Today I moved to the left side of the panel and the center switches and lights. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I have to rotate the mill machine head in order to cover the entire width of the panel so I placed a hole in the middle of each GDU display to have "known" locations on the panel to locate when cutting each side.
I swung the machine head over to the left 10 degrees to get it in position and indicated the reference hole to within .001 to get it right there (actually to be within .020 would be sufficient but we are trying to be right there and it takes no longer to do one or the other.
Once again I started by cutting the smaller openings. I started with the GMC 507 Autopilot controller in the bottom left corner, then the Flight Data Chrono/G-meter, the large GDU 460 display opening and finally the switch holes and indicator light holes. The panel looks the same as the prototype only there were size adjustments that were made to the openings that you cannot tell from looking at the panel.
The 6061 aluminum used in the real panel cut well and had a lot more rigidity than the prototype 5053 I picked up from a local maching shop. Well it is ready for deburring and then prime and paint. I will try to get the side panels completed with figuring out switch locations then cutting them.
