Triggerhappy69

Well, I have noticed that the guys building scale plastic models use some kind of etched out plates for the fine details. And I remember buying such a detail kit way back when I decided to build a diorama of a AH64 chopper. But this was maybe 20 years ago, so the memory is dim at the best..:cry: Thanx. :) Building this instrument really wasn't that hard? At least when I think about building the HSI.. I'll be posting drawings and a simple how-to as soon as I have finished the thing, confirmed that it actuallty works, and have another pitbuilder make one for himself to get feedback on matereals, tolls and such. I soldered the face-plate LED wires today, and it came out pretty nice? Face-plate Lights off: Face-plate Lights On:

He He.. I agree..! :music_whistling: Use Imageshack or even your MSN page, and link the pictures from there mate..

Thank you guys.. :)!! .. your kind words are my motivation for continuing you know.. Well, here's a couple of pics of todays work: - After two coats of white gloss paint to prevent light from the LED's being absorbed by the dull topcoat, and reflect the light within the plexiglass. I put on another two coats of black paint. And the I used my trusty Dremel with a edge beveling insert to give the light a slot to light up the faceplate. - It did need some slight touching up of paint afterwards. - Here are the two optical sencors that will tell the stepper controller card where the zero-point is. Notice that I desided to have these sensors on the axle of the main instrument needles. I 'dunno if this is the best way, but it seemed right to define the zero-point from the main needle indocators? - Just a bit of soldering of the sencors wires, and the light LED's wiring, and I'll be ready for the first test tomorrow.. .... now if I could find a satifying way to make the indicar needles..? I'm leaning towards using the same technique as I use when etching PCB's.. Only with a 0,2mm copper plate?

.. and some more:

Okei..:music_whistling:

there is one major drawback with using converted rotary switches as rotary encoders.... .... they simply don't feel right. The mechanical resistance and clear click-in-groove feel is a bit on the rough side if you ask me. And the hassle of soldering and complete lack of a decent push-button function throws me off the idea of using them. And like you said, the CTS288 grey encoders are the same price, so... I have tested them both with Opencockpits IOCards and Leo Bodnars BU-series, and they work just fine as long as you don't turn them to fast. But the feel man, the feel... it's just Brrrrrrrrr

Some pics after a round on the belt-sander, and some stepper motor fixing:

I had to dump this idea. Simply because driving the 1/16 gearing from the "1" side with a servo (big or small) resultet in it not wanting to move effortlessly at all..! So instead I'm now going to drive the gears from the "16" side with small stepper motors. I chose to build this gauge not using my cnc, since I wanted to show that the whole stigma arround instrument building really is overrated. When you brake the seemingly complex mechanics down to each function, instruments are much like LEGO.. ... now all I have to do is figure out how to get it all connected and backlighted and looking good and... Aaaaaarg..! c";) Anyway, here's the gearing done.

Pitbuilding progress pics. Right Main Switch Panel 'wanna see some progress pics? I'll post descriptions later today.

.. maybe someone needs to flip over he's IPhone, and see where it's made..? LoL.. Nothing wrong with the products that are made in China.. Actually I have a sneeking suspicion that most of my gadgets are made there. And they work just fine.

- That is true,, I've flown the R44 Robinson, and it does have a direct control feeling. Vibrations and sentripetal forces are fed directly back into your hand. While the Sikorsky SH-3 or Super Puma or EC135 feels more like my setup does..! (The Sikorsky and SuperPuma I have only flown in Profesional simulators, The EC135 however I've had the pleasure of flying RL) The MI-2P however was different from all the above. I had the pleasure of flying while on a skydiving vacation in Hungary. And, allthough looking like it would be the least likely to be catergorized as one, it had the smoothest feel... And I might be just imagining this, but I remember thinking it felt like a hydraulic system. but not "detached" like the Super Puma? It was like a hydraulic system WITH some kind of feedback? Strange actually...? Because it looked like crap, and had the feeling of an angel.. - Again I agree..! However it is strange how the russian forums are full of people not giving in to having a "king of nothing" joystick. While US and Europeans don't seem to care as much? We have a lot to learn from the guys posting on the suhkoi.ru forums (To all others: Just skim through the HRCM threads, and be in awe of how these guys think out of the box!). I have learned so much just from looking at the pictures there, and picked up ideas like nowhere else..! For me it seems just wrong flying the A-10C with my Blackshark HOCAS.. When flying the A-10C, I use a modded combination of SunCom F15 split throttle and a Thrustmaster F-16 Stick that are reconnected through a BU0836X Joystick Card. And if I had time, I would build a HOTAS for my all-time favourite airplane of all times.. The dark and dirty overlord og ground pounding.. The fright and fear of all armoured crews and A-10 pilots locked in dogfight with it.. THE BELOVED SU-25..:thumbup:

Hmmm.. you might be onto something there mate..! It could be an interresting project, but the production time for a KA50 cyclic stick is quite high when it's handmade.. If I was to make one it would take me at least a week..! Even though I've got experience building them now..:music_whistling: .... making it damn expencive I guess..

And now, with the dampeners in place, I can feel a major improvement in the way the cyclic feels..! Now it actually seems like the stick is connected to more mechanics and hydraulics undeneath... I still need to make a cross-brace to stiffen the side walls, so they don't flex under the preassure of the roll axis dampeners. But that should be an easy job.. View from front. I made a new limit ring to decrease the movement of the cyclic a little more.. Now I have approximately 30 degrees movement.

Some pictures along the way to finishing the Cyclic setup: Naturally I am using hall effect sensors everywhere.. Maybe some of you guys noticed the "jerking" in the cyclic stick when I reased the Trim in the video (previous post)? Well I decided that I can not have this, so I needed some dampeners to mount on the X and Y axis. But all I had where these dampeners from a big RC monster truck? ... and they didn't have nearly enough dampening force. So I figured I'd open them up and see how they work. And to my surprise they actually work on the simple principle of a piston with small holes through it, alowing the oil to run from one side to the other. Slowing the piston movement down in the prosess! .. notice the three small holes? All I had to do was plug two of the holes, and that should give a noticable difference in the dampening force. Since the oil now is prohibited from running from one side to the other as free as before? After cleaning the dampener with running hot water, and then Acetone. I pugged the holes with epoxy putty. .. I refilled the oil into dampeners, and whattayaknow..! It works just perfect now.. So next is fabricating some attachment brackets for the dampeners to the cyclic gimbal. Something like this maybe..? We'll see tomorrow.

Keep us posted on the progress..!:thumbup:

Well watta'ya know..! They just seem to pop up everywhere these HOTAS thingies from Thrustmaster these days..!? LoL:lol:

WoW..! It's starting to really come together now.. Looking GOOD!

... So I finally got right then? Yiipyyy..! Thanx mate..:thumbup:

like this?

See..? One mans trash really is another mans gold..! Good job..! Thank you..! I did some final rework of the trigger mechanism today.. Here's a video of its basic functions:

Good Job mate..! I's so cool that you've found a "scavanging source" for those hard to come by, and sometimes even over expencive parts..!:thumbup: Just in one discarded, old, left outside to rot, photo copy macine I found 11 steppermotors, hundreds of different gears and belt and pullies. Two powersupplyes (12V and 24V), a standard LCD screen that works with my Arduino card and a bunch of different axles and bearings... It took me a couple of hours to break the whole thing down. But it was well worth the scavenging. I'm left with parts that I can use valuing above what I would ever even consider paying. AND the last owner was satified that he now had only two medium sized cardboard boxes to get rid off! Both of them light enough to lift, and small enough to fit in the trunk of he's car.... And this machine was considered to be worthless..? Just because it didn't fullfill it's primary purpose anymore? So I applaud any form of "scavanging" for two reasons. First of all it forces you to think outside the box.! You have to get an understanding of how the "junk" machine works, to know if there might parts in it you could use..? So weather you like it, or not, you're learning and that's good.! But at the same time as you figure out where there might be one of those illusive parts that you need, you see the different sollutions the engineers have used to solve everyday challenges that our machines do for us. And it's here you're bound to strike gold everytime..! There are some pretty smart men and women out there.. Secondly it's just the intelligent thing to to, if you ask me..! I mean, where is the sence in ordering, for instance, expencive stepper motors from ebay. And at the same time clean out your hobby room, throwing away three old inkjet printers to make room for your simulator project..? Not knowing that each one has two of the needed, AND all the gears you would have needed inside them..? And how many times do you think you have been guilty of doing so..!? It's this quriosity that drives me to always wanting to understand WHY it works. Not just accepting that it does, but obtaining a general understanding of how everything works, that has given me this elevated respect for russian engineers and the way they approach problems.! It's so different from the western way off designing and commity meetings and more drawings and then some lunch and MAYBE a working prototype after six years... Complex and always trying to fill more functions than it was ment to do. Compared to the russian way off building a series of prototypes untill you finally find yourselves adequatly satified with the end product.. And in every little part the KISS principle is evident.. Solving complex functions with simple (often non-electronic) strokes of genious..! It's just mindbogglingly beautifull..! And IT WORKS.! Just look at the trigger mechanism in the Balckshark.. It does away with the need for at least one onboard computer, and it will never need to reboot or get shot out my a lucky small arms hit.. Most of the time the parts look like crap compared to the western counterparts. But that is just us being used to our own way of thinking. The Balckshark is a fighting machine! It WILL get shot at, and it will be pushed beond it's pre-set flight envelope, to save it's pilot in a pinch. So why spend hundreds of workhours perfecting the surface of the cyclic stick handle, when the alternative is to producing 20 handles in the same amount of time.?.? As long as the set dimetions are correct, it's just smart thinking? Just from studying the western vs. eastern characteristics over the last 50 years in the miletary aero industry, I noticed that not only have the different eastern design burau's made maching models to the west. But since the first time we saw the MIG-29 series, it was quite evident that the path might be different from the west, but it was sure as H*LL paralell!! (and maybe even slightly ahead off us on many points):thumbup: Cred to you Hellfrog for crossing over to the green side (you'll get a cookie later)..! And the rest of you, go out to your closest landfill, and talk to the guys that work there..! They will most likely give you all the help you need if you ask them nicely..? So next time they pick up an old photocopier from the street, maybe they can set it aside for a week. So that you get to take it apart and geet your much needed parts before they crush it..! ..... I don't mean sound all "Green and Angry" guys. But it's a fact that since 5 years ago, I noticed a change in our local landfill site. And now It's actually a fitting site for my sunday walk..! I'm not kidding..! It looks more lake a park than it does a landfill..! And you can't complain with that..! hehe:music_whistling:

Pitbuilding update october 31st 2010 - Thre Trim Force Mecanics Video uploaded I had some time to do the first complete function test of the center pedestal with it's trim mechanics. And here is the first video featuring the Cyclic Stick! Before anyone makes a coment I should point out that the Cyclic Stick does not have a dampener on each axis, like the Pedals do! But I'll sure as H*LL be putting one in now..:thumbup: Now for uploading the Pedals video.. I'll be back to post it as soon as Youtube is done with it.. And while they do, I'll post some pictures of the pedal mechanics:

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: Your killing me here..! LMAO

Like Pitbldr so precisely stated... Just glad they helped.. c";) After all, we're starting to become quite numerous these last few years. Just imagine the combined liberary of information at our disposal if we share with eachother..? I'd say that we're happily obliged to share with eachother.. First of all because helping others gives you a kick-ass good feeling, but also because if we don't all this information is just .... wasted..?! (... don't ask me.. I'm just as surprised as you are.. I just started writing, and out came this whole "wiggle my pointing finger in your face" speach??? I'm really sorry..! )