Home Made Lower Instrument Panel Cover

How to keep the Cessna 170 flying and airworthy.

Moderators: GAHorn, Karl Towle, Bruce Fenstermacher

Post Reply
oz502man
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:11 am

Home Made Lower Instrument Panel Cover

Post by oz502man »

G'day All,

My search for a locally available lower panel cover was unsuccessful so I thought I would have a go at making my own.

I got piece of .020" alclad and started cutting and bending. I used some aluminium round stock turned down, ground, riveted and filled for the corners and a dimple die turned up from 1" pipe for the radiused edge on the hole where the yoke comes through....
24042009(002).jpg
I am currently in the process of tidying up the right side panel including a new door....
24042009(003).jpg
I used the same dimple die to make the recess where the knob goes, not quite as deep as I would like but as deep as I could get without punching out the hole....
24042009(004).jpg
here's the old door....
16042009(016).jpg
cheers,

Noel
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Work : AT502B
Play : '51C170A
bsdunek
Posts: 425
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2004 6:42 pm

Re: Home Made Lower Instrument Panel Cover

Post by bsdunek »

Nice work! Always nice to see someone that will learn how to make/do something.
Bruce
1950 170A N5559C
oz502man
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:11 am

Re: Home Made Lower Instrument Panel Cover

Post by oz502man »

Thanks Bruce,

I might have opened a can of worms here, I was only going to do the left panel for now but ended up pulling the right one as well. I have plans to do the upper one as well as the rest of the instrument panel. Refurbishing can be addictive!

Noel
Work : AT502B
Play : '51C170A
User avatar
GAHorn
Posts: 21303
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2002 8:45 pm

Re: Home Made Lower Instrument Panel Cover

Post by GAHorn »

Don't forget all those lightening holes in the wing ribs. :lol:

(Nice work!)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention.
An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons. ;)
DWood
Posts: 527
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 2:59 pm

Re: Home Made Lower Instrument Panel Cover

Post by DWood »

Noel:
Very nice workmanship!
Thanks for sharing.
I have been looking for a door and now might try to make one.
Dan
Post Reply
Cessna® is a registered trademark of Textron Aviation, Inc. The International Cessna® 170 Association is an independent owners/operators association dedicated to C170 aircraft and early O-300-powered C172s. We are not affiliated with Cessna® or Textron Aviation, Inc. in any way.