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OHP - Left |
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Located on the left side of the cockpit, just below the throttle quadrant and the warning buttons, this panel contains the following elements of the original B737 OHP:
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Every item in my cockpit first saw the light of day on my computer screen - as a Corel Draw file. Since the panel will be backlit, I decided to build it from two layers of acrylic glass. The picture on the left shows the base plate in grey and the transparent parts in blue. | |||
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The base plate is laser cut from black 3mm acrylic glass, painted grey on one side. The individual sub-panels will later be glued on this plate. The irregular openings allow the backlight to pass where necessary. The small holes will hold 2mm threaded rods. These act as spacers to provide equal distance between backplate and the backlighting plate that holds the LED's. |
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A close up of the Bus Transfer panel as an example for the 2nd layer sub-panels. They are made from transparent 3mm acrylic glass to allow for backlighting. The edges are painted grey to block the light. Information on how to make a backlit panel and how to build an annunciator light can be found in the "Building Tips" section. |
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Reverse side of the Bus Transfer sub-panel. Note the black acrylic frames around the anunciators. They isolate each anunciator and avoid light spilling. When an LED goes on, only that anunciator will be lit. More info on the making of the anunciator lights can be found here. |
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The (almost) finished OHP_Left panel. The APU EGT gauge and Fuel Temp gauges are still missing, and so are some annunciator lights for the pitots. | |||
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The openings in the base plate allow backlight to illuminate the labels, lines and symbols on the sub-panels. Note the mirror letters on the back of the transparent panels. They are part of my backlighting design. The black bolts around the subpanels are only for show. The panels are simply glued to the base plate. |
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Another close-up... | |||
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The two engine start switches in the B737 are solenoid held in the GND position. I used electo-magnets to mimmick this behavior. The magnets and switches are installed in the gray frame in the center of this picture. Detailed info on how the solenoid switches are built can be found here. |
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All backlighting plates are installed. They hold arrays of white spider LEDs that produce plenty of light. Since they are mounted at a distance of 40mm from the panel surface, they provide very uniform lighting. If LEDs are mounted to close, the backlighting will not be uniform and individual LEDs might produce "hot spots" with too much light on the surface of the panel.
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Serious cabel madness! Since the panel is so densly packed with LEDs and switches, cable chaos during the soldering phase can hardly be avoided. |
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Once the cables are harnessed, it all looks much cleaner.
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But chaos still lurks, just beneeth the surface! On the other hand, this side of the panel is not supposed to win any beauty contests. And hopefully, it will not need servicing in a very long time... |
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The business side... | |||
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Both OHP-Left and warning panel - both fully wired - fit into a plywood support frame. That frame is attached to the cockpit structure with just two screws. If the cockpit ever needs to be transported, this unit can be detached within minutes. It is small enough to allow for easy packaging without further disassembling it. |
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At long last, the panel is installed in the cockpit. Finally there is direct tactile control over the fuel system, pitot heat, anti icing, engine start switches and the like! How could I ever fly the virtual skies without them? Just think of the risks I took... |
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