Lancair Live!

This is my thread where I will be posting the panel upgrade on C-GSEM


We are removing the 900x system and replacing it with a Garmin G3x with GTN 750Xi and GTN 650Xi etc.


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Maurits, that's going to be a very capable panel. What was your thought process on going with dual GTN 750/650 vs one? How long will the plane be down for the panel swap?

Ryan,

I wanted to keep all or most of the functionality of what the 900x offered. The 900x flight deck system has two WAAS capable GPS/Nav/Com units with 16 W transmitters.

We pulled the trigger end of August beginning of September 2024. The Garmin avionics was ordered and delivered near the end of September. During this time I started the harness and panel design in SolidWorks. I will post my modelling in this thread for people interested in my design and fabrication process.

Early December all the panels , mounting racks was in production and was delivered by year end. Harness was also ready to be integrated with panel and racks at this time.

All that was still needed was to remove the panel and some critical components like the 7 inch GDU 470 touch display and other components to be integrated with panel and harness.

Last week Thursday we pulled the panel and required items. It took exactly 4 hours to do this mainly thanks to my modular design process building the original 900x panel.



Currently I’m working on panel fabrication and assembly to integrate the harness and power up the panel so I can configure all the avionics and test stuff.

My plan is to be ready for installation in two weeks and then it should take another two to three weeks for it to be ready to fly. Our goal is to go to Sun n Fun with this plane.

Total down time of the aircraft should be about 6 weeks from last Thursday.


This picture was taken on Thursday the 9th of January 2024 on its way to Cooking Lake Airport where the work on the aircraft will be performed.


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That's impressive speed. I did my panel swap from six pack to AFS/Dynon and it took 8 months.

I'd love to learn more about your panel fabrication as I ended up hand-cutting my aluminum panel as a temporary. The CAD models that I collected were all different. I'd like to install a carbon fiber panel. I have all the CAD files for the cutouts. Did you buy the carbon fiber blank, or did you lay it up yourself?

Ryan Riley wrote:That's impressive speed. I did my panel swap from six pack to AFS/Dynon and it took 8 months.

I'd love to learn more about your panel fabrication as I ended up hand-cutting my aluminum panel as a temporary. The CAD models that I collected were all different. I'd like to install a carbon fiber panel. I have all the CAD files for the cutouts. Did you buy the carbon fiber blank, or did you lay it up yourself?

I used to run the avionics department at Epic aircraft in 2007/8 and there everything was about speed to deliver. That’s where I further developed my panel design and fabrication skills.

I submit my .dxf files to companies that will mill it out of carbon for me. The original 900x panel was milled in Germany by a company that I found during my time at Epic aircraft. More recently I would have metal panels laser cut locally and laminate blank carbon fiber panels on that with hysol and then cut/trim.

I have also done hydro dipping carbon fiber onto metal panels.

I can help you with your panel if you need.


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Maurits van Rooy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 14, 2025 4:58 pm

Ryan Riley wrote:That's impressive speed. I did my panel swap from six pack to AFS/Dynon and it took 8 months.

I'd love to learn more about your panel fabrication as I ended up hand-cutting my aluminum panel as a temporary. The CAD models that I collected were all different. I'd like to install a carbon fiber panel. I have all the CAD files for the cutouts. Did you buy the carbon fiber blank, or did you lay it up yourself?

I used to run the avionics department at Epic aircraft in 2007/8 and there everything was about speed to deliver. That’s where I further developed my panel design and fabrication skills.

We definitely need to sync up. I'll send you an email shortly. In the meantime, please keep the updates coming! We learn from all the posts of the various projects going on in the Lancair world.

As always, nice work Mauritz!!

Any idea where that throttle quadrant came from? Mine was damaged a bit from my off-field landing and I'm not very impressed with the quality anyways.

I will also be looking for engine'/prop cable too if you know where to source them.

When I get more progress, I'm hoping you will build my engine forward harnesses again. The originals you suppled were outstanding quality!!

Tom

Thank you Tom,

We had three of them made locally by having the stainless steel laser cut and then gave it a welder fabricator to machine, assemble and get polished as well. I have the CAD files for it if you are interested in making your own.


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Yesterday’s progress.main upper panel is installed to the carbon frame and G3x screens installed for fitment check.

Design process started by using the original CAD file of the 900x panel assembly and inserting the new avionics. The original file contains the harness lengths etc..I can use this data to create a new integration harness.