Mike Sylvester wrote: >I am getting ready to start the panel.... Suggestions would be appreciated.
This may not apply to you, but it's an idea that some builders may benefit from, especially those who didn't have the foresight to make the front deck removable for easy access to the back of the panel. The panel in the enclosed photo was built with removable mini-panels, all of which are modular and removable with a few screws. It's even angled on the ends for better viewing, although I'd only do the right side this way, as I'm not sitting in the middle of the plane. The panel frame (in this case) is made of carbon fiber, so the angles are easy to build in. But the main point is to demonstrate that you can build in future flexibility and still make it look very nice, with just a little extra effort. Steve Anderson built this panel. It could also be made of aluminum, for those not so talented in carbon fiber work, but the CF structure looks very professional with the rounded edges. See enclosed photo. Another piece of advice I would offer is to use combination breaker/switches to save panel room and points of failure. I like the Carlingswitch units that I used in N56ML, but there are plenty of others. Those breaker/switches are shown on the panel at the bottom of http://www.n56ml.com/kpanel.html . I'll admit though that this panel leaves a lot of space sprinkled around, rather than saving a large enough piece of real estate for future expansion. Another point that you've already seized on is to use 2.25" diameter radio and transponder, which gives some more flexibility. My first radio and transponder were Terra "half-width" units. When the transponder croaked after the first few months, there was no replacement available, and I was forced to buy a full width radio. I was left with no place to put the transponder, so I ditched the g-meter and put a new 2.25" Becker transponder in its place. It turns out that the g-meter didn't register a lot anyway, except for a hard landing or two! Another instrument I quickly learned to live without was the vertical speed. The altimeter works fine for that. Something that may apply to you is to keep things tightly spaced to maximize blank space for future expansion. I've seen panels that had everything spaced widely apart to make a pleasantly proportioned panel, but there was no blank space for future/evolving equipment. See the picture at the bottom of http://www.n56ml.com/n891jf/panel/ for an example of leaving some room. I mounted the IFLY 720 to the front face with only three small holes in the panel, so it can be swapped out for something else later. And there's another big blank space on the right that I can mount something else to if I need it. I have already lived long enough to regret not installing the combination breaker/switches in this panel though. And of course the best advice I could give anybody on panels is to make the front deck removable or with large doors so you have plenty of access to the backside... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com -------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: sa_panel.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 104282 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://list.krnet.org/mailman/private/krnet_list.krnet.org/attachments/20140105/e6fd6bec/attachment.jpg>
