Building an Accelerometer - a Photo Essay

[Warhog]

i don't see anything that much wrong with it either. the only thing is engraved letters come out not as white and the contrast of resulting panel is low

And neither do I. Please don't take my comments about using painted acrylic as a criticism of anyone's work. I was just wanting to illustrate that engraving plastic is preferred for several reasons that have already been mentioned.

 

individual text is near invisible when behind filter which makes for perfect annunicators i think .

Exactly what I was wanting to show. It is a great effect.:)

 

to make things uniform i cut the outline first, spray edges and the entire face with MM flat black (for the life of me i cannot distinguish that shade black from the interior one you mentioned) and then engrave. also takes care of the glossy sheen of the material.

It just amazes me that we come up with so many different ways to achieve the same result. Anton, thats just brilliant. I had never thought to do that. I love it..:thumbup:

 

Question though...how do you hold your work down when you cut the backside for the backlighting? I use double sided tape and that would yank the paint off the front of the panel.

[agrasyuk]

since i'm working with laser and not rotary tool i don't need to hold anything down. if i had to hold a painted surface i'd use model masking tape on your regular double-sided tape (as modeler yourself i'm sure you aware of 3 day+ curing time before masking). idealy i'd somehow rework the process where top paint and engrave is the last operation preformed.

but there are sure many ways a cat can be skinned :)

 

 

 

 

 

since we discussing panel building techniques i'll share my latest attempt at unusual panel - AN/ARC-210 . it is special in a way it has buttons that would be located on top of the mounting rails and generally very dense control placement. to overcome i came up with using idea of PCB for a backplate (will be laminated to alum sheet later for strength) and SMT tactile buttons. tried SMT Leds for backlight but they were to dim so i "SMT'ed" the ordinary 3mm ones beaming sideways into 6mm acryl lightplate (painted white on the back), managed to cram 12 of them and still keep things single layer without bypasses.

 

3.5 LCD is just the right thickness to be mounted behind green acryl filter and jammed behond with the PCB (opening to fish the wires through is still to be cut)

 

 

showing front and back of the lightplates. face plate will be attached with glue

 

 

 

still need to make and paint all the buttons, i will be using same ones as CDU's line select keys plus couple special ones.

it does light up quite good but i'm not 100% happy with light coverage, will be reshuffling the LEDS a bit and perhaps adding 4 more. and i still didn't find a good way to cut PCBs consistently precice, having a router would be so much better for this.

 

ADD:

adding another pic, its hard to hold the cellphone steady.

camera intensifies that the lightitng is not very even,

(obviously still missing some of the required markings. )

Edited November 19, 2015 by agrasyuk

[LynxDK]

Question though...how do you hold your work down when you cut the backside for the backlighting? I use double sided tape and that would yank the paint off the front of the panel.

 

I do it that way too, and just use double sided tape as you mention, directly on the paint, if the paint get the time to harden, i have never seen it peel off... of course that would depend on the paint :) and also the tape i guess.

[Warhog]

Anton, that is most impressive. Where did the knobs come from. Did you make those?

 

As for PCB's, after some major issues I had, I finally figured out how to make them so they present with almost zero problems. The solution was to remove as much copper as possible. See pic below. By removing that much copper, my boards no longer had shorts from tiny bits of copper and no longer would I get overlap when soldering. It works really well. I was so happy to be able to have confidence in my PCB's. Give it a try. It easy to do as I just do several .005" offsets from the original trace outline and engrave along those lines as well. Takes longer but definitely worth it..:)

 

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/588/23077153645_5d7b6d7068_b.jpg' alt='23077153645_5d7b6d7068_b.jpg'>IMG_0752 by John Wall, on Flickr[/img]

[agrasyuk]

set of knobs came from DM quite some time ago.

 

as far as PCB it comes out very good as far as copper leftovers, yet to see a short anywhere. the etch tank i use heated by incandescent bulbs and its easy to spot any issues. i will however use your idea to widen the gaps.

what i still didn't figure out is clean cutting. that FR4 eats non-carbide blades of my scroll saw, tin snips worked good for the OSRAM display PCB in CMSP but useless for stuff longer then few inches. score and snap method does not produce clean enough edge to my taste . i will send the edges of the final board on dad's belt sander, but that fiberglass dust doesn't quite excite me.

 

ADD:

I have my panels done this way too but John is right. I screwed up many when laser engraving due mostly to the paint not being entirely even across the surface giving me white and gray lettering where the paint was thicker. Besides, fresh paint is a magnet to small particles and will ruin your panel appearance in a level not tolerable for many. In your photo is noticeable a thread or a paint clot in the lower left corner of the panel.

And other problems is that after some use we'll have scratched and fade out panels..

Definitively not a for a commercial end user product

 

Sorry, missed your message. for consistent lettering increase the power to dig a bit deeper into the plastic, when focus is good paint does need very little power to get burned off. as i said achieving good layer of paint is untrivial, all kinds of dust are possible in workshop. but unless a big gob felt down into paint I don't see much trouble - it is still smoother then any of the real panels. while they maybe coming out sparkly new from the factory all real panels in my small collection sport quite a plethora of dings and nicks.

with that yes, i do agree that using engraving material is much preferred.

Edited November 19, 2015 by agrasyuk

[doveman]

Peter, I made everything but the motor and the Easy Driver board. The case is made from .06" thick styrene plastic sheet. I have been trying to push people towards using this white styrene plastic for some of the cockpit components. The model railroad guys use this stuff for everything they build. Its basically a staple for model builders. But its most celebrated quality is the ease in which you can make nice looking stuff with a minimum selection of hand tools.

 

I use my CNC mill to cut it because it's easier on my hands which now have some major arthritis in them. But most people use a sharp hobby knife, a steel rule and digital calipers to measure cut lines. Oh yes, and a supply of model glue. Tamiya has a great plastic cement and thats what I use.

 

This is the product: http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/

 

I believe its available world wide.:thumbup:

 

To show you what it can be used for I offer the following:

 

The backing for the panel is .06" styrene just thrown together quick and dirty since its the back. The three switch levers (red, grey and green) are made from three layers of .06" thick styrene. They are glued together, wait a couple of hours and then cut them out. So one sheet of 0.06" styrene can offer many possibilities.

 

Very inspirational work, thanks for the ideas. For those of us without many tools or CNCs, this looks like a great material to work with.

 

Did you just glue the black fascia onto the back box and leave the back open for access or have you screwed the fascia on? If so, how did you manage that?

[7rooper]

Can I ask a question Ztrooper?

 

What are you using as your panel fascia, are u using the black premade stuff with the white background? It's only 0.6mm is that the stuff.? I take it you are using air assist/blower to remove the shit before it settles.

 

No. I used 3mm white acrylic painted black as the top lightplate, 3mm white acrilic as the middle plate and 2mm black acrylic as the backplate.

[Hansolo]

Once I glue it all together Hans, you would be hard pressed to break anything without the use of a hammer or similar type tool. But it also depends on what you are building and how you design it structurally. I guess its all in getting to know what the limits of this material are.

 

Another point I failed to mention is that I frequently drill and tap this material so I can eliminate the need for backing nuts. In those situations I always under drill the hole before I tap it. The threads are gripped much better that way. Just try and pull a machine screw out after doing that...impossible:smilewink:.

 

I would not use anything thinner than.06". If I need it a bit stronger I will double up, sandwiching two pieces together with glue.

 

The other thing I try and always keep in mind is that I'm not taking this to war so it doesn't require the degree of strength we see in most real parts.

 

I offer this as an alternative to other more difficult to fabricate materials. It just makes it more fun this way.

 

Many thanks for the reply John. Much appreciated. Yes I guess a lot of work has gone into the structual design and as far a I can see on the fire pull handles it consist of a lot of small pieces. Once glued together I can appriate the rudgeness :thumbup: Eventually when I remake my panel I will try and incorporate some of this design in order to get it as sturdy as possible. My 2.5 year old boy does have a habit of wanting to climb on the panels :lol:

 

Again many thanks for the reply and explanation :thumbup:

 

Cheers

Hans

[Warhog]

Very inspirational work, thanks for the ideas. For those of us without many tools or CNCs, this looks like a great material to work with.

Did you just glue the black fascia onto the back box and leave the back open for access or have you screwed the fascia on? If so, how did you manage that?

 

Thank you Doveman. The front panel is made up of three components, the engraving plastic (Front) and 2 sheets of acrylic behind it. The white box is attached to the back piece of acrylic. with hot melt glue. Boy, that stuff holds like .... I also use Super glue. Both work well. Anyways, yes the back part of the box it is screwed on as seen below... (sorry but I removed the screws for the pic but the holes are still there.):doh:

 

 

This is mostly to keep all the wiring out of sight and clean looking. But it also serves to reflect and soften the backlighting.

This is before I glued it into place. Its the very last thing I do because working on the internal wiring is a "bear" with those sidewalls in the way.

 

 

And when I have more complicated panels I tend to leave the wiring inside and install the MCU on the outside so I have easy access for reprogramming or whatever.

 

 

And one last point, I add a number of 1/8" diameter holes on the sides for air flow. It does get rather warm in there but not to the point of causing problems. I have had it run for 12 hours just to be sure.

[bnepethomas]

material dedicated to engraving will obviously be better. but if white acrylic is prepared and painted properly (not a trivial task), i don't see anything that much wrong with it either. the only thing is engraved letters come out not as white and the contrast of resulting panel is low - not at all problem when panel is lit. but all in all i don't see why use it unless in some special situations where low contrast can be used to advantage - individual text is near invisible when behind filter which makes for perfect annunicators i think .

 

 

 

 

panel itself is painted acrylic

 

 

 

 

BTW, judging by the after-smell lasermax material is actually a painted styrene sheet.

 

 

 

 

to make things uniform i cut the outline first, spray edges and the entire face with MM flat black (for the life of me i cannot distinguish that shade black from the interior one you mentioned) and then engrave. also takes care of the glossy sheen of the material.

Hi Guys

 

Speaking of indicators, what materials are people using for indicator filters?

 

ta

 

Peter

[Warhog]

Hi Peter

 

Not sure what you mean...as in creating color for the indicator? ... like using green LEDs or Red...? or colored acrylic?

 

Are there specific indicators your interested in? The reason I ask is that I use several different techniques depending on...

 

John

[agrasyuk]

I use transparent colored acrylic. The LEDs in picture are green as well though.

[bnepethomas]

Hi Peter

 

Not sure what you mean...as in creating color for the indicator? ... like using green LEDs or Red...? or colored acrylic?

 

Are there specific indicators your interested in? The reason I ask is that I use several different techniques depending on...

 

John

 

Hi John

 

Its more about at the front of the indicator,so the text only appears when it is backlit, something you have on the dash of the car.

 

cheers

 

PT

[doveman]

Thank you Doveman. The front panel is made up of three components, the engraving plastic (Front) and 2 sheets of acrylic behind it. The white box is attached to the back piece of acrylic. with hot melt glue. Boy, that stuff holds like .... I also use Super glue. Both work well. Anyways, yes the back part of the box it is screwed on as seen below... (sorry but I removed the screws for the pic but the holes are still there.):doh

 

Thanks for the extra pics Warhog, they show very nicely what you've done and will be very useful to refer to when I try and knock something up :thumbup:

[Hansolo]

476th vFG Podcast episode 11

 

Hi Warhog

 

Just listened to the 476th vFG Podcast episode 11 (http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2736846&postcount=193) with you and Ian.

 

A truly inspirering episode if I may say so. I surely hope it will inspire a lot more people to try out making their own panels and setting it up with with Ian's DCS-BIOS.

 

Looking much forward to seeing more awesome stuff from your side. Thank you very much for taking the time to participate in the podcast and give us a little insight.

 

Cheers

Hans

[Warhog]

Hi Warhog

 

Just listened to the 476th vFG Podcast episode 11 (http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2736846&postcount=193) with you and Ian.

 

A truly inspirering episode if I may say so. I surely hope it will inspire a lot more people to try out making their own panels and setting it up with with Ian's DCS-BIOS.

 

Looking much forward to seeing more awesome stuff from your side. Thank you very much for taking the time to participate in the podcast and give us a little insight.

 

Cheers

Hans

 

Thank you Hans. Your comments are most appreciated.

 

Both Ian (Jan) and myself really enjoyed doing it. I was just a little apprehensive at first, having never been interviewed before but Jan was a real pro at this. It also helps that Dojo is an excellent host and he puts you at ease very quickly. He did an excellent job at leading us through the whole event.

 

I do hope it will get more people interested in cockpit building, even if it's just a small panel or two. Its such a great hobby and the people you meet here on this forum are absolutely fantastic.

[Hansolo]

Hi John,

 

The podcast is definitly a good encouragment for people to start making a small panel. As you said in the podcast the level is entirely up to the individual builder. It doesn't have to be fancy as long as it works and it can be assistance while flying.

 

I originally started out because I couldn't keep situational awareness when looking down into the 3D cockpit trying to get the mouse over a switch. Having just a panel or two can really make a difference IMHO.

 

Could not agreee more. The forums is great and you can always find some advice from someone who has already done exactly what you are trying to achieve. You will most definitely also find one builder who is going for the same level of details as yourself no matter what you are aiming for. I really like that :-)

 

I really look forward for a Warhog & Ian cockpit building podcast version 2 :-) Top work both of you.

 

Cheers

Hans

Edited April 10, 2016 by Hansolo

[romeokilo]

I just finished listening to the podcast. Great stuff guys.

 

P. S. I had no idea you made that segment display for the tacan yourself. Awesome work.

 

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