veneer panel

[Steve Crewdog]

Here's the diamond plate in the center of my SeaRey, did it 10something years ago and it still looks great. Admittedly, OspRey has been a hangar queen, but the temps in the hangar have ranged from 10s-90s F, so it's been through a fairly wide temperature envelope during that time.

Thought I'd have her flying a long time ago but.... y'know.... She'll fly on Wednesday, just not sure which one.

[Steve Crewdog]

Originally Posted by Ed_Wischmeyer

Well... time for a stick in the mud opinion. The panel's primary function is functionality, not beauty. Anything over the top can be a visual distraction.

Funny thing, Ed, is I see so many people falling head over heels in love with glass cockpits, and [flame suit on] while I acknowledge they have their uses, I also think they can be a bigger distraction and hazard than they are worth. I'm talking about open loop checklists where people have their heads staring at a screen instead of flying the plane, or going through an OODA loop trying to interpret digital information instead of looking at an analog display where the needle is "about there" and is Ok. [/flame suit off]

I'm basing this on ~20,000 hours of flying glass at work in a multi-crew cockpit, and a couple thousand in steam gauge single pilot GA airplanes, YMMV, differing opinions are welcome.

[Steve Crewdog]

Nothing like a nice piece of hickory. Ironically, it was only a couple bucks more for the 4x8 sheet than the smaller piece I needed, so I've got a bit to practice on.

[David Paule]

If you used aircraft plywood, you would have that interlayer to help avoid cracks. And you could engrave through the first layer to that for your labels.

Dave

[Steve Crewdog]

Originally Posted by David Paule

If you used aircraft plywood, you would have that interlayer to help avoid cracks. And you could engrave through the first layer to that for your labels.

Dave

Thought about that, but my panel has "wings" on each side, so the veneer was easier.



Plan was to prep yesterday and bag it today, picked up a trip on short notice and did it all in one day. Privately other builders told me they had had great success with contact cement, and that's what the veneer manufacturer recommends, but once you put it on contact cement, you can't move it, so I like going the epoxy route. Fortunately I have the equipment for vacuum bagging, and an excellent supply house nearby (https://fiberglasssupply.com/), so if I run short of stuff it's just a quick run to the other side of the field.

Like before, I used West Systems 205/207, bagged it for 5 hours. Look fine this morning, just one small spot of epoxy bleed-through that will mostly be hidden by the Skyview. Carefully filled the nutplates with some vaseline and wiped the surface clean, hopefully it kept the epoxy out.


Now I let it sit for a week while I'm on this trip, then stain, a few coats of spar varnish, and....

[agirard7a]

I did my panel with peel and stick mahogany veneer.
Worked well, easy and no mess. Holding up well 5 years so far.

[scsmith]

Originally Posted by wawrzynskivp

Amine Blush is certainly not something to leave there before the next coat. But then again, any hardened layer has to be sanded for mechanical tooth anyway.

Blushes vary by epoxy manufacturer, are water soluble, and not terribly persistent. Normal sanding will gather most of it up in the dust, but a scotch brite and water will absolutely dissolve it so that it can be wiped off and not clog up the sand paper quite as much.

PLUS ONE on removing amine blush with warm soapy water.

It took me a long time to learn this. The amine blush does not come off with other solvents. Sanding it mostly spreads it around. But washing it first, that works really well.

Trying to help others not go through life not knowing!

[Steve Crewdog]

Sand with 220 grit, then tape over the front with 3M to keep the wood from splintering when you cut out the instrument openings. I used a very nice step drill to open up the switch and CB holes, then reverted to an Xacto knife and Dremel tool for the rectangular ones. Sand again, tack cloth, and a day and a half later a light coat of Pecan stain was carefully wiped over the grain. The Vaseline worked beautifully at keeping the epoxy out of the nutplates.

[Steve Crewdog]

Wife is at a sewing event all day, it's a good day to get the Traeger out and finish the panel. I decided to use a spray on poly because my past experience with varnishing has been hit or miss and I didn't want to chance ruining the panel at this stage, and I was afraid I'd get runs on the wing panels. It worked great, but I did 5 light coats and 2 heavier ones to finish. Luckily I had the gas turned on for the hangar this week so it's warm inside.

I was a bit overcautious with the epoxy in a couple spots and the veneer is lifting up/didn't attach well, have to keep an eye on them but most of the spots will have screws/switches over them to hold them down. Contact cement might have been a better option after all. (on my next plane...) As expected, you can see where the rivets are for the nutplates, but they will be mostly hidden. I was able to find a piece that almost matches for the landing gear sub-panel, I hope Fuzz from Car SOS will be proud of me.

I made up a box from 3/4" PVC pipe for it to dry in, but on the last coat a kamikaze bug dove into the wet varnish on the bottom edge of the panel. Got most of the little ******* off, but there's a slight smear. grrr...


And as always, wife knows best. I said I'd be done around 7, she said I'll see you at midnight. 2247 now and I'm getting ready to leave.

[Steve Crewdog]

There's still another couple things to do on the panel before it's done but they will have to wait until the poly dries, I leave on a trip tomorrow so that will give it a good week. Than add labels and a final coat of poly to seal everything.

Would I do it again? I don't know, I'm a bit frustrated by the areas lifting up, I was too worried about applying too much epoxy and having it soak through. I'm already resigned to doing another panel but it will be a plain powder coated one, probably.

On the other hand, I've learned some things, so far have not made a major project killing screwup, and, if I can pull off the next part, it's really going to look cool, even if it only lasts a year. And I've had a **** of a lot of fun doing this, and that's really what it's all about.



edit: day after.
Yeah, I' totally do another veneer panel.