Panel arrived
Much to my surprise, the panel arrived. I thought for sure it was going to take a few more phone calls to get it moving through the process. The panel looks good overall. I checked out the fit of several things. A few openings need to be enlarged slightly, but the edges need to be deburred anyway. The water jet cutting definitely leaves a rough edge. (Edit 7/7/06: The edge was kind of like a rough sandpaper. With a little deburring and sanding, it cleaned up quite easily.)
I also ordered air vents from Experimental Air, and those arrived as well. They look and operate very nicely. The brackets aren’t pre-bent, so I’ll have to do a little work there. It also looks like I’ll have to trim the panel a tiny bit in order for the vents to fit in correctly into the corners.
The 3 2-1/4″ holes below the EFIS are really close together. I verified that the airspeed and altimeter should fit on either side of the Digitrak just fine. The only problem is the Nulites. They are much wider than the instruments. The instructions say they can be cut down, so I’ll have to do that along one edge.
I did various messing around with the panel, checking the fit and finish. I then pulled out some 3/4 x 3/4 x .063 angle and marked it up to make the reinforcement for the top edge. I don’t have enough spare angle to make another, so hopefully I don’t screw it up.