Instrument panel finish

Has anyone considered or done an instrument panel with an anodized (silver or gold) finish vs paint, powder coat, or overlays?

I was staring at my raw cutout and the bulb went off! Weight savings, corrosion control and nice look.

If you did it then pics? Experience as in + or -.

Thanks all!

HR

I'd guess the very poor abrasion/scratch resistance of an alodyne panel would rule it out - that and the light color.

Three planes and same process used - PPG single stage paint for the interior with a darker contrasting color for the panel. This makes panel replacement/upgrade easy as well.

Carl

Carl I've done 3 panels with single stage ppg too and agree it is a nice finish. I've done overlays too and its nice.

If you use type III anodizing NOT ALODINE, it results in a hard coat that is very scratch resistant. Look at your IPhone, Ipad, Ithing that are anodized and you get a sense of scratch resistance. SOOO

Back to the original question, anyone done it?

Best
HR

I would recommend a much darker color for the panel than silver or gold. I painted mine a light color and I get lots of reflection back on the canopy. Especially annoying if you like to take pictures.
If you can get the panel anodized dark black or some other color, you could consider getting the panel laser engraved for your switches and other labels.

I had my panel anodized and several other cockpit parts a dark blue. They've been in place for 3 years and I've need flying about a year and a half. It stands up well but I guess I'm very carful to not damage the finish. Three lessons 1) The different pares anodize to a slightly different shade of blue. My assumption is they were a different alloy. 2) don't have any rivets installed on the panel prior to anodizing. Rivets will result in an off color bleeding in the area of the rivets. I ended up covering those areas with vinyl. 3) The aluminum needs to have a very clean finish prior to anodizing. As anodizing is a very thin material, scratches or any texture will be visible. Hope this helps

Very much, has your UV resistance been satisfactory? Also I have rivets and a couple of scratches from cutting too. Those imperfections would bleed through from what I understand.

My 9 is in a hangar so I can't speak to UV. My advice is to drill out the rivets and reinstall after the anodizing. Unanodized rivet heads will be better than the bleeding