Thanks Peter It looks like I’ll have to buy some blocks of plastic on Ebay and drill and tap them in various directions!
I have not yet purchased any proper (RAM) mount for my iPad Mini and have so far used a cheap plastic suction cup tablet holder that I could by locally, but it’s far from perfect. Since I have recently upgraded my radio (Trig TY-91) and have no other avionics upgrades on the horizon (VFR only plane), I can now see exactly how much space I have left for a proper tablet mounting solution. Also, during the past 50+ flights with the interim holder, having an adjustable arm between the panel and the tablet was more of an annoyance than blessing, since it brings part of the screen out of the shade of the glareshield and this way (from my perspective) the iPad always hides part of the transponder screen or some annunciator lights. On the other hand, if I put the tablet directly on the panel, it fits neatly between all the instruments, it’s in shade and also easily reachable from either pilot seat.
See this image to get the idea:
Therefore, I have lately been thinking that buying a RAM TabTite or an iPad Mini-specific RAM cradle and screwing it directly on the panel would be the best option. What do you guys think? If it’s OK to do it this way, what kind of screws should I use? Also, what would be the best material for some (max. 0.5 cm) spacing from the panel?
Why do you need the 5mm spacing from the panel?
If I needed an adaptor plate for some reason e.g. to match-up mounting holes, I would use a tufnol sheet and machine it as required. I can do it for you if you produce a drawing.
Peter wrote:
Why do you need the 5mm spacing from the panel?
To let some air behind the tablet and possibly to reduce vibrations. Maybe it’s not necessary at all.
If I needed an adaptor plate for some reason e.g. to match-up mounting holes, I would use a tufnol sheet and machine it as required. I can do it for you if you produce a drawing.
Thanks for the suggestion and the offer. I’ll check back with you once I have the cradle itself in hand.
Yes; a gap is definitely desirable unless the Ipad can be actually touching a cold metal surface and use that as a heat sink.
Looking at those mounts, you may well find there is a few mm of ventilation behind them.
Some time ago I thought about gluing a ~0.5mm copper sheet onto the back of the Lenovo tablet I fly with, to help extract the heat which is concentrated in one or two spots. All tablets use the same technology nowadays…
How about a low tech solution and use velcro sticky back tape?
Peter wrote:
Looking at those mounts, you may well find there is a few mm of ventilation behind them.
I’ll probably order the mount soon and check how it fits and how much clearance is there.
it_flies wrote:
How about a low tech solution and use velcro sticky back tape?
I can’t imagine that it would have enough strength to hold the cradle and the tablet, but I could be wrong. It could surely hold the tablet only, but since the device does not live in the plane, it’s not a viable solution in my case.
IMHO – 2 issues:
If I were mounting an iPad Mini in a potentially hot location, I might consider using an X-naut fan cooled mount spaced slightly away from the panel, if it would fit in the available panel space. It appears to mount with three screws, and to space it away from the panel slightly you’d need only a short aluminum spacer for each screw, or a single round spacer with three holes.
Silvaire wrote:
If I were mounting an iPad Mini in a potentially hot location, I might consider using an X-naut fan cooled mount spaced slightly away from the panel, if it would fit.
I don’t think its necessary. The proposed mounting location is completely in shade and even with the current solution (half of the tablet is in the sun and I usually use it with a black plastic protective case) it has never overheated.
