Mike Powell

I believe the dimensions you want are in MIL-I-83034A(USAF) AQU-6A.

I think the majority of the stepping motors you'll find in a printer are of the "can-stack" variety having 24 or 48 steps. This is too coarse for nice pointer movement. You can gear them down for finer motion, or.... Something I haven't seen used much is the automotive gauge movement based on a stepping motor. They are produced in vast quantities and available for a few dollars each through ebay (Search for "speedometer stepper") These little guys have an integral reduction gear and move smoothly. The downsides are: 1) they are limited to 300 or so degrees IIRC 2) they have slightly odd stepping signals, so you'd have to code the driver for them 3) they are low torque so they're only useful for swinging pointers, not moving an ADI ball or a compass card. I played with one a year ago and posted here: http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/oldnews/oldnews_2011.html scroll to the September 15, 2011 entry.

Nicely done. Kudos!

There are a number of mil standards in the public domain that give dimensions for components that are used in military aircraft. When you combine these with photographs of cockpit interiors you can develop overall dimensions that are pretty good. For example, MS25212 provides the dimensions for console type panels. Width is 5.75" and length is an integral multiple of .375". The lightplate are slightly smaller and are covered in MIL-P-7788. For the main instrument panel you can find the mil-specs for the instruments or instrument types. There are also posts by people who have various pieces and made measurements. Pull everything together and you can create very realistic results. No question about it, having high tech tools like laser cutters/engravers, CNC, 3D printers, etc. is sweet, but remember that aircraft gear was made before any of them existed. You can cut sheet aluminum and plastic with appropriate blades on woodworking saws, or with hand saws. Lightplates were originally engraved mechanically. You can fabricate and paint plastic then have it laser engraved by a commercial firm. That's assuming you want to go for ultimate reality cockpit building. OTOH, there's a heck of a lot of fun adapting a cockpit layout to more readily available resources. You don't need lightplates or individual console panels. People have built impressive panels that combined the entire stack. It really depends on your personal preferences, circumstances, and goals.

Another possible approach is find a trophy / plaque / awards store that has a laser engraver. You may find someone who is will to work with plastic and files you provide. You cut and paint the panels then pay the store to engrave using your file. You'll probably have to supply several test pieces to determine the proper settings for the particular machine, but once you know that, and develope a working relationship with the store owner you should be able to make whatever panel you need. Still, there's a lot to be said for Gadroc's approach. Building the tools teaches you a lot and it can be very satisfying. I'm taking that approach now with a small CNC router.

The Korry Esterline website has some product literature with cut away illustrations that may help. Not the best, but perhaps of some use to you. http://www.esterline.com/controlsystems/KORRY/CockpitControls/Panels.aspx

Very, very nice!

Impressive progress, Gadroc.

I have a series of pictures of the stick assembly posted by Deadman. One shows the overall length from the bottom of the linkage to the top of the grip next to a tape measure. It appears to be just shy of 27.5 inches. The linkage extends somewhat below the floor, so this number isn't as useful as it seems. However, you could derive a fair estimate of what you need by scaling the pictures. Unfortunately, I don't recall where I found the pictures. I've labelled them as coming from Deadman, so it's likely they came from his cockpit building thread on this forum.

You might find this company interesting: www.formufit.com They make specialty PVC fittings for furniture.

I agree! A very nice build.

I went to Pep Boys and bought a pull switch to get a bit more detail about it. I made some measurements and took some pictures. These are posted on my site (www.mikesflightdeck.com) in the 21 Oct 2012 entry. Bottom line: A medium quality switch that should work well in a simulated fuel panel.

Consider using a copper plumbing cap as the push button cup protector. It's cheap, and all you need to do is drill a hole in the center.

A very nice looking project!

Peter's right. You've got appreciative readers, Deadman.

Thanks, DM. Much appreciated.

very impressive!

Super! Thanks!

I've been using D-sub type connectors from Jameco. The "ValuePro" parts are inexpensive, and I've never had a problem with them. http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/catalogs/c122/P59.pdf

http://www.telepromptermirror.com/telepromptersglass.htm http://www.firstsurfacemirror.com/ http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/hud/head_up_displays.html

There is a chapter in Building Recreational Flight Simulators called Using Real Instruments. It provides a pretty good overview of which types of flight rated instruments can be used in simulator applications. Many engine gauges accept synchro signals. These are signals which can be generated by a digital-to-synchro interface. There's a DTS project in BRFS. The book Building Simulated Aircraft Instrumentation doesn't cover this topic.

It gets worse when you retire. The "free" time gained is more than offset by retirement honey-do lists made by wives who have had years to develop skills at making lists which sound quite reasonable and are somehow impossible to argue your way out of.

Esterline has bought up many manufacturers sourcing commercial/military controls/knobs/displays. It's not feasible to buy directly from the Esterline divisions, but the on-line catalogs are often great information resources. For example: http://www.esterline.com/controlsystems/KORRY/CockpitControls/Knobs.aspx

Back in the day (when computers were made of wooden transistors) we used press-on transfer lettering to label panels. This lettering was a standard item you could buy from any good graphic arts supplier. It's much less common now. Here's a link to a Letraset product http://www.letraset.com/products/99-Helvetica-Med-Cond/ Scroll down for the white type. We used to paint the panels black. Once dry, we'd laboriously add the transfer lettering then give the panel a few very thin coats of clear matt finish enamel to protect the lettering. Adding the clear coat had be to done carefully because too much at one time would make the lettering crinkle.

Maxmax, Get in touch with Brydling, a member on this forum. He has been involved with two sim projects, each based on real aircraft. You can see pictures of the projects on www.novelair.com