hegykc

They just can't make money on these kind of volumes. 1700 might seem like a high number, but it's nothing to them. If they can't sell 100.000 units per year (it took 2 years for Milan to reach 1700), it won't happen. And today, because of the popularity of the racing community the numbers would have to be several times that to rival them. It's unfortunate but just the way it is.

Deadman you called my post 'complete nonsense' for telling someone MS33558 is a milspec dictating the style of font used on aircraft panels and referring them to MIL-M-18012B, where it explicitly says: "The letter designs shown in MS33558 are acceptable for parts covered by this specification." - MIL-M-18012B, 3.1.2.1 Why you would be so rude, condescending and use such tactics and hair splitting is beyond me. All I did was politely explain the situation behind the "MS335588 free font" and point him to a picture and visual representation of a type of font he should be looking for without getting into minute geometric details explained in MIL-M-18012B, which I would do after the OP gave his feedback. MS33558 is the military spec for font style, MIL-M-18012B is a spec covering design requirements and configuration, ie. sizes of that particular font and all other markings in a cockpit. And you follow that by saying not to take any advice on cockpit building from me. Such a nice guy.

Font style is as pictured in MS33558. Font geometry is as explained in MIL-M-18012B. That font geometry can be applied to Figure 1, MS33558, GordDon, GorTon, Arial or Times New Roman. Or any other font for that matter. MIL-M-18012B mentions 9 fonts that are acceptable. That's why it's not a "font milspec", MS33558 is. MIL-M-18012B describes the geometry those font styles have to comply to. And none of those commercial fonts do. Problem is, MIL-M-18012B proposes different ratios for different font sizes. Letters and numerals smaller than 0.2" have 1/6 height to width ratio, and those bigger than 0.2" have 1/8 ratio, that's why the small panel letters are bulky and thick, and the big CDU letters are thin. You're the perfectionist, doesn't the "Q" bother you in these commercial fonts? Or that you will never get the right ratios because they're fixed to only one ratio in the commercial font? I know you like to find errors in other peoples posts. But you won't find one in mine. MIL-M-18012B is a milspec describing geometry for ALL cockpit markings: dashes, arrows, dots, instrument graduations, letters and numerals. The milspec that describes the graphic/visual style of the font, is MS33558, as you can only show a font by a picture, you can't explain it by text. And the picure in the Figure 1 is not the font used. Just read the titles.

When you say something is complete nonsense, that would mean that 0% of it is correct. From your M I L - M - 1 8 0 1 2 B: "3.1.1.1 Letter and numera design. Letters and numerals on instruments and indicators shall conform to MS33558." "3.1.2 Control panels. 3.1.2.1 Letter design. The recommended letter form is shown on figure 1." (have you seen figure 1??? It's a completely different font I have never seen on a military panel, I've included it in the attachment)" also in 3.1.2.1 for Control panel letter design: "The letter designs shown in MS33558 are acceptable for parts covered by this specification." So the font style on all military panels is MS33558, with the geometrical parameters explained in MIL-M-18012B. But this parameters can be applied to any font. It is MS33558 that defines the FONT (it even says so in MIL-M-18012B). So much for my 'complete nonsense'. And if you're referring to this commercial font: http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/urw/gordon/ It has many aspects that are just as wrong as the free one.

It's not "MS33558 Font", because MS33558 is not a "Font" it's a military specification for letters and numerals used on cockpit equipment and instrumentation. Problem is, the free "MS33558 Font" everyone here has, was traced from the millspec low quality pdf picture that was screenshot and then sent by a fax to a graphic artist. Someone from this community asked him as a favor to recreate the font. So it's a "look alike", not by any means a geometric/parametric recreation so there are many things wrong. Height to width ratios are wrong, line width to font size ratio is wrong, W/M/Q ratios to other letters are wrong, spacing is wrong etc. Basically every detail is wrong, because it was done for free and as quick as possible. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it is free after all. It's just that it was traced over an example picture, not designed after the parametric specs within that particular military specification, and without any geometric relations in the letter elements and between the letters/numbers themselves. So the letters and numerals you see on the A-10 CDU are exactly MS33558, but not the "MS33558 Font" you can download for free.

Ok finally most of the hardware got here, including tooling needed to machine this. Took a little longer because of the Chinese New Year and because I wasn't able to get some of the most simplest components locally and had to go the China route there too. This is also the reason why I won't do any kickstarters or pre -orders too early, I want to identify problems and delays before making any commitments and promises. I also want to lay out the ground work for serial production first. There is a lot of fixtures, jigs and custom tools to be made first, so that manufacturing and assembly is as optimized as possible, and thereby as cheap and cost effective as possible. Hence the low price no one else is able to make profitable. In addition to that I also have more than a few other products in parallel development because they all happen to use exactly the same production processes and materials, and all of them have to be prepared for prototyping to justify buying materials in bulk at much lower prices. I also took a month off while I waited for components to arrive. Now I'm back and prototypes will follow shortly. This is project No.1 from now, it's the most simplest one and has the broadest application, transcending sim flying and going into racing, shooters and all other gaming genres. Something simple and broad like this was needed, as it will pay for development of all other much more complicated projects like grips, throttles, instruments and panels. I just need to finish up some machining files this weekend and it's off to prototyping next week.

And just where did I complain about the price or his profit, what ever it might be? Please do quote me. My only complaint is labeling these prices as affordable, that's it. In every one of my posts I am throwing compliments, high end, high quality, first one ever to offer these, great respect etc. I really don't know how else to sugar coat it. All I have against it is "was too expensive before, now I'm gonna make it affordable" which is just not true. If 300$ is an affordable breakthrough for ONE piece of a simpit, and so much so that one is willing to go buy cnc cutters and 3d printers to produce them, please show me these "expensive" parts you looked at before you started this venture? By these prices a full simpit is going to be at least 15.000$, how is that affordable and how does that help the community? And that's just a question, why get offended. I really don't know how else I can raise a concern or ask a question. I have a problem with 2% of his work (the label, affordable). I voiced my problem by complementing the rest 98% of his work first, and then by supporting my argument by facts. I can complain about his logistics all I want because he opened the doors by saying it's going to be affordable and he's doing it to help the community. And because this is a forum thread, not an online shop. You don't see me complaining to Milan MFG, SlewDevice or Mamba. I also know exactly how much they are making and it's quite a lot, yet zero complaint by me. Why, because they're not claiming to be doing it for the love of community. They're doing it for some profit and that's completely ok and it would be completely ok for Lynx too. I am questioning his claim (and only that) and substantiating it by evidence, I am not just running my mouth. And all my complaints are followed by solutions. So here I am, offering solutions to my competition so he can better compete against me. Please do let me know how else I can sugar coat this and I will. Maybe use pink text? If you're helping the community why buy small pieces of acrylic at 200% price for no reason? It's no structural element so why not use 3mm for 400% less money? Why buy switches by one unit at 300% - 600% price? Why buy original arduinos locally at 1000% price? If you're registered with the state, that means that all the VAT you pay for components is deducted from the VAT you have to pay when selling your product so that's no excuse either. And why show cash profit and pay taxes on that at all if this is not about money? Just spend all your profit on parts for the next batch and you can actually make the state owe you tax returns. I cannot believe I'm getting the "I disagree" argument back. Disagree with what exactly?? A better and multiple times cheaper way of buying componets? Which I just disclosed publicly to my direct competition and anyone else looking to get into making these? Fine, I'll keep my mouth shut if that's more help then what I did. You can have your 800$ acrylic instead of 200$, 3$ switches instead of 0.45$ and 30$ arduinos instead of 3$. Sorry I offended you all with my evil ways :) This is what you're all doing: We're in a Walmart store. We see a screwdriver, it's 10$. I say whaaat? That same screwdriver is 5$ in the store across the street. And you all say "I disagree. screwdrivers are great. Hegykc bad." It goes against fact, how does that opinion have anything at all to do with logic and this topic? And why would you use opinion to argue against fact at all? What are you talking about? And Lynx is not Walmart in this story, he's just buying there. I tell him how to get components cheaper and you disagree??? He claims he makes 15$ per unit profit. Well I just told him how to triple his profits and you disagree???

Apparently there's not eve 9% profit, which is even worse. I'm truly sorry if I have mistaken your project for a business instead of a hobby. But you have a web page, and you talked about changing the high prices situation we have, with your many new and affordable products for everyone. So I assumed this was a well prepared and broad venture. And I was actually very happy to see another one pop op on these forums. As I am for all the others. See I'm just like you. I don't need this burden, I don't want it. I would much rather buy everything with one click of the mouse, instead of working 3 years on developing it myself, and in the process spend my entire life savings. So it's just misleading when everyone gets your hopes up, then it turns out it's just another high end product. It wouldn't bother me one bit if it was presented as such from the beginning. Still, after adjusting the absolutely highest prices possible (which is just ridiculous because no manufacturer, no matter how small, won't buy their parts per one piece/unit), the cost for acrylic, switches and abs is 52$. Electricity, leds and chineese arduino will not be more than 20$ on top of that. Tax VAT paid gets deducted from VAT for ordered parts. But again, everything's fine. Price is absolutely OK. It's just not affordable, not for everyone, and not only because of expensive switches. I just mistakenly thought it was going to be. Why not use 3mm acrylic, it's half the price. And why buy it by m2? Yes 6mm acrylic is 120$ also in my country, but why the hell would I buy small chunks of it. I buy 2x3m full sized panels, which is 50% cheaper. And why would I (as a manufacturer) buy single piece switches at 1.50$+?? 1000 warthog toggles are 0.45$/piece from china. And that won't be enough for even 10 simpits. If you buy acrylic from china (1 ton) it's another 3x cheaper. But this is all my mistake thinking of you as manufacturer/supplier after seeing your webpage and all the things you plan to offer, got realy excited, then disappointed by the pricing because I thought it was gonna be built by buying cheap components by the thousands and built on an assembly line instead of one by one. Again, sorry my mistake.

No reason to be sad. I offered my respect, and I meant it. I don't have the slightest problem with the price or the product, neither does anyone else. It is absolutely worth it. Just for the fact than no one else is doing anything like it. You are the man right now, no one is disputing that. But I could be living on the top of the Trump tower and manufacture something like that for 2.860$ and be left with 15$ profit because of my high living expenses. But that doesn't give me any right to call it "affordable for everyone". Every time someone announces something on these forums as "affordable for anyone" it ends up several hundred bucks. And you need at least 30 of it to complete a pit of some kind. Again, anyone making anything on these forums has my respect and their products are great. I mean this, it's not sarcasm. I'm just really tired of everything being labeled as affordable. This label couldn't be further from the truth. If anything this price is closer to the maximum a simmer is willing to pay, not that there's anything wrong with that, just label it as it really is. You are making hi-end quality products, for hi-end users. You are not making affordable cockpit parts for everyone, regardless of your final profit. This is not an insult, if anything it's a complement.

I never do this, and I never would but all this 'affordable' talk is really rubbing me the wrong way. I think every one of your products is great, I really do. But lets not pretend we're saints doing divine work here. If you're making it for a nice profit just say so. People will still pay, and gladly so, there's no other option for them. So 286$ right? Can't make it for less. Ok, here's my math, please correct me: 1) Switches -I see 17 of them altogether. The exact same ones from a warthog throttle cost 0.45$/piece. They are of the most quality and with strongest tactile feedback because they're used on cars/boats/machinery running high current. 2) ABS filament - given the dimensions of the tm throttle, and my assumption your walls are 4mm thick and 100% infill, i calculate there is 250 grams of abs fillament in one box. Price is 20$/kg 3) Acrylic - taking in account the most outer dimensions of the box it's a surface area of 0,042m2. Let's say you use the standard 3 layers of acrilyc that's 0.126m2. Price for the best and most expensive acrylic in Europe is 30$/m2 So let's see: Switches = 17 x 0.45$ Plastic = 0.25 x 20$ Acrylic = 0.126 x 30$ -------------------- Total = 16.50 $ Even if I'm off by 100%, which I'm not because all the components I mentioned can be had for half the price if you look harder and buy in bulk. Please tell me how do you label your products affordable with a 900% profit margin. But there's nothing wrong with that margin at all, you're offering something that nobody else can achieve, GREAT job! You want profit? You deserve it! I'll have great respect for you even if you sell it at 2x your price, just don't call it 'affordable cockpit parts for everyone' and don't say 'the switches are expensive' because that is just bs. And your products are not that. You'll get more respect by saying switches and plastic are cheap, but my hard work, knowledge, investment and time are worth 286$, because that's the truth and nobody can call you out on that. If they do, let them make it for less.

Sorry for the wait. Here's the deal. Every single thing I need, I have to order from china, no matter how small or silly it is. Let me give you the most annoying example so far. There are 3 black countersunk screws in this design. I couldn't find the screws locally, of course, not even zinc ones. Not really surprised there, so I went to a screw factory, again no luck. So I had to import 15 screws from china to assemble these 5 sets. And it's been like that for everything else, cnc tooling, electrical wire, connectors etc.. I could have just paid 5X to have one piece machined elsewhere and 'frankenstein' it together, but I did some other things while I waited for everything to arrive. No worries though, these are simple problems and they have simple solutions. There are a "few" other projects that started before this, that use exactly the same materials and processes so I've been finishing up on those, so I can make all those things in one go. Everything is finally here, so I just need to schedule some machining time in a local entrepreneur shop and we're ready to go. Once you see the amount of different products (in addition to this one), it'll be more clear why it took so long, and you won't be disappointed.

How about you first test the button five? Either connect a new tactile switch, or just short the button five positive wire to the ground to simulate a depress of the switch. Have you looked inside? If it's a normally closed button it would just be a loose wire. It's more likely a defective micro switch. A board will either work all together or not.

Let us know if that improvement shows in performance

My deign is a custom lens holder, custom lens, custom filter. None of them available to general DIY-er. I was just hoping to do initial tests, right now, with the lens holder already inside the ps3 camera. But it doesn't really matter, in the end, everything will be custom made.

Most of the components are here, however after disassembling the ps3 cameras I found out the lens holder is glued to the lens mechanism, so it'll be another couple of weeks for the extra lens holders to arrive. I hope to have the cases machined next week.

Bingo! PM sent...

Both the camera and clip have micro usb ports. When you're done playing, put the clip on the camera mount, unplug camera and plug the clip to charge. That's the idea.

Engraved. And yes it's a placeholder for a custom "callsign", but at a slight premium in price.

This is a brand new project. I am building the prototype next week along with my panels and instruments because this uses the same manufacturing processes. I will post updates as I go along. The clip has a micro usb so it can be charged on it's own. The camera mount is just a "holder" for the clip, a neat way to put the clip away, it does not charge the clip. Yes you will be able to buy the clip as a standalone replacement.

Next week is cutting time for the engine cluster and the right side panels I showed in the last render.

Yes. Including all the instruments (real, mechanical built not lcd screen) and mfcd's. It'll be a proof of concept for the rest of the planes. And a pretty good one at that. I've seen a good amount cockpits now, and the A-10 is the most complex of them all. Which is a good thing because I get to test anything you can possibly put in a cockpit. I'm waiting on some industrial 3d printer components for the F-18 grip project, which might be 2-3 months. I don't do down-time, so I'll focus on the panels/instruments in the time being. Plus I'll need something much simpler and ready for manufacturing to create some sort of stable income, so I don't have to fund all the R&D myself anymore. And these panels/instruments are much, much simpler to manufacture than the grips. With the courtesy of Lars to provide basic panel cutouts and Ian's amazing DCS-bios interface the only thing missing is a hardware guru. And that would be me :) Oh, and a programmer guru which would be people like Gadroc, and I'm sure many more will chip in once I provide the prototypes and announce the prices I'll be able to achieve.

Mine are slightly different then what Lynx provided. I will check and get back to you on that. But it doesn't really matter. I know that as a standalone engine cluster, for people with existing simpits, I'll sell maybe a few units. So I can cut custom individual mounting plates, per request. And for the rest, it'll be mounted on my own MIP panel.

Thanks for the quick response. Now I have some homework to do...

I'm about to join this party, big time. Quick question, can dcs-bios be used with FC3 (flaming cliffs) in any capacity? If not for outputs (instruments/leds), at least for inputs (buttons/switches)? I'm making a general military aviation panel for FC3 planes with a bunch of switches, encoders, selectors and buttons. Could I create FC3 dcs-bios profile for it?

Ok great, yes I have the address. Here's the simplified design: The arduino in there is just until I finish the rest of the MIP, then the whole MIP will be run from a single arduino, like left and right panels. This is the "basic" version, with simplified cosmetics to lower the cost. It's just 1/8" thick, there's no glass on the instruments, no 4 mini gauges, no rounded edges on the acrylic, no rings protruding out and no light bulbs/mounts. On it's own it doesn't look special, but combined with the whole MIP it'll be the bomb. On it's own it'll be $99, but combined in the MIP it'll be more like $65. Also the render represents the glossy acrylic I have on hand (only for the prototype), I have matt black on order for the actual units. The "Pro" for those who can afford more, with all the cosmetic stuff included will be more like 200-250. The basic version goes to the cutters next week. Along with some other goodies :music_whistling: Hardware wise I'm ready: