Archive for the ‘Fabrication’ Category

Instrument panel rebuild

Monday, October 26th, 2009

I recently came across some free .125 aluminum and decided to rebuild my Masonite instrument panel. Aluminum is fairly easy to work with using basic power tools. I cut out the shapes on a band saw and drilled the instrument cutouts with a hole saw. There are more holes to drill and I need to design some kind of support structure to mount the panels.

panel01 panel02

Magneto start switch

Friday, October 9th, 2009

I had built my own replica start switch for my cockpit project but was not too happy with the results. While browsing eBay the other day I happened upon a used Cessna switch (part no C292501-0101) for $5. Even though it had no key this was just too good of a deal to pass up. Shipping was only $5, so for $10 I had a real switch.

Projects 005 Projects 006

Last night I tore the switch down, cleaned it up and re-keyed the lock to fit the key from my scratch built switch. Apparently a C&K switch key, although shorter than the real thing, fits just fine. It is kind of hard to see in the pictures, but the switch was really dirty and the anti-oxidizer/grease inside had mostly solidified.

Projects 008 Projects 009

Projects 010 Projects 013

I used rubbing alcohol, some cotton swabs and an old toothbrush to clean everything up. The contacts were cleaned up with a bit of fine sandpaper. Now it looks almost as good as new.

Projects 016 Projects 019

Here are some pictures of the terminals.

Projects 024

They are labelled: R, L, LR, PR, GRD, BAT, and S. I am still in the process of documenting how the contacts work. It looks like I will need some kind of circuit to translate the various positions into some kind of meaningful input to FSX.

CNC router

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

You have to use your imagination, but this is the start of a CNC router.

Projects 004

We have a 2’x4′ sheet of 3/4″ MDF, 1/8″ aluminum angle (3/4″ and 11/4“), 5/16-18×3/4″ bolts, 1/4-20×2” bolts, 5/16-18 tap and drill bit and two boxes of nuts for the bolts.

If you aren’t familiar with CNC routers then check out this Youtube search for some videos. The wife approval factor for this project is about -1000 so job number one will have to be something really nice for her. =)

Acrylic fabrication guides

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

http://www.ocip.com/promo/fabrication_guide.htm