MIG-21 panel (test and evaluation)

[BravoYankee4]

Looks like you're making good progress there BY, especially impressive with two kids to look after. I don't have any myself and still can't find any time!

 

If you'd be kind enough to share the files I'd need to order your PCBs that would be a massive help to me. I can solder OK and over the last year or so I've been buying Arduinos and switches, pots, etc. but designing PCBs is something I've never done and not having the time to teach myself how to at the moment is preventing me from moving forward, so it would be great if I could benefit from the work you've already done, rather than having to learn how to make the wheel myself so to speak (and I'm sure I'd waste a lot of time and money before getting it right).

 

If I understand correctly, sites like http://dirtypcbs.com/ require me to buy 10 of each board I want and it's about $14 for that, so I'd have to order 10 of each of the Input, Output and Slave boards at a cost of $42 but that seems OK, as I'd probably need at least that many by the time I've built all the panels for a complete cockpit.

 

By the way, I order my pcb's from Itead (https://www.itead.cc/open-pcb.html) - perhaps not the cheapest, but they fulfill my requirements when it comes to service and wuality.

 

Yes, I can share the Gerber files. But I just want to hook everything up and verify that they are OK first. It still happens that I do small mistakes in the design so sometimes I need to order the same pcb twice ;)

Edited June 19, 2016 by BravoYankee4

[doveman]

Thanks, that will be great. I'm in no hurry, so whenever you've had the time to check them and are happy with them. In the meantime I'll buy some more components, which is the easy bit

[doveman]

Just saw this on Amazon whilst I was looking for stuff to qualify for free delivery and wondered if it would be good for powering all the panels for a build like this? It can supply 3A on both the 12v and 5v rails and only costs £11.50 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HY3AA3S?psc=1

[BravoYankee4]

It will work.

My plan is to use any of the three alternatives listed here:

* use the power from the simulator PC (then everyting will power up and down automatically)

* use an external old PC PSU (cheap solution since I have a bunch of them)

* Use an arcade PSU (small, lots of amps and no harness of wires that I will not use anyway)

Edited August 11, 2016 by BravoYankee4
Added comments

[FSFIan]

The PSU you linked to doesn't even come with a case. I'd prefer a used PC PSU. If you can't get one for free, you should be able to pick up a used one for the same price. Even a 200 W PSU will provide way more than 3 A on both the 5V and 12V rails, and you get a 3.3 V rail should you need one. The only disadvantage is that PC PSUs have a fan, which may or may not be a problem.

 

You can also use it to power any other 12 V appliance you have. I use a HP microserver as a NAS. It is powered by an external ATX PSU because the one it came with died, so I have a PSU that is running 24/7 anyway and has extra capacity. I ordered some SATA connectors from AliExpress so I can use it to power my 8-port gigabit ethernet switch (12 V @ max. 1A) and my Fritz!Box (12 V @ max. 1.4 A, wifi access point and DECT phone to VoIP gateway). That means I can avoid using two wall warts, which frees up two electrical outlets. I also suspect that adding more load to an existing switching power supply is slightly more energy efficient than running two wall warts that must have been designed for space efficiency first and energy efficiency second.

[doveman]

Good point, a PC PSU could be a better option. The fan could be an issue, as whilst I buy expensive PSUs for my PCs that have very quiet fans, the cheaper PSUs often have quite noisy ones which I find annoying. If I'm only using it for DCS it wouldn't really be an issue as I'd have headphones on anyway but I wouldn't want a PSU with an intrusive fan running all the time to power other stuff. I do like the idea of using one PSU to power various stuff like my Raspberry Pi, small amp, etc. though and if it's an old or cheap PSU I'd be quite happy cutting the connectors off to take the output leads to a breakout board which could then go to whatever DC plugs are needed for the various equipment.

 

 

I've got at least one old PSU I kept in case it came in useful. I did have a half-decent PSU on which the fan failed or got very noisy when it was out of warranty, so I replaced it with a quieter one only for the PSU to fail completely shortly after, which might have just been a coincidence but you do have to be very careful when replacing the fan to make sure it still cools as well as the original one.

 

I wasn't particularly worried about that PSU not coming with a case as I'd be building various wooden boxes for the panels anyway, so I figured I'd just build one for the PSU but maybe it would need a shielded metal box or a plastic one.

[JG14_Smil]

Hello,

 

If you want a lot of switches, ribbon cable and IDC connectors work great. It is very easy to break out of the ribbon cable with the crimp on connectors. One 40 pin cable can do hundreds of switches (depending on your hardware). Build modular sections and use a ribbon cable Bus. Can do the same for LEDs.

 

Good luck on your build.

[FeistyLemur]

If it's of any help, I had paint color matched for the mig21 cockpit using akan modeling paint and have the dupont color codes if you want any made for your project.

[BravoYankee4]

If it's of any help, I had paint color matched for the mig21 cockpit using akan modeling paint and have the dupont color codes if you want any made for your project.

 

Thanks. However I will most likely restart and build a Viggen cockpit eventually.