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Snakedoc

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Everything posted by Snakedoc

  1. Timelapse of a functioning RWR replica build Parts used: 2.8in round LCD display w/ controller board DCS export 3D printed bezel & PBC holder Laser cut lens from 2mm acrylic - engraved & white filled
  2. Yeah I just put a resistor on the cathode. All the prints so far are done with my resin printer (I don’t have an FDM printer)
  3. I'm using regular 3mm led which you can find everywhere (I bought mine on aliexpress) They're plenty bright, in fact I've had to wire a resistor to them to reduce the brightness. Here's some picture of the "V.2" (in the video it was without any resistor). I've added a lip inside the Jay-el replica to eliminate the light bleed on the perimeter of the lenses, and I've also designed and build the master caution light/pushbutton it's hard to take a nice picture of led lights, the camera always pics up the hotspots but in real life you can't see it again, excuse the wiring mess but it's just a testing rig
  4. so after a long time I found out why in my case it "stopped" locking targets on the HAD. It has to do with the Mark point DED page. If I have it open, even with the HAD as SOI using TMS up doesn't have any effect on locking HAD targets. If I get out of the Mark point page it works as intended. Wether this is a bug or feature I'm not sure
  5. Thanks man I have printed some of the radio knobs already, will post pictures soon you can find the 3D model of the knobs here: https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1_cFrojEq1pHJU_naOHi58j7Dr8RwRRJu I only modified them to have a 6mm diameter hole to accept the std rotaries shaft I discarded the above method of using individual LED lights to backlit the panels, I’m working on a method using a led strip which is easier and faster (will update here soon). I don’t glue the lightplate to the backplate, they’re just screwed together
  6. Still working on finalizing the design on the cockpit panels... Also, the first CNC shop I hired to cut the tub went on radio silence after 2 months of back and forth I've contacted a second shop and waiting on their reply In the meanwhile I've been working on some 3D objects like radio & panel knobs, annunciator lights, korry pushbuttons etc and I've also redesigned the DZUS screw caps I've attached the .stl file here in case anyone wants to print them ;D It's designed to fit an M4 bolt DZUS v3 M4(TVP).stl sneak peak of the other 3d objects PS: I may have purchased a fiber laser for better engraving quality
  7. Hi, as per title, turning down completely the console brigtness knob doesn't turnoff the panel backlighting but just dims it. Not sure if it's intended or not (or if I'm doing something wrong) but the other two knobs (instr. panel & ded) work fine. track attached F16 backlight.trk
  8. Thank you sir! I buy my acrylic panels here: https://kunststofplatenshop.nl/ they have different branches of the same shop in many European countries
  9. So a lot has happened in the last few weeks, I've been trying new designs, materials, led placements etc to find the best compromise in order to make the best possible panel reproduction. My original idea of 2mm/backplate (black) plus 6mm/lightplate (3mm matt/clear + 3mm opaque white) didn't quite work as I would have liked because of two issues: - the backplate was too thin, and although more realistic looking to the real one it didn't offer enough strength to remain straight and level, even the slightest pressure would cause it to warp and once mounted to the lightplate it would lead to a lot of light bleed from the gaps on its sides. So a decision to go for a 3mm thick plate was made (2mm plate, warped) - the lightplate is made by two halves, bottom transparent semi-gloss and top a opaque white. The bottom part was meant to diffuse the led lights but it just wouldn't do it enough and to avoid hotspots I had to space the led quite close to each other (and way too many led were needed for a single panel). The top part was opaque white and although it offered a good light transmission it was actually too much and the text was super bright. Also, with no backlight on the text wasn't exactly white instead it was transparent white, so it didn't look really nice. I decided to use the opaque white as the bottom half to diffuse the light and to use a 3mm solid white panel as the top half. (3mm plate, too many leds) A lot of testing was also done to find the best engraving setting to avoid text deformation, as you can see below I made many passes with various speeds & power setting. I found that speed 160mm/s & power 18% worked well for my setup. You can also see the difference between the "opaque white" and "solid white" panels (bottom left & right) (5 coats of black paint was used, then engraved) The engraving now is much better and the text is more accurate to the digital version, I've took a picture of a real aircraft panel (737-8) and you can see that the effect is almost the same. I maxed out my axis & laser resolution (1000dpi) so I can't get any more from it, but I'm happy with the results. And finally some pictures of the evolution of the designs, enjoy! (old at the top, new at the bottom.. ignore the many "crosses" on the top panel they were just more tests) (3mm backplate. I'm using matt-clear acrylic to diffuse light from the bottom, painted black & wrapped on the exposed areas) (old at the top, new at the bottom; same led full brightness but the bottom one has more diffusion and even backlight) I've been also messing with various Arduino boards and successfully connected them to the switches & DCS. Next I will be continuing to produce the rest of the cockpit panels and later coding the Arduino boards. I'm working on a video to explain the updated process, stay tuned PS: if you want to see more pictures and some short videos check out my IG I'll be posting more stuff there as well
  10. I'm using MS33558 as font, it's the standard used in most US military cockpits In the videos I've made I talk about the design, cutting & engraving process. Not sure if you've seen it but here they are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO0TyCiiIzQ&t=155s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg3Lipbi4wo&t=51s If you've got any questions feel free to ask
  11. Thanks Most of my design is based off the initial work of the warthog project and other free sources of information available online, so it’s only fair that the design will be free it’s a way for me to thank the community. Some “artistic license” was used to come up with solutions for text style, switch placements, etc so although the mounting pattern & most of the dimensions are IAW MS25212, the rest of the design follows my ideas & interpretations (e.g. thickness). They’re not intended to be an exact 1:1 copy of the real ones, but a close enough replica. Here’s a little preview of the last panel I’ve done. Quite happy about this one
  12. they're included. Haven't made my mind up yet but if I'm satisfied with the final product I might be making my finished panels available for purchase in the future but that's a long way ahead. I will however release my designs for sure for free so that anyone can have a go at it. Once I'm happy with the final version and done with all the panels, I'll upload them
  13. Second video is up Feel free to comment, share, subscribe as you like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg3Lipbi4wo
  14. I'm sorry I've missed your previous message. Thanks for the nice comments appreciate it! Yes the Invictus plans come with the .stl files to 3D print all the required pieces for the cockpit. It's the same parts which they sell separately on their web store. Of course they include .dxf .stp .pdf for building the cockpit tub (basically a skeleton of the pit). The only thing that don't include is the ejection seat plans which is a shame, but they've said they're working on it and they'll be releasing them separately in the future I've printed pretty much all the pieces faces down so I've had to use very minimal support, I also had to split some of the pieces in two in order to fit them on my work plate. Feel free to ask any questions if you like
  15. Video is up Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO0TyCiiIzQ
  16. So a lot has happened in the last few days. I received the acrylic panels and after dialling in the laser settings I've started to cut & engrave my panels The tools - Flux Beamo - 30w Co2 Laser cutter l I was afraid that my 30w co2 laser wouldn't be strong enough to cut acrylic, mainly due to the fact that lots of online feedbacks point towards 40w or 50w to cut acrylic. Well, I am pleased to say that 30w is plenty. I'm using 36% of power and a speed of 4mm/s and it cuts through 3mm acrylic (also transparent) like a butter. I'm sure it will cut even through thicker acrylic (there's a preset for 5mm but haven't tried it as I don't have 5mm panels atm) The panels First attempt at engraving... good but not great, as you can see the resolution of the engraved text wasn't very sharp and some black dots remained on the text areas. Second attempt was much better. This time I increased the engraving resolution to 500dpi and used infill text & shapes rather than a bitmap image of the text. Unfortunately I had used only 1 coat of black paint so I was getting some light bleeding from underneath the black areas. I fixed this with the next step. As I was happy with the technique I went ahead and cut more panels, here they are ready for painting. I used 1 coat of grey primer followed by 2 coats of matt black paint. And here are my first 3 finished panels. With the 3 coats of paint the finish is perfect and there's no light bleed even with a very bright led light. I've put together a video explaining the process, just need to finish editing it and then I'll post a link to it here. Next I will continue to design, cut & engrave the rest of the panels to complete all the side consoles & MIP. I have also ordered a bunch of switches, rotaries, buttons, etc.. so I will also begin installing those & wiring them next Feel free to ask any questions and comment as you like PS: I've attached to my signature the link to my IG if you want to follow me there for more updates My Instagram - The Viper Project
  17. The tools I am using my resin 3D printer to make the parts which will complement the simpit, like the engine side panel, MISC panel, compass holder, etc. This stl files were included in the plans so I just send them into the slicer and printed them on my Saturn 3 12k I had never had a 3D printer before so it took some trial and error but pretty happy with the results. They aren't perfect and some came out with some small imperfections but after a bit of filling and sanding and a coat of primer the end result looks quite good in my opinion. Also printed some DZUS caps which I will put on the bolts I will use to screw in the panels so it looks a bit more like the real aircraft
  18. Hi everyone and welcome to my simpit progress report “The Viper Project" It all started after I got some Cubesims MFD for my home setup and then it all clicked in my head, so I started planning a build for an F16 simpit. I am recreating an F16CM replica cockpit which I will be using with DCS My intention is to recreate a medium/high fidelity pit while trying to keep the costs "contained" as my goal is to have all the hardware needed to have a full scale pit but I can't push myself to go all out and purchase real-life parts such as switches, panels, etc. I have already seen some amazing builds here on the forum which I admire so very much and I hope to build something that if comes out half as good I'd be very pleased For this reason, I will be using a design technique that I've seen first time a few years ago on YT watching a superb A10C self-build pit. I have to give credits to the creator because first his work is awesome and second it uploaded a step-by-step guide which helped me a lot in understanding how to build my own pit and from which I took a lot of inspiration. So to the creator on the warthog project (not sure if he's also here on the forum): a BIG THANK YOU! YOU'RE AWSOME https://thewarthogproject.com The plans I recently acquired some F16 plans from Invicus Cockpit System to build a 1:1 scale cockpit tub & consoles. I've sent the plans to a CNC cutting service to cut out all the necessary pieces, once the process is complete I will begin the assembly. This is being made from 18mm & 12mm MDF sheets. The panels The panels are 100% designed by me using CorelDraw (I've tried other softwares but I always seem to go back to CorelDraw so I'll stick with that). In a similar fashion to the warthog project, they are designed to be a 3-layer setup using laser-cut 3mm & 2mm acrylic PMMA sheets. The dimensions & mounting holes are 100% realistic, so they will fit a DZUS rail mounting system (I am not planning to use real DZUS rails but I will screw them directly to the MDF panel...) 1. The back plate will be a 2mm black acrylic where all the switches, rotaries and leds will be mounted to. 2. A middle "diffuser" 3mm opaque white acrylic will serve the funcion to hide the mounting nuts and diffuse the led lights. 3. A final front plate will be 3mm clear white acrylic which will be first painted black and then engraved with text so the backlight will only shine thought the engraved areas. The total thickness of the panel will not be 100% realistic but thats a compromise I have to take in order to use acrylic sheets vs other more expensive materials. Another compromise is the hole sizes for mounting electronics & screws, they are metric sizes to accomodate the type of switches I will be using (12mm/7mm/9.5mm etc) and the M4 screws I'm using to secure them Once I am done with the manufacturing of all the panels I will be releasing all the .dxf files for free so anyone can have a go and make these or take them as a starting point for their own design. The MFDs I am already in possession of 2xTM MFDs w/cubesim LCD screens. They work great and they've improved the immersion already so much! I will be using them in the pit The flight controls I have a TM warthog HOTAS setup. I will probably upgrade later to a FSSB base and still need to figure out how to make a realistic throttle (probably will go for a TM F16 thrust which I will then modify to extend the arm) The electronics I will be using standard 2 position/3 positions etc switches, encoders, rotaries etc to replicate all the functions of the panels. To keep the costs contained I am not planning to use realistic Honeywell switches. Everything will be wired to have a functional backlight dimmer in the cockpit and all the switches will work with various arduino boards which I will then program to interface with the PC (and mainly DCS) The visuals I will begin by using a regular PC monitor, most likely a large 55' TV later. I would like to build a wide angle projector system but that's for much later. So that's it for know, I will finish by attaching some pictures of my initial designs. Feel free to comment and bash me if I've done something wrong, but not too harsh please (click to enlarge)
  19. Really amazing work! Well done! I am building also an F16 pit using a very similar technique to yours! I am still at the early stages, will do a dedicated post in a bit but for now I just wanted to admire your work!!
  20. Experiencing the same issue with the F16. A10C II & F/A-18 fine for what I've seen. Exporting 2x MFDs to separate screens (cubesim) @BIGNEWY any chance you can have a look into this?
  21. personally I'm getting very good results with 2.9 I've only played around it tonight for a couple of hours. Before running any tests after the update I've run a slow repair and deleted my saved games folder to start "fresh". I then re-added my input folder to get back all my bindings. - Loading times: much much faster than before. Both VR & flat screen. Great! - Flat screen: Syria F16 free flight mission. All graphics maxed out (civ traffic off, motion blur off, depth of field off). MSAA 4x: 90fps. DLAA: 100fps DLSS quality: 110fps - VR: HP REVERB. same mission as above. Graphics as above with the following differences: shadows medium, terrain obj shadows flat only, grass about 1/2. DLSS quality: 55fps I've played the first mission of the new campaign FIWOS in VR with the settings as above and never went below 55fps. Absolutely fantastic experience. Had never experienced VR before like this, might even bump up the pixel density to see if I can sharpen up even more the already sharp cockpit letterings & panel writings. Well done ED! *edit: when using DLAA and DLSS I'm getting some ghosting around the moving text on MFD/DDI/RWR/etc screens and also on the TGP image when moving it around. It's minor but its noticeable. It's definitely a worthy tradeoff in exchange with the substantial bump in fps
  22. check this one from GP sim, should be out soon
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