Making Panels Project Log

Hi All,

**For those that are interested, I am offering these panels up for sale, at what I think is a reasonable price. Link below. **

https://www.tekcreations.space/product-category/flightsimaccessories/f-a-18-c-hornet-panels/

I thought I would go through my process of manufacturing some plates / Panels for various Fighters, and hopefully somebody can get something from my experiences, and provide some feedback.

First thing I am working on is panels for F/A-18C for DCS.

Firstly I have sourced some Tiff Images, and tweaking my sizes from that 146mm standard width, DZUS 9.375mm Spacing for holes.

One thing I am not a fan of the F16 or MS 33558 Font. I am going to be use a Gorton Heavy font which looks far better to me with less work required for letter spacing etc and I’m happy with.

Firstly everyone seems to use acrylic, so I have gone through and done some various testing and picked up some Clear and White acrylic. I did my first test on clear acrylic, got some rattle can Rustoleum 2X paint, and gave it 2 coats.

This is the Result

Now this doesn’t look to bad at first glance, the text is a bit fuzzy, the white frosted look from the engraving is visible but not vibrant. The Spray can on inspection is a gloss which doesn’t look that great either.

So now I throw some lights behind this bad boy to see how it backlights.

Oh yeah serious problem right here, Despite 2 coats light leaks like crazy and would require 3 or 4 coats..

Lets scrap that idea.

Now I move on to a White Acrylic, this time the ExtPower Panel. Instead of using the Rattle can paint, I use some acrylic Primer, and crank out the spray gun and use a Flat black Water Based enamel 2 coats.

Now this looks better already, the text engraves crisper, the white shows through and looks a bit better, and I also like that flat black vs the cans gloss.

Lets see how this backlights?

I think this looks much better, still a bit of light leakage but nowhere near as bad, and I think that’s because I did not have a even spray. With a better even spray job I feel the 2 coats would suffice.

Definitely getting some hotspots through with the LEDS so that is not the best.

Lets try a Different panel see if the results get better.. This time the Snsr Panel, I took more time with spraying, still only 2 coats, but making sure I got better coverage.

The light leaks are no longer there, but still getting the hotspots, and looking at the non-lit version below the surface does look ok, but it is VERY easily scratched and they show up quote noticeable.

What sort of engraver are you using ?

I have a 50w co2 laser I use for engraving.

Thanks. I started 3D printing panels but the lettering comes out just barely OK. I'm looking at either machine or laser engraving now.

Thanks for sharing! Very good stuff. Look forward to future results.

Looks good, just a heads up, depending on how real you are going for, I couldn’t get 8 position rotaries they were all 12 position which means they don’t register at 45 degrees like the replica panels.

Maybe irrelevant.

Mr_Burns, I got these. A little more expensive but at 45° switching angle:

https://www.mouser.dk/ProductDetail/CK/A12515RNZQ?qs=oIfnSaRkEUkirBC46HgIdA%3D%3D

Cheers

Hans

Mr_Burns, Thanks for that, not something that had crossed my mind, I picked up a 12 position Rotary from Jaycar, that you can set to 8 position thinking you beauty. But yes looking at it now the Indicator angle is definitely a problem. I Will be looking into a few different options to see what I can source, thanks HanSolo I'll look along those lines.

Update on Panels.

This time I did the Ext Tank F18 Panel.

Time to have a look at this with some Back lighting.

Definitely very lackluster barely anything coming through So Now I flip the plate over and engrave some notches out where the text is.

Now that has definitely made a difference, you can see the WING is backlit now, but still not stellar results, and I don't want to go etching the back of every plate as that will be painful.

Without a Plate in the middle, my screw for toggle switches is going to be on the top. which looks bad. So I mocked up an idea out of MDF to save acrylic, I would "rebate" the bottom plate to allow the nut to sink into that before the top plate, IE below.

Now it does work, but again extra work required on each plate.

So the only alternative to this is going to the 3 plate design after all!

Also as a note, my back lighting I am currently using is LED green strips. a Mix of 5050 and 3528. I have been using the White acrylic as the backing, but its still not letting as much light as I would like.

Looks good, just a heads up, depending on how real you are going for, I couldn’t get 8 position rotaries they were all 12 position which means they don’t register at 45 degrees like the replica panels.

Bought these 8pos. rotaries and I am happy with them:

http://s.aliexpress.com/ja6BrIZR

"Click" is not so crisp as like on the bigger 12pos rotaries, but at least they have 45 degrees/pos.

Cheers Rightstuff, they look pretty Decent, Ordered some :) do you know if its possible to "stop" and convert them to say a 4 position?

After previous attempts, I have now refined what I am doing from a design standpoint

I have done the F18 Hornet Sensor Panel below

The Whites are nice and bright unlit, and the black that nice even finish.. Just wondering with the Rotaries whether I really need the white circle… that will all depend on if I can come up with some illuminated knobs, probably best to include it now as it is only an extra 20 seconds of engraving time.

Now what I have done as mentioned before, I am sticking with a 3mm Base plate, this time using the new Opal 445 Acrylic. Putting this and and doing some back lighting the difference is quite remarkable. Below is a shot illuminated with 5050 SMD LED strip through a layer of 2 x 3mm layers Opal and with a ambient light on in the room.

And Below is a shot with the light turned off and only light from the monitor.

There is nice even light transmission and no hotspots. Now there is brighter spots, but that is because I am literally just placing 2 strips of LED’s underneath with no thought to placement like I will will the final panels. With proper placement I am confident everything will be evenly illuminated. I also have a 3528 strip to trial later on.

Next its time to go through and do cuts and determine what panel layout I will use between the 3mm and the 2mm.. Doing some Math, the base and middle as 3mm with the 1.6mm top makes it 7.6mm overall (which I think is getting a bit on the high side (although close to the real overall height of a set of panels according to my research). If I go the 2mm that makes it 6.6 which I think is a nicer overall height.

Will post some pics once I finish off and put some switches in to see how they sit.

I've figured out a 3D printed rotary switch design that can have positions at any angle you need. The downside is that because it works using a magnet and reed switches it's fairly bulky - you need to maintain a minimum distance between the magnet and the reed switches so that you don't get two poles being connected at once. So the smaller the angular distance between poles, the greater the diameter of the switch has to be to maintain that minimum spacing. You don't see the bulk because it's behind the panel, but there's always the problem of panel edges and packaging other switches around it.

I still have to work out a detent system that feels 'right' as well, but I have the basic switch design proven and working in my Viggen computer panel.

Once it's finished I'll release the files to cockpit builders via Thingiverse.

After some cutting and mucking around with the F18 Panels, I think I have decided on the approach I am going to go with the different thicknesses.

Below is a screenshot of the Bottom 3mm plate with the switches screwed in tight.

Then we get the middle 2 mm plate and place it on top and it looks like the below. This is the plate with the larger holes to accommodate the nuts.The nut sits nice and flush with it the plate.

Once we have done that, its a matter of sticking on the Laser Engraved top plate (Ignore the off centre circles.. The dog decided to bump my laser mid job which moved the stock.. Grrr time to lock the door!

I give the baseplate a quick mask off and hit with spray to show the below

When we have a close look at the profile of the 3 plates it looks like below.

Overall I’m quite happy with it. The top will be masked of and a quick spray on the edges, or I might use a paint pen to do it, I haven’t decided yet.

I can quite easily change the dimensions here, swap the 2mm and 3mm around, or use both 3mm as I see fit.

What to trial out next?.. Hazard striping!

They look really good...

.....do you know if its possible to "stop" and

Unfortunatley they do not have a ring with a nose to limit the rotation.

I'm thinking of connecting a nose directoy on the axis and a corexponding limiter on the base. A little work, but no big deal.

Anyway: Keep going with your work!

Always fascinating to what creative approaches are flown to light the plates.

Great! :thumbup:

The next part of panel construction I am working on is how I tackle the Hazard striping for the F18 Hornet Panels.

A perfect example of this is the F18 Hornet ECM Panel. This Panel has Yellow white striping around the ECM JETT button.

The white is obvious , I will laser engrave that, and the yellow is obviously going to be paint of some kind. but how do I do it?

First up I get a bit of scrap and laser engrave the white sections with a raster engrave (Ignore the horizontal black lines I was tweaking the power for another purpose.)

This gives us the white lines with the black diagonal strips to separate out the pattern.

Next we apply some low tack tape (Painters tape) over the design.and do a vector cut at VERY Low power (just enough to cut the tape) on every second diagonal box This is where we are going to paint.

After this we strip of the bits we just cut to show outlines to paint

I have a few things I’m going to test and the first is good ole rustoleum rattle can yellow spray paint. Lets give that a hit of 2 light coats.

Once the paint is dry we peel of our Masking Tape and voila we are left with the below.

Not bad, but not great, but definitely a good start.

I did Initially try spray painting over the black, but it looked so bad it doesn’t deserve to have a photo.

I think the next step is I need to widen the black strips inbetween the colours, and do 2 lighter coats to avoid the paint pooling.

I might also look into some Tamiya Enamel model paint and trial painting that in by hand (still keep the masking) and see how that looks.

Good progress. Looking good.

Cheers

Hans

Nice :thumbup:

Marc..

Ok I have gone through and done some more work, first up the ECM panel

Here I went for some Mattisse Acrylic paint to infill for the hazard striping. This looks better than the spray paint I think. I have some thin adhesive material on back order, but until that comes in to experiment I'm happy withthis result.

Here is the ELectrical Panel. I have a stepper motor gauge on order to play around with before I do any housings etc for this panel

Flight Control system panel done, just need to get a flip toggle cover, but the sizing I went for matched all the standard ones I saw online.

Exterior Lights redone

Ground Power, here the NATOPS didn't show "auto" , but DCS does.. without knowing why NATOPS has it missing I went for whats in DCS.

APU sorted, this is one that will need the post paint on the bottom plate to mask off I believe.

Interior Lighting done..

Next panels to work on is the Master Arm Panel and KY58 and the comms panels..

A quick question - are you using the laser to cut out the acrylic panels?

Cheers

Les

A quick question - are you using the laser to cut out the acrylic panels?

 

Cheers

 

Les

Yep 50W CO2 Laser

Thanks - as I asked in another thread where laser cutting was being used, I'm curious as to the quality of the cut surface. I'm using acrylic for my panels using a CNC router, but it's awful stuff to cut cleanly despite liquid cooling on the cutter, and in a hearbeat can go from a clean cut to a balled up molten mess, especially drilling the smaller holes.

When I do get it right with the router, it produces a lovely edge, but more than one bit of acrylic has ended up in the 'test piece' basket plus I've spent quite a bit on cutters where they have snatched and broken. This looks like an answer to those issues.

I've been looking at one of those K40 type 40W chinese clones, the same as MiddleFart's link as I can actually get one shipped to Hungary.

Cheers

Les

Thanks - as I asked in another thread where laser cutting was being used, I curious as to the quality of the cut surface. I'm using acrylic for my panels using a CNC router, but it's awful stuff to cut cleanly despite liquid cooling on the cutter, and in a hearbeat can go from a clean cut to a balled up molten mess, especially drilling the smaller holes.

 

When I do get it right with the router, it produces a lovely edge, but more than one bit of acrylic has ended up in the 'test piece' basket plus I've spent quite a bit on cutters where hey have snatched and broken. This looks like an answer to those issues.

 

I've been looking at one of those K40 type 40W chinese clones, the same as MiddleFart's link as I can actually get one shipped to Hungary.

 

Cheers

 

Les

No problems, I also have a CNC i've used for routing acrylic many a time and the key I found was firstly a single flute endbit, and making sure your get the RPM and feedspeed correct (different for each machine of course) Once I found the sweet spot I can cnc acrylic without a hitch. I still use it for 3d profiling cuts.

Another thing is to use cast acrylic as extruded acrylic has a lower melting point.

That being said you can't beat a laser cut edge and a K40 is a good start :)

Thanks - I'd heard about the cast V extruded acrylic issue before, trouble is being in Hungary you use what you can get! However the single flute cutters I have not yet tried, as as I will still need to produce pockets and features in the acrylic parts even if I go the laser cutter route, it looks worth investigating.

Nonetheless, I feel the urge to get the laser cutter

Cheers

Les

Been a little bit busy with a few R&D Projects, but have managed to squeeze out a few more plates.

KY58 was not certain what do do for the Fill, but I think I have sourced a decent 6pin DIN panel mount that I'm waiting to arrive, I sized the hole appropriate to that. Found a few different versions floating around, but chose the one that is in DCS.

Also squeezed in a cheeky little Video Panel as well

Currently I am working on the Master Arm Panel, just currently trying to work out what to do with the AA A/G buttons and the best way to handle that, but still keeping it generic for anybody interested in getting plates.

Perhaps I'll move onto a few more plates while I'm noodling on that one. Another experiment to think about is after picking up some Weldon#3 I might look at welding the Top engraved plate to the middle plate making them 2 piece plates, will see how that works out.

For the hazard striping I found a bit of a sample I had for silver thins stock so thought I'd see how it goes

Did a usual raster engrave of white

Placed the Sticker over the top

Did a vector cut on the outline and peeled off the surround (it came off nice and easy which was good)

Then just press and firm down in the grooves

Definitely works in principle but the edges are a bit ragged, especially as when I vector cut the pieces moved a bit to their original position..

Ok so I finally Got the Yellow Stock in I was waiting for to do the Cockpit Panel Hazard Stripes on the F18 Hornet Panels

The stock is 0.1mm thick with an adhesive back. Firstly I need to figure out where to apply it to, so I do a quick VERY light engrave on the plate after engraving the text.

Now I get the adhesive material peel of the back and apply gently over the area that will be cut out. then give it a vector cut with just enough power to cut through the yellow material.

Now I weed out the cut material and we are left with the below,

Give it a bit of a cleanup and finish the rest of the plates I'm testing and we are done.

I think this method is much better, i still need to do a bit beteter on the application, the smaller piece above moved when I weeded it out, so I will be more careful next time, but overall I think this is a fantastic solution.

Now to keep working on the Master Arm Panel and how I plan on doing that, along with a few options for the Rotary Jettison switch

Now I have most of the Main F18 Hornet Panels done and need to start working on all the small ones.