Panels and knobs

[Deadman]

pitbuilder you can find more information on panels in MIL-P-7788F My real panels are .243 inch thick for a normal panel . the Have Quick II panel is 0.62 inch thick witch may work for the CDU panel

[pitbldr]

Thanks for the reference Deadman! I'll look that up. :)

[TigersharkBAS]

CH being... china, chile...? :thumbup:

 

Yes...the least known fact about Switzerland. For all you non European types (and even some of you Euros) the official name of Switzerland is the Confederate of Helvetica. This is why domain names are .ch and the currency is CHF ;:smartass:

[hog_driver111th]

Haha, good to know. Yes I can send to Switzerland, but oddly enough it's a higher cost, by about 6€, than the rest of the EU. Either way, if you buy them, we'll get them to you the cheapest route which is what we're striving for.

[pitbldr]

I think I've found a good way to produce the yellow border on the EFCP panel. It's not perfect, but it's very good. Best part is this should only bump up the price about $10-$15.

 

What do you all think??

[hog_driver111th]

I'd say you have a winner there!

[Feed]

Looks great to me! Isn't the actual a combination of yellow and white? Would you mind sharing how you did it? Best idea I can come up with is gluing on printed stock - far from ideal.

[pitbldr]

Looks great to me! Isn't the actual a combination of yellow and white? Would you mind sharing how you did it? Best idea I can come up with is gluing on printed stock - far from ideal.

 

 

Yes, it is yellow and white, but I think that would add to much time and be much more difficult to get good results.

 

What I did was to paint the panel black, then overlay a stencil that I lasered and used that to paint a solid yellow border. Then, after the paint was dry, I overlayed another stencil to paint back on the black separations. My first attempt just using one stencil to paint on the yellow border with separations did not yield very good results.

 

I definitely could do all the painting and just laser etch the border, but the time on the laser would be about twice what it is now. Wanted something was of good quality but still affordable. I may still try some other methods to see if I can get better results, but I am happy with these at the moment. :)

[Feed]

No doubt it looks great as-is. You got good results with the yellow considering it's over a black coat!

[Deadman]

the white areas would be lit for NVG use, the yellow is not lit in RL AFAIK

[PanelBuilder]

Thanks! :)

 

Yes, they are two layers that are "welded" together. It's glue specific for acrylic. Separate would definitely be easier for me! :D I can make them either way.

 

Yes again. The bottom layer of the panel has holes that are about .2" larger than the top layer. I used the switches I had (most from actual military aircraft) as the basis for my measurements.

 

Some follow up on this now that I've got the switches mounted. Just comparing this method (2 welded top layers + separate bottom switch layer) vs the way I built BS panels (3 separate layers).

 

I think the 3 separate layers is better; here's why: I bolt the switches to the bottom layer and then attach the middle layer. Then I can lay a straight edge over the switch bodies and adjust their height so that they come up just to the top of the middle layer. Then I can bolt on the top layer.

 

So, suggestions:

 

1. Top layer is perfect except don't paint the bottom.

 

2. Middle layer: Don't glue. Don't paint. Provide clearance holes for nuts like you're doing but make them big enough for a socket OR just provide 1/16" pilot holes.

 

3. Bottom layer. Please provide in same thickness. Don't glue. Don't paint. Probably best to just provide 1/16" pilot holes for all switches. Except please provide clearance holes for the outside edge fasteners in this layer.

 

Finally:

Please, please continue to make the #4 interior through holes in all layes.

 

Thanks again pitbldr. These are outstanding panels.

 

Colin

[PanelBuilder]

Some follow up on this now that I've got the switches mounted. Just comparing this method (2 welded top layers + separate bottom switch layer) vs the way I built BS panels (3 separate layers).

 

I think the 3 separate layers is better; here's why: I bolt the switches to the bottom layer and then attach the middle layer. Then I can lay a straight edge over the switch bodies and adjust their height so that they come up just to the top of the middle layer. Then I can bolt on the top layer.

 

So, suggestions:

 

1. Top layer is perfect except don't paint the bottom.

 

2. Middle layer: Don't glue. Don't paint. Provide clearance holes for nuts like you're doing but make them big enough for a socket OR just provide 1/16" pilot holes.

 

3. Bottom layer. Please provide in same thickness. Don't glue. Don't paint. Probably best to just provide 1/16" pilot holes for all switches. Except please provide clearance holes for the outside edge fasteners in this layer.

 

Finally:

Please, please continue to make the #4 interior through holes in all layes.

 

Thanks again pitbldr. These are outstanding panels.

 

Colin

One other thing. I think only the top layer needs to have the side cutouts for the fastener heads. This means that the 2 bottom plates can be identical: pilot holes for each switch, #4 inside through holes, and #6 (#8 ?) clearance holes for the edge fasteners.

 

Thanks,

Colin

[PanelBuilder]

One other thing. I think only the top layer needs to have the side cutouts for the fastener heads. This means that the 2 bottom plates can be identical: pilot holes for each switch, #4 inside through holes, and #6 (#8 ?) clearance holes for the edge fasteners.

Thinking about this some more, if the light plate is supposed to be 1/4" and we're makeing all three plates out of 1/8, maybe the top two layers should have the cutouts for the side fasteners.

[pitbldr]

Hey Colin,

 

I've seen your replies and appreciate the feedback. I've not had much time to sit down and think about all this yet.

 

What you describe is what I am currently doing. The top two layers together make up the light plate. The 3rd layer would be the switch plate. That closely resembles real panels and has been my plan all along.

[PanelBuilder]

Cool.

[Froglips]

Pitbldr,

Can you list panels and prices in one message or add an attachment?

Please let us know if you are going to take PanelBuilder's suggestions or allow some choice on pre-assembly. I will probably just take one full set of A-10C panels.

 

Any chance of you doing a KA-50 panel set?

 

Thanks.

[pitbldr]

Hey Froglips,

 

Sure, I can get a price list put together. I do need to finish up the designs on a few panels, but I'll list what I have at preset.

 

If it's feasible for me to offer a couple options on assembly I will do so, I just need to explore that a little more and I've had no time lately. At this point, I expect I could offer 2 options...

 

Option 1) Fully assembled light plate (made of two .125" pieces glued together), painted and engraved.

 

Option 2) Separate light plate (not glued), with only the top part painted and engraved. The bottom part could be painted by the buyer.

 

With either option, I could supply a switch plate cut from .125" acrylic. I may explore options for making switch plates from aluminum, but that won't happen soon.

 

I don't have any drawings for the KA-50, but there's no reason I couldn't do those as well. If someone could provide panel drawings, I could offer them sooner as I don't expect to have any time to do them myself for the next couple of months. Busy making several UFC kits for several members.

[fael097]

pit, how about knobs? they look awesome, and I've been looking for some. you have a price yet? thanks

[pitbldr]

Not yet, I ran into a small issue with those and needed to work on them some more. Then work got crazy and I've had practically no time to spend on the pit building projects. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel at work now though, so I should be getting back to the important stuff soon. :D

[fael097]

superb, really looking forward to it!

let us know when It's ready :)

 

cheers

[Froglips]

Hey Froglips,

 

Sure, I can get a price list put together. I do need to finish up the designs on a few panels, but I'll list what I have at preset.

 

If it's feasible for me to offer a couple options on assembly I will do so, I just need to explore that a little more and I've had no time lately. At this point, I expect I could offer 2 options...

 

Option 1) Fully assembled light plate (made of two .125" pieces glued together), painted and engraved.

 

Option 2) Separate light plate (not glued), with only the top part painted and engraved. The bottom part could be painted by the buyer.

 

With either option, I could supply a switch plate cut from .125" acrylic. I may explore options for making switch plates from aluminum, but that won't happen soon.

 

I don't have any drawings for the KA-50, but there's no reason I couldn't do those as well. If someone could provide panel drawings, I could offer them sooner as I don't expect to have any time to do them myself for the next couple of months. Busy making several UFC kits for several members.

 

I will see what I can chase down for you. What format do you need the drawings in? AutoCAD?

[pitbldr]

Autocad (.dxf or .dwg) should work... anything that I can import into Coreldraw.

[pcalvert]

Hi pitbldr,

 

How is the UFC build going... have been busy myself! But looking forward the including the UFC into my cockpit :). Hope all is well........

[pitbldr]

Work is settling down, so I've actually been able to spend some time on these. I have 6 plates cut and painted. Need to cut and paint 6 more, then I'll be ready to engrave. Getting there! :)

[pcalvert]

That's great - can't wait. I am going to integrate it into my instrument panel and the make an aluminium extension to the glare shield - raising it to the height of the UFC (hard to explain without a picture) But basically the UFC will be partly set into the top of my instrument panel - (about an inch and a half) then covered with the extension - will look very cool hopefully.