pitbldr

Looks great!! Try putting a couple clear coats on. That will protect it and can reduce the shine (if you want). How did you do the little separator pieces between the buttons?

Honestly, I've not given it much thought. Having just finished it, I was less inclined to redo it all, but I may still redo it. The Phidgets board supports 64 LED's and so I still 18 I can use elsewhere. I will using them for the landing gear (3), the NMSP panel (9), the emergency flight control (4), any oxygen flow indicator (1), and the UFC master caution button. I think I'll be getting a second phidgets board to use for backlighting and for the other indicators I've not listed. They're crimped on the other end so it's about the same amount of work to redo either end. I may just leave it alone. Sure it looks messy, but it's out of sight so does it really matter?? :D I got white 3mm LED's from SuperBrightLEDs and the color I achieved by using green acrylic for the indicators.

Yeah.... do a better job of painting it! :) The panel itself is made from two 1/16th layers of acrylic. The bottom layer is on piece and the top layer had the shapes for the indicators cut out of it - a guide to help align them. I glued these two together and then glued the "indicators" in place and then painted it all at once. What'll I'll do in the future it paint the two layers before gluing them together since it was very hard to fill in those places in between without getting too much paint on the indicators. I noticed it when I was painting, but couldn't do much at that point. I also used clear acrylic as it was all I had. I have some black 1/16th on order and think that may work even better. I'd use that only for the top layer. The bottom would still need to be either white or clear.

Hey all, Just posting a few pics of the "inards" of the caution panel I made for my pit. Only thing I would change is the length of the cables... but I really don't feel like resoldering all those LED's!!

Missed this one! Very nice... just what I needed! :thumbup:

Money too! :smilewink:

Yeah, definitely use HELIOS! :thumbup: I made my own MFCD's a couple months back and then had a PCB board made for them. I'll be using SMD buttons on it and using it with a x-keys matrix board (less wiring that way). Other than that it's very similar to your design. I'll try and post some pics later.

Thanks guys! The panel is made from clear, white and green acrylic. In all it's 5 layers. I laser cut all the pieces and then glued them together in stages and painted them. Next I just engraved the text onto the buttons. At somepoint, I'll take some photos of the process.

That's excellent work on those! Welcome to the forums too!! :D

Oh, I didn't think I read you were planning rear projection. I'll be very interested in how it turns out!

I am using HELIOS and Phidgets LED. HELIOS sends all the signals to the Phidgets board after you configure it, which is simple to do. HELIOS site - http://www.scsimulations.com/ Phidgets LED - http://www.phidgets.com/products.php?category=15&product_id=1031

Thanks! :D I sure don't feel like I am!! I think most of you guys just did much better/more detailed planning than I did. I've already redone the framework of my consoles twice and know I'll be redoing the front dash at some point. I am debating also whether I want to raise the height of my seat a few inches and I'm sure I'll hit a few more snags along way. But it is nice to finally be at the point where I can start doing some "test flights"! :joystick:

That's looking nice Hitch!! Have you thought about trying rear projection? I've seen where you can buy the material for rear projection in custom sizes. I have a couple projectors and played around with doing that myself. But then I decided that I'll just use a 27" monitor behind my panel - mainly cause I'm lazy! :D

Possibly, but it would be a couple months before I could as I have several other items I need to complete first. If and when I can, I'll be sure to post back to let everyone know. :)

Thanks! HELIOS and Phidgets made this easy though. My part was very small. I just had to make a panel that looked similar to the real thing and it took me several tries. More luck and persistence than skill... believe me. :D

Thanks, but you and Gadroc did all the work!!! I just made the panel to use with it! :D

Thanks guys! :) I really wish the video was better. I may have to find a better camera and reshoot it. Shu77 - It is extremely easy with helios. If you don't have it, you're missing out! I have Helios and the phidgets connected to the same computer that's running A-10. At some point, I may test having it run from another computer, but right now it's running great. I don't know of a how-to, but it really is easy. The Phidgets board comes with everything you need except the LED's. The included cables can be attached to the LED's (I soldered mine) and then the cable plugged right into the board. Download helios and check it out. Then visit the SC Simulations site for more help if you need it.

Just finished up my caution panel using Helios and a Phidgets LED board. Here's a video of me starting up the A-10 then towards the end randomly shutting off systems to activate the caution lights. Sorry about the poor quality of the video.... crappy webcam. Couldn't get it where you can actually see the words on the panel, but if you've ever gone through the start sequence, you'll know what's happening. In the attached image you can see the board better and can tell that a few of the indicators are lit.

Awesome!! I hope to do that myself one day. :D

Don't have a Saitek stick, so I don't know what they're capable of. Can you program the X-52 so that you can choose with engine to control?? Assign one button to cycle through controlling both engines, left engine only, right engine only??

Yeah, I've got TIR and it does allow you to look around, but you can't seen any part of your aircraft, so it can be a little inconvenient. I've actually never checked my FPS, but I'd be suprised if it did not improve it some.

Not much.... slowing making progress on the UFC's panels as work allows. I expect that come August I'll be back to a normal work schedule and have more free time. I also had to spend some time building up my pit structure to verify that all the panels I've designed would work per my design. Everything's looking good so far. :D

:bye_2: Hi Laurius and welcome!!

Thanks!! :) I'm using the ALT-F1 view on the main screen. And I wouldn't say it's more work than I expected, but I'm finding I want to do more than I planned!

Here's a few more pics. Still a lot to do. The front dash is temporary. The monitor(s) will eventually be mounted behind the dash once I've cut one to the correct size and shape.