swither Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 (edited) Hi everyone! Been following the community since the early Lock on days but never really posted! I've got a doctorate in Mechatronics engineering and i am a holder of a private pilot license. I figured i would put my skills and access to a whole range of prototyping machines to good use so I started working on my very own A-10C cockpit a couple of months ago. Haven't gotten very far yet, i've got a quite busy work life, but i figured it was time for me to share what i'm doing! This will be a short description with a bunch of pictures, please let me know if you're interested in specific details :) I started out by water jetting the main panel out of 5 mm thick sheet aircraft grade aluminium. I spray painted the panel with a primer and a gray acryllic color. Next I decided to laser cut / engrave a bunch of panels (arm panel, caution panel, CDU panel, etc) from acryllic. In order to do that i started out with spray painting the white acryllic black (so that the white color only will show up where it's been engraved). After a lot of work the panels turned out quite good. I spent a lot of time finding some nice locking toggle switches, which i finally found on ebay. I decided to buy lathed switch tops from LynxDK (http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=138416) which i'm really happy with. I'm in the process of mounting and wiring them up right now! Can recommend LynxDK to anyone looking for the right switch look! I also bought a landing gear switch from simparts.de (disappointed with the quality i must say).But i think i can modify it to improve it. I spent some time trying to find momentary buttons with the right click feel, and ended up with a long travel, high force automotive switch which feels great! I'm currently focusing on electronics. Just designed and ordered a PCB for the caution panel, waiting for it to arrive from china right now. While waiting i'm working on the design of the CDU PCB as well as mounting switches on the panels. As you can see there's a lot of things going on in parallel, but it's slowly moving forward! This post doesn't do justice to the work put in, so let me know what you want me to go more into details about :) Edited June 23, 2015 by swither /Daniel Heatblur Simulations
Devrim Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 Wow! Impressive. :) Great work! Intel i7-14700@5.6GHz | MSI RTX4080 SuperSuprimX | Corsair V. 64GB@6400MHz. | Samsung 1TB 990 PRO SSD (Win10Homex64) Samsung G5 32" + Samsung 18" + 2x8"TFT Displays | TM Warthog Stick w/AVA Base | VPC MongoosT-50CM3 Throttle | TM MFD Cougars | Logitech G13, G230, G510, PZ55 & Farming Sim Panel | TIR5 & M.Quest3 VR >>MY MODS<< | Discord: Devrim#1068
agrasyuk Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 Looking very good! what are those switches you used for CDU? Anton. My pit build thread . Simple and cheap UFC project
MacFevre Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 Very very nice! What did you use for your templates? Is water jetting a hobby of yours? ;) Buttons aren't toys! :smilewink: My new Version 2 Pit: MacFevre A-10C SimPit V2 My first pit thread: A-10C Simulator Pit "The TARDIS." Dzus Fastener tutorial, on the inexpensive side: DIY Dzus Fastener
JCook Posted June 23, 2015 Posted June 23, 2015 (edited) You're off to an impressive start. Can you tell us the model # of the CDU switches you are using and where you ordered them from? Thanks Edited June 23, 2015 by JCook
LynxDK Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 Looking really good Swither, and thank you for the nice Words :) looks like your going to use a monitor for the gauges, what size are u planning on using? Regards. LynxDK [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Instagram
swither Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 Looking very good! what are those switches you used for CDU? Thanks :) I'm using the following switches: http://uk.mouser.com/search/ProductDetail.aspx?ALPS/SKPFACA010/&qs=6EGMNY9ZYDSuDCJ%2F5nCmMQ%3D%3D /Daniel Heatblur Simulations
swither Posted June 24, 2015 Author Posted June 24, 2015 Looking really good Swither, and thank you for the nice Words :) looks like your going to use a monitor for the gauges, what size are u planning on using? Haven't picked a monitor for the gauges yet, focusing on the electronics i need to design right now. I might actually use the laser to cut and build servo controller instruments instead, we'll see :) /Daniel Heatblur Simulations
LynxDK Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 If you can make real gauges, that would definitely be the most Professional and best looking option :) Looking forward to see your Work :) Regards. LynxDK [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Instagram
agrasyuk Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Thanks for the reply. I bet those key switches really do feel nice and the extended flat surface will be really helpful to keep the switch cap feeling right when pressed. this looks like a terrific start. And IMO it is much further ahead then "haven't got very far yet". I'm sure you have quite significant time in drawing all those items. Anton. My pit build thread . Simple and cheap UFC project
Hansolo Posted June 25, 2015 Posted June 25, 2015 Looks really great Sir :thumbup: Like the aluminum MIP. It's going to be an awesome build. keep up the good work and lokking forward for more pictures :smilewink: cheers Hans 132nd Virtual Wing homepage & 132nd Virtual Wing YouTube channel My DCS-BIOS sketches & Cockpit Album
swither Posted July 6, 2015 Author Posted July 6, 2015 thanks for all the nice feedback :) Just got the circuit boards i designed for the caution panel from the manufacturer. They look great! The boards will basically hold all the LED panels and their controllers. I've gone with PWM controllers so that i can control the brightness of each LED individually. Will start assembling the board and testing it as soon as i have some spare time :) As you can see i had to order a minimum of 5 boards, so if anyone is interested i might sell a couple of them fairly cheap (with instructions). /Daniel Heatblur Simulations
7rooper Posted July 6, 2015 Posted July 6, 2015 One chip for each light of the panel!! How fancy My rig specs: Intel Core i7 4770 @3.4Ghz // Corsair 16GB DDR3 // MoBo Asus Z87K // HDD 1TB 7200RPM // eVGA Nvidia GTX 760GT 2GB DDR5 // LG 3D 47" 1920x1080 // Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS // Saitek Combat Pro Pedals // Thrustmaster MFD Cougar pack // PS3 Eye + FTNOIR
swither Posted July 6, 2015 Author Posted July 6, 2015 It's actually not one chip per led, the LED's have the same footprint as a DIL16 package though. I use TI TLC5940 16 channel driver chips (so 6 in total). :pilotfly: /Daniel Heatblur Simulations
agrasyuk Posted July 6, 2015 Posted July 6, 2015 Looks very serious. How much per board does add up to? Anton. My pit build thread . Simple and cheap UFC project
swither Posted September 1, 2015 Author Posted September 1, 2015 Finally got the time to finish up the electronics for the caution panel :) My plan is to connect all panels through ethernet and to use Power over ethernet to power them, that way i can easily turn them all on at the same time. I'm working on a server software for managing the connections! Also bought bought a transponder panel and an intercom panel on ebay which i will interface! My next plan is to look into the CDU or the CMS! /Daniel Heatblur Simulations
jazzymanserg Posted April 24, 2018 Posted April 24, 2018 It's actually not one chip per led, the LED's have the same footprint as a DIL16 package though. I use TI TLC5940 16 channel driver chips (so 6 in total). :pilotfly: Have somebody scheme of tlc5940 cascade installwith capacity?
Wayan Posted April 25, 2018 Posted April 25, 2018 What a nice work :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: I must admit, i like the switches used for the CDu and will try to use the for my UFC, but i ask myself the great question, how to illuminate them? For the CDU, I soldered legs to SMD LEDs to put them over the switch body, but this is a fragile solution.... Anybody got an idea? Swither, how are you gonna solve this? Greetings and keep on building! Wayan
Recommended Posts