockwell Automation), Westinghouse, etc. can have different hole diameters for the switch mounted legends. The plant I managed maintenance for used A-B controls throughout and we got the switch mounted legend plates from our A-B dealer. I just found a site that has the hole and alignment tab dimensions for some of their controls.

http://www.ab.com/en/epub/catalogs/12768/229240/229244/2531083/

I know this does not answer your question, but may help down the road.

[Tony Lenkic]

Randy,

I've tried local A-B distributor who holds teritorial rights and for 800T-559X legends distributor's price is $3.85 each. Form RONP my price for 250 pcs is about 72 cents each including freight. There is very little room for a profit from distributor, IMO.

[Mike Null]

You can also try Johnson Plastics.

[Randy Digby]

Tony, are those the metal tags Eric was looking for, or plastic? I've not been able to find a supplier, other than OEM, for metal blanks.

[Tony Lenkic]

Randy,

Yes they are aluminum blank legends.
Royal Oak makes cross-reference for major OEM manufacturers (A-B, Cuttler Hammer, GE , Square-D, Rees & Westinghouse). You can find 30.5mm and 22.5mm blanks. On their web site there is not much listed but if you call them and ask for catalog you will see it all.