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[Louie Warren]

In my guitar rig... I am using one of these to connect my pedal board to my racks.  I have a 7 channel and connect 4 to one rack and 3 to another.  It was a major PITA to fish around in the rack to find the connectors.  I decided to make a rack panel so all I had to do is plug them up on the panel and I'm done.   Ordered 7 of these and two of these.  Obviously I was under the false impression that all XLRs were the same size as my old Switchcraft panel mounts...  discovered that D size holes fit the Neutrik NL2 panel mounts perfectly.   So... I ordered 2 of these.

My dumb guitar player questions are:
1. There is no magic washer/jacket/adapter thing to make the connectors I bought fit the D holes?

2. How hard are the pre-punched panels to knock out the specific sizes I need?   Never done one of these before.

Thanx in advance for indulging this old guitar player.

[Bob Charest]

In my guitar rig... I am using one of these to connect my pedal board to my racks.  I have a 7 channel and connect 4 to one rack and 3 to another.  It was a major PITA to fish around in the rack to find the connectors.  I decided to make a rack panel so all I had to do is plug them up on the panel and I'm done.   Ordered 7 of these and two of these.  Obviously I was under the false impression that all XLRs were the same size as my old Switchcraft panel mounts...  discovered that D size holes fit the Neutrik NL2 panel mounts perfectly.   So... I ordered 2 of these.

My dumb guitar player questions are:
1. There is no magic washer/jacket/adapter thing to make the connectors I bought fit the D holes?

2. How hard are the pre-punched panels to knock out the specific sizes I need?   Never done one of these before.

Thanx in advance for indulging this old guitar player.

Hi Louie, One of the links you had was to a 5-pin MIDI panel connector - is that what you meant to do?
For anything I've had to do that required holes on sheet metal, I've used Greenlee punches. They've always given me a great result but are expensive. It's a lot harder to get a good result by drilling, at least for me as I don't have a decent drill press. If the panel holes are too big, I don't know of a way to "make up" the difference other than having pre-drilled metal discs that you would have to weld onto the panel.

Best regards,
Bob

[TJ (Tom) Cornish]

In my guitar rig... I am using one of these to connect my pedal board to my racks.  I have a 7 channel and connect 4 to one rack and 3 to another.  It was a major PITA to fish around in the rack to find the connectors.  I decided to make a rack panel so all I had to do is plug them up on the panel and I'm done.   Ordered 7 of these and two of these.  Obviously I was under the false impression that all XLRs were the same size as my old Switchcraft panel mounts...  discovered that D size holes fit the Neutrik NL2 panel mounts perfectly.   So... I ordered 2 of these.

My dumb guitar player questions are:
1. There is no magic washer/jacket/adapter thing to make the connectors I bought fit the D holes?

2. How hard are the pre-punched panels to knock out the specific sizes I need?   Never done one of these before.

Thanx in advance for indulging this old guitar player.

There's no way to adapt that I know of without a big mess.

Those plates usually come fully punched- it will be all holes with nothing for you to remove.  Middle Atlantic makes one that isn't fully punched out - just the outlines are punched so you can knock out what you need but what you've ordered is already punched.  You can fill in unused jacks with blanks.  http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=1526

[Jim Thorn]

In my guitar rig... I am using one of these to connect my pedal board to my racks.  I have a 7 channel and connect 4 to one rack and 3 to another.  It was a major PITA to fish around in the rack to find the connectors.  I decided to make a rack panel so all I had to do is plug them up on the panel and I'm done.   Ordered 7 of these and two of these.  Obviously I was under the false impression that all XLRs were the same size as my old Switchcraft panel mounts...  discovered that D size holes fit the Neutrik NL2 panel mounts perfectly.   So... I ordered 2 of these.

My dumb guitar player questions are:
1. There is no magic washer/jacket/adapter thing to make the connectors I bought fit the D holes?

2. How hard are the pre-punched panels to knock out the specific sizes I need?   Never done one of these before.

Thanx in advance for indulging this old guitar player.

I saw that the diameter of the 5-pin feedthroughs is 0.76", with a flatted side.  Since a Switchcraft D3M panel-mounted MALE XLR fits in a 3/4" hole, I suspect you would be okay if you got a pre-punched panel intended for four Switchcraft D3Ms.  The panels you linked are for FEMALE XLRs, and those take a 15/16" hole, so they're too large.  I'm sorry I don't have a link to the right panel, but I know I have seen them somewhere.

If it were me, I'd buy a couple of 1-space aluminum blank panels (with rolled top and bottom edges for stiffness), and drill my own holes with a stepped single-flute drill bit like the Unibit.  I wouldn't try it with a steel panel, but the aluminum is soft enough to not give you too much of a fight.  If you don't have a Unibit, you should be able to buy one for $25 or less, and it's a great thing to have around for other projects.

Whenever I have had to mount connectors with a flatted side in a round hole, the supplied lock washer has held well enough that I never cared that I didn't have a flatted hole.

I hope this helps a little.

Jim Thorn

[Ned Ward]

Since you bought from Redco, give them a call and/or email. I've found them to be very helpful folks.

FYI - they will also (for a price) fill in a rack panel with your choice of jacks with whatever length wire needed on the other side; I was looking at doing it for my 01v Rack.

Other than this issue, how do you like the Pedalsnake? I'm a guitar player as are several on the forum.

[duane massey]

Unibit or similar is a great thing to have. I carry 2 sizes, and have had no issues drilling thru aluminum or steel panels, as long as you drill a pilot hole first. Stainless, not so good.

[Jordan Wolf]

Unibit or similar is a great thing to have. I carry 2 sizes, and have had no issues drilling thru aluminum or steel panels, as long as you drill a pilot hole first. Stainless, not so good.

+1 for UniBits.  Look for combo packs...you'll get use out them often enough to make it worth it, I promise.

[Louie Warren]

Hi Louie, One of the links you had was to a 5-pin MIDI panel connector - is that what you meant to do?
For anything I've had to do that required holes on sheet metal, I've used Greenlee punches. They've always given me a great result but are expensive. It's a lot harder to get a good result by drilling, at least for me as I don't have a decent drill press. If the panel holes are too big, I don't know of a way to "make up" the difference other than having pre-drilled metal discs that you would have to weld onto the panel.

Best regards,
Bob

Yes... I need MIDI feed thru connectors.  I have a PedalSnake that uses a 7 channel MIDI snake to go from the pedal board to the racks.

I think I have access to a Greenlee; my old man had one before he died... just have to locate it.

I bought the MidAtlantic universal panels that allow you to punch out what you need.  http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=262-575&FTR=universal%201U%20panel    Just need to figure out how to punch them out without screwing things up.

[Louie Warren]

There's no way to adapt that I know of without a big mess.

Those plates usually come fully punched- it will be all holes with nothing for you to remove.  Middle Atlantic makes one that isn't fully punched out - just the outlines are punched so you can knock out what you need but what you've ordered is already punched.  You can fill in unused jacks with blanks.  http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=1526

Finally figured that out.  Bought two of these: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=262-575&FTR=universal%201U%20panel

[Louie Warren]

I saw that the diameter of the 5-pin feedthroughs is 0.76", with a flatted side.  Since a Switchcraft D3M panel-mounted MALE XLR fits in a 3/4" hole, I suspect you would be okay if you got a pre-punched panel intended for four Switchcraft D3Ms.  The panels you linked are for FEMALE XLRs, and those take a 15/16" hole, so they're too large.  I'm sorry I don't have a link to the right panel, but I know I have seen them somewhere.

If it were me, I'd buy a couple of 1-space aluminum blank panels (with rolled top and bottom edges for stiffness), and drill my own holes with a stepped single-flute drill bit like the Unibit.  I wouldn't try it with a steel panel, but the aluminum is soft enough to not give you too much of a fight.  If you don't have a Unibit, you should be able to buy one for $25 or less, and it's a great thing to have around for other projects.

Whenever I have had to mount connectors with a flatted side in a round hole, the supplied lock washer has held well enough that I never cared that I didn't have a flatted hole.

I hope this helps a little.

Jim Thorn

Thanx!

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