Originally Posted by
andarlite
Hi Paul
Thanks.
The material I used is "1/8 inch standard hardboard". Costed me a buck 35 at Home Depot for a 24"x24" sheet. Also comes in larger sizes..... it's nice to work with and I wasn't too concern about having backlighting on the MIP. I also wanted something cheap as I knew I would be making mistakes and have to re-do (believe me, I went throught a lot of sheets).
To get the straight edge, I first put masking tape over the area where the cut would be made (to prevent chipping), I clamped a steel straight-edge on the cut line to use as a guide and I cut it by hand with what I think is called a "keyhole saw" with a fine blade. I then use a fine file to finish off. At first I tried the jigsaw and it was terrible.... same with using the dremel tool to sand...... I could only achieved satisfactory results with non-power tools. I'm sure someone like Gynn could have done it perfectly on the first try in his sleep with one hand tied behind his back (and probably no filing required either) :D.
Level D is certainly made for the cockpit builder in mind (unlike PMDG). Are you using Nico Lekseecon program and Opencockpits boards in your build?
Regards,
Henry