Our Industrial Control Panel Solutions
Custom control panels are affixed to industrial equipment such as switchboards, lighting panels, motors, and more, and are crucial for ensuring efficiency and safe operation of equipment on your worksite. Control panels should provide clear and legible labels and operating instructions that will last for years, even in harsh industrial environments.
At Etched, we have decades of experience manufacturing custom industrial control panels, including laser cutting the fabrication and etching, engraving, or printing the required information to help your team.
Material Options for Control Panels
We manufacture control panels in the following materials:
Stainless steel is the most durable and popular substrate option for control panels, and is highly resistant to abrasion, corrosion, the elements, and industrial wear-and-tear. We stock stainless steel in 0.018” – 0.125” thicknesses, with both 316 and 304 stainless steel available in most thicknesses. We also offer 2 finish options: #4 finish, with a shinier sheen, and #2B finish, with a duller matte aesthetic.
Aluminum control panels are lighter weight than steel, making them a popular choice for the aerospace and transportation industries, but are slightly less resistant to corrosion and abrasion. We stock aluminum in 0.012” – 0.125” thicknesses, with other thicknesses available upon request.
Anodized aluminum is more durable than aluminum, due to a diamond-hard coating protecting against abrasion and corrosion. It offers the same light weight as raw aluminum, and can be customized with your desired color, including clear, black, blue, green, red, or yellow.
Plastic is not a common substrate choice for control panels, since it is the least durable. However, it is a cost-effective solution for indoor applications or environments without direct sunlight or coastal spray. Plastic control panels can be highly legible when combined with engraved text on a different color background.
Process Options for Control Panels
Our industrial control panel process options include:
Rotary engraving offers extreme long-term legibility, making it one of the most popular choices for industrial control panels. The Etched rotary engraving process involves using a pre-programmed drill toolpath to etch a groove 0.003 to 0.007 inches into the substrate, then filling the groove with paint.
Rotary engraving can be selected as a process option for any of our control panel substrates, including stainless steel, aluminum, anodized aluminum, and plastic.
Chemical etching is extremely durable, legible, and long-lasting, and offers high resistance to corrosion and abrasion. Chemical etching can be selected as a process option for stainless steel, aluminum, and anodized aluminum control panels–but not plastic.
Metalphoto processing is only used on anodized aluminum, and involves permanently sealing a UV-stable image beneath a protective coating layer. Metalphoto processing is highly resistant to chemicals, abrasion, and the elements, and can last for decades even in direct sunlight.
You can choose between fiber lasers, which create durable markings with a lot of depth but cannot achieve a true black mark, or CO2 lasers, which create true black marks at less depth. Laser engraving can be selected as a process type for any control panel substrate, including stainless steel, aluminum, anodized aluminum, and plastic.
Screen printing is the least durable process type, but is still a durable and cost-effective option for control panels installed in indoor environments. Screen printing can be selected as a process option for any control panel substrate, including stainless steel, aluminum, anodized aluminum, and plastic.
Not Sure Which Material or Process Option Is Best for You?
Learn more about how to customize and specify your industrial control panels in our comprehensive Buyer’s Guide.
Applications for Control Panels
Custom control panels ensure safe and efficient operation of equipment on your worksite. They are crucial for a wide variety of industries, including:
Why Partner With Etched for Your Industrial Control Panels
You need an industrial control panel supplier that will get you the solutions you need, when you need them: while staying within budget and maintaining the highest standards of quality. At Etched, we use only the highest-quality materials and have deep expertise in every process type, meaning your custom industrial control panel will stay legible for decades.
We’ve also put a variety of innovative stocking and supply chain solutions in place to make the control panel ordering process seamless. We optimize our lead times and offer rush orders and expedited shipping at no extra cost. Our experienced team is big enough to handle any size of order, while still paying meticulous attention to the smallest detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
We have a standard lead time of two weeks, regardless of size of order. However, we understand that urgent situations sometimes arise, and offer rush orders and expedited shipping at no extra cost. Learn more about our Bail Me Out program.
We’ll need to know the material, process option, and text or graphics you want included on your control panel. If you have an existing control panel you’d like to order more of, a sample, drawing, or dimensions of the part will be necessary.
At Etched, we pride ourselves on having no minimum or maximum quantities. We put our best effort into any size of order.
Before we begin manufacturing your control panels, we’ll walk you through an art approval process to make sure everything looks the way you want it. If you still want a sample after the artwork approval, we are happy to provide one.
Don’t see your question on this page? Contact us today.
A Few of Our Satisfied Customers
“We used to always run out of tags but since we started working with Etched over (3) years ago, we’ve never run out and haven’t had to worry about them since.”
Valve Manufacturer - Oklahoma
“We can be a difficult customer because of our erratic order patterns and demanding timelines. Etched found a way to solve that problem and has been 100% on time for 3 years straight.”
Transportation Industry - Michigan
“With the environment we operate in today, it is more critical than ever to have vendors that can solve our problems in a proactive manner. We cannot be put in a situation in which a tag jeopardizes a shipment. Etched has implemented TIM (Tag Inventory Manager) in our warehouse and has completely solved the problems we previously had with our tags."
Process Industry OEM - Missouri
“Tags are now the easiest things I order. Thanks Etched for making my life easy!”
Valve Manufacturer - Louisiana