Boltz

If you find a way to make the ADI then I would be very interested indeed As for building half a fuselage I suggest making the consoles and MIP separate and then adding them into any structure. Wiring in this thing would be difficult and kill your back. Much better with the consoles out and working at a desk. Biggest problem with having something so large is the visual system for outside views. A half dome projector setup would be nice but very expensive and I have something almost too big to work around. Got the 3 TVs for now and I think they will work but then 2 days ago I had an idea to add part of a top view. Like you say too many ideas from reading these forums

Thanks, just doesn't seem to be your style ;) Couldn't see any fixings so decided it had to be some secret invisible fastener. Seeing as I have gotten away with the forms I might be able to steal your idea and make millions (insert evil laugh) Cheers mate

Hi John I think I might have to borrow your idea of the boxes for backlighting. How have you attached the box to the back plate? Sorry for derailing the thread. Looks like some good stuff coming up Jrsteensen

Thanks John. All th instruments are just placeholders at the moment with bezels. I have collected a few real instruments but no ADI yet. Still working out how I will do it. Definitely do not want to use a screen.

Cheers mate. I've got your part now and will send it on as soon as I get time

That is normal. It is flimsy, low quality and easily knocked into the wrong position. An upgrade is needed I think.

Been busy the past 2 weeks with other stuff but before then I spent some time working on this project. Moved everything downstairs and out to the garage so that I can work on it this summer. Now built an entire canopy frame. The bow is bolted to the side runners which are screwed along their length. All the frame is removable by taking out screws. The side skin of the cockpit is only touching the runners. No glue there. I knew that I needed the large runners for mounting flood lights and also to give a finished look and cover up a lot of ugly parts along the top of the sides. I added a sweeping bend to make it more like the real thing and breakup straight lines. Turned out well but making the extensions to the side skin (seen in photos with a lot of wood filler) to meet with the runners took a couple of hours to get right. Small things like that make a huge difference. Where have the consoles gone?! You'll have to wait for the answer to that :P In the above photo you can see more clearly how the parts of the cockpit floor go together here. Rudder pedals are out as well at the moment so I can still fly at a desk. When in place, the pedals are adjustable and so is the seat. I got a couple new additions to the MIP that still need work done but they look nice ;) Still more work to do on the outside then it is painting and applying the decals. There are also a few smaller parts that I will be able to work on after next week. Looking forward to getting some nice parts going now.

Very nice video!

Check out russtuff on Youtube. He converted a G0704 to CNC and documented the build. Your machine looks identical apart from it has a DRO, don't think you will fit it in with the ballscrews. I considered converting a G0704 clone but the cost for everything over here was going to be about £3k ($4600) but you have good parts in the US and the original machine is cheaper. From what I saw it will be a great machine. Only problem is spindle speed for engraving. IIRC it is about 2500 RPM max. Can be increased with a new motor and belt drive for about 6000 RPM or you could attach an auxiliary high speed spindle. Good luck with the conversion. It will definitely be worth it

Hi Tom, Looking forward to adding all the parts to my cockpit. Thanks for the help and I wish you the best in whatever you do now :)

Hi Hans. I have tried two methods so far. First was on the forward sides and I used 3.6mm plywood with standard woodscrews. It is nice and strong but sometimes quite difficult to bend and requires quite a lot of support and regular screws. No fancy heat or water used, I just worked it around one part at a time. For this I tried to follow the panels of the original jet and it looks nice but if you use larger sections then it could be a nightmare to work with. here is a pic: For the sides over the consoles I used 3mm hardboard with a melamine facing (simply because it was the only stuff my local supplier had) also this time I used nails and drilled 2mm holes through the hardboard at regular intervals and then worked upwards bending it a little at a time. Each nail was knocked in with a hammer and over 200 after both sides were done. I made a mistake though here of trying to use wood filler to cover the nails. The surface has ended up with a lot of variations with the filler, melamine and hardboard inside. It's really quite a mess now and will require using a thick oil-based primer which will the have to be sanded and then I can spray a top coat over the top. The dark grey is just some spray I was using to help sand the surface. If I was doing it again then I would use the hardboard but definitely not use wood filler with it. I think countersunk screws would rip through so I would use nails again and just put up with them being there. Would add a bit of texture to the sides. Also hardboard comes in standard 4x8 ft sheets (1220x2440mm) I know Gadroc used 3mm hardboard as well and it worked out for him too. Just requires a lot of fixings to spread the load, or you could glue if there is a way to clamp the parts in place. Another option is PVC sign material but I do not know how you would fix that. My guess is screws and cup washers to prevent them ripping through. Not sure when I will have this painted since I have a canopy frame to make and more curves to add. All these curves are a nightmare so good luck with however you over them.

Delan clip works great, in fact I have never even used the Pro Clip that came with my TIR. Delan seems sturdier and no problems with it

A replacement? Sounds nice :)

Hi John, I think standard Arduino steppers and ULN2003 drivers will work like this. The torque is 28 times that of VID-29 so if it doesn't work then I don't know what will. Only thing is that some kind of zero sensor is required. Check out http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/instruments/stepping_motor_instruments.html and you could probably make some kind of optical interrupter setup with a trim pot somewhere for tweaking the zero position. For the size you should be fine since they look small enough. I have not used these steppers but they should be up to the task and the resolution actually beats the VID-29 series. And I have to repeat what has already been said, outstanding work John!

Hi Mac, thanks for the words! Yes it is a ping-pong ball but filled with hot glue and model filler to keep it's structure and add some weight. As for switch caps, I assume they are the AHCP ones. I just used a standard craft glue that works on metal. Not the strongest stuff but it did the job well. I thought of using epoxy but then there would not be a way to remove them in the future and if some got into the switch then I would have had a hard time breaking it. Hope that helps

Most of the right outboard edge finished. All aluminium construction and I know the screws are pretty random but I will change them all out soon.

Yes, I can drill the PCB. I'm waiting on some other parts to arrive. Can't wait to get things fired up :)

Looks nice! That is one quick machine.

Forum default is not to save to sent items. In user profile it is under "Edit Options" then there is a tickbox at the end of the Private Messaging section to fix it.

Thanks Mike for the references. Only thing I don't like about them is soldering each. I guess it is not really much work but a neater approach would be nice. I have attached an example circuit diagram for using the ULN2803A for a caution panel. I apologise for the very bad work. Many wire connections are missing since I don't have much time. Many cross but it is just a repeating pattern for each chip. Should at least show the basics of what you need to create. In my caution panel, I used 74HC595 shift registers so that is another way. The MAX7219 has a max voltage of only 5V and max current is 40mA. If your LEDs are within this then that is the best way to go. It has the lowest component count. Caution Panel with ULN2803_schem.pdf

Hi Lars, Angle is 10 degrees. Not sure about the distance though

For driving low current LEDs, BJTs are better than FETs. A FET is more expensive, standard TO-220 package may require a heat sink, at least one resistor is required on the gate or drain and each discrete component must be soldered separately. That can make for a waste of time and space on a board. An IC of MOSFETs would be good but the ULN2003 is standard and very easy to source. BJTs in the form of Darlington arrays solve all the problems. You only have to solder a single IC and they contain base resistors. For the LED current limiting resistors, he ULN2003 is not a current limiting device so a resistor will be needed for each LED. Connecting a single resistor to the supply line will definitely burn it out. With a 12V supply and 2V LEDs, you will be using about 10W when all are lit and a power resistor that large gets hot. Also some LEDs would draw more than others and produce uneven results. Use one resistor per LED, connected after the Darlington array. Like Warhog mentioned earlier, your other option is to use a Max7219 and a matrix. Or you could even use one Darlington array for the "rows" of a matrix and use higher current NPNs for the "columns." There are so many different ways :)

Looks great! Nice write up and easy to follow. This would add a while lot more to flying I can imagine.

I have it at home and can send it on Saturday. Pm me your email if you don't have it by then.

Hi triise, I have no experience with operating CNC but I have worked at generating G Code for parts. I found that the free MS33558 fonts are terrible. They look fine but the splines that make them up overlap and HSMWorks would not even let me try to engrave those letters. I used the font TechnicBold instead. It is a very close substitute and is standard on windows PC. That means that it has none of the overlapping spline problems. It is not a single line font but those remove some detail on the characters. If you are setting CamBam to cut "pockets" then I do not see why it would only cut the outline. Perhaps the edges of the font do not match up as a result of a bad MS33558. I don't know about CamBam but if you use a font that is made up of parallel lines rather than single, then you should be able to set it to cut a pocket and specify to cut on the inside. Might be an "offset" function.