JCook

Deaconjb There are lots of ways to make these panels - I've learned a lot making the Caution and Electrical panels and I keep revising my technique as I go. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

If anyone is interested - These panels have been posted in the For Sale section: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1578696#post1578696

I am selling all three of my A10C caution panels as shown in my build thread. http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=94136 I am also selling my A10C Electrical panel. These are the first panels I have built and I consider them my prototype panels, as such I am offering them at reduced prices. They are all of good quality and will work as expected with backlighting. All dimensions and build techniques for these panels were researched on the DCS A10 builder forums. Anyone out there can build these same panels if you have the time and resources. :book: I make no claim about 100% accuracy to the real panel dimensions. These should work just fine for your home cockpit build. These are panels only - you'll have to provide the electronics and backlighting. Let me know if you have any questions. I will continue to make panels for my own home cockpit, but don't know if I will offer any additional Caution or Electrical panels for sale in the future. If I do they will be at "regular" pricing :smilewink: Electrical Panel (1 available) $37.00 USD Caution Panel (3 available) $80.00 USD Terms: Shipping cost is TBD and buyer agrees to pay shipping and Paypal fees. John

Backlighting example Here is an example of what the backlighting can look like. I'm just demonstrating this with a small green LED flashlight. There are other "how-to" examples in these forums for wiring up LEDs to the panels. I'll be using a Phidgets card to backlight my panels.

Deacon Not sure what you mean by printing the graphics to white plexi-glass. The graphcs are pretty much white text or symbols (lines, arrows, etc) all the rest is a black background.

Making the Electrical Panel Here is how I made my A10C electrical panel: 1) I designed three layers using a CAD program. There is a base layer that the toggle switches and LEDs attach to, a "light" or mid layer to allow for some vertical support and illumination from the LEDs and a top or "text" layer that labels the switches. 2) Spray paint black, one side of a 1/16" white acrylic sheet of plastic - this is for the top layer. A 3/16" clear acrylic is used for the mid layer and a 1/8" black piece is used for the base plate. 3) A Laser cutting / etching system was used to cut the three pieces of acrylic into their shapes as defined in the CAD file. For the text layer the laser etches thru the black paint into the white acrylic underneath providing for the backlighting effect. An optional finger guard is also cut. 4) Spray paint the base layer black. Mask the top and bottom of the clear mid layer and then spray paint the sides black. 5) Use acrylic weld (glue) to weld together the top and mid layer. Weld the finger guard onto top layer. 6) The panel is now ready for the electronics: toggle switches and backlighting. My design can be implemented with or without the finger guard, and there are two types of finger guards to chose from: squared and angled (see pic).

ReactorOne Thanks for posting those panel designs - they are very helpful. Can you add one for the UHF radio? John

Electrical Panel Here are a few shots of my Electrical Panel build.

More Caution Panel pictures I finally got around to laser etching the text onto the indicators. These three prototype Caution Panels will be up for sale after some minor touch up work.

Caution Panel - Almost Complete The A10C's Caution panel is a pretty time consuming panel to build. I made a small adjustment to the indicator light size and laser cut some more acrylic. Here is the first panel - all that remains is to laser-etch the text.

Cichlidfan lets hope you're right. I'll give eVGA tech support a call and ask them about their graphics board.

I have a 670 card and one of the 4 outputs is hdmi. Does this mean i can only use a total of three outputs (monitors)?

Gluing the Caution Panel Here is a shot of the Caution Panel in its early assembly. Just starting to glue in the indicator lights - pretty time consuming to get them right. I made them slightly too small - so I will rework my CAD design and then cut the new size. I have just enough green acrylic leftover to redo the three sets of indicators.

Caution Panel My first panel was the Caution Light Panel using PitBldr's design. The attached picture shows the components for the first three sets. Most of the green indicator light cutouts still have the paper wrap on them.

After many months of reading forum posts, asking questions and buying components its time to start a thread and post the progress on my A10C simpit. I am developing a full pit using y2kiah's excellent A10C CAD drawings. I've also bought several panels from y2kiah and will buy or design / fabricate the other panels. I've also bought Deadman's panel knobs. The first CNC component produced was the right console. The attached picture shows a first fitting right after I brought the pieces home from the CNC shop. Nov 2 - I'm posting my Warning and Electrical Panel CAD files for community use. These use PitBldrs design (see his thread for assembly instructions). CAD Files are posted below: A10C-ELECTRICAL v2.zip A10C-WARNING v3.zip

y2kiah In previous posts you mentioned special attention needs to be made when CNC cutting the throttle platform - do you have any close up pictures and instructions I can forward to me CNC guy? Also, if the left side is shorter in height to accomodate rollers for a swing-out entry - would just extending the length to match the rightside dimensions work - if I didn't want to have the swing-out feature? Thanks

I agree. Deadman's A10C knobs are high quality - I am very pleased with my purchase. If he has any sets left people should grab them because this custom product offering may not come around again. Deadman - here are a few ideas for future products: A lighted landing gear handle. ACES II ejection seat kit :-) If not the whole kit then the various knobs, levers, etc. that are part of the seat... ACES II seat pan and back rest - molded plastic? Fiberglass?

So how does one stop FaceBook from taking this data?

I think scsimulations is going to be selling an A10 "quick kit" You may want to look into that.

Pepe is right Falcon 4 BMS is a big improvement over Allied Force. You should be able to find a used original Falcon 4 disk online - you'll need that to install the BMS version.

If you need to support multiple monitors a 4GB video card would be a better choice.

WartHog Covers I'm In :thumbup:

Deadman - you can add my name to the list. Post some new pics? (The original pics on page one of the thread are gone)

Eventually I'll reach my goal of having my pit setup and enough skill to fly multiplayer in a virtual squadron. In preparation for that day I'm looking into a headset for the needed communications in online play. I'm looking for some recommendations on what is working for you and what didn't work. I'll be using the headset with a TrackIR proclip so the headset can't be too thick. Not sure about wireless if it is at all problematic.

Hey its great to see you back. Thanks for the recent update. I'm building with your plans and hope to have some pictures to post in a month or so. I appreciate all the design work and the support.