Daily Archives: 23/05/2019

Instrument Panel, Panel

Thursday 23rd May 2019

Leave a comment

Music: JT and the Clouds and Daily Mix

Today was a little frustrating with news that the ignition switch wouldn’t be delivered until August! Grrr…

Well the day was dominated by checking up on another vital component, the ignition switch. After placing the order with a reputable aviation company I was told there would be a delay as they were out of stock (despite their system saying that they had them in stock). They advised that I would receive the switch on the 22nd May which I agreed to. As I hadn’t heard anything from the company I checked with them on Wednesday. They said ‘don’t worry sir we’ll drop you a line and let you know today’. Well that was yesterday and nothing! I phone them today and they said ‘don’t worry sir we’ll drop you a line and let you know today’. Surprisingly I said No! give me a call as soon as you have checked. 20 mins later and the voice on the other end said ‘It’s not good news sir – expected delivery is now August!’
I do find it amazing that customer service doesn’t seem to feature at all in some companies operation and they just don’t keep customers updated with any delays. I won’t name the company as it’s happened more than once during this project with different suppliers.
2 hours later and I found another supplier. It’s been despatched within minutes of placing the order and it’s on its way from Germany with delivery due in a couple of day.
With all the holes I’ve cut in the panel it needs a bit of support! I had a think and believe this to be the best solution. I’ve cut a couple of pieces of 25mm aluminium angle and drilled loads of holes in it so it will ‘key’ onto the structure better.
I’ve also drilled some holes in the side of the support braces so I can use them to secure wires behind the panel with some cable ties. The angle is secured in place with glass fibre cloth.
A layer of glass fibre is set first that the support will sit on and then another layer of glass fibre is set over the top. This should provide a very strong bond.
This is how it will look once finished. Another layer of glass fibre needs to be laid over the outer supports to finish off but I’ve run out of time today due to the switch fiasco so will finish of tomorrow!