total newb question

[djcevera20]

buddy you happen to have a photo do you?

[Buddym]

are you making a pass at me? Oh! you meant a photo of the buss card!! (just kidding!) I will take one and post it in about 4 hours when I get home..meanwhile I will look and see if I can find a link to the one I saw online.

On another note, if you are building panels, what switches did you use for the pushbuttons on the glare panels? I may make a new fcu panel and wanted to use the buttons like OC sells, but was trying to find them here in US to avoid the extra shipping costs. Maybe someone reading this will know the manf oand or part number. I was hoping to find them in a large enough qty. to build the fcu and efis panels with them.

Also... if you are building your own panels, how are you applying lettering/labels?


edit: the switches appear to be miyama ds-661, does anyone know a US distributor?
BuddyM

[djcevera20]

...sounds like i still got it...thought i lost it when i got married and had a kid... lol ...ok on a serious note the buttons im currently using are very basic push buttons from a local supply store and my housing is an old video reciever basically mocked up everything to try to get the hang of everything....now i will tear it all apart and start building with mdf board and plexiglass (plexi is gonna be used for panels and i will then engrave the lables with a dremal....unless i can find somewhere to print some out...my design has changed a millon times....when i do the final build i think im gonna change my buttons to the ones like oc but got to find somewhere in the us like you..if you come across somewhere let me know i will do the same if i find somewhere first. i think the buttons im gonna go with will be the kind where you dont have to solder so i can minimize the needed soldering this way i can disconnect things quickly.

[Buddym]

I don't know of anyplace to get those switches yes, but it seems that really the OC price isn't too bad even with shipping. The slow shipping is 10 euro, so the total for 22 switches works out to $3.18 per switch, not bad really. We have a surplus shop in Orlando where they would probably be $2 or $3 each, plus tax so the price would be the same.

Regarding the panels, I have cut several from 1/8" plastic (polycarb). They come out great and are opaque so backlighting comes thru nicely. I still don't have the engraving process down though. I am going to make a starter switch panel tonight and apply an ink jet label to it and see how it works. I have already printed the label and it looks great. I may use this method permanently if I can't get the engraving to work for me. I can't use plexi cuz my cnc machine is too slow and the material melts and breaks the bit. ($30 each!!!) To tell the truth, I love to make my own, but some of the cockpitsonicusa panels look to be a bargain. For instance, the EFIS panels with electronics are not unreasonable at all. The parts alone are probably $40 my cost, and the panel is pre-cut and labelled.

Anyway, more rambling............this is an obsessive hobby.


BuddyM

[djcevera20]

buddy would you be interested in making some extra cash if i were to ask you to make a few panels using your cnc i have to make mine with a dremel and it not only takes forever but its easy to screw things up... i would obviously pay for materials shipping and your time...lmk

[Buddym]

I would be happy to help in that way, but since I am a beginner I would ask that you send me a file, I will cut it and send it back to you. After it's cut and you examine it you can decide if you want me to do any others. If you are going to spend money on panels you should make sure they are worth your money, and my panels so far are not anything close to what the vendors like OC and Cockpitsonic have. I hope to get to that point. I am going to start cutting the start panel in a few minutes, when it is cut and labeled I will post a pic you can look at. There are som other guys here that make panels that are awesome! I am more than happy to help, but get everyone's input and pricing first so you can get the best panel for your money!

Regarding the simple buss card I made for the display digits, here is a pic:

The cable on the right goes to the segment pins on the displays card, then each digit pcb plugs into one of the sets of segment pins on this card.

BuddyM

[Buddym]

Here are a few pics of the start panel during trial assembly tonight. The label is just a paper lable for testing, the sticker will look better, no wrinkles!
The panel took 16 minutes to cut on the cnc machine, slow, but accurate. The pushbuttons are illuminated and the Master Switch toggles are locking with a very nifty pull-knob that I found. Not spec, so the purists will poo-poo it, but they will look great stenciled with ENGINE 1 and ENGINE 2 on them. The panel is translucent so backlighting will work well if I decide to put it in. Still have to get some more authentic knobs for all of this stuff. Maybe cast them in resin myself, who knows.......

BuddyM