I'm building sometinh similar and while browsing for info stumbled upon this thread. So far I've learned already how one could utilise these 'tunnels' (I had no idea what they were for) and that there are D size cover plates with 7 pins midi connections (I already ordered some).
One of the differences between what you built (congrats btw, it looks very practical and tidy!) is that you opted for the 'tunnel' setup where you go from the front of the panel via a tunnel per connection to the back of the panel like this:
front panel
connection|tunnel|connenction|cable|unit
where what I'm currently building is
front panel
connection|cable|unit
So where you solderded female jack to female jack, female midi to female midi, female powercon to female powercon... inside your tunnels, I soldered female jack to cable, female midi to cable, powercon to cable... (the main reason being I did not realize these tunnels were meant for that
)
What would you see as major benefits of your setup vs mine? I guess one of the benefits is that you can just use regular cable on the inside of your rack(from the end of your tunnels to your units), while all cable I used are handsoldered to the various connections (which could be a major PITA if one of those cables would start acting up or would break).
Also you seem to have different sized tunnels. Is there any reasoning behind that? Or just a practical reason?
Could you easily unscrew for example your blue powercon module (connection|tunnel|connection) and replace it with a speakon module(connection|tunnel|connection) or are the screws which hold the module together the same screws which attach the module to the front panel?
The fourth connection from the left (not sure what connection that is) seems quite retracted, any particular reason for that?
Where did you get the cover plates with the large hole in them (as 4,5 and 6 have)? I usually only find blanks or plates with a connection attached, not with a hole.
Would you recommend having those covers-on-a-string things to cover your powercons or is that just 'something fancy but not really necesary'? The same for the plugs in your Mamba bottom rack panel ?
What did you struggle the most with or what are things you would do differently in the future?
Please don't take this post the wrong way, I'm not trying to criticize or question how you built it. I'm merely trying to uncover routes and options I did not think of untill now.
Besides we have different requirements: I'm making two to connect my two flightcases to each other as I'm having my amp in one and my effects, tuner and power in the other.