PANEL PRO
27
Mount holes:
AvCAM
uses the circles that depict the mount holes. If the circle is equal to or smaller
than the end mill, Panel Pro will plunge down and back up, leaving a hole just slightly
bigger than the end mill. If the circle is larger than the end mill, it will cut it at actual
dimensions.
The object here is to introduce you to drawing principles. I urge you to explore the
EasyCAD help file which has information on every command.
Grouping:
Grouping is the characteristic of EasyCAD to keep selected entities together when
moving or deleting them. This results in all of the entities staying together and not getting
misplaced or moved out of position inadvertently.
An important consideration is that you need to verify that specs > options > group parts
on insertion is checked. DXF files generated by Panel Pro can be inserted without
change. When this is set, then when parts files such as a KI206.fc7 or KI206.dxf are
inserted, they will be grouped.
However, be sure that you don’t open a DXF file consisting of inserted parts for editing
because the grouping will be lost. The native EasyCAD file format file extension is .fc7.
files saved as an .fc7 will retain the grouping. Files saved as .dxf will not retain
grouping.
An individual instrument may be edited in either a dxf or fc7 format since we are not
concerned about grouping. It is when we have a panel with instruments that grouping
needs to be considered.
Create a “cut” file
1. Draw each individual instrument and preferably save in FC7 format.
2. Draw the panel outline on layer “outside” to cut the outside dimensions of the
panel.
3. Open a new file and insert > insert part the panel.FC7 followed by insertion of
the instruments.
4. Save the file as a panelcut.FC7 (I use the aircraft serial number and then the
letters Plt, Ctr, or Cp and the word cut as a naming convention IE
BB538PltCut.fc7) for future editing, then as a panelcut.dxf file. This is the file
that Panel Pro will use. Avoid using N numbers for naming. N numbers change
and only identify the owner at that time, where as a serial number is permanent
and identifies specific makes and models. For instance BB538 is a King