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PANEL PRO
The most efficient way to make panels is to:
1. Create each cutout (instrument or even a round hole for a switch) as a separate
file and store it with a name for future use, I.E. KI206.fc7.
2. Draw the panel shape and store it also as a file using the serial number of the
airplane as a reference. I.E. BB421plt.fc7
3. Start a new drawing and insert the panel drawing, and the instruments as
desired. Save it as a dxf as a “cut” file. I.E. BB421pltCut.dxf
4. Load the file in AvCAM and preview it.
5. Cut the file.
When future panels of the same type are required, your cut file (also saved as the
native fc7 format) can be edited by simply deleting instruments not wanted and
replacing them with different ones.
There are many Instruments and panels in the library supplied with the Panel Pro,
and in many cases are ready to be used.
At some time however, you will need to
draw your own panels and instruments.
The following is an exercise to familiarize you with some of the techniques used in
drawing an instrument for cutting on the Panel Pro. In most cases an instrument can
be generated in AvCAM “new cutout” in about 30 seconds. Drawing them by hand
could take 30 minutes.
Layers:
Think of layers as a layer of vellum or translucent material that different information is
drawn on. For instance one layer of a house drawing would have the foundation drawn,
another layer would have basement rooms, another layer could have main floor rooms,
another layer the wiring, etc. Now if all of this information would be viewed at once, it
would be a hopeless jumble of lines, however if we remove all but the foundation and
basement rooms, we have a clear picture of that portion of the plan.
CAD is simply a file with the definitions of entities. Such as the start and end coordinate
of a line. In addition there is provision in that definition for the name or number of a
layer. We use that information to separate out different information. When AvCAM
reads the file it ignores all layers except the layers selected in the AvCAM layer
management dialog.
Any layer name can be used, however many of the drawing on the library inherited the
layer structure from earlier days when only layer numbers were used, and I recommend
using what is already in use.
2
. The desired final dimension layer (i.e. 3 1/8 “ hole for an instrument)
