agrasyuk

Lars (that A indeed came out quite funny :) ) tried out the engraving, not on acrylic but on my positioning plate as i couldn't find anything better at that moment. lettering engraved just fine without any modifications as i expected, even the "D"s. as far as outline notice that double line on the top and right edges . this happened because outline of the panel is drawn in poly-line probably because the 3d model has that rounding of the edge (i stopped the execution after the first pass) . no idea if maybe that's how you need things, but if i were to cut your panels i would need to explode all the poly objects and delete the leftovers.

Oh, sorry about that. I managed to cut myself quite deeply in left thumb the other day, typing on a cellphone with bandages is quite a task. S and A letters are right there :)

Lara, not at all, Will try out later today. For now I was able to import it into lasercad without issues. with my drawings I find I need to issue PURGE command to get rid of all kind of invisible orphan objects, otherwise china laser software crashed. Clay, I do have the ms font installed and use it pretty much on all panels (even on those that use a different one, which sparked quite a debate).

Dxf files can very well have text objects, to see the text properly you do need to have the font installed. Text objects cannot be processed directly, at least not by my laser cam software. TXTEXP command in AutoCAD is used to explode text objects into polylines. Obviously text will no longer be available for editing so I make a copy on dedicated "unexploded text" layer in case need to edit arises.

set of knobs came from DM quite some time ago. as far as PCB it comes out very good as far as copper leftovers, yet to see a short anywhere. the etch tank i use heated by incandescent bulbs and its easy to spot any issues. i will however use your idea to widen the gaps. what i still didn't figure out is clean cutting. that FR4 eats non-carbide blades of my scroll saw, tin snips worked good for the OSRAM display PCB in CMSP but useless for stuff longer then few inches. score and snap method does not produce clean enough edge to my taste . i will send the edges of the final board on dad's belt sander, but that fiberglass dust doesn't quite excite me. ADD: Sorry, missed your message. for consistent lettering increase the power to dig a bit deeper into the plastic, when focus is good paint does need very little power to get burned off. as i said achieving good layer of paint is untrivial, all kinds of dust are possible in workshop. but unless a big gob felt down into paint I don't see much trouble - it is still smoother then any of the real panels. while they maybe coming out sparkly new from the factory all real panels in my small collection sport quite a plethora of dings and nicks. with that yes, i do agree that using engraving material is much preferred.

since i'm working with laser and not rotary tool i don't need to hold anything down. if i had to hold a painted surface i'd use model masking tape on your regular double-sided tape (as modeler yourself i'm sure you aware of 3 day+ curing time before masking). idealy i'd somehow rework the process where top paint and engrave is the last operation preformed. but there are sure many ways a cat can be skinned :) since we discussing panel building techniques i'll share my latest attempt at unusual panel - AN/ARC-210 . it is special in a way it has buttons that would be located on top of the mounting rails and generally very dense control placement. to overcome i came up with using idea of PCB for a backplate (will be laminated to alum sheet later for strength) and SMT tactile buttons. tried SMT Leds for backlight but they were to dim so i "SMT'ed" the ordinary 3mm ones beaming sideways into 6mm acryl lightplate (painted white on the back), managed to cram 12 of them and still keep things single layer without bypasses. 3.5 LCD is just the right thickness to be mounted behind green acryl filter and jammed behond with the PCB (opening to fish the wires through is still to be cut) showing front and back of the lightplates. face plate will be attached with glue still need to make and paint all the buttons, i will be using same ones as CDU's line select keys plus couple special ones. it does light up quite good but i'm not 100% happy with light coverage, will be reshuffling the LEDS a bit and perhaps adding 4 more. and i still didn't find a good way to cut PCBs consistently precice, having a router would be so much better for this. ADD: adding another pic, its hard to hold the cellphone steady. camera intensifies that the lightitng is not very even, (obviously still missing some of the required markings. )

material dedicated to engraving will obviously be better. but if white acrylic is prepared and painted properly (not a trivial task), i don't see anything that much wrong with it either. the only thing is engraved letters come out not as white and the contrast of resulting panel is low - not at all problem when panel is lit. but all in all i don't see why use it unless in some special situations where low contrast can be used to advantage - individual text is near invisible when behind filter which makes for perfect annunicators i think . BTW, judging by the after-smell lasermax material is actually a painted styrene sheet. to make things uniform i cut the outline first, spray edges and the entire face with MM flat black (for the life of me i cannot distinguish that shade black from the interior one you mentioned) and then engrave. also takes care of the glossy sheen of the material.

Very pretty build John, getting more and more compact Yes styrene is awesome material, cuts well with a hobby knife. I prefer to get my sheet sryrene in form of "for sale " signs from local WM. Doesn't get much cheaper )

that one is Yellow, not sure how it will look, even with filter.

from what i understand he is using x-sim suite (http://www.x-sim.de/forum/portal.php) . info is exported into x-sim DCS plugin via our all favorite export.lua script. incoming force info is recalculated into actuator movements. i am as well building and will get into the software side of things once i have something to test with.

I use fotki.com I am paying for a premium plan that gets me unlimited capacity (for almost 10 years now), but their free plan is quite good as well. Once every few month you can request storage increase for free.

John, was wondering about your reasoning using osrams for fuel qty gauge. To me it looks like the small OLEDs are the perfect part for it.

To attach two pieces of aluminum best option would be welding, see if any of the moto repair shops you got to know can do it for you. If you cant find a way to weld bolting it to some adapter (wood?) Will look better then ducktape . For faded paint there can only be one answer - recoat. And for the 30 buttons it will be quite a piece of work. The engravings themself seem very grey, I would guess its bare acrylic, so why you at it improvement can be done to that. Paint the inside white with a fine modeling brush . you inevitably will hit some of the grey surface with white , but it is not a problem since as step two you will paint the outside after masking the engravings with playdough/modelling clay. Allow at least 3 days for lettering to cure before masking and allow for main coat to cure for at least 3 days more before removing the paint. Clear topcoating after can help. Airbrush would be best, if not available canned spray paint from your modelling store will be fine too. Worst case generic rattle-cans can be used, those do spray very heavily so use them with care. I could help with that as I'm painting my buttons at the moment and have everything setup. But not sure if mailing buttons to me and back makes sense to you.

Unless his inbox is full he did receive them. They will not show in your sent folder unless you explicitly choose to save them before (that check box is off by default)

White lettering of the display can be solved easily with green filter. I used acrylic cit to shape. Stage lighting filter gel probably will work as well (and can be cut withoir special tools).

i'm quite sure owner of this image will not mind me posting

That CDU hardware looks absolutely stunning.

absolutely awesome that you got it to work. hope to follow your footsteps soon.

location of backlight power connector on the back of the panel

Lars, thanks again for your effort.

My biggest ever woodworking project, deck, is all built and passed final inspection. pics under spoiler now with it out of the way time to get back to the sim, picking my RPiCDU project back up. finished casting of first full button set. put pieces of lasermax on bottom of the mold before pouring, will provide excellent quality of engraved lettering when back-lit and un-lit. preparing to airbrush layer of primer, black and then grey. it's a lot of buttons to keep track of, tray pictured will help organize and will also serve as a jig for the engraving process

очень интересно какие решения рассматриваются и что в итоге выбрете.

Excellent , many thanks!

You could probably fit those screens if you OK giving up some of the prototypicallity - something got to give. Repositioning mount points and reducing LS keys might allow to fit a 5 incher screwn and keep the standard 5.75" total width but it will no longer fit inner 5.25 opening (which is not nessesery a problem )

Кроме как сказанно выше флюса (на обоих контактах не помешает) иногда помогает зачистить контакты. клеймы дешевых штырьковых разъёмов что получил из Китая без чистки не паяются почти никак. Перед пайкой полезно облудить сам провод. Ну и паяльник тоже держать чистым. Дело совсем не трудное. Удачи.