BOEING 737NG AUTOBRAKES/FLAPS PANEL

Knowing the panel dimensions, we are ready to design our autobrakes/flaps panel. But, what is each button for? To know this, nothing better than an original Boeing 737 manual (you can find it in the net). Studying it, we can know the specific function for each real switch, button...

For our autobrakes/flaps panel:

Element	Qty	Notes
Paint	-	RAL 7043
Rotary switches	3
Tactile switches	2	Omrom B3F-1050
Encoders	2	CTS 288
High efficiency leds	8	2 green and 6 amber
Servo motors	1	Hitec HS-311
MON-OFF-MON switches	1
Brass pipe 6 mm.	2	Pieces of
Brass pipe 4 mm.	2	Pieces of

 

Graphic design.

As I said before, my EFIS panel consists on several layers.

I'm going to engrave and cut the panels with a CO2 laser engraving machine. The software of the driller imports Corel Draw format files, so I will use this software to make the design.

Here is the final result (from front to back):

 

Pieces.

The different parts to build the panel are:

In the first picture, the edges of both pieces have been painted with grey paint. In the second, you can see the auxiliary pieces (fitting plate for encoders and servo motor, needle, back plates for keys).

 

Assembly.

We start glueing the two pieces of the panel:

ENG and SYS keys are made with two pieces. We glue them, and paint edges with black paint.

  

Two sets of encoder-rotary switch have the same axe. We have to modify the axe of these rotary switches as shown here. The length of the axe must be the one according to the kinob we'll use later.

Once modified, we can fit the rotary switches to the panel. The one on the left must to set to 4 positions, and the other one to 7 positions.

  

We can fit encoders and tactile switches to their fitting plate too:

Now we fit 30 mm. separators (group of 2 pieces) as shown on the picture. In the case of the servo holder, a female-female one must be used. We can glue the flaps scale too:

  

We glue the decorative black keys, painting the back area with black paint, checking that no light is seen from the front part:

  

We place the servo in its holder as shown on the picture (the gears are sold in bags, including the axes for them):

  

We place the encoders in their position. On the picture you can see the axe of one encoder in the rotary switch axe:

Annunciators.

We are going to build the annunciators as shown here. First we drill two 5 mm. holes for leds:

  

Then we glue this piece on the annunciator back side (using superglue), and place the leds (attention to polarity and colour of them):

  

We bend, weld and cut the pins as shown here:

  

Now we paint every side with black paint:

Once the paint is dry, we place each annunciator in place:

Annunciators will project 2 mm from the front panel (on level with the back side of the panel). We put a little of glue on areas where there is no engraved text, and then we paint the whole countour with black paint, checking that no light is seen from the front.

  

The panel looks like this right now:

Now we place knobs on their axes. N1 SET and SPD REF are made with two independent pieces:

We place the rotary switches knobs first:

  

And then the inner axes and the encoders knobs. The inner axe is linked to the encoder with a piece of wire, drilling a little hole on both axes previously:

  

Now we place the keys, the switch, and the flaps needle. To link the keys with the tactile switch, we can use a bar of wood, plastic or similar.

 

For the needle, we have to cut its axe to a piece of 80 mm. Then we fit the gear in the proper position. We have to avoid axe movement by placing, for example, a pair of nuts fitted with glue (check the final position before glueing!!).

flaps33

To fit the switch we use thermoplastic glue. The final look of our panel is (one of the knobs is not completetly installed to see the detail of the rotary switch axe):

Now is time to cable every component.

 

Inputs identification.

Usando el programa "controlador.exe", identificamos cada una de las entradas que activa este panel:

Variable	Entrada Master1-J3

Conociendo estos valores, podemos empezar a fabricar el fichero de configuración SIOC. Pero esto lo veremos en el apartado Software.

 

Last edition: 24.07.2007