Homemade led holders and ISIS Panel....

[XOrionFE]

It is a slow news weekend so far so I thought I would post some things I have been working on beside the rest of my mip.

The first three pictures are of my homemade korry indicator housing.  I looked at what OC was offering and I have purchased some of their mip panels that came with the indicator lenses but not the holders so I decided to make my own on my cnc.   The lense you see attached to my housing in the third picture is from Open Cockpits. I have made some with single 5mm LED provisions and some with dual.   I have tested with some leds I got from China on ebay that worked perfect.

The last picture is of my homemade ISIS panel bezel so far.   I intend to engrave the buttons and the bezel next and also backlight.   I still need to cut a knob (Nihad? :-) ).   I also made an RMI bezel.   This bezel is as close to scale as I could create given the pictures I was given.  Again, my friend Vince helped me with the drawing and toolpath setup which I would be happy to share with anyone if you want it.

Hope you enjoy..

Scott

[phil744]

Spot on I would say

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Great job Scott.

Is it possible for you to make one of those bezels with a different button arrangement, except for actually cutting the holes for the buttons? I'll be fabricating the buttons to actuate tactile switches behind the buttons.

I need a bezel cut for for the Sandel SN3308.

[XOrionFE]

Sure

If you can give me some measurements (preferably in mm).  Also need to know the thickness you want.

[Trevor Hale]

Looks good Scott, I am impressed.

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Sounds great. If I ever see another day off, I'll work up something on paper, scan it in, and upload it for posting.

mm's it is. Frankly, I'd rather work in the metric system.

[XOrionFE]

Thanks Trevor and Phil

Micheal, you have my email if you want to send there or just PM me here whatever you find.  I googled it and found some measurements also but just want to make sure I am doing what you want.  I can paint it with my paint and attempt to engrave the wording at the top or I can just cut you a couple of them and send to you raw.  Either way....  Happy to help out.

Scott

[XOrionFE]

Just realized what that guage does Michael....

Could this mean you are joining the 21st century and actually putting some GPS capability in the old 727?? :-)

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Mmmmm, could be...

[XOrionFE]

Here is the completed panel.    I am happy about the engraving for the most part but need to get some more opaque white plastic.  The plastic I used is sign white which is a little more washed out due to its transparency for light.  This looks great when backlit but in normal light it is not vivid enough in my opinion.  Of course nothing compared to what can be accomplished with laser engraving but not bad for home cnc.   The buttons on this are non-functional but I could have easily made them so.   The Baro knob is on an encoder so it could be interfaced if there was a function within the software used.

Anyway, I hope you like....



Regards,
Scott

[jackpilot]

Very nice....whaooo!

[nihad]

wow cool panel Scott the level of part making is so close to the real thing these last years its scary  ( in a good way for)

Nihad

[ivar hestnes]

This is very nice Scott. Very well done. Do you get the buttons functional also?

[XOrionFE]

Thanks guys.   

Would look nice with one of your customer knobs Nihad :-)

Ivar, the buttons aren't functional on this one but that was just a matter of choice.   I am relying on Sim-Avionics to supply the ISIS display but I dont know if it will actually have functionality.  If it does...then I may need to remake this panel :-)

[Trevor Hale]

Nicely done Scott.  You really are getting the hang of this CNC Stuff.  Fantastic.

[Boeing Skunk Works]

Awesome work Scott. Can't wait until I get a drawing done for you.

[phil744]

Well I would be proud of that, well done sir!!

[warvet]

Damn Scott,
You out did yourself on that panel it is SWEEEEET! Great work my friend AAA+ 
Tim

[ETomlin]

Mmmmm, could be...

YAY!!!! :-) ;-) :-)

[XOrionFE]

Eric,
As you can see I was successful engraving on this panel so your RMUs wont be long :-)

[ETomlin]

Eric,
As you can see I was successful engraving on this panel so your RMUs wont be long :-)

AWESOME!

Thanks Scott. Not too much longer on seeing your old FGC come to live either.

[when acting as a wave]

Wow, this is some beautiful work. Very nice.

I hear what you're saying about the engraving too, although (as you can see in your very own thread), good results are possible!

We don't have access to any laser engraving at the moment either, so we're trialling some different engraving methods to minimise any depth issues we have with the material. Last week we made ourselves a sprung-loaded engraving tool, which also provided me with some valuable experience on the lathe. We're still experimenting with various spring tensions and whatnot, but the results so far have been very promising.

Here's a photo ... 



Dean.

[XOrionFE]

thanks dean

Interesting idea.  Can you explain how that works?  I assume it senses pressure (surface rising) and adjusts depth though spring compressability?  That is one of the challenges in engraving is that the surface changes across a part if not perfectly level.   This is especially due to material properties as plastic thickness is generally not perfectly uniform.   So to engrave well you have to readjust the z axis zeroing multiple times across the part and do the engraving in groups.

[nihad]

Hey Scott,

Last night I toke a good look at the knob used on this panel and will see if its possible for me to copy that knob.
Will get back on that soon 

Nihad

[when acting as a wave]

Can you explain how that works?  I assume it senses pressure (surface rising) and adjusts depth though spring compressability? 

Hi Scott

Yes, that's how it works. The z-axis zero is set slightly lower than you'd normally go but (so long as the feed rate is kept constant around the entire piece) the engraving tool should never actually get to that depth. It's a balance between spring tension and speed - we're getting a new spring to try out this afternoon, so we're not quite there yet ...

With regards shifts in the material thickness, it's been suggested to us that it shouldn't be anything like as severe as we've had to deal with in the past, so we're about to trial some acrylic from another company, which we unfortunately went to collect half an hour after they'd closed for the holidays  That was our fault though ...

Dean.