Using Inkscape to create faceplates

Note – this is not a guide by an expert ! Just some notes by a novice so I won’t forget next time !

Set paper size, orientation, units, grid, snapping in File > Document Properties
Grid and guide snapping settings need to be tweaked from time to time depending on what you’re
trying to do.

Basic navigation, selection and grouping of objects, drawing and setting thickness (fill/stroke) of
boxes ie faceplate outline, circles, and text is pretty self explanatory, see online tutorials and
manual
http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/index.php

You can use guides (drag from top and side) to accurately position ie snap to guide for centre of pot
holes, bottom row of text.

Zoom in/out using + and – is handy, as are numerous keyboard shortcuts.

Note that you can set the position, height and width of the selected object in inches (or mm) by
typing in the values in the X, Y, W, H boxes.

Current cursor position and zoom ratio shown at bottom RH corner

Object > Align and Distribute
is cool for aligning text underneath a pot with the centreline of the pot. Select both objects (ie click
and drag a box around them), then

To align horizontally and vertically

Dial faces
To create a dial face, where the marks change with angle ie

1st draw one mark

then surround with a box (shown dashed for clarity, can have stroke opacity = 0 ie no outline so you
don’t need to delete later). Size the box to suit diameter of knob being used ie box width = outer
diameter of marks).

Select these objects together then

Object > Transform > Rotate 60 deg

Select the 2 objects, then Object > Group, then
Edit > Clone > Create Tiled Clone
Symmetry P1, rows 1 x 11 columns,

rotation 0 deg per row, 30 deg per column

then Create and you should get the above result.

For the Tap effect (see below), 12 rows and 27.27 deg per column.

To create a dial face, where the marks don’t change with angle ie the trusty “Tap” dial
Create the 1st number of your dial

Create/copy the hole for the pot, and overlay the number and center it by using :

Select (click /drag) both number and pot hole objects

Object > Align and Distribute, then click center on vertical axis and center on horizontal axis

Select the number again by :

Select the combined object, then Object > Ungroup, then click on the number. If it’s not highlighted,
then Object > Lower to bottom and try again until the number is highlighted.

If you want to repeat the same object around the dial (ie probably not a number), use Edit > Clone
> Create Clone (Alt D). Then if you want to change this object, you change the master and all clones
automatically change.

If you want unique numbers, right click your selected number and copy. Select copy of number,
number and hole then use Align and Distribute to centre.

Select the number and position by :

Object > Transform

The numbers above are for 1.5” diameter dial, 1st no. at 240 deg (ie for a 300 deg rotation pot).
The move factors are calculated by :

Horizontal = diameter/2 x cos (required angle)

Vertical = diameter/2 x sin (required angle)

For the other numbers, right click the center number and repeat the 1st step ie copy and Transform,
except change the horizontal and vertical move values. Table A at the end of the document has
move coordinates for 10, 11 and 12 position dials using a 1” radius. Or you can just scale the
existing dials in the symbols file.

When done, delete the number at the centre, and edit the text for each number.
To combine the two dials (ie marks and numbers),

If you made them the same size, scale the dial with marks to fit inside the numbers.
If you used Clone, make sure both are unlinked (Select whole dial then Edit > Clone > Unlink), and
check each dial is 1 group (ie select all objects, then Object > Group).

If you have’nt already, group each dial with a pot hole, then use Align and Distribute to line up their
centres.

Then select both dials (with central holes), and use Align and distribute to center. You will note that
there is an offset, as one of the dials is asymmetric. Manually zoom in and align the centre crosses
of the holes.

If each dial is not a single group, numbers & marks will collapse into the centre when you align.

No doubt there’s loads of other ways to do all of the above & probably more efficient, so have a
crack at it.

Plenty of svg graphics files which could be handy for logos etc at

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ Category:SVG
http://openclipart.org/media/downloads
Table 1 Coordinates for dial number positions

radius 1

for 10 divisions (0 to 10) in 300 deg

=300/10 angle (deg) angle (rad) x coord y coord
ie 30 deg per division 0 0.00 1.000 0.000
30 0.52 0.866 0.500
60 1.05 0.500 0.866
90 1.57 0.000 1.000
120 2.09 -0.500 0.866
150 2.62 -0.866 0.500
180 3.14 -1.000 0.000
210 3.67 -0.866 -0.500
240 4.19 -0.500 -0.866

300 5.24 0.500 -0.866

330 5.76 0.866 -0.500
for 11 divisions (0 to 11) in 300 deg
=300/11
27.27 deg/divn
21.82 0.38 0.928 0.372
49.09 0.86 0.655 0.756
76.36 1.33 0.236 0.972
103.64 1.81 -0.236 0.972
130.91 2.28 -0.655 0.756
158.18 2.76 -0.928 0.372
185.45 3.24 -0.995 -0.095
212.73 3.71 -0.841 -0.541
240.00 4.19 -0.500 -0.866
300.00 5.24 0.500 -0.866
327.27 5.71 0.841 -0.541
354.55 6.19 0.995 -0.095

for 12 divisions (0 to 12) in 300 deg

25 15 0.26 0.966 0.259
40 0.70 0.766 0.643
65 1.13 0.423 0.906
90 1.57 0.000 1.000
115 2.01 -0.423 0.906
140 2.44 -0.766 0.643
165 2.88 -0.966 0.259
190 3.32 -0.985 -0.174
215 3.75 -0.819 -0.574
240 4.19 -0.500 -0.866
300 5.24 0.500 -0.866
325 5.67 0.819 -0.574
350 6.11 0.985 -0.174