pitbldr

OK, thanks! I was curious if your process might be better/quicker/easier than mine, but it sounds like the CAM side may complicate it. I currently use Vcarve pro for my panels which limits me to designing them in 2.5d space, so I can't model the layout and the entire pit like you're doing, but with my limited skills, that's probably a good thing! :D

Hey y2kiah, I am pretty sure I read that you have a CNC that you'll be making your panels with. How will you get your panels from Sketchup into something you can then create the code for the CNC? Do you have the Pro version of Sketchup or have you found a way to do it with the free version?

That's a good point. Better to experiment before the A-10 is out. I have some HTML, PHP, Javascript experience, but it was very limited and several years back. I don't think the programming concerns me as much as the IO cards. No experience there and I have been having a hard time determining which hardware would be the best choice if I were to go that route. I've heard good and bad things about all of them. I'll have to give it all some more thought and I appreciate all the input you've guys have made. I imagine even if I do bit the bullet and pick up some hardware, I'll be able resell it if I fail to get it working.

I actually had an EPIC card a few years back, but could never get it working - lack of knowledge/skill I guess.

Don't get me wrong... I like the DIY myself, but I do fly real planes so money can get tight with that and I have a CNC that I'll be making my panels with. I just know if I wait to start on the pit until I know how to use LUA and work with the electronics needed, I problably won't get anything done before the next DCS aircraft is out! :D When I said turnkey, I was thinking more of someone saying "here's the code you can use with this hardware (electronics)" - thus saving me the time/effort of bumbling around writing my own code.

OK, thanks for the feedback. I like the idea of starting out with what I can manage at this time and then adding to it later. I have no problem re-building the pit if I ever reach a point where I want more functionality from it. My main goal at this point is to control as much as I can with switches/button and not having to use the mouse any more than necessary. While I would love to some day have both a hog and shark pit, I will be starting with the A-10. When (and if) I do a shark pit, I imagine it will be more of mini-pit. Don't have the space for two full-size pits... plus the wife would kick me out of the house! And who knows what aircraft DCS will release next! :D I also imagine (hope) that some of you who are clearly more skilled with all of this will release a "turn key" type of solution. I'd love to learn it myself, but life just has a way of always interupting my hobbies. Thanks!!

Hey guys, Trying to wrap my head around the options for interfacing controls with my pit. I have very limited programming or electronics knowledge, but this is what I understand now from reading the information I've found here and at other sites. As I see it, there are two majors paths I could take: 1. Simple interfacing where buttons/switches are assigned to keyboard commands. Easier to do, but the controls would not be in sync and I would not have any data exporting to the pit. 2. Solution like EPIC or Opencockpits card and LUA. More difficult, but the pit would be able to "talk" with the sim and pull data from it and keep the controls in sync. I realize there's much more to it, but I am thinking 'big picture' at this point. Since option 2 would be an uphill battle for me, I am leaning towards a simple pit using some of the USB IO cards available for the switches (Bodnar's stuff for example). As long I as manually sync all my buttons/switches before each flight, then this will work right?

Can someone explain what this link has to do with this mod? I can't read it and it does not seem to have anything to do with an F/A-18. And how did it become the first post in this thread?

You mean some type of story? That would make sense, but this video on the hornet seems more like a test or demonstration. Need to know more! :D

Why would someone even waste their time doing that?? :confused:

That's impressive!!! Would love to find out more about it.

Sounds nice, but does this mean each city is randomly generated and will not look like the real world city? I realize no one here may be able to answer this question, but thought I would throw it out anyway. :)

Thanks! That's good news! :)

Can anyone say at this point if USB LCD monitors can be used for the MFCD displays?

Awesome work man! Mine will never be that detailed.... I just don't have time, space, or knowledge! :lol:

Oh yeah, I was evening toying with the idea of adding thermometers to this panel that can monitor the temp in the enclosed spaces of the pit and have fans for cooling those areas too. It's not that critical, but I thought it would be a nice way to use the panel since most of it's functions are not modeled in the sim.

I plan to hook up one or more fans to this panel and actually use some of the switches that will be on it to turn those on/off and adjust the speed. I may even hook up one of those small space heaters as my office gets pretty chilly in winter. :D

I've been playing around with side emitting LED's for panel lighting. They have a very low profile and are much brighter than the EL wire I also experimented with. You can purchase them separately and install them directly on your circuit board or go with the strip lighting which can be split into 3 LED sections and run in either series, parallel, or a combination of both.

You must be watching the wrong TV shows then! :music_whistling:

It would be nice to see a TV spot like some of the FPS games, but that will probably not happen.

Thanks! I figured it had to be a typo, but you never know the military and it's abbreviations! :)

In the images Wags released, the AUX LTG panel on the left console has a knob labeled "WPN STA STSTUS LTS". Should that be STATUS instead?

Thank you! Never referred to that site before. Very helpful! :thumbup:

Thanks for that info! That will help tremedously in sizing my panels now!!

Hey y2kiah, How are you determining the size of your panels? Do you have source for the actual dimensions?