The International Cessna 170 Association

I've browsed and came up with most all of the info I need to make my custom panel on my 55' rebuild. I have a sheet of .090" aluminum ready to go. I really like the panel that Avion does from pictures. I am going to attempt a panel on my own first. Here comes the question: it appears most panel setups have the upper panel either one solid sheet or two, left and right and then a lower panel for breakers, controls etc. is there a reason for this? Why not one solid panel all the way down? Structural is my only guess...

Thanks for any info.

Kyle

55' 170B

kylegreen229 wrote:I've browsed and came up with most all of the info I need to make my custom panel on my 55' rebuild. I have a sheet of .090" aluminum ready to go. I really like the panel that Avion does from pictures. I am going to attempt a panel on my own first. Here comes the question: it appears most panel setups have the upper panel either one solid sheet or two, left and right and then a lower panel for breakers, controls etc. is there a reason for this? Why not one solid panel all the way down? Structural is my only guess...

Thanks for any info.

Kyle

55' 170B

Larry Cranton in Arizona fabricated a custom panel for his airplane, and it's a solid sheet from the top down. I wish I had some pictures of it...I took pictures of about everything but his instrument panel when I visited him last week.

If you have your panel out, you'll see 90 degree angle that goes from one side of the cabin to the other. I'll guess it's .125 and is riveted on each side to a bulkhead which initially is straight then goes at an angle aft to the floor and attaches to the forward door post. That .125 angle is replaced with various extrusions to contain the c/b's and controls. The L/H instrument panel floats which may make your instruments last longer. There's a trim piece that covers the gaps for the radios in a center stack configuration. Then there's a separate fixed R/H panel for whatever you think you need.
Really it's like any later style Cessna panel which should make servicing easier, " should".

c170b53 wrote:If you have your panel out, you'll see 90 degree angle that goes from one side of the cabin to the other. I'll guess it's .125 and is riveted on each side to a bulkhead which initially is straight then goes at an angle aft to the floor and attaches to the forward door post. That .125 angle is replaced with various extrusions to contain the c/b's and controls. The L/H instrument panel floats which may make your instruments last longer. There's a trim piece that covers the gaps for the radios in a center stack configuration. Then there's a separate fixed R/H panel for whatever you think you need.
Really it's like any later style Cessna panel which should make servicing easier, " should".

I have the entire panel out at this point. I read that newer Cessna panels are not shock mounted anyhow. From what I'm reading that you posted it just seems I need to just make the lower panel separate and bend it top and bottom for strength and structure.

Kyle

I really didn't make sense with my last post so I'll try to tie this together a bit. The angle that crosses the cabin supports the weight of all the instruments. If your considering your own install, you'd have to think about how to replace that thin angle (3/4- 1 inch by guess)with something that will contain your controls which likely would be something about or at least two inches wide or wider and at the same time attach it to those side bulkheads. The easiest way would be an attachment where the bulkheads see straight but this likely won't leave you with the room you'd want, much lower then you have to go from an angle to something perpendicular. In other words not so easy. Hope this makes a bit of sense and leads to some thought before you cut. The things that make us say "humm".

Here is an Avion panel

I guess if you go G1000 then you're good to go with no shock mounts but I'm no expert on instruments. I think most A.I's need some shock protection, again not an expert.

I think the black crinkle coated piece is what Jim is trying to describe. That bar is made of either .090" or .125" and supports the instrument panels above it and ties the side walls together.

johneeb wrote:

170 progress 2004-04-24 003.jpg

I think the black crinkle coated piece is what Jim is trying to describe. That bar is made of either .090" or .125" and supports the instrument panels above it and ties the sides wall together.

Those are some itty bitty radios

johneeb wrote:

170 progress 2004-04-24 003.jpg

I think the black crinkle coated piece is what Jim is trying to describe. That bar is made of either .090" or .125" and supports the instrument panels above it and ties the side walls together.

This is exactly what I am going for as pictured. Is this your panel? Is the only reason the two top halves are split is just simply shock mounting the left and the right is rigid?

Kyle,
Both sides are rigid.

kylegreen229 wrote:I've browsed and came up with most all of the info I need to make my custom panel on my 55' rebuild. I have a sheet of .090" aluminum ready to go. ...

The original panel in my '55 was .125.

In my mind, the biggest reason panels are split is so you can remove one panel by itself for access behind it. The bigger the panel, the harder to pull it out. On later model 180s/185s, the pilot/flight instrument side panel is shock mounted but not the copilot/engine instrument side.

johneeb wrote:Kyle,
Both sides are rigid.

170 progress 2003-11-14 001.jpg

Thank you for sharing the information and especially the photos. This helps immensely. I made a start of a cardboard cutout today for the upper panels.

Anyone that has done the "Y" control yoke installation know if you can use one out of a 172RG? My guess is like most, you could it would need modified of sorts. Might be able to get my hands one from an RG..