Avionics rack

[Tbone]

Just received my avionics from Stark, (thanks John, Tony, & Anthony). I had my center stack prewired. My question is how are the radios mounted? I do understand how the trays work but should the trays be flush at the front? Will that make the "faces" also flush with each other? Should there be any gaps between trays or are they stacked on each other? My center stack has a PS Engineering 8000B audio panel on top, next is a Garmin 430W, then Garmin SL40, then Garmin GTX327 transponder. I do see inside the trays that the "mounting" holes are countersunk to some degree but it seems that the screws need to be a low profile variety. Is there any tricks to finalize the hole spacing to get a well aligned stack? Sorry about the wide range of questions but never had to "assembly" such a system, just basic single radio in the tray type of thing.

[Mel]

You will need to trial fit each individual radio. They are NOT all the same. Some radios protrude more than others.
You should leave a slight gap between trays for air circulation.

[Tbone]

What would you consider a slight gap? Should the faceplates have a small gap between them, and should the cutout in the instrument panel be as a unit or individual? How is it best to compensate for the slight difference? Slot the holes in the rack or what?

[Norman CYYJ]

Many radio racks have small dimple in the bottoms of them, their depth is sufficient for air circulation. Otherwise 1/8 inch is plenty.

[Tbone]

I did see the dimples on the rack surfaces. It does leave nearly an 1/8 gap between.

[kentb]

I like the look of a nearly flush panel. So I mounted my radios so that they protruded only about 1/8 inch. The racks can be mounted directly on top of each other if they have the little bumps.





Kent

[Jekyll]

TBone:

1. Install the back plates on the boxes.
2. Install all radios into the boxes.
2. Adjust the boxes so the fronts of the RADIOS line up together.
3. Clamp them together but don't use much pressure or have someone hold them for you.
4. Wrap them in duct tape. You'll be amazed at how well this will hold them while you work on them.
5. Remove clamps.
6. Remove radios. Removing the backplates at this point is optional but it makes the next steps much easier with them removed.
7. Build up your mounting brackets. Once the angles/mounting brackets are drilled to the racks you can remove the tape and you will have a nicely aligned stack.

Some pics:

Taped together but the fronts are not aligned because the radio faceplates are slightly different thicknesses. I have a PMA-8000B on top of an SL-30, SL-40 and a GTX-327. The GTX and PMA were a bit different than the Garmins IIR.


Building the support angles. The Garmins are a bit wider, something like .05 (maybe they are narower, I can't remember). Some folks shim the smaller items, I chose to file the angles wider for the wider items and it worked great.


Front angle is installed. I removed most of the tape and left a single strip around the back while I made and installed a side angle bracket (not shown).


The final project. They came out nicely. I talked with 2 different avionics installers and both said no gaps were necessary between the units. The provided vents and dimples provide sufficient standoff.


The most difficult part of the whole process is finding a srewdriver to reach into the back of the boxes. It is a challenge to get a man's hand in the boxes and turn a driver. Tool shops will sell you 12 inch #1 philips but they are quite dear. I ended up using a phillips bit in a 12 inch 1/4 inch drive extension.

Jekyll

[Ironflight]

I used the exact same method as Jekyll did on my last couple of panels, and it works great! Don't be upset that the screws aren't in a nice vertical row - that's just becasue the manufacturers of racks can't get a standard...

[Sticky1]

Although I did not mount the radios I purchased from stark in an RV; I did mount them and they worked as promised. Installation was a snap and all went well.

Pleasant to work with and very helpful on interfacing.

I DO recommend STARK for your purchases.

[Jim Ellis]

Click here to see how I did it.