CAD software for panel design

[Stephen Michalik[_2_]]

I've received a blank panel in .ckd file types. Can someone point me to an inexpensive, or even free, CAD program I can use to draw circles and squares representing instruments?

I can view the panel fine in DWG TrueView.

Maybe someone has some software they don't need that would work and runs in Windows 7?

Thanks, Stephen Michalik

[Dave Springford]

This might work for you:

http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight/

"DraftSight lets professional CAD users, students and educators create, edit and view DWG files. DraftSight runs on Windows®, Mac® and Linux.È

[Dave Nadler]

Beware that the biggest problem is usually not the
layout of the panel, but the space available in back.
Usually instrument positions are constrained by
the tapered fuselage or panel sides, supports,
etc. The long radio isn't going to fit at the
edge of the panel...

Have fun !
Best Regards, Dave

[[email protected]]

On Monday, October 21, 2013 7:57:22 PM UTC-5, Dave Nadler wrote:
> Beware that the biggest problem is usually not the
>
> layout of the panel, but the space available in back.
>
> Usually instrument positions are constrained by
>
> the tapered fuselage or panel sides, supports,
>
> etc. The long radio isn't going to fit at the
>
> edge of the panel...
>
>
>
> Have fun !
>
> Best Regards, Dave

Hi Dave, thanks for the reminder. I have those approx numbers as well. One instrument I like is the TR22. It's display is separate from the 'core' which mounts elsewhere. Seems like a good panel space saver.

[Matt Herron Jr.]

I would second what Dave said, and add: Before you cut your panel, make or get made a laser cut plexiglass versions of it first. It can be flat. Stuff it with instruments, stick it in the plane, turn it all on, and pretend you are flying. Your second plex version won't be the same at all... and when you do your final panel, everything will fit, be visible, be reachable, not interfere with other controls, be seen under the glare shield, have enough space around knobs to actuate, have the bus bars in the right place, have room for the bottle(s) behind the panel, etc, etc, etc...

Have fun! I did.

[[email protected]]

On Monday, October 21, 2013 9:14:39 PM UTC-7, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> I would second what Dave said, and add: Before you cut your panel, make or get made a laser cut plexiglass versions of it first. It can be flat. Stuff it with instruments, stick it in the plane, turn it all on, and pretend you are flying. Your second plex version won't be the same at all... and when you do your final panel, everything will fit, be visible, be reachable, not interfere with other controls, be seen under the glare shield, have enough space around knobs to actuate, have the bus bars in the right place, have room for the bottle(s) behind the panel, etc, etc, etc...
>
>
>
> Have fun! I did.


AutoCad and laser cut plexiglass saved me a lot of pain and effort. I was able to fit everything to within 0.005" and achieve an instrument layout that would have been impossible otherwise.

AutoCad sells a student version for $300 if there are any students in your house.

9B

[Ian[_2_]]

On 10/22/2013 02:45 AM, Stephen Michalik wrote:

> Can someone point me to an inexpensive, or even free, CAD program I can use to draw circles and squares representing instruments?

I used the free (open source) 2D version of QCad when I designed my
panel for my LS3a:

http://www.qcad.org/en/qcad-downloads-trial

Since then the project has "forked" off LibreCad and I have used this
for later projects:

http://librecad.org/cms/home.html

They are very similar. QCad was bought out and commercialized and the
newer versions are not free. LibreCad was forked off from the last open
source version of QCad. Since then I think QCad may have released a few
updates on their open source version. The differences are mainly in the
documentation and fonts.

Both are 2D packages which save their files directly in "dxf" format.
The files can be read/written to with Autocad and machine shops with
lasor cutting machines should have no problems reading your files.

I can reinforce the comments on this thread about this being a 3D
excercise not a 2D one.

Have fun!

Ian

[[email protected]]

On Monday, October 21, 2013 8:45:48 PM UTC-4, Stephen Michalik wrote:
> I've received a blank panel in .ckd file types. Can someone point me to an inexpensive, or even free, CAD program I can use to draw circles and squares representing instruments?
>

Out of curiosity, what specific panel did you receive?

The reason I ask is when I have asked AS, S-H, or Jonker for a panel file they all reply "sorry, cad files for panels are not available" which makes absolutely no sense to me.

[Craig R.]

> The reason I ask is when I have asked AS, S-H, or Jonker for a panel file they all reply "sorry, cad files for panels are not available" which makes absolutely no sense to me.

Perhaps because they are businesses and want you to buy a replacement panel from them instead of some XYZ company or DIY.

[[email protected]]

On Monday, October 21, 2013 7:45:48 PM UTC-5, Stephen Michalik wrote:

So far I've downloaded the suggested 'draftsight x64' Dave Springford suggested.
It downloaded and installed smoothly. I got the panel CAD file to come up so now i'm trying out the software tools.

Anderson's idea was good too and my son who is in college is checking into the student software. Apparently students can download some for free use.

I'm not sure I'm at liberty to say who gave me the panel drawing as it came from the mfg and i'll have to ask. I would say that all I did was ask for it and they were gracious to let me have it. And along with the CAD file a few suggestions in excel format (unexpected).

Ian, I'll look at the open source suggestion later in the week.

Thanks all, I knew I'd get some help!!!

Good lift,
Stephen
S9

[Craig Funston[_2_]]

On Tuesday, October 22, 2013 7:55:50 PM UTC-7, wrote:
> On Monday, October 21, 2013 7:45:48 PM UTC-5, Stephen Michalik wrote:
>
>
>
> So far I've downloaded the suggested 'draftsight x64' Dave Springford suggested.
>
> It downloaded and installed smoothly. I got the panel CAD file to come up so now i'm trying out the software tools.
>
>
>
> Anderson's idea was good too and my son who is in college is checking into the student software. Apparently students can download some for free use.
>
>
>
> I'm not sure I'm at liberty to say who gave me the panel drawing as it came from the mfg and i'll have to ask. I would say that all I did was ask for it and they were gracious to let me have it. And along with the CAD file a few suggestions in excel format (unexpected).
>
>
>
> Ian, I'll look at the open source suggestion later in the week.
>
>
>
> Thanks all, I knew I'd get some help!!!
>
>
>
> Good lift,
>
> Stephen
>
> S9

Draftsight is a very solid piece of software. It's published by Dassault as a entre to Solidworks. Draftsight is essentially equivalent to AutoCad Lt (2D drafting). We use it in production environment interchangeably with AutoCad LT and have no complaints. The only downside is that it monitors your usage and activity and reports back to the mothership (you have to agree to the monitoring to get it. there's no free lunch).

SH has all their panel shapes available on their website in PDF format. It's quite easy to import the image and scale it to the proper scale. You can make your own vector based file from the raster image by laying lines on top of the shape. Another easy trick for panels is to take pictures of all your instruments and import them, adjust them to the proper scale and do your layout from that. You can print out your panel full size and laminate it to a piece of corrugated cardboard to make sure you like the way it looks and functions in your cockpit before cutting an expensive piece of acrylic to check for internal clearance conflicts.

Good luck and have fun,
Craig