I cut the panel to size and then used paper cut outs to check the lay out of the voltage and current meters. At first things seemed to fit if a little awkwardly::
But, when I tried the actual meters I realized they were not going to fit in the space available:
So then I thought I would just use the case to house the digital volt meters and mount the current meter in a second box:
But, the four pole on/off switch still made things a little tight. So I decide to scrap the idea of using the old Kings Loran box for this project and come up with a new design for the instrumentation at the helm. I'll show what I came up with in a future post.
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3 comments:
Hi Capt'n Mike
When I designed my AC/DC dist panel I used
http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/
They give you a free CAD program to design and cost out your panel.
This is what my panel ended up looking like.
http://s237.photobucket.com/albums/ff166/KnottyBuoyz/KBIII/Inventory/?action=view¤t=elec_panel.jpg
What I learned is you have to pay as much or more attention to the back of the panel for switch & breaker spacing.
It was a fun and interesting project but definitely not cost effective. I could bought a production panel for less.
Anyhow, thought you might like to know about frontpanelexpres.com
Rick
PS. I'm doing a mimic panel as a winter project.
http://she-kon.blogspot.ca/2012/06/mimic-panels.html
Rick:
Thanks for the front panel express info. Nice AC/DC panel layout! Mimic panel looks pretty cool too! Yes, those switches and breakers take up a lot more real estate behind the panel. I would have like to recycled the Loran box but, it was just a little too small to fit everything in there. Since these meters are going to be mounted at the helm position I was able to find a nice waterproof box with the space I needed and some for future additional instrumentation I'll be adding later. It still needs a little more fabrication and wiring. I'll be posting about it soon as I make some more progress on it.
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