Panel Planner

[[email protected]]

Now that Panel Planner is a pay-for-use website, is there any other
type "freebie" service out there? I'm having withdrawal symptoms.

Neal

[Richard Lamb]

wrote:

> Now that Panel Planner is a pay-for-use website, is there any other
> type "freebie" service out there? I'm having withdrawal symptoms.
>
> Neal
>

Whatcha doin with these things, Neal?
If they have to be photo real, well, sats...

But CAD lets you draw almost anything ya want.
http://home.earthlink.net/~tp-1/pan019b.jpg

[Lou]

Someone is selling one on ebay for $50.




Richard Lamb wrote:
> wrote:
>
> > Now that Panel Planner is a pay-for-use website, is there any other
> > type "freebie" service out there? I'm having withdrawal symptoms.
> >
> > Neal
> >
>
> Whatcha doin with these things, Neal?
> If they have to be photo real, well, sats...
>
> But CAD lets you draw almost anything ya want.
> http://home.earthlink.net/~tp-1/pan019b.jpg

[Dan]

Richard Lamb wrote:
> wrote:
>
>> Now that Panel Planner is a pay-for-use website, is there any other
>> type "freebie" service out there? I'm having withdrawal symptoms.
>>
>> Neal
>>
>
> Whatcha doin with these things, Neal?
> If they have to be photo real, well, sats...
>
> But CAD lets you draw almost anything ya want.
> http://home.earthlink.net/~tp-1/pan019b.jpg


I got creative one day and made CAD drawings of various instruments,
face and side, from actual ones I had as well as some generics. Side
views are important since space behind the panel can get strange fast. I
also made drawings of AN hardware (lot less tedious than it sounds since
in most cases all I had to do was scale 'em) all of which makes life
easier. I recommend anyone doing this also do mounting trays. One nice
thing about CAD is you can mirror the panel to plan wiring and plumbing.

For those of you who haven't used CAD everything I have described is
simple to learn to do and can save you headaches in the long run unless
you enjoy redoing a part. Nice thing about instruments is the come in
standard cases so you can easily make generic drawings if you don't have
the actual instrument in hand. Just copy the cases and name them as
required.

The only hard part is dimensioning your drawing. It's easy to run
over your dimension lines to the point of being a total mess. If
necessary make copies of the drawing each with a different set of
dimensions. Example: 1 for switches, another for engine instruments etc.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

[Richard Lamb]

Dan wrote:
> Richard Lamb wrote:
>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Now that Panel Planner is a pay-for-use website, is there any other
>>> type "freebie" service out there? I'm having withdrawal symptoms.
>>>
>>> Neal
>>>
>>
>> Whatcha doin with these things, Neal?
>> If they have to be photo real, well, sats...
>>
>> But CAD lets you draw almost anything ya want.
>> http://home.earthlink.net/~tp-1/pan019b.jpg
>
>
>
> I got creative one day and made CAD drawings of various instruments,
> face and side, from actual ones I had as well as some generics. Side
> views are important since space behind the panel can get strange fast. I
> also made drawings of AN hardware (lot less tedious than it sounds since
> in most cases all I had to do was scale 'em) all of which makes life
> easier. I recommend anyone doing this also do mounting trays. One nice
> thing about CAD is you can mirror the panel to plan wiring and plumbing.
>
> For those of you who haven't used CAD everything I have described is
> simple to learn to do and can save you headaches in the long run unless
> you enjoy redoing a part. Nice thing about instruments is the come in
> standard cases so you can easily make generic drawings if you don't have
> the actual instrument in hand. Just copy the cases and name them as
> required.
>
> The only hard part is dimensioning your drawing. It's easy to run over
> your dimension lines to the point of being a total mess. If necessary
> make copies of the drawing each with a different set of dimensions.
> Example: 1 for switches, another for engine instruments etc.
>
> Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

On the dimensioning part, most CAD systems have multiple "layers" that
can be turned on or off as desired.

By placing the dimension on a different layer, the drawing can be read
easily - or not - as the case may be.

I don't always dimension everything on all drawings.

One dimension somewhere - often a single line 12 inches long - is plenty
because everything on that page is drawn to the same scale.

That 12 inch long line allows easy flopping between inches and feet.
With Design CAD, this is accomplished with the Units command.
Two points are are selected and the distance between them is specified.
This sets the "units" for the entire drawing.

For construction prints, however, complete dimensioning is more important
and more of an art form to make them legible.

Like Dan said...

[Dan]

Richard Lamb wrote:
> Dan wrote:
>> Richard Lamb wrote:
>>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Now that Panel Planner is a pay-for-use website, is there any other
>>>> type "freebie" service out there? I'm having withdrawal symptoms.
>>>>
>>>> Neal
>>>>
>>>
>>> Whatcha doin with these things, Neal?
>>> If they have to be photo real, well, sats...
>>>
>>> But CAD lets you draw almost anything ya want.
>>> http://home.earthlink.net/~tp-1/pan019b.jpg
>>
>>
>>
>> I got creative one day and made CAD drawings of various instruments,
>> face and side, from actual ones I had as well as some generics. Side
>> views are important since space behind the panel can get strange fast.
>> I also made drawings of AN hardware (lot less tedious than it sounds
>> since in most cases all I had to do was scale 'em) all of which makes
>> life easier. I recommend anyone doing this also do mounting trays. One
>> nice thing about CAD is you can mirror the panel to plan wiring and
>> plumbing.
>>
>> For those of you who haven't used CAD everything I have described is
>> simple to learn to do and can save you headaches in the long run
>> unless you enjoy redoing a part. Nice thing about instruments is the
>> come in standard cases so you can easily make generic drawings if you
>> don't have the actual instrument in hand. Just copy the cases and name
>> them as required.
>>
>> The only hard part is dimensioning your drawing. It's easy to run
>> over your dimension lines to the point of being a total mess. If
>> necessary make copies of the drawing each with a different set of
>> dimensions. Example: 1 for switches, another for engine instruments etc.
>>
>> Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired
>
> On the dimensioning part, most CAD systems have multiple "layers" that
> can be turned on or off as desired.
>
> By placing the dimension on a different layer, the drawing can be read
> easily - or not - as the case may be.
>
> I don't always dimension everything on all drawings.
>
> One dimension somewhere - often a single line 12 inches long - is plenty
> because everything on that page is drawn to the same scale.
>
> That 12 inch long line allows easy flopping between inches and feet.
> With Design CAD, this is accomplished with the Units command.
> Two points are are selected and the distance between them is specified.
> This sets the "units" for the entire drawing.
>
> For construction prints, however, complete dimensioning is more important
> and more of an art form to make them legible.
>
> Like Dan said...

When I first started college drafting my instructor told us proper
dimensioning was going to be the hardest part to learn. He wasn't
kidding. He taught us a few tricks to keep things tidy that apparently a
lot of people never learned. The abbreviation "TYP" is too infrequently
used. My theory is if I can't look at the drawing a year later and be
able to instantly understand it I did something wrong.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

[Richard Lamb]

Dan wrote:

> My theory is if I can't look at the drawing a year later and be
> able to instantly understand it I did something wrong.
>
> Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

I feel the same way about program code!