Gadroc

Use the multimeter to measure voltage on the leads from the new power supply. If it measures negative then reverse the leads. Once you get it reading positive the one connected to the ground lead on your multi-meter is your ground. It really depends on specifics of how the controlling circuit is designed on the behavior of reversed power supply but it's usually a recipie for magic smoke.

Got back from visiting family today and ran some numbers. It would run about $225 for a fully assembled CMSP panel including EOS compatible circuit board to drive it. That number includes Honeywell NT series sealed, but non military spec switches. The 4 primary switches would be 1NT1-5 switches and the Jettison switch would be a 1NT1-1. These are non-locking switches as they are tremendously cheaper than the real locking switches that are used in the real thing. The rotary switch would be a Gray Hill (56D36-01-1-AJN) non mil-spec switch. I'm still looking for a decent pot to use for the brightness knob. Changing to locking toggles would increase cost by about $200. In order to use the circuit board you would need either and EOS Interface board (see here) or drive it direct using an RS-232 to Serial cable (option A, option B). Helios will be modified to support this board either direct via serial or over a full EOS bus. All further inquires on panels should move to PMs so we keep this forum on topic of building. My intention is not to start a panel making business.

I'm open to doing a small number. Send me a PM, are you interested in real switches or cheap switches?

Very cool and inventive!

Yes. Each of my panels will have an arduino compatible board which runs them.

Updated CMSP Ok I've redone the CMSP a little bit and did my first take at buttons, here are the build steps for it. First here are all the raw parts from the laser cutter. From the top left: LCD Holder (1/16th Black Acrylic) and circuit board stand offs Switch Plate (1/16th Black Acrylic) Reflector Plate (1/16th Black Acrylic) Lower Spacer (1/8th Black Acrylic) Upper Spacer (1/16th Black Acrylic) Facelplate (1/6th RowMark LaserMax Black/White) Step 1 - Mount LCD in holder Step 2 - Glue LCD Holder to Switchplate using lcd as a guide for alignment. Be sure to use acrylic glue and not super glue so you don't accidentally glue the LCD in place. Once you have tacked the corners remove the LCD and finish gluing along each edge. Step 3 - Glue Spacers onto reflector plate. Make sure to glue 1/8th inch spacer down first. Step 4 - Install LED holders in reflector plate and then mask off top of spacers and paint inside of reflector plate mirrored finish silver or chrome. Step 5 - Attach LCD, switches, pot and buttons to switch plate. Panel is designed to house 6mmx6mm tactile buttons with a 5mm height. Step 6 - Install button caps into faceplate and glue to top of reflector plate and spacers. Step 7 - Paint edges of faceplate black. End result looks like this (I have not painted the edges yet.) I don't have pictures of all the steps. I have a EOS circuit board designed to run it which will be uploading for fab here in the next few days. I will be posting all the dxf files along with bill of materials and circuit board. These are my second attempt at the buttons and I'm still not happy. I will be doing more next week.

I have a source for those type of switches. Be aware that a 8501K9 is an eaton switch not a Honeywell. They both implement the same mill spec, but honeywell's will be silver and Eatons will be a dull bronze/brown color. It might be my imagination but the Honeywells have a little bit nicer positive click when switching positions.

Did you ever find a way to "make these work"? I'm trying to think how I would mount switches under then. I'm thinking about retooling them and using lever/limit type switches underneath.

You rock!

I've thought about it but it comes with it's own sets of challenges, not least of which is it gets damn expensive. It will also require another power system which I'd like to avoid.

Hmm. Might get a couple of those and do some research if I can cut the on the laser. Would make good nvis filter for the entire panel backlight.

I just grabbed one of these over at Microcenter. It's 16x2 which means it won't look quite right as there will be no space between the 4 character groups, but anything bigger won't fit. The better option is some OSRAMs or Avago small LED array displays. I was looking at four of these avagos and then another four of the smaller variant for the bottom row of text. That's about $200 for the display alone then. I decided to spend that money on switches first. I may comeback and redo this panel after more is done. I will be interfacing with some of those avago's when I build my Altimeter as I'll use them instead of the mechanical digital altitude counters. You break the Skyrim habit yet ;)

Holy crap that looks awesome. Damn I can't wait to start laying down some of the panels next to the seat.

CMSP is underway I've got the CMSP panel all cut and fitting together. Here is a quick photo with the display fitted in a running a test message. I still have to cut out the button and flanges. Then I'll have to glue paint and engrave them. I should have them done tomorrow. I also need to rig up a backlight testing board while I design the circuit board to drive this one. The new controller board is awesome. I can now set speed and power for the engrave digitally so I can repeat the same settings easily. It also has much better origin control so I can make much more effective use of scrap material from previous cuts. I've very happy how the engrave and cut of the laser mark turned out on this panel, although in some spots the lines and lettering is "gunned up" but that's because I screwed in clean up.

I'm talking about group purchasing the high cost locking lever switches used on several panels. Mainly the CMPS and AHCP panels. These locking level switches are usually $70-$120 each when bought in small qty, but usually if you buy 10-24 at a time the cost can drop $20-$50 per switch. For example the Honeywell 12TW1-50M switch used on the CMSP panel is $83 when bought each, but if I can get enough people to have over 10 ordered at the same time they drop to $51 each.

I got the new controller set up and mostly calibrated now on the laser engraver. MUCH nicer but I still have to put it through it's paces for the CMSP panel I'm working on. I also finally got my key and access code to the workshop and have access to the shopbot so I'm working on the structure again as well. I'm going to change up from my earlier thread and switch to y2kiahs design and have an external skin. I'm already committing to a one aircraft set of panels might as well go all the way. Long live DCS A-10C :joystick:! I will be using my center panel design though for the EHSI/ADI. The caution panel shown in this thread is up for sale $125 + shipping PM me if you want it. Included is all of the laser cut pieces, stands offs. I can add LEDs for an additional $25, but you'll have to supply your own LED controller. This panel is width accurate but does not comply to DZUS spacing or panel length standards (it's 5.75 and it should be 6 or 5.625 inches for spec.). I will probably be doing limited runs of each panel as I complete them (5 or so each). I'm also considering doing group buys for the panel switches. Please let me know if you're interested.

Very nice.

Thank you very much for this. Those big black blotches in the distance are no more!

Thanks. I was looking that TW series spec sheet and it didn't have a 50 listed only the 5. I can account for the on-off-on inside Helios so no big deal there so which ever is cheaper will work for me.

You know what the difference is between the 50M vs the 5M?

Thanks for the link on the switch. I was looking at these Grayhill 56D36-01-1-AJN... much cheaper but has a 1/8" shaft instead of the 1/4". I had the part numbers for the Flat Tops, but probably going to start with much cheaper non-locking versions (Honeywell NT or LT series). The 11TW1-5M/12TW1-5M $91 a pop unless I can get a group order to get 10 or more then I can get them for $56. Are there any more panels that use them?

Hey Deadman. I'm laying out my CMSP panel and was wondering what is the distance between the center of the CMSP mode knob and the tip that points to the mode label. I need to get my back light window placed and text spaced appropriately. Do you know of any spec sheets which set standards for this? It also looks like in game this switch is a 36 degree throw, do you know if that is correct? Thanks for your help.

I think everything above the chassis only model comes with displays and computer.

Yep.

Before launching on one also think about how you will integrate it into the simulator (I'm assuming you're doing DCS A-10C or Black Shark since you posted here). DCS does not have full output of the radio displays available so you will likely have to deal with your game and your pit radio head not being synced. I have not looked at patch 10's LUA dumps yet to see if you can get at the actual 7 set displays yet. There is also the option of doing some simple OCR on regular monitor exports to "parse" the digits. If all else fails when I get to my radio panels I'll be implementing this in Helios.