I ordered my radio stack instruments in late December 2013 - time to start planning and fabricating the mounting structure and shelves for them. There are many systems in the market that are flexible, but rather costly. I decided to fabricate them myself instead because I anticipated a high degree of customization and fitting in this process. My radio stack consists of PS Engineering 8000BT, Garmin GTN650, Garmin GTR200 and Trig Transponder 31. I also ordered the harness for my radio stack from Stein. All the instruments, harness and drawing arrived in mid January 2014. I took detailed pictures at the back of the radios and the harness because I anticipated the removal of these harness for ease of installation. I was glad I did .
I stacked the trays together and re-measure its width and height and found them to be a bit taller than their respective drawings. It is because they have small dimples above and below their radio trays - just to keep a slight separation from their neighboring component. Once established, I re-marked and cut the radio stack hole onto my Instrumental Panel.
Here's a picture of the radio trays fitted to my radio frame structure. Note the side panel mounted against the horizontal rails? It will be trimmed some more after I have determined where the radio tray mounting holes and the venting holes are.
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Unexpected InterferenceThe mounting holes for the radio trays are quite far forward to the IP, majority of them lined up to the foam core of the original glass IP. Here's a picture showing the unexpected interference. If you look close, you can see the front most holes are located at the foam core as well as the L bracket. Obviously, the foam core will not provide a firm footing for the radio trays. I need to make some changes that provides a better footing. |
Here's what I did...
I removed a strip of foam (~1 1/4") on both sides of the radio tray, leaving the front layer of glass in tact. The three screw holes were the left over holes and will be filled later on. |
Then I epoxy an aluminum strip against the glass for strength and stiffness. |
Then I added a layer of BID over the aluminum strip and around the foam core, sealing the edges. |
Add a wider angle strip (1 1/2") for the radio tray. |
Radio tray structure re-installed. Note the side panels are further drilled and trimmed to match up with the radio tray holes from the manufacturers. |
Final mounting of radio stack trays. Its a lot firmer and secure. |