panel supports

[rwarre]

I plan on supporting my radios by riveting a angle bracket on each side of the radio trays. This means putting a flush head rivet through the panel to attach the brackets. Can I cover the rivet with primer and paint or do I need to think about trim work or another cosmetic covering for the panel? thanks to the group

[SteinAir]

85% of our panels are done just that way (some of the customers want screws so the panels can be removed). Do a good job with the countersinking, riveting, and when you're done it should take almost zero filler (or very little) to make the rivets dissapear under the primer and paint.

My 2 cents as usual!

Cheers,
Stein

[Robert M]

I believe I read somewhere that someone had used countersunk screws to mount the aluminum strips same as you. Did it that way because they might want to make a change in the panel layout further down the runway and the screws would be easier to get out. Then fill any unused holes with a filler after the rebuild. BTW - they used hex drive screws not philips.

[N941WR]

Although my panel is from Affordable Panels and the angle aluminum is screwed to the panel skeleton, the tray for the Dynon D100 is riveted in place.

If you enlarge the picture below, you can just barely make out the rivet heads.

Note, the panel is painted with a textured paint from RustOleum.