Lining up avionics trays without the avionics

[David_Nelson]

So I thought I was being smart by purchasing the avionics trays and getting them all squared away in the panel before shelling out lot's of money for the actual avionics just to have them sit on the shelf burning up warranty time. Silly me, what was I thinking! Come to find out (from reading/searching the forums) that there isn't any standard for how far a face place extends outward.

My stack will be composed of a gns-430w, sl-40, pma-8000b, and a gtx-327 (not in this order). What is one to do?

Thanks,

[RV7Guy]

I have a similar stack. All Garmin stuff, audio panel, 430, sl40, 330S. I bought the trays and stacked them nose down and fit braces. The stack was mounted and all appropriate bracing installed. When I got the actual avionics the only one that stuck you a little was the SL40. Barely noticeable. In fact, nobody has noticed until I pointed it out.

I don't know how the 8000 tray will play into that. Give some thought to the 340 audio panel. It works great and keeps you in the same brand!!

[David_Nelson]

Hi Darwin,

Ok, the sl-40 sticks out a bit - good to know. How much are we talking about? I was also thinking of using floating nut plates to make up for any minor adjustments.

Yea, the 340 has all of of the the PS stuff beat in looks (IMHO) and I originally wanted to go that route. The more I read and listened, I eventually settled on the 8000.

Thanks

[647jc]

You should be able to find the dimensions, etc. in the installation documents for these devices, most documents are available via the web such as the SL40 installation document. Looks like the SL40 protrudes .648 inches.

[boom3]

That's right were I'm at. I would definately get the trays if you can. Mine is all Garmin, GMA-340, GNS-430W, SL-30, and GTX-327. Even with the same brand, they are all a bit different as far as mounting. The SL-30 for instance is narrower than the rest and they all seem to be a little differnet on how they line up with the front of the panel. There is very little room for error unless you want a gap around them. Also the subpanel needs to be cut for both the SL-30 and GNS-430W as they are quite a bit deeper.

I bought the GMA-340 and GTX-327 complete but was able to get just the trays for the others.

It really comes down to getting the jig saw out and start cutting.

Hope these pictures help you out.

My plan


I used popsickle stick spacing between the trays as someone here had recommended










I'm a little farther along than this now but don't have pictures yet of my subpanel brackets, etc.

Good luck!

[scard]

Or, you can go out to my hangar and measure that exact same stack for yourself .

[RV7Guy]

I just went out and looked at the stack, I stand corrected. (Beauty of airpark living, the hangar is out the kitchen door.) The SL40 is INSET just over 1/16". Adjust accordingly.

Definitely do the tray stack thing. I purchased from Stark and then ordered the radios about a month out from flying. I used the Approach Systems Hub so I wasn't concerned about the wiring. No need to burn the warranty on the shelf.

[David_Nelson]

Great pics Jeff - now I know for sure which tray is for what! I'll read up in the install docs and Scott has offered to let me take some measurements.

[David_Nelson]

Did some reading and research and this is what I came up with. Hopefully this will be useful to somebody else down the line. If you do use it, please verify before drilling/cutting!


Model | Bezel | Gap | Mounting Hole | Total
GNS-430(W) | 0.695 | 0.125 | 0.312 | 1.132
SL-40 | 0.648 | ~0 | 0.375 | 1.023
GTX-327 | 0.76 | 0.09 | 0.35 | 1.20
PMA-8000B | 0.681 | 0.125 | 0.37 | 1.176

Notes:
- All dimensions are in inches.
- The "Bezel" dimension is the thickness of the bezel.
- The "Gap" dimension is the measurement between the edge of the bezel and the tray, if applicable.
- The "Mounting Hole" dimension is from the edge of the tray to the center of the mounting hole.
- The "Total" dimension is from the front of the bezel to the center of the aft-most mounting hole
- The GNS-430 dimensions look to also apply to the GPS-400W and GNC-420W models.
- There is a spread of about .177" (little less than 11/64") between the mounting holes for the above stack

References:
- Mike Stewart's www site http://www.mstewart.net/Downloads/downloads.htm for Garmin, and other, installation manual pdf's - thanks Mike!
- Garmin 400W Series Installation Manual, Rev B, November 2006, p. F-3.
- Apollo SL40 Installation Manual, September 2003, p. 16.
- Garmin GTX-327 Transponder Installation Manual, Rev J, May 2003, Figure B1, p. 41.
- PS Engineering PMA 8000B Installation Manual, Rev 8, May 2008, Appendix B.
- PS Engineering Greg Ledbetter who sent me digital pictures of a digital caliper measuring the bezel thickness and bezel-tray gap. Now that's customer service!
- PS Engineering Mark Scheuer whith whom I exchanged some PM's regarding dimensions