July 9, 2005

Today, I spent more time doing this labeling. Well, I can finally say I’m done with it. It turned out really well, so I’m pretty pleased with it. I think the Pulsar decals are the best way to do this I’ve seen so far. It’s even better than some screen printed panels on Vendor stands at Oshkosh and Sun N Fun. If you’re in a quandry like I was about how to label your panel professionally, then this is the way to do it. I’m sure it will work equally well for other applications too, it just came at the perfect time for me, just when I was about to give it all up and buy a P-Touch! Oh the thought of it!

I also finished the warning lamp text. This was so easy after all the panel labeling! Just printed out some Avery clear label material with the text I wanted and put it in the lamp. These lamps come apart easily, and have a white insert with a coloured lens over the top. You stick your sticker on the white insert, snap it into the lens, and then snap the whole thing back into the lamp. Easy.

I also spent some time working out the new host for the website. Hopefully the transistion will go smoothly, and nobody will know any difference, apart from maybe a speed improvement.

Here’s a shot of the completed panel (labeling anyway)….

And the warning lamps….

So, tomorrow is going to be a big day at the hangar. The panel will be fitted for good, and all the instruments fitted. I think I have enough screws to do it! Another cool thing will be updating the Blue Mountain EFIS 1 to the 2.51 software revision. This rev was a biggie, and changes the whole database system over to Jeppesen. There are a whole bunch of other improvements too. That’s something I like about their product, it just keeps getting better and better.

7/9/2005 8 hours

It was a good day at the hangar today. I got the instrument panel in for good, and it looks fantastic! Here I have fitted all the steam gauges, the switches and the EFIS card reader.

Same stuff, slightly different angle.

Here I have completed the panel! Except for the GX-60 which I haven’t got yet! Hopefully, Mike will decide not to use the one he has for his RV-10, and I can take it off his hands and just slide it in. I’m all pre-wired for the GX, so once I slide it in, it’s good to go. I left this image big just so you could see it better.

I also completed the update to 2.51 revision for the EFIS 1. It worked great, and now there are VOR’s in the flightplan! Sweet! This new Jeppesen database is cool. Here’s a close up of the unit in it’s permanent home.