SonexBuilders.net

I am going to use this thread to document the construction of a custom panel for my Waiex. Up to this point i have been pretty quiet about it, because in the back of my mind i had the sneaking suspicion that i had spend a bunch of money on some avionics that would not fit into the airplane i was building (and that would be really embarrassing). But i am at the point where i have convinced myself that this will work.. so ill start spilling the beans.

Here is my list of stuff that i need to figure out how to fit:

Dual Dynon Skyview 7" screens
Garmin SL30 Nav/Com
PS Engineering PM3000 intercom
Kannad Integra ELT (Remote Head)
Ignition (keyed) switch
Master switch
Standard Aeroconversions Trim Knob
qty (2) 2" Steinair eyeball fresh air vents
Avionics switch
Position, Strobe, and Landing/taxi light switches
Autopilot switch
Smoke System Enable switch (why the heck not)
Zero breakers or fuses, because i am using a Vertical Power solid state breaker system.


Its really not that much when you think about it.. i have seen Sonex panels cluttered with way more stuff than that before. The problem is that the two Dynon screens take up so much space, there is hardly any room left for anything else. One really great aspect of the Skyview system, is that it uses a remotely mounted transponder, so that does not have to take up any precious panel real-estate. I can also justify not having any steam gage backups, because the two screens (each with their own independent 30 min battery) are a completely redundant source of PFD, Engine Monitor, and Navigational information. The issue at hand, is that there is no way that two dynon screens will fit within the stock Sonex panel.. so i will have to get creative....

Ok, so here is the basic concept. I like the idea of a composite panel, and i picked up some really interesting/artistic colored carbon/glass twill weave (that just so happens to contain my favorite color) to make it with. All of the faces are flat planes, so it should be reasonably easy to make a tool to create my dream panel. I started off by modeling everything in SolidWorks, just to check to see if i hadn't gone insane already:



I know that some people had made 1" and even 1.5" lower cross members below their panels to fit extra switches and breakers, so if i just extend the panel slightly more than stock (about .25" or so) and then extend the center area by 1.6" more, i was able to fit the SL30 radio centered beneath the two screens. I like the looks of it, too!

I decided that i must first make a real-life mock up of the panel, because if i went straight to a tool and then a composite panel, there is no way the first try would come out anything close to fitting properly. I chose 3/4" MDF board to make the mock up.



And i actually made three mock ups, each slightly different (and it took three try to get a fit that i liked too).

Here is the lucky winner, with two life-size dynon cardboard screens on it to prove that they fit!



This mock up was created by first cutting the top edge to a 30 degree angle on the table saw:



And then a compound miter of exactly 57.25 degrees (swing) by 24 degrees (tilt) for the sides. (DISCLAIMER: i would be willing to bet that if you copied my technique, your numbers would be slightly different)



Then, i made a 1/4" trim piece to represent the perimeter of the SL30 radio. When the radio is installed, and parallel with the face of the panel (at 30 degrees tilt, which is the stock tilt) it *just* clears the bottom of the fuel tank. Without this tilt, the radio is long enough to interfere with the tank, but i got lucky and it looks like it will work and still be able to be flush fit.



And here is my first test fit with everything in. Believe it or not, there is still just about the same amount of clearance between the corner of the radio and the stick as there is against the trim knob in the factory default location if the stick were pushed over to the left. I would call this success with the initial concept fit!



Thats all for now, next up: creating a mold tool for the panel.

Here's my updated panel for ideas. I used dual MGL xTremes and an MGL V6 radio. Hung the Garmin xponder under the panel. The spider on the top right is to hold an iPad mini.
The "carbon fiber" panel is just a vinyl sticker on aluminum you can get at the AutoZone aviation section. $10/roll.
The switch and fuse labels and passenger warning were done at the local trophy shop in laser engraved in plastic. $22 bucks.

One thing I would have done different is to leave a small lip/visor hanging over the panel from the glare shield and attach a vinyl molding to finish it. I still plan on doing that but will have to do it with the felt cover I'm building.

Good call on leaving the lip.. i have not trimmed mine yet for that exact reason. I got a "sampler pack" from McMaster Carr (six piece assortment of 4'" lengths) for $4.38 of various self gripping vinyl edge trims to test and see which one looks/fits the best.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#trim-molding/=lh65d9

I saw that sampler pack when I bought my moulding. Should be a must buy early on in your project.
The dual Dynons will be really nice. If you decide to make a carbon panel plate, you consider making a few more for us? I'd love to have real carbon instead of faux.

Gonna be sweet!

Whelp, I made a mold for the panel and it seemed to work out alright. It was nothing fancy, just built up out of 3/4" MDF. I used regular wood glue to cure the layers, holding them down with a bunch of weights and sand bags.












Here is the final product:



To prep the tool to make a part, i resin wiped the MDF with West Systems epoxy. The first three coats were soaked up like a sponge.. so i did a total of 5 coats of resin, allowing each coat to dry for about an hour before the next one.



After the resin cured overnight, i wet sanded it until smooth and then prepped the tool with three coats of wax, a buff, and finally a coat of Polyvinyl Alcohol:



Before making a final panel, i wanted to make a "test article" that was just three plies thickness to test the fit, validate the tool, and check how everything would look before investing the cost of making the "real" panel. Here i am all prepped to lay up the "test article":

I found that cutting the plies out to shape before hand was much easier than laying oversized plies down and then trimming them after being wetted out with resin.


part curing under vacuum:



In the back of my mind i was a bit nervous that the part would not release from the tool in a friendly way because of the tight angles involved, but i was pleasantly surprised that the panel popped right out of the tool without any issue or damage to the tool itself! I trimmed the flange edge to 1".



The green square in the middle is the special "artistic weave" that i got to make the panel out of. I wanted to test the look of it so i put the square in the middle of the "test article":



I'll admit it, I got lucky and everything fit extremely well on the first try!



I probably could have extended the upper right hand corner by 1/32" to make everything perfect, but i was quite happy with the results and didn't want to re-make the tool just for that (and risk screwing up some other portion even worse)



Here is a fish eye look at the whole panel in the airplane:

fastj22 wrote:If you decide to make a carbon panel plate, you consider making a few more for us? I'd love to have real carbon instead of faux.

I honestly would not be opposed to it.. however the reality of the situation is that the cost per panel, just in raw materials is probably about $150 or so.. plus each one would represent about 4-6 man hours of labor - and those figures are not including the tool creation at all. I would also need to invest in my own vacuum system (as i was borrowing a friend's which was fine for my own, but i would not want to burden him by making parts for other people using his equipment). So i would honestly need to sell 5-10 panels for about $300 or so just to break even, and i honestly don't think the demand is out there for this.

I played around with a couple of configurations for layout:







This is what i decided on:






Next step: create the final panel!

Great work! It's a very clean look too!

Looks good! You did keep the lower cross member under the panel ,right?

The weight of the fuel tank (especially under positive G) will try to bend the top longerons inward and the cross member opposes that...:)