I will be making a new panel for a 172M and am going to CNC it out of aluminum. I'm wondering if anyone who has done this in the past has a template in a digital format that they wouldn't mind passing along for me to use as a starting point?

Or, if anyone who has done this before has any tips for laying one out I would appreciate any advice.

Darinh has a thread started on here about cutting panels with a CNC machine. Do a search for it or PM him maybe?

I am in the process of making a new set of panels for an A185F (only laser engraving left to do).

I brought the old pilot's side floating panel to a CNC place where they used the old panel to provide precise locations of the mounting holes and yoke hole. I entered the hole coordinates into a CAD program I use at work and used the old panel to assist in designing the outline of the new panel to fit closer to the center stack, eyebrow and side wall. I used standard instrument hole dimensions (with and without knob cut-outs) found on the internet to design the instrument holes in CAD. The panel outline and all instrument and mounting holes were cut by water jet, hole edges de-burred and powder coated. I'm using Corel to design all of the labels that will be laser etched onto the finished panel. The fixed panel on passenger side was simply a mirror image of the pilot's side panel (cut to the shorter width of the passenger side panel).

The key to the whole thing was using the CNC outfit to locate all of the mounting holes relative to each other. Once that was done, the rest was quite straightforward.


pb99

pilotboy99 wrote:I am in the process of making a new set of panels for an A185F (only laser engraving left to do).

I brought the old pilot's side floating panel to a CNC place where they used the old panel to provide precise locations of the mounting holes and yoke hole. I entered the hole coordinates into a CAD program I use at work and used the old panel to assist in designing the outline of the new panel to fit closer to the center stack, eyebrow and side wall. I used standard instrument hole dimensions (with and without knob cut-outs) found on the internet to design the instrument holes in CAD. The panel outline and all instrument and mounting holes were cut by water jet, hole edges de-burred and powder coated. I'm using Corel to design all of the labels that will be laser etched onto the finished panel. The fixed panel on passenger side was simply a mirror image of the pilot's side panel (cut to the shorter width of the passenger side panel).

The key to the whole thing was using the CNC outfit to locate all of the mounting holes relative to each other. Once that was done, the rest was quite straightforward.


pb99

When I was messing around with the local laser cutter making RC airplane parts and kits, I found it easier to do all the work in autocad then import it into Corel. I had not thought about using him to do the panel on the 180, but now I will start working that direction.

Here's a bit more info on the process I used to design my own panel:

- found a local CNC company on the internet that also had a CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) that used my old panel to determine the exact location of all of the mounting holes and yoke hole relative to one of the mounting holes (at the bottom left of the panel). They also provided the diameter of all of the holes. I elected not to have them measure the existing locations for the instrument holes and related mounting holes, although they could have done that if I wanted an exact copy of the instrument locations of the original panel. Total cost: CAN $100.

- I imported the hole coordinates into a CAD program and designed the new outline of the panel as well as the instrument hole locations. This took a while as I had full size paper drawings made of the panel in order to ensure everything fit well. I glued the paper 'template' onto a piece of stiff poster board rather than CNC a plexiglass template. It took me 3 paper templates before I was happy with everything. The passenger side panel incorporated an EDM 930 to replace a whole bunch of separate engine monitoring instruments and a second glove box that could be converted into an additional mini radio stack in the future.

- found another company to water jet cut the two panels out of aluminum. Total cost: CAN $160.

- deburred the instrument holes myself and sent the panels back to the water jet guys for powder coating. Total cost: CAN $60.

- I am in the process of designing the labels to be laser etched onto the finished panels so I don't know the cost of this.

All in all, if you have the time and CAD skills, it is not difficult to produce a high quality custom panel without it costing a proverbial Canadian arm and a leg.

pb99