xcrmckenna Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Are you going to make a new panel yourself? It can be done. A free copy of Solidworks with your EAA membership. Draw it in Solidworks. Make a mockup during the process in clear plexiglass. Take the Solidworks file to a metal shop with a water jet cutter. Take the cut panel to a laser engraving shop (trophies, etc.) and get the labels etched into the panel. Paint. Install it. Do it yourself for probably $100. I have@aerodon working on the new panel for me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArtVandelay Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 The new panel will have the G5 and JPI flush mounted. I’ll be doing this too, the question will be do you have enough room. I think it will require going from 5 instrument columns to 4, there just not enough room between them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xcrmckenna Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 I’ll be doing this too, the question will be do you have enough room. I think it will require going from 5 instrument columns to 4, there just not enough room between them. You are correct, that is pretty much how my panel is now and we will keep it like that. We are going to center the G5 and HSI over the yoke, and move the auto pilot and gpss over to the far left. Move my electric trim switch to a blank rocker switch and add a clock in the lower right side under the EDM900. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerodon Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 15 hours ago, gsxrpilot said: Are you going to make a new panel yourself? It can be done. A free copy of Solidworks with your EAA membership. Draw it in Solidworks. Make a mockup during the process in clear plexiglass. Take the Solidworks file to a metal shop with a water jet cutter. Take the cut panel to a laser engraving shop (trophies, etc.) and get the labels etched into the panel. Paint. Install it. Do it yourself for probably $100. No disrespect, but have you tried it? You are correct, there's less than $100 worth of 2024-T3 in a panel, its all in the CAD and machine time. And then some more for painting and labelling. I've got about 40-50 hours into my Mooney panel drawing alone, and thats using a good library of 'shapes' for things like HSI's, altimeters etc. Then at least 5 trial runs on a CNC machine before I had a panel that met my standards. Iterations are required to catch errors, make major layout changes when things don't look right, make minor changes to get instruments, switches and screws to fit. And of course check that it fits into the airplane without interference. Add in finding a 120t press to bend the bottom edge with a 1/2" radius. Then finding a good paint and primer system. I haven't even got to engraving the lables yet, but the closer you get to completion, the more time and cost you have in the panel, and good luck in getting the local engraving shop to get it right the first time. Aerodon 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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