Airbus Panels!!!! [Archive]

phil744

04-30-2008, 01:45 PM

As you all are probably aware im getting good at building panels, however i have been asked to produce a few bits for the airbus aswell.

I am lucky enough to have a rather nice pile of A320 bits sat here and have never bothered with them until now, so I decided to have a look at how Airbus backlight there panels, now, I thought that i allready knew how you illuminate panels, but i was not ready for this shock!!

Never seen so many LED's before on one PCB!!, personally, i think its awsome!!

Enjoy!
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3677.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3678.jpg

Trevor Hale

04-30-2008, 01:49 PM

Thats really neat Phill.

Bet that draws some current doesn't it LOL

phil744

04-30-2008, 01:54 PM

667mA @28Vdc, the HYD panel is wired in in a total of 9 sets in parallel, the ENG start panel is 7 sets in parallel. each set has its own voltage regulator producing 2.8Vdc and each set has a brightness trimming potentiometer.

They do throw out some heat though, more than Boeing panels

Joe Cygan

04-30-2008, 02:53 PM

Phil,
These Airbus panels are truly the very best panels I have ever seen!

Congrats!

Joe

Bob Reed

04-30-2008, 03:07 PM

Phil.. Are these real panels?

Trevor Hale

04-30-2008, 03:16 PM

Wow. They do look amazing, even though they are lit up like a christmas tree, I am sure they look brilliant in the dark.

Fantastic.

Trev

667mA @28Vdc, the HYD panel is wired in in a total of 9 sets in parallel, the ENG start panel is 7 sets in parallel. each set has its own voltage regulator producing 2.8Vdc and each set has a brightness trimming potentiometer.

They do throw out some heat though, more than Boeing panels

phil744

04-30-2008, 03:20 PM

NO NO NO!! they are real panels!! there not my own panels:)

Its now dark here, yup they look cool, might pin them to the wall and have them lit all the time!

Just mapped out the HYD panel, i think I could illuminate the entire thing including colours with 42 LED's, bit different from the 251 Airbus use!

Joe Cygan

04-30-2008, 03:33 PM

phil744

04-30-2008, 04:30 PM

Oops! Sorry Phil I thought you made them. I have a strange feeling your panels will look like that anyway.

Joe

Cheers!!, i take that as a compliment... should i have a go at just making 1??:roll:

warvet

04-30-2008, 04:48 PM

Yeah Phil,
A 340 one :) ;)

Tim
A340

Matt Olieman

04-30-2008, 04:50 PM

Good idea Tim..... Add me to the list for the A340 :) :) :)

Matt Olieman

phil744

04-30-2008, 04:56 PM

Im going to sound thick here because my knowlage on airbus is limited but whats the difference between the 340 panels versus the 320 apart from having 4 buttons for any engine related parameter?

And cant you buy them?

warvet

05-01-2008, 04:46 AM

The difference Phil is the Overhead layout is somewhat different, the Pedestal layout also a little bit different. The FCU is same except in the Efis it adds one more selection option called ENG. MIP is also somewhat different.

Can we buy them yes of course we can buy them ... FROM YOU LOL! :)

Tim
A340

Matt Olieman

05-01-2008, 08:12 AM

What would be important to me, also, is the capability to use a standard two lamp (lights) annunciators. I've got single light AMLs, which cuts the realism in half :(

Westozy

05-01-2008, 08:54 AM

They do throw out some heat though, more than Boeing panels

Good for the Airbus boys to warm up their frog's legs, lol...

Gwyn

phil744

05-01-2008, 10:47 AM

Right, the problem I have with airbus panels is the shear size of them, i can machine the panels no problem but the issue is the artwork, you see there are a lot of dividing lines that run across the width of the panels, i can only laser etch to a max of 180mm, some of the lines are up to 240mm. thus the reason why i have never bothered with airbus stuff, the glareshield and pedistal stuff is very easy.

The only way i can do them is by dividing the artwork up into 4 pieces, its actually easy to do that, this is what i do on some of the large 747 overhead stuff but there is no way i can produce those continous lines across the panel, they would have to be broken up into 2 pieces or maybe even 3.

The other issue will be producing the different colours on the panel artwork, now, i have done this before with good results but the issue is backlighting them, i always thought airbus was white illumination not orange, also keep in mind the green blue and yellow are flurecent colours, my idea would be to backlight them white so they shine through as different colours,but it wont work well with orange illumination, now i do have an ace up my sleeve for that but is a lot of work.

Matt, what do you mean by the 2 light annunciators and AML's? i assume you mean the 1/2 inch eaton style switches?

Matt Olieman

05-01-2008, 11:10 AM

Yes, either Eaton or Kory style switches. I not sure about size... it's not readily available to me right now.... can anybody else help me with this?

phil744

05-01-2008, 11:39 AM

Ahh Ok, now I understand, they are exactly the same as whats used in the Boeing 747 MCP, however the MCP are momentary switches, the Airbus are latching, on the MCP im just laying a pcb over the back of the panel and just having the head of the switch poking through, basically they work the same as keypad switches, but with latching switches you cant use that method.

I can think of many switches that have the same footprint as the Eatons, but all are single illumination so the same problem. I have the same problem with the large Korry switches, wonder if i can sell enough panels to buy the tooling to make both switches;) you will laugh but the way things are going i will probably end up at the FS weekend as an exhibitor, not a visitor:o

Bob Reed

05-01-2008, 11:45 AM

I don't know about laughing, but what about applauding?

Matt Olieman

05-01-2008, 11:46 AM

Phil, All switches are momentary.

phil744

05-01-2008, 12:04 PM

Cheers Matt,

Ohh, just finished work:p im going to have a go at the FO side tonight, lets see what mess i can make, got a 4 day weekend to do it:p:p

Has anyone got any decent drawings for the A430 overhead?

Matt Olieman

05-01-2008, 12:31 PM

OVERHEAD
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=197

PEDESTAL
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=199

phil744

05-01-2008, 01:31 PM

Matt, your a legend!! i will try and make it match that drawing, starting to have a go now with the R1 panel, eng/vent/cargo and FLT control

Cheers!!

(i should look first before asking, my bad sorry:()

Matt Olieman

05-01-2008, 03:01 PM

You wouldn't of found them, I just uploaded them after you asked :) :) :)

I'm sorry I don't have the measurements here, I'm not at home. Perhaps Warvet (Tim) can give you a general width and length dimension of all panels?

warvet

05-01-2008, 03:09 PM

phil744

05-01-2008, 03:41 PM

Hey Phil,
Ok Phil that panel R1 Cargo/eng etc F/O side is
5 11/16" Wide <-->
Longest Edge closest to centre 17 1/8"
Far right outside edge 14 9/16" exactly

Let me know any other Panels you need and Im your man. Im right here with a tape measure :)

Tim
A340

Cheers Tim, I could do with the outline measurments of all the centre panels including Dzeu locations for now..

Can you tell what it is yet???
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3687.jpg

Trevor Hale

05-01-2008, 04:31 PM

Phill,

I think you have it backwards. your the legend.

You can really make some really cool stuff.

Trev

warvet

05-01-2008, 10:02 PM

Phil,
Awesome job bro :)
Ill get you those measurements in a couple hrs after Im don teaching my class.

Regards
Tim

warvet

05-02-2008, 07:24 AM

Ok Phil,
Not exactly sure all the measurements you wanted but let me do it this way

Centre Panels 12 3/4" <-->wide
overall lerngth front to back 26 1/8"

Fire Panel 3 15/16" long x 12 3/4" wide
Hydaulics/Fuel Panel 7 3/8" Longx 12 3/4" wide
Electrical panel 4 3/4" long x 12 3/4" wide
Air Panel/Anti Ice/ Cabin Press 6 3/16"long x 12 3/4" wide
Ext Lts/APU/Int Lts 3 3/4" long x 12 3/4" wide

Dzeus from Back to front (calculated from centre of hole to next hole)

1/2" > 2 7/8" Fire Panel
1/2" > 6 1/4" Hydaulics/Fuel Panel
1/2" > 3 7/8" Electrical panel
1/2" > 5 1/4" Air Panel/Anti Ice/ Cabin Press
1/2" > 2 3/4" Ext Lts/APU/Int Lts

Hope this helps Phil

Regards
Tim
A340

Matt Olieman

05-02-2008, 07:30 AM

Tim is the Man!!!!! :)

Matt O.

warvet

05-02-2008, 07:49 AM

Well I had a very good teacher :) And by the way what the heck are you still doing up Teach lol :)

Tim
A340

phil744

05-02-2008, 12:38 PM

Can you tell what it is yet?:p
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3689.jpg

Joe Cygan

05-02-2008, 12:53 PM

This is going to be good!

Joe

Matt Olieman

05-02-2008, 01:26 PM

I can't believe my eyes.... an Airbus panel being born :) :) :)

warvet

05-02-2008, 04:05 PM

I think I know where where my next overhead, Pedestal and MIP are coming from all in their Backlit glory :)

Tim
A340

phil744

05-02-2008, 05:34 PM

TaDaa!!!:p
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3694.jpg

Joe Cygan

05-02-2008, 06:02 PM

That's awesome Phil!

Matt Olieman

05-02-2008, 07:35 PM

Pil, absolutely amazing.... that's soooo impressive :) :)

phil744

05-02-2008, 09:28 PM

Cheers guys!,

Normally i would leave a new panel alone for a week before drilling it for the backlighting, but i really really wanted to see this little fella lit up, so i did it anyway.

As usual, I have no orange LED's here so had to use the "warm white" LED's again, "warm white" are two words i would not use if i was discribing them, more like "crappy green" hence the green look, will try and get some orange ones tommorow.

Anyway, i will let the pictures do the talking, enjoy!!!

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3695.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3699.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3698.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3700.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3696.jpg

Joe Cygan

05-02-2008, 09:38 PM

Phil I love the way your able to glow your panel with those LED’s. Awesome work!

Matt Olieman

05-02-2008, 09:40 PM

I'm drooling...... I can't get over the beautiful work you've done on this panel.... If mine would only look half as good.... Fantastic Phil, really .... FANTASTIC!!!!!!

phil744

05-02-2008, 10:18 PM

Cheers, im proud of this one,

It take 37 LED's to illuminate this panel, however i recon i could get it down to 30 or so if i have a bit of a play, mind you its a huge piece.

saying that, Airbus use 344 LED's to illuminate the same piece, so i must be doing somthing right:p

Dont laugh but here is a side by side view, just got the button edges to do now

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3707.jpg

warvet

05-02-2008, 11:42 PM

WOW!!! PHIL! (DROOLING!!!)
Those are amazing! Ok all I need now is a price on each panel so I can get on it :) That is absolutely incredible work Phil.

Regards
Tim
A340

warvet

05-03-2008, 12:08 AM

Hey Phil,
When Im looking close at the real Airbus panel backlighting what color are their LEDS yellow? Green? and how did you manage to get your hands on a real Airbus Hydraulic Panel that is truly amazing, I never understood exactly how airbus laid out the Backlighting for their panels. I'm very exciting at the prospect of possible getting all the panels I needed to redo my pit properly in backlighting. Thank you Phil for your efforts so far mate really appreciate your talents so very much.

I could just imagine you have a visit scheduled to visit Matt O in the USA and your talking thinking hmmmmmm what sort of gift can I pickup to give to Matt as a sort of welcome ? Hmmmmmmm Scotch? Nah An Old english walking stick? Nah... I know i'll make him a Hydraulic and electrical panel for his A340 :) lol too funny Not many people in the world can boast that talent for sure.

Regards Tim

phil744

05-03-2008, 02:30 PM

Hehe, i need to get my backside over to the otherside of the pond:p give Matt a present of a couple of panels sounds cool but you know i will be walking away with his FCU!!:twisted:

Well this weekend seems to have an Airbus feel so I will continue.

The back light colour looks to be orange, well thats what i thought so i went to the LED shop today and asked for some orange LED's but they had no stock so had to make do with yellow ones instead, however they only had five of them in stock so i cant illuminate the whole panel yet, just have 5 for now.

so i gave the yellow's a try, you are not going to belive this but they are a perfect match, and i mean perfect!!!!

this is where i got them from http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/level5/module.jsp?moduleId=cpc/263142.xml

I measured the light output from the real part and it peaked at 93 LUX so i adjusted the voltage on mine until they measured the same @1.97Vdc

I cant tell the difference:p
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/madmini1/DSCF3712.jpg

warvet

05-03-2008, 02:55 PM

WOW!
Thats INSANE! i want them I want them :) lol Phil can you PM with any and all detals to make that happen somehow? These are absolutely Amazing Phil great job!

Tim
A340

Matt Olieman

05-03-2008, 02:55 PM

My FCU your panels..... Hard decision :) :) :) LOL

They're beautiful Phil!!!!!

Matt O.

brianwilliamson

05-03-2008, 03:57 PM

Matt, about time we had an Airbus week-end !
Phil I have to say your work is as good as you can ever get. Extremely well done. I am at the moment doing my overheads on the CNC, so I am going to have to pull my socks up !!
Does anyone know if the backlighting on the 320/321 aircraft are the same yellow colour. I have been using white for all of the pedestal and console, so perhaps I should stay with white for the overhead.
Terrific inspiration Phil..........................Brian W.