pitbldr

:lol: Funny you should ask... I was just thinking about this today. Not having much electronics experience myself, I've not crossed that bridge myself. I have been considering the options for doing this (opencockpits, arduino, etc.) and watching a couple members who are working on projects, but I've still not decided how I'll do mine. If I had to decide today, I'd be going with opencockpits. Today though I found a guy in my town that does PCB design and fabrication. I've contacted him about helping me design and make boards that I can use with my panels. Just to be clear, I am only talking about boards that would allow me to interface with something like the opencockpits cards, not something in place of them. I envision these being simple boards that would "mount" behind my panels and connect to whatever interface solution I use. I am thinking of something using SMD pushbutton switches or micro switches. If and mind you, IF I end up with some boards that others are interested in, I may offer to get a batch of those when I order mine. I am just not sure about this aspect of it yet though since I have a long way to go to get there. I still need to sit down with this guy and explain what I am doing, what I need and see what he can do and how much it'll cost. Stay tuned and I'll post when I have anything new. :)

Wow! Very, very impressive!!! :thumbup: By the way, don't apologize for still using a checklist, that's how it's done in the real world! I would not fly if I had not gone through a checklist. :)

Thanks gents! :D Had hoped to get a lot more done in the past two days, but one of my IT clients has kept me busy. My wife is out of town this weekend though, so should have plenty of time to get caught up.

Very soon I think. My CDU is 95% done, I just need to finalize the best process for making the buttons. The UFC is about 80% done. Unless I run into any major issues, I think I can offer these up within the first couple weeks of March.

These are great! Thanks! +1

Yes, I am using clear acrylic to make my panels, so backlighting is possible. My pit won't have backlighting though until after I get all the electronics for the controls worked out and have all the panels in place in the consoles. I experimented with LED's for the backlighting a few months back and I think they can do the job, but placement and how many you can use for each panel is important.

BHawthorne is right, it's more of a process of finding the right settings than having an exact dimension. I suspect I'd need some type of laser measuring device to even determine the depth. I can barely feel the letters when I run my finger over them. I can say that it's thicker than one layer of paint, but not two. :) Thanks Feed! :D

Yeah, I noticed that as the job was finishing up. They were in my graphics file, I just missed selecting them when I sent it to the laser. :doh:

Well, paying more attention this time, I glued up the parts of my UFC correctly! :lol: Here's the result along with most of the buttons for the CDU. The buttons on the CDU right now are sitting flush with the bezel. Once the electronics are in place, they'll sit about .125" proud.

Thanks! :) Thanks also for your site and all the information you have to share! It really helped a lot when I was first getting started on this project. :thumbup:

Thanks!! :) I don't know if the look will change that much. What I am really prototyping is a way to implement micro switches behind each button and for those not being in the way of a monitor behind the panel. I've got some micro-push buttons on order that I'll be trying out.

OK, I've not been idle, but I've not had as much 'pit time' as I would have liked. :( Anyway, just a quick update. Here's my prototypes for the MFCD and the CDU. Still need to perfect my painting process. The buttons on these are just there for size and color test. I have yet to cut out a full set, paint and engrave them... this kinda hinges on painting process. Also, the real MFCD has raised separations between each button. I am testing an alternative that you can see where I am just using an engraved area to represent the divisions. I would have had pics of my UFC too, but I was not paying attention to the orientation when I glued it up and did it backwards! :megalol:

Great work!! :thumbup:

Cardboard is a good method for doing that - cheap and easy to work with! :)

Hey Kevin, Yes to both of your questions. The MFCD displays are 5x5 and the panels are about 5.75" wide (5.69" on the real panels I have, but I am making all my panel at 5.75).

Thanks for all the feedback so far everyone. I will start looking into some of the options you've mentioned. :)

I've been using the helios beta and it works great but I'm not sure how Helios will help with actual displays for the panels. I am not talking about displaying panels, but displays for each panel. For example, a "bank" of 7 segment displays for the frequencies on the UHF panel and individual segments for the VHF. Maybe my limited experience in this area is making this seem more complicated to me than it is. For everyone who is planning to have some feedback on your panels, what are you using for the frequency indicators?

Hey guys, I need to start planning for displays that I may potentially use in my pit. Has anyone started down this road and come up with some usable display options for the panels that have readouts on them (ILS, VHF, UHF, TACAN, etc.)? I am very weak when it comes to electronics, but I assume for most of these we can use either LCD's or some type of 7 segment display.

Google Sketchup is free! :)

By the way, how's your project with the arduino card coming along?

Those look awesome! And your painting station is very clever! Looks like you found a good process for engraving your panels. I never had much luck as some areas of the panels would not get engraved as deeply as others. I suspect my bed was just not level, but I was never able to get it perfect. Anyway, great work!! :thumbup::thumbup:

Hey folks, I wanted to get some thoughts and feedback on this. I've been thinking about a method to use on my panels for mounting the guages or displays that some of the panels (CDU, CMSP, etc.) use. What I am thinking is that the guage/display would mount underneath the backplate. This would allow me to have a 1/16th piece of clear acrylic made into the panel for protection. See the image and let me know what you think. Red = Top plate (engraved) Blue = Bottom plate Gray = Clear acrylic window -.0625" Black = Aluminum backplate Green = Guage or display

Got ya. I'll take some pics soon with the screws I am *planning* on using and we'll see how they look.

Well, I have several real panels and they vary. Some are only .48" and another is .53", so I averaged. I suspect is has to due with some panels being from earlier models, but don't know for sure why there's a difference. I also based it on how I'd be doing the panels for my pit. As I've mentioned before, I am not going for 100% accuracy. My goal is to develop panels that very passable copies but to keep my own costs down and reduce the time it takes me to get my pit built. I've seen people on other forums who've been building for years and trying to find all actual parts - I just don't want to wait that long to have a fully replicated pit and to be flying! Building it is part of the fun, but I do want to actually fly the sim at some point. :D

I am closing in on my final designs. :) Here's the dims for the Aux Ltg panel. This panel is about 99% complete. It'll be 100% after I cut it, assemble it and test fit it over my switches. Note that the red lines indicate the top plate (engraved) and blue indicates the bottom plate.