Restoring original lightplates

[mickc]

Hi gents,

I am in the process of restoring a 737 fire panel and converting for sim use.

Has anyone successfully re-painted the light plates on one of these?

I have stripped them down as the backlight boards needed a good clean, and i am replacing all the bulbs.( a couple were blown but i will replace them all so the light is uniform) 
They seem to have been painted before, as there are small borders around the lettering that indicate they been masked over.

is that the best way to go? or has someone found a better way to protect the lettering?

(unless of course Phil744 wants to sell me a set of those lovely repro fire panels he has on his Facebook page )

[Aerosim Solutions]

Hi Mick,
I would repaint the lot then re engrave, that would be the best result!!

Cheers Gwyn
PS My Matrix Orbital display has arrived, do you have any instructions on hook up to Prosim?

[mickc]

Hi Mick,
I would repaint the lot then re engrave, that would be the best result!!

Cheers Gwyn
PS My Matrix Orbital display has arrived, do you have any instructions on hook up to Prosim?

I think my engraving would ruin any panel!  i thought about scanning the plates and making an engraving file by tracing the letters then getting it computer engraved...

Did you get the X-board and cable as well as the display?   You should be able to connect it to a free COM port & 5v power then go into the Config in Prosim.
on the drivers tab, tick the "Matrix orbital display support" box, then in the displays tab, choose the COM port the display is on for the Elec panel.

Don't forget, you need to program the X-board to tell it what size display you are driving.  The users  manual doesn't cover this, but this document does:

http://www.matrixorbital.ca/appnotes/xboard/X-Board.pdf

It also shows how to connect the board to the display and wire the connections.

If you get stuck, you have my number!

[phil744]

Hi Mick.

Will be running some more fire panels soon, will have a few left over.

As for restoring, dont bother trying to re engrave, C02 lasers and CNC dont have the accuracy to engrave to the thickness of a layer of paint. I should know, restore real panels every day.

Top tip however, get one of those cheap Chinese ultrasonic cleaners, warm soapy water, drop it in, go for a beer, then remove from bath, u will be surprised on what they can do

[Aerosim Solutions]

Hi Mick, I don't have the X Board and cable - bugger! I'll order it today.

My billet built aluminium CNC machine is accurate on Z axis to plus or minus 0.01mm and I can accurately engrave 1mm high text with it so send your panel over and I'll fix it for you if you like! I've been making back light panels by engraving through paint for the last four years, no offence Phil my esteemed mate!!! It does depend on the quality of the machine and the cheap Chinese CNCs would never manage it - agreed!

Cheers Gwyn

[Joe Lavery]

I tend to agree with Gwyn, you can get a decent engraving with CNC or a laser. Although they are generally not as good as Phil's, his are sometimes better than the originals. I've seen real panels with mediocre engraving, Phil's are not.

I've attched my first engraving done with the laser, and a set of panels I made wating to be engraved (not a complete set yet). It's been a bit hectic since I painted them so I'll post a couple more pics when they're finished. As I said not anything like as good as Phil's but better than many cheaper panels I've seen, and good enough for me... 

Joe.

[phil744]

not bad at all Joe, want a job with me?

Nah didnt mean any offence Gwyn, be careful when working on old real stuff, after 10+ years in service the original acrylic never remains flat any more, easy on new acrylic as you know is perfectly flat.

[Aerosim Solutions]

Another good tip for rotary engraving panels - I always engrave too shallow to start with and then increase depth of cut gradually until I know the depth of the paint which tends to vary out of my spray cans! I don't have a dust free booth so I often hang stuff up and paint from underneath which stops dust settling on the panels, most of the time anyway, static always wants to help!!