Early in the firewall forward plans, the battery is to be mounted and two 1 1/16" spacers are required to be made from a piece of .058 x 5/16" tubing. The tubing was already primed so the spacers were cut on the band saw and filed to size and are now also ready for topcoat painting.
Looking for something else to do, decided to devote some attention to the center panel. Many months ago a little time was spent working with the template for the auto pilot panel and knobs panel. Builders of E-LSA RV-12's take note: The positioning being utilized for the location of AP & knobs panels in the DOG Aviation RV-12 is being changed from the plans and, as such, do not follow the rules for E-LSA. Normally, both units are installed in the center panel spaced directly above and centered with the Garmin GTR200 radio. However, because the DOG Aviation RV-12 is being built as E-AB, the plan is to incorporate a backup air speed indicator during the build and hopefully shoehorn it into the center panel by shifting the template for the AP & Knobs panels to the far left and mounting the airspeed indicator to the right of the AP & Knobs panels.
The center panel was temporarily mounted so lines could be marked onto the panel from the inside defining the available space between the radio and the upper fuselage skin and the side to side space between the mounting brackets. It appears there will just barely be enough room for all three units to coexist above the Garmin radio … so drilling of the center panel began.
Horizontal lines were drawn for alignment based off the slot for the radio and the knobs panel template was moved as close as possible to the left mounting bracket factoring in the space required for the nutplates. Next the template was secured with Cleco clamps and measurements were taken for the backup airspeed indicator … which fortunately, should barely fit in the remaining available space. Next the holes in the template were drilled and the cutouts marked with a red sharpie.
Drilling the holes on the drill press for the AP & knobs panels using the provided template as a guide for hole locations. These holes are to be drilled using a #27 drill bit.
The center point for the backup airspeed indicator was determined and a #30 hole was drilled … this hole will be enlarged and become the pilot hole for a 2 1/4" panel hole punch. After the center point was determined, a line was extended out to the right glove box panel so the centerline for a backup altimeter could be established.
The center panel temporarily set in place so the centerline of the backup airspeed indicator could be transferred onto the right glove box panel. Quick temporary lines were drawn for planning the approximate location of the backup altimeter and perhaps a vertical speed indicator.
