Hi Ian !
The panel definitely IS structural - that rules out one large
hole. What many builders here do is mount the instruments on a separate
panel, as you plan, but mount it 'floating'. You can do this by cutting
the holes in the original panel 1/4" or so oversize, and fastening
the floating panel with shock absorbing bolts at the corners, and
perhaps in the center. If you can't find the shock absorbing fasteners,
you can just slip a piece of rubber tube over a regular bolt...
The floating panel arrangement makes it much easier to service
the instruments, and the shock mounting greatlt increases the life
of gyros, particularly. A similar arrangement is used for the
electrical panel, usually on the left angle section of the panel.
One other thing that helps a lot is to run a piece of 1 1/2"
alum. angle along the bottom of the panel all the way across (cut
notches for the corners). This stiffens the panel considerably, AND
provides a place to mount the throttle, mixture, trim, carb heat, etc.
leaving room in the panel for 2 rows of full sized instruments.
.....bobp
----------------------------------orig.---------------------------------
At 11:38 PM 6/27/01 +1000, you wrote:
G'day from Australia
I am now about to fit the instruments into my Rebel dash panel.
What I would like to do is mount the flight instruments on a seperate panel
that I would hinge on the bottom.
Does anyone see any problem with cutting a large rectangular hole, or
perhaps a series of oversize round holes so that the instruments would have
some clearance? (This would allow the panel to swing out without fouling.)
Would this cause any structural weakness?
regards
Ian Donaldson
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<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>G'day from Australia</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I am now about to fit the instruments into my Rebel dash
panel.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>What I would like to do is mount the flight instruments on a
seperate panel that I would hinge on the bottom.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Does anyone see any problem with cutting a large rectangular
hole, or perhaps a series of oversize round holes so that the instruments
would have some clearance? (This would allow the panel to swing out
without fouling.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Would this cause any structural weakness?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Ian Donaldson</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY></HTML>
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