Cutting a panel

[Mike S]

Mike, sent you a PM.

[RV Jerry]

+1 for Mel, it?s not magic

[kentlik]

Here is a place in your area I believe that can water jet cut it.

https://www.bizapedia.com/tx/texjet-...tting-llc.html]

[Carl Froehlich]

Originally Posted by Mel

Come on......you guys are building an airplane. Are telling me that you can't cut an instrument panel?

That?s what I done for three panels, but I do have the round hole cutters that make those holes easy. Of late however not much call for round holes. I cut the square holes with a disk, then finish with a file. Start to finish takes an hour or so.

But- someone tell me what it cost to have Stein or someone else do it. Perhaps I?ll change my mind.

Carl

[Kyle Boatright]

Originally Posted by Carl Froehlich

That?s what I done for three panels, but I do have the round hole cutters that make those holes easy. Of late however not much call for round holes. I cut the square holes with a disk, then finish with a file. Start to finish takes an hour or so.

But- someone tell me what it cost to have Stein or someone else do it. Perhaps I?ll change my mind.

Carl

The folks I spoke with were >$200 plus shipping and a week or two of transit/queue/transit.

No way I could justify that for something I can do in an evening.

[jeffk]

I used front panel express with great success.

http://www.frontpanelexpress.com

Yes, you need to work with their proprietary CAD package, however the learning curve wasn't too bad and there are examples and documentation to reference.

I ended up with a 3mm anodized panel overlay, two different colours for the painted (white for most and light grey for the passenger warning), engraved lettering, and machining on the back side to locate keyways (to prevent switches and breakers from rotating).

Cost was ~$300 and production time was 5 days.

[ColoCardinal]

+1 for Up North Aviation. I used them for my 7 panel. Very reasonable cost ($249), quick turnaround, excellent customer service and the panel was perfect. If I had done it myself (without a milling machine our NC router) it would have taken me about 15 hours and wouldn't have been anywhere near as nice. You do the math on what you're paying yourself / hour.

[dtw_rv6]

Originally Posted by Mel

Come on......you guys are building an airplane. Are telling me that you can't cut an instrument panel?

I did my first one with a flycutter on a cheap drill press and a dremel tool to cut the profile. It's not a matter of can't. It's a matter of how OCD we can possibly be!

[Jeff A]

It's all fun and games until you have to cut two...or three...or four of these.

[az_gila]

Originally Posted by Jeff A

It's all fun and games until you have to cut two...or three...or four of these.

Yes those Dynon holes would be difficult. I found it much easier to work in TurboCad and using the layer feature I could even make a mock-up using instrument/radio jpeg files. I also only specified one screw hole size - when I got the panel back it's easy enough to make the holes correctly sized.

Mel is correct for round holes but panels have progressed a bit since then...

I was happy with Up North Aviation.