Panel Upgrade Progress

[Pat Hatch]

Stein, no that's the "Murphy's Law" version. I just stuck it on its mount without verifying which way it goes, turns out it's upside down. Thanks!

[Edit: I went back and replaced the photo of the magnetometer showing the correct orientation. Didn't want to lead anyone astray!]

[bkthomps]

I would put the AP controller in the spot where you have the flap switch, top of the stack seems out of place to me, but i don't fly airliners and I guess they always have it under the glareshield

[Pat Hatch]

Brian, I think the idea is to have the autopilot controller as high up in your field of vision as possible so that if you're flying the airplane with the autopilot controller you're looking outside--sort of. Yup, you're right, all the big planes I flew had the controller on the "eyebrow panel." But, hey, you can put it anywhere you like, that's the beauty of our hobby.

For reference, I did put the TO/GA button fairly close to the throttle, though.

[Vlad]

Where goes veteran iPad?

[Pat Hatch]

Vlad, the iPad is still in the same place! Wouldn't be without it. I think the iPad is a powerful tool and merits the real estate it takes up on the panel. Just my opinion, of course.

[Pat Hatch]

I fitted the Gemini in the panel, had to level it and modify the angle around the panel a bit:



Got the roll servo stuff painted so that's done. Had to paint the doubler the same color as the bottom skin, primed the mounting bracket, etc. You can see the large washers on the rod ends were cut down quite a bit to prevent interference but still keep the bolts captured in the event of a bearing failure.







While I was in the paint mode, I decided to go ahead and paint the panel, same color as before. Used the dry transfer method for the labels, and sprayed 2 coats of flat clear over everything. Worked out OK. Lots of labels!



Some more detail:









I painted yesterday and today went ahead and drilled and tapped for the 4-40 screws for the ELT head. I actually JB Welded a couple of small .125" shims/doublers on the back of the panel for this purpose:

[glenn654]

Pat,
Your panel is looking good and a good example for the panel work I'm doing now too.

Where did you get your labels made up?
I like the borders/groupings of like switch functions.

Did you cut your panel yourself or send it to a CNC shop?

Am drawing a blank of what "LEMO" is, enlighten me.


Blue Skies,
Glenn

[Mike S]

Originally Posted by glenn654

Am drawing a blank of what "LEMO" is, enlighten me.


Blue Skies,
Glenn

Connector on some Bose headsets.

[Pat Hatch]

Just in case anyone is wondering, the new Garmin pitot tube fits perfectly in the Gretz mount, screw holes line up. I assumed it would, but now I know for sure.





To expand a little bit on Mike's answer in the previous post, the LEMO connector is also available on the Lightspeed Zulu headsets. Of course, the big advantage of the LEMO is that it uses ship's power and negates the need for batteries in the headset. I found it a little bit disconcerting when the batteries died and it sounded like your engine just blew up. Also, one wire instead of two.

[Pat Hatch]

Originally Posted by glenn654

Pat,
Your panel is looking good and a good example for the panel work I'm doing now too.

Where did you get your labels made up?
I like the borders/groupings of like switch functions.

Did you cut your panel yourself or send it to a CNC shop?

Am drawing a blank of what "LEMO" is, enlighten me.


Blue Skies,
Glenn

Glenn, I made the labels up in Microsoft Word, converted the file to a PDF, sent to Cliff Digital for the one-page dry transfer sheet. Transferred the labels to the base coat on the panel using a pencil and a tongue depressor, shot two coats of flat clear on top of the labels. PPG paint.

Cut the panel the old fashioned way: by hand, used a band saw, scroll saw, jig saw and fly cutter for the one circle. Took about a day, but plenty of detail work with files, etc. I thought it would be faster than trying to convert my old panel to a .dxf file and sending it off to a CNC outfit, etc. Used the old panel as a template for the outline.

Thanks for the kind words.