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Show us your panel!

Hi Alan:

If you do decide to go with a small on-board computer, I would look at Little PC. I have used some of their products in my day job and they are impressive...especially the fanless (read: noiseless) models. They also sell quite a few frameless touch-screen LCD's that could be nicely incorporated into your project and can also install solid-state hard disk drives that would be basically required for your aircraft. These things are tiny and come ready for DC 12 volt power.

I'm not affiliated...just impressed.

I'm going to eventually put one in my plane (the uses are ENDLESS for a programmer) but for now the goal is to just get the darn thing in the air.

Oh yeah...good work on the panel!
 
sf3543 said:
The panel and consoles are indeed from N444TX.
I also copied them and moved my quadrant back. As a result, I could only use one of the VAN's cables, for the prop control. The other two I had to have custom made; however, I went to a local shop that makes automotive and industrial cables and they made them to my specifications the same day. About $32 each. The only difference is that they are black instead of green, as in VAN's cables.
Making consoles like these is very labor intensive, and as in any other change creates a domino effect of things to do. But, the end effect was worth it to me.


Do you have any pictures of the whole process ? I'm really wanting to do this, and don't mind the extra work as long as I can visualize how they attached to the existing fuselage framework. If you can pass along the local cable makers info I'd appreciate that too.

E-mail me directly at [email protected] if you have pictures and info.

Thanks,
 
One more try:

rv8panel628rv5nt.jpg


So far, I'm happy with everything in the panel!!!
 
bolted skin

sf3543 said:
So far, I'm happy with everything in the panel!!!
Nice! I see you bolted the skins to the rollbar - didja just tap the rollbar for 8-32? What was your motivation for doing so? I'm hopefully just a coupla weeks out from that step, so I'm curious.
 
Yep..just tapped them...in hind sight, I think I would have done 6-32 instead. Just thought it looked better that way, instead of with blind rivets. Also, the SS screws matched everything else in the cockpit, especially since I made all the floors removeable and used the same screws to fasten everything.
 
"Freedom" Panel

This is a combination High Tech/Low Tech. I just feel more comfortable with the old flight instruments.

Bill
RV-8
75 hours
1st flight 7/1/06
epanelqb4.jpg
 
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Here's the panel in N723CT:
Built by Aerotronics
Don't have a pic of it in the plane but when I get a chance to take some pictures out at the hangar i'll post them if anyone is interested
Panel.jpg
 
hey tony,
thats the standard aluminum panel with a cool carbon fiber overlay (very thin on top of the aluminum)...it was an option through Aerotronics, but i'm sure you could find it elsewhere. Everyones initial concern was that reflections off the carbon fiber during the day would be a distraction and the black would cause problems seeing the instruments at night. After 150 hours flying with it I have not run in to any problems with glare or the instruments being hard to see at night. Its been a wonderful panel and Aerotronics was great to work with.
 
Great job!

Tony-

Beautiful panel. Good call including analog airspeed and altimeter. When I first flew with airspeed and altitude 'tapes' (Embraer-145), it took me quite a while to get used to. I think that people who learned with analog gauges should keep them and not rely on the EFIS airspeed and altitude. The round gauges are just more intuitive.
Anyway, your panel has it all!

Jim
 
switches

Chris,

Does the black panel cause a heat problem in the summer? I live in Florida.

I cannot make out the 6 switches on the top right in the outlined box. What are they? Is the surface of the panel flat, it almost looks like parts of it might be raised?

It looks great.
 
hi tony,

All the flying I have done has been in the summertime in various parts of the northwest and now out in the midwest. I have not run into any problems with the black heating up. The instruments themselves do throw off some heat, but sun heating the panel up hasn't been an issue.

The upper right box has the folowing controls: Autopilot Master (very nice so i don't accidentally bump the autopilot on and off from my stick button during takeoff and landing), EFIS master switch (for the two cheltons), EFIS mute (to turn off the audio warnings from the chelton), cabin lights, map lights, and the last one is the engine monitor audio warning switch (to turn off the warnings on the engine monitor)

The panel for the most part is flat. The two side pieces are slightly behind the main center panel but i believe this is standard and the chelton screens are raised off the panel slightly. but the actual surface of the panel is flat.

hope this helps
 
panel

Chris,

Thanks for the info. After seeing your panel I have decided to go with the carbon fiber overlay. It is fantastic looking.

I may start another thread about carbon fiber overlay, so as not to hijack your thread, and see if anyone knows where you find it.

Thanks
 
Carbon Overlay

I can get the carbon overlays for $300. Not cheap but the carbon has went up in price and the work is done by a professional who does carbon work for some NASCAR teams.

All cutting was done with a Dremel and cut off disks. The panel is fastened to the stock aluminum with 4-40 stainless socket head screws and anodized shoulder washers from the RC helicopter section in the hobby shop.

Here is a picture of my panel.

panelhz3.jpg
 
A Bute

I've seen Darwin's panel up close and personal and it does look very cool...is that word stil used? :cool: Way to go Darwin! it was good to run in to you at OshKosh this year! How is the catering biz going?
Dan B
Mesa
 
DanB said:
I've seen Darwin's panel up close and personal and it does look very cool...is that word stil used? :cool: Way to go Darwin! it was good to run in to you at OshKosh this year! How is the catering biz going?
Dan B
Mesa

I think the young folks spell it "kewl" now. I feel so un-hip...do people still say hip?
 
A panel is born ...

Thanks to Stein Bruch of SteinAir, Inc., my years of laziness have finally come to fruition with the birth of N8RV's panel ...

panel6a1nq0.jpg


Dual Dynon units (D100 EFIS and D120 EMS), Garmin SL-30 nav/comm, Garmin txponder, PSE audio panel/intercom, PSE CD/MP3 player, G-meter, ASI, ALT, nav indicator w/GS, TruTrak ADI Pilot II, crowned by the Garmin GPS 396 (soon to be replaced by a 496).

Many thanks to SteinAir for a great job! I can't imagine an easier person to work with in making a panel come to life.
 
Thanks! Of course, it'll all be obsolete by the time I fire it all up, at the rate I'm going ... :rolleyes:
 
Gladder's Gal

This is the Panel in “Gladder’s Gal”. It also was built by Mckee Avionics and has been flying since 2005. The Cheltons include WSI InFlight weather and Ryan 9900B TCAS traffic warnings. This aircraft was built by John Glader from Lockheart Texas. He poured a lot of love and money into the plane and created a great RV8. Cancer took a young John Glader from this earth and I have purchased “Gladder’s Gal”. Dave Dollarhide went with me to Texas to bring “Gladder’s Gal” to her new home in Florida. We had a fantastic cross country flight back to Florida averaging 207 mph GS and we both enjoyed the situational awareness afforded by the Chelton system. :cool:
RV-8 028.jpg
medium.jpg
medium.jpg
 
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This is the panel in my 8 that's awaiting FAA inspection. After selling my Dynon, 430/330, tru-track, equipped 6A, I opted for something a little less complex.

rv8n484jt022smallba1.jpg
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The panel is designed to be easily upgradeable, with all instruments having molex connectors and the radio trays nutplated to the panel.
The blank where the ADI should go has a tru-track harness already built up with the servo mounts also in place.

Jon N484JT #82473 RV8
#599 RV4 N831JT (sold), N952JT RV4 (lost), N973JT RV6A (sold)
 
Hey Jon: N973JT

Your panel looks great, but it's missing a few things.. Would you like a picture of N973JT, to refresh your memory. HA HA
Jim
 
Anyone know who's panel this is?

Anybody know who's panel this is? I can't remember where I got it from and don't see it in this thread. Thanks.
panel41ky6.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
 
VH-KJS Instrument panel

Went out and took some pictures of the panel installed. I'm wiring it all up at the moment.

camerapicturesdownloadecf8.jpg


Equipment is Dynon D10A
Dynon EMS 10
Trutrak ADI
Garmin 340 Audio Panel
Garmin 430 GPS/Nav/Com with CDI
Garmin 300XL/Com
Garmin 327 Txponder
Trutrack A/P with vertical Speed
Falcon ASI
Falcon Altimiter

I'll try to hook the 300XL up to the HSI function on the D10A too.

I'm basically following the Aerolectric Connection wiring diagram. With an E-Bus containing the D10A and 430 and panel lights.

Backup batteries in the D10A and Trutrak ADI and a small permanent magnet alternator on the vacuum pad to run the e-bus if everything goes pearshaped.

I hope I can fly it before it all becomes completely obsolete. The Dynon D100 came out a couple of months after I purchased the other two units. Oh well. That's progress I suppose!

I'm just using some laser printed clear labels for the signage.

Ken Stanton
RV8QB
 
Looks good Ken. Looks like we have similiar thoughts.
I plan on using the new Dynon 100/120 series, Trutrak with VS, SL30, GTX327 and GPS 296. I gave up on the 430 due to cost and I am relying on the all glass with no steam.
Similiar ideas for the electrics with the SD 8 on the pad and a B&C 40amp.
Porbably will run dual Plasma 11's but am watching the P mags at the moment.
I will take delivery of the finishing kit this week so should start to see more progress.
Cheers Cliff
 
Great panel Ken. I noticed you put your radio stack on the right side. I'm going to do the same.

Wish I was as far along.
 
N880AT has a panel!

Left side stack includes Sigtronics Stereo intercom, Garmin 496, SL-30 and GTX-327 transponder and Lightspeed EI indicator. Center column is Dynon FlightDek 180 with a Alpine XM radio below. On the right side are a TruTrak ADI Pilot 1, Winter ASI, United Instruments 35K altimeter, whiskey compass and a UMA Vertical Speed Indicator.

My Aerosport IO-360B2B arrives later this week just as the panel nears completion. Moving everything to hanger at Centennial (KAPA) first week of June. Exciting times for a builder!

2002299740963772497_rs.jpg


Al Thomas
N880AT
RV-8A QB
Finishing & FWF kits
 
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praterdj said:
Great panel Ken. I noticed you put your radio stack on the right side. I'm going to do the same.

Wish I was as far along.

I'm curious about your reasoning. Why would you want the stack on the right side?

If you're climbing out and the tower tells you to switch to a different frequency, which would you rather let go of -- the throttle or the stick?

Unless I'm missing something (like having already set the departure freq on standby and you have a flip-flop switch on your stick grip), it's never made much sense to me to put the radios on the right side instead of the left.

Just an observation, not a criticism. What's your reasoning on this?
 
I'm also putting the radios on the right side. I'm right handed and have better finger control with that hand. 35 years of radios on the right might have something to do with it. Switching flying hands between the RV-6 and the RV-8A isn't an issue just as it wasn't going from a Citabria to the -6. I am considering putting a flip/flop switch on the stick or the throttle however.

Tom
 
The Twins Panels

Here's the status of the twin's panels, they were going to be identical until I saw the recent pix of the AVEO Digital flight decks. For now though I'm very impressed with the bright screen on the Dynon 180. By the way if you've saved a flip/flop button for your SL40 you can forget about it. The SL60 and the SL30 have it, the SL40 doesn't.





 
N53LW said:
Not sure how to do multiple posts? One image took 3 tries! SteinAir just shipped this back last week & did a great job! Have Tru-Trak auto pilot w/Alt hold,Grand Rapids Tech. EFIS-GPS,electric 2 1/4"ADI w/heading(Garmin 430 GPS, 340 Audio Panel,SL40,& 327 Transponder.
 
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Using full scale images mostly found on-line, with scotch tape I positioned and repositioned the "instruments" until I got the look I wanted.

Yesterday morning I made the first cuts into the panel. Using a flywheel spinning at 250 RPM, note a clamp at each corner of the work. I sold the instrument punch long ago because I decided a fly-cutter produces higher quality holes that require little to no deburring or tweaking to get the instruments to fit. A fiber cut-off disk in a die-grinder, a Dremel, and an assortment of files made short work of the rectangular holes. Cheap and simple. Today, after spending most of the day today securing the radio trays, I trial fitted its instruments.


airplane00415qt0.jpg
 
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Lighted switches or warning lights?

Rick;
That cluster of colored lights on the right side, illuminated push-switches, or warning lights? I've noticed other clusters like this, and always wondered. Was the multi-button mount a manufacturers item or did you do it?
Looks great!
Clay Cook
Father of "The Cookie Monster"
tanks, tanks alot.
 
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