AurelTristen

Thanks! This is a huge step forward at least. I searched US Ebay with a lot of the terms in the title of this listing, but didn't find anything. A bank of 5 of these would be 90% there. I'm looking at it and wondering how it works, mechanically. I don't see hardware that would release the other switches, but maybe it's built into the back end of that metal plate.

Would anyone have an idea what kind of switch this is? It's unique in that it turns when selected/depressed, and releases all other buttons when pressed. It's switch '2' in this image. I suspect that because the banks of switches interact with each other, that they are a unique part. It's also possible that they are held back/released electronically, but I'm more inclined to suggest they work mechanically, like the controls to a tape player. I'm not above designing and printing my own hardware, but I just know that I'm going to overcomplicate the design. This is my meager progress so far. The catching latch will be linked across all buttons, with a spring on the left side to retain it. My thinking is that when a button is pressed down, it will push the catching latch back, freeing any 'locked down' buttons before snapping back to capture the one being pressed. A simple push button would be mounted below. I haven't started on the mechanism to cause it to rotate, but I'm thinking some kind of corkscrew like cut into the button shaft. Any other leads on unique switches or buttons for the Tomcat would be appreciated. I'm currently looking through the huge archive of options on https://www.allelectronics.com/ (as the site has been recommended here before). My goal is to build two of the panels I interact with the most, being the pilot's mode panel and the RIO's radar control panel.

I've made my first cut on acrylic! As expected, it didn't go well. I'm anticipating a whole lot of failure before I end up with a result I'm happy with, so this was no surprise. Firstly, the acrylic I bought from Amazon casts a warm hue to any light that passes through it. Secondly, it has the appearance of dull white, almost translucent, so lettering doesn't stand out the way it does on real panels when unlit. I'll stick with this scrap for practice, but I'm going to have to find my materials elsewhere. I've seen quite a few options thrown around on this forum, but I wanted to see if I could stick with the ol' trusty Amazon. Guess not! I ordered a semi-translucent white, at 12x12 and gave it two coats of black spray paint. Turns out I was out of flat black, so I used a gloss black I had around. Two coats isn't nearly enough. I can see light coming through all over. I'm also getting a buildup of acrylic around the edge of the cut. Not yet sure if that is from using too low or too high of a speed, too deep of a cut, or just the quality of my bit. Mind you, I'm using a super cheap set from Harbor Freight meant for a dremel. At this point I can say with some confidence that the X-Carve will do the job with the right software. Easel is almost useless, so prepare to invest in something else. I'd imagine someone who knew what they were doing would be cutting panels by now without much issue though. Luckily, I'm quite comfortable cutting wood right now, so I don't feel like a complete failure. I've been cutting logos and things nearly every day, and am currently trying to learn MeshCAM. I've yet to cut anything that couldn't be cut on the smaller version though, so if anyone is considering buying one for this kind of thing, you're probably safe to go with the small one.

When you prepare to begin your cut, you move the bit to 'zero' or home manually. I move it down in Z at 0.01 inch increments until it physically touches the part. If you need sub-mm accuracy, you'll have to 'level' your waste board, and do a lot more calibrating, but mine is flat enough to do tiny details without much issue (until recently anyway). Your Z tolerance will be off by whatever imperfections exist in your material, maker-bars and the waste board. In my case, it is unnoticeable.

I was supposed to pick up some acrylic to do some test cuts yesterday, but haven't yet. Instead, I did a test cutting text with the same bit. Something has changed, because it started adding a bit of a hook to the tops of letters. Obviously, this little glitch would be unacceptable when cutting a panel that would be covered in text, and stared at for years to come. I'd just keep seeing that little glitch and slowly going mad. Will have to sort that out soon. I've read the same about acrylic. It'll just take some trial and error (and good note taking) to find the right settings.

Yeah, I was a bit worried about snapping a belt, but at least that would be the cheapest possible part to break. I've just found out that Home Depot sells acrylic in 12x12 chunks, so I'm going to pick some up today.

Just a quick update. I've solved the accuracy issues which prevented me from cutting a nice round circle. In order to test this, I did this tiny little cut with a 0.65mm bit. Took 11 minutes, but it looks great! A note about accuracy: In my case, I needed to tighten and re-tighten the belts. They say the belts should be 'guitar string' tight, but that was kinda hard for me to figure considering the belts are nothing like a guitar string. I also needed to put some WD40 on the ACME screw. Once I tightened down the V wheels enough, I was getting some terrible sounds on the Z axis, but like magic, some WD40 fixed it. Now that I've done this cut, I'm confident the machine will be able to do panel text. The hard part is going to be selecting the correct bit. The text on most military machines seems to be a smooth U groove, cut in one go/pass. I've picked up a load of tiny bits from Harbor Freight for practically nothing, so I'll have to hunt down just the right one for this job.

I visited the woodworking store today and picked up more bits. I also bought the cheapest wood I could find (Poplar) to run more tests on. Here is nearly everything I've cut so far. I'm already getting sick of the free software. It makes the basic steps super easy, but lacks any tools to help me calibrate the machine. If everything was working perfectly, I could imagine cutting panels with this software, as you can load files created from whatever software package you want. But I'm going to have to find something more advanced in order to get this thing cutting accurately. One thing that would help is if the machine would slow down when coming up on a turn, and not move insanely fast between cuts. A lot of that might be a software problem to be solved. Final Product after some sanding:

I do! But not when they're being worked on. Was fixing a broken stock. Those cases are empty, don't worry. Wouldn't keep a whole arsenal in the garage. I was actually curious if anyone was going to notice/identify that. :)

Holy crap. It actually works.:megalol: There were quite a few moments when I thought 'this is probably going to mess things up, but I won't know until I'm done.' Overall, I'm just thrilled that this thing works, and I'm looking forward to doing a lot of cutting. I'll be trying to pay the thing off by making custom wooden signs and closing gifts for the real estate agents I work for, as well as cockpit related things should people want them. I've got a lot of things to learn though, but this is my new 'off the computer' hobby.

So far I'm going to start out with the free Easel software. I have a little bit of experience with more advanced G code software, but I want to keep things simple while I'm figuring out the hardware. The packages arrived on time yesterday and I got started right away. Started at 5pm and quit at 1am. I'm long-winded and heavy with the photos, so I've wrapped all that stuff in a spoiler tag.

Cool. I'm waiting on delivery, so I'll update when it arrives. I'd rate myself as slightly above average when it comes to building things, electronics or otherwise, so most of the people on this forum are far beyond my skill level. This is probably good though, because I'll be sure to make and document the maximum number of mistakes!

I just picked up the 1000x1000mm model of the X-Carve and was wondering if any of you here use one of these machines? I'm really excited to get to work with it, as I've been debating on picking up a 3D Printer, laser cutter or CNC router for a long time. I'm getting it to do some things for my small business, but making cockpit parts was a motivating factor too. If you use one, could you share some of your experiences with it in relation to cockpit building? I know that it can cut and engrave various plastics, so I figure making panels would be right up this thing's alley. A few months back I made a front panel cover for a monitor, based off of the A-10, but it didn't work out. I put quite a few hours into it and still ended up with something I wasn't at all proud of, so I'm hoping this machine will get me back on the horse. Please share pictures of your work if you'd like. Specific Questions: If you live in the US, where do you get your materials? Were you happy with the precision of your machine for making cockpit parts? Text turn out ok? What bits did you end up using? I'll be sure to share my experiences as I go, especially if this isn't a common machine for this kind of job. No matter what, it'll make better cuts than I can with a jig saw.

This is fantastic news! At that price point, this could be big. I was looking into head tracking for a game I'm working on, and ran into the TrackIR controversy. Nobody has built a plugin for my engine because you'd have to sign a NDA just to use it. Perhaps I missed it in the opening post, but you're using Opentrack or your own open source software? I too would like to know the resolution of the camera, as well as if we can use multiple cameras. At that price point, having two of them would solve a lot of occlusion problems I run into.

Oh wow, that upholstery nail is cockpit greeble gold! I've got to remember that. Has anyone by chance created a PDF of just the seat (or is there one like it out there)? I really like how easy it looks to build, comparatively of course. Also, thanks to Psyrixx, I've just discovered wood transfer paper. That's a game changer for those of us without CNC access!