Pit / panel building

[glenneuax]

Hi everyone,

 

I've just started tinkering and building some panels (and hopefully the full consoles) for A-10C. I've made a few samples and just wanted some advice on the best way to produce the light panels (backlit) with a CNC router.

 

I've cut the panel from clear acrylic, painted it black, engraved it and attempted to paint it by hand with a tiny brush but the results were "meh".

 

I've done a test by cutting the panel from clear acrylic, painting it white, then filling the engraving with vaseline then painting with black over the top. Worked alright, lots of fun had trying to scrape the engraving out, however I noticed the black paint was a bit thin and when held up to a light you can see the light coming through..

 

 

Anyone have any advice or words of wisdom on pulling these panels off almost perfectly using a CNC router?

 

Cheers!

[Panthro]

About time you posted on here looks great so far.

keep it going!!

 

back lighting will so be worth it when it is done.

[Mr_Burns]

I think I read they use white acrylic painted black, you may need a few coats of black?

 

You then use the CNC to engrave through. Paint the sides black too so the it doesnt let light escape out the sides.

 

Nice first panel though!!

[glenneuax]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

 

I guess I'm telling a bit of a fib, there's more than one panel I've tried but this is the best so far.

 

Regarding the white acrylic, I actually started with "natural acetal" (which is white), painted it black, then engraved it. The contrast wasn't there so I gave up on the white plastic.. however.. I may just need WHITE plastic and it will be better.

[glenneuax]

What keeps me up at night is looking at pictures like this from Keith LaFaille.

 

 

How is the engraving performed? is the writing painted? what with? is the panel a clear acrylic or white acrylic?

 

Arggg !!

[Panthro]

AFAIK it is laser etched

 

maybe try this?

http://www.derivan.com.au/derivan-products/fluorescent-products.html

 

and some LEDs to make it glow

Edited December 5, 2013 by Panthro

[Hansolo]

You may find this information useful. Hoel6466 dissected a real panel to see how it was build. I found it very informative.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=112210

 

Cheers

Hans

[Mike Powell]

Light plates have been in use for decades, and have been manufactured in various manners. At least some contemporary units are laser engraved. Older units clearly were not as they predate lasers.

 

I have an old, tube type general aviation Collins VHF COMM having a non-integral light plate. That is, the lamps are not buried in the plastic. They pass through holes in the light plate and screw into sockets in the support panel behind the light plate. This light plate is made of clear plastic which has a layer of white paint covered by a layer of black paint. The markings are engraved through both layers of paint. The markings have been individually painted with white paint which is clearly seen using a 20X magnifier.

 

A few years ago I ran across a "how we do it" video on a manufacturer's website. (Naturally I cannot find the site now.) As best as I can remember, the sequence was: CNC plastic stock for panel outline and cutouts, paint booth for several coats of white followed by several color coats, marking engraving (can't recall if a mechanical or laser engraver was used), markings were filled with paint using an applicator having what looked like a blunt hypodermic needle, finally back to the paint booth for clear matte overcoat.

 

The process of filling the markings with paint was done under an inspection microscope, probably something on the order of 5~10X though that's a wild ass guess on my part. I seem to recall the person doing the work using a cloth and a small squeegee to remove paint that went on unwanted places.

 

I would not be surprised to find that all current light plates are manufactured using laser engraving. The older techniques are just too labor intensive. Still, they worked in the past and there's no reason they won't for us.

 

I think your panels look excellent. I look forward to seeing your future efforts.

[Warhog]

Glenn, what you need to do is get the correct material to engrave on. Check the internet for engraving plastic and see whats close to you. There are several plastics that are matt black and have a milky white core.

 

You engrave and cut thru the black (which no light gets through BTW) and this gives you nice white lettering when the lights are on. You mount this on 2 sheets of clear plexiglass sheet cut exactly the same as the panel. One sheet (the middle one) acts as a spacer and the back sheet is what the switches are mounted on. That's it. Then use some super bright LED strips behind this and you now have a lighted panel.

 

When you first look at the panel it won't seam all that bright. But turn the lights of with only your monitor on and all of a sudden its comes to life. What you don't realize is that you only need panel lighting when its dark. With the lights out it takes very little back light to light up your panels. Any more and it becomes annoying and distracting. Like driving home on a dark road and somebody turns on the dome light and it almost blinds you. Same thing. You don't need very much light to see these panels at night.

 

So that's my storey and I'm stickin to it.:thumbup:

 

BTW, these are some of my panels and with the lights out it's perfect. Any brighter and it would be blinding at night.

 

 

[Trueno]

Wow, great idea