Dont forget laser cutters although a reasonable one will cost you a couple thousand dollars.

 

    Here is an early prototype of a CDU so getting sizes right was the priority, not the quality.   Even so the engraving is much better than what can be done on a router and its all cut out a lot quicker.    On the laser you also use a two colour laminate suggested in the previous post, the laser goes through the top layer to show the one below.   I used grey/white and black/white for this panel.

 

That looks great

Thanks Richard,   truth be told for the best version of it I need to engrave all the buttons on the laser and then transfer them to the router to cut them out.

    

    The laser does an excellent job on many materials but for this laminate it tends to melt slightly when cutting so the edge is not perfect.    Perfectly usable but if engraved and then the buttons milled out it would be a little better.

 

    The idea is that you put masking tape on the top of the button and then spray the side with the same grey.  in the end you cant really see the edge because there isnt the contrast to highlight the slight melt but its one of those things..    I know it's there, can I be bothered fixing it