Matt Dralle
Site Admin
Joined: 08 Nov 2005
Posts: 25627
Location: Livermore CA USA
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 Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 9:20 am Post subject: Instrument Panel Labels |
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| Quote: | Hi Matt,
I live in Livermore and I'm building an RV10. I contacted Chris at Everon Graphics in Livermore about a silkscreen for my instrument panel. He said that he worked on some labels for you and thought that I might like to follow the same approach. But I didn't really understand how it worked.
I have heard of an approach in which text is printed on a large sheet of plastic that is cut to match the outline and cut-outs of the panel. The entire sheet is adhesively applied to the entire panel. The plastic is available in a choice of colors; the panel does not get painted.
Alternatively, some builders will have text printed on a sheet of plastic, cut the sheet into little pieces that are adhesively applied to the panel, and possibly spray a clear coat. The plastic might have a color, or might be clear.
Can you tell me which approach you used? Are you happy with the results? Any problems working with Chris (he seems a bit slow to return my phone calls)?
Dave Head
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Hi Dave!
Here's my recommendation. Have your completed instrument panel power coated medium-gloss black. This will give the labels a really good surface to bond too. I power coated my panel a textured black, and the labels don't like to stick to that texture nearly as well as a gloss.
Use a good CAD program to layout your instrument panel in 100% exact scale. Be exact on the placement of instruments and holes. I had my panel CNC cut, so I already had a CAD diagram to start with that had a very accurate instruemnt and hole layout.
Take the CAD layout of the instruments and holes, and over lay on a separate layer all of the silkscreening you want. Use a nice BOLD found. Make sure that all of your various lettering is all laid out straight using guides in the CAD program.
Now, print out the whole panel with the labels. If you don't have a wide format plotter, you can tile the prints and then ScotchTape them together. If you want, you can email the file and I can plot it out for you and then meet you out at my hanger sometime.
Using the printout, cut it out, and then tape it to your real panel and sit in the plane in the normal position. Make sure that you can read all of the labeling and that it really says what you want it to say. Remember, when you're labeling, LESS-IS-MORE, so don't get too wordy, but be specific. Also remember that some instruments may stick out from the panel and might obscure the view of the label from the normal seating postion.
If you have a stick grip with buttons, you can also add a caricature of the stick grip with button labels and put this on the panel too. See attached.
Once you're happy with your layout, - and don't be afraid to do a number of iterations of CAD-Plot-Cut-Fit - output your CAD drawing in a high-resolution PDF. Use perhaps 2000 dpi or more. You can email this file Chris at Everon Graphics and he will create the mat-finish label from it directly. Creating the label is a four layer process and there will be white layer, a black layer, textured top layer, and a sticky back layer. If you give your power coated panel to Chris, he will apply the label and cut out all the holes for you. That will cost extra, however. Chris did a very nice job on my panel and I would recommend it.
You can also create CAD drawings for all the other little labels around the plane. I made labels for the cabin lights, alt air, cabin heat, etc. Chris has a nice die cut machine for cutting out these rectangular sized labels.
Chris can also do full-color labels as well. These cost quite a bit more, but would be really cool. I just didn't have anything that really screamed out color, so I went with the black-n-white, in keeping with the rest of my interior.
Matt Dralle
RV-8 #82880 N998RV
http://www.mattsrv8.com - Matt's RV-8 Construction Log
http://www.youtube.com/MattsRV8 - Matt's RV-8 HDTV YouTube Channel
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RV-8_-_Righthand_Instrument_Panel_Mount_-_Version_1.0_-_December_5_2009.pdf |
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