F-14 Cockpit and instrument dimensions

[Yogi8]

1 hour ago, AH_Solid_Snake said:

That's a pretty amazing upgrade on the ThrottleTek (I'm a previous user). Are you going to open source any of the files to allow people to test print the parts and help with feedback?

Yep. Plan is to make all of the files available when I get to about a 90% solution. I'm guessing that will be sometime in early November. That will include a bill of materials for screws, buttons, switches, etc., etc. However, the files may or may not include the code for the Arduino. I haven't spent much time looking at how to make DCS BIOS work. 

I probably should have mentioned that this is all being done via photos I've found on the internet. The photos are resized in Fusion 360 (the canvas tool is incredibly helpful with that), but I'm expecting some measurements and sizes to be off by as much as a 4 or 5mm or 3/4's of an inch. 

[Proton_]

Hello Lads,

i am finished with the display control panel soon and it have one question about it. 

What is the Angle of the Panel in the Cockpit?

 

Salute,

Proton

Edited September 23, 2023 by Proton_

[AusMumbles]

Heya Gents,

Long time no post. @Elo Here you go brother, as promised the front seat .skp plans. 

My cockpit has used all these files to build the frame and it's come together exceptionally well for a hobbyist level product. I do stress though, that it's only as good as my skill with both CAD and fabrication. This is my first big project and has been a massive learning curve. I've included the rough hack at the back seat based on the 303E blueprints and some best guess work based on the design in the front seat. Until I get both the time and better references its going to have to be best guess. 

I promise I will still get around to converting these to SVG's to make them easier to cut out but I'm exceptionally time poor at the moment. However it's still very easy to do within SketchUp. I've used the plugin called FaceSVG (https://github.com/marvingreenberg/FaceSVG/releases) that makes it exceptionally easy to pull the part out and convert it to an SVG. Converting it to G-Code is fairly straightforward from there and has been easy enough using my Maslow CNC to cut most of the parts out (It's just as easy to do on an Jiggy, just print the panels out tape it to the timber). 

Notes on the model:

1. I'm still working out the best way to mount the instrument panels in the left and right, if you are going to build this cockpit I'd recommend you figure out both a mounting config and a wiring lume housing etc to allow you to run them. (When I come up with something better I'll mod the plans). 

2. The skin on the outside was just a few massive sheets of 3mm MDF wrapped and then attached with button heads screws. The upper skin around the canopy bow was the most difficult and was just done with a pencil, some artistic licence and a lot of small cuts and patience on one side till it fit then just traced it out to make a second copy. 

3. The boarding step works ok but isn't the most elegant thing in the world. I eventually want to make a 3d printed plug or something to make it flush when its closed but isn't a priority at the moment.   

In saying all this, even sitting in it in VR it feels amazing. Everything is where it should be, you might just need to setup the default head position in game a touch to fit your sitting height etc. (I just sit forward about 1-2 inches and then recentre it, when the neck of the pilot model matches mine it feels great).  

The work on the throttle's are looking amazing, I'll can't wait to put one in my cockpit.

Cheers,

Mumbles

F-14AB Plans Sep 23.skp

Edited September 26, 2023 by AusMumbles
Added Pics

[Elo]

@AusMumbles thanks for the plans! Ive picked up my CNC-cut parts in the mean time, and theyre currently waiting to be primed/sealed and painted. Ill definetly make use of your canopy design though, since i had no idea how to do that.

My current plan differs from yours a bit, instead of adding a support beam at the bottom i plan to attach all the ribs to a "base plate" with dowels for structural rigidity, in combination with the 40x40mm upper beam from your model.

For the panels, i plan to hand-saw a space to mount my DZUS rails and have enough space for switches, wires, etc., something akin to this

Since theres plenty of space in the forward part of the pit, next to the front console, ill probably put the PSU, fuzebox etc there.

I have a qualifying examination next week, the outcome of which might influence the process of my pit greatly, basically putting it on ice for 2-3 years. Still, im excited to see actual progress, and the physical pit starting to come together.

Cheers,

Elo

Edited September 29, 2023 by Elo

[Elo]

@Proton_ Looks like ~120° on the display control panel, allthough i think its also slightly angled inwards, towards the pilot

[AusMumbles]

@Elo, 

Your panels looks sweet man! The canopy bow was a bit of a pain in the ass tbh. The main part of the bow is two panels, laminated with spacers made from spare ply in-between. I then skinned it with 3mm MDF. I'll shoot you some better shots of it when I get home. 

The front section is both an upper and a lower glued together. I then cut two spare strips of 3mm MDF off and then skined the beveled edge on the outside. 

Good luck with the qualifying exam mother goose, I'm sure you will crush it. 

 

[nicka117]

On 9/15/2023 at 5:48 AM, Yogi8 said:

Yep. Plan is to make all of the files available when I get to about a 90% solution. I'm guessing that will be sometime in early November. That will include a bill of materials for screws, buttons, switches, etc., etc. However, the files may or may not include the code for the Arduino. I haven't spent much time looking at how to make DCS BIOS work. 

I probably should have mentioned that this is all being done via photos I've found on the internet. The photos are resized in Fusion 360 (the canvas tool is incredibly helpful with that), but I'm expecting some measurements and sizes to be off by as much as a 4 or 5mm or 3/4's of an inch. 

Anxiously watching the progress on this...and so is my printer. Looks amazing.

[Yogi8]

Gentlemen,

I am seriously jealous of the your pit Mumbles! That beast is absolutely beautiful. I'm trying to talk my wife into letting me do that but she wants children... I don't think she understands... this is my baby! This forum keeps me motivated and I really love seeing the photos of everyone's work.

Anyways. I know from the photos that it doesn’t look like much has changed but pretty much everything is different. I made it to v25 before I realized a mistake that pushed me back to v3. Derp. Anyways, I’ve hit roughly a 95% solution in modeling. At some point I’ll model the “REMOVE COVER FOR SWITCH ACCESS” cover, throttle position covers, flaps and friction position cover, but not any time soon. This has been a lot of work. I’m leaning towards not modeling the lettering on any of the handles (ie flaps and throttles) because I’d like to laser engrave those instead of 3d printing them. 

I modeled brackets for the Dzus rail because I want to build a sim pit and sliding this bad boy in there would be the crown jewel. That means I’ll be modeling the throttle arms with an angle offset at some point in the future. That shouldn’t be too much work (haha). 

Some changes have been made. The friction brake… it actually works.. finally.. The last photo is a little shot of the friction brake and all its bits and pieces. However, due to the friction brake being a dick, and the circumference of its parts being too large.. the flaps, right throttle and left throttle bearings have been changed from 603 2RS ball bearings to 6203. The 6203 has a larger center hole, which accommodates the size of the friction brake assembly. The emergency wing sweep bearing is still a 603 2RS. 

The emergency wing sweep arm articulates up and down and locks into place and the push button actually acts as a release! It has a tiny litlte spring inside and fiddly bits that are probably going to drive me bonkers during the assembly but at least it looks nice! That ended up being a lot of work but a very cool exercise in how parts move in relation to one another. 

I moved the Arduino. It can fit inside the throttle quadrant but because I’m in the process of sourcing/modeling/building rudder pedals and a stick, I’m considering having a stand alone box and wiring everything there with mini din connectors from each of the 3 devices so I can do a quick disconnect. I’d be happy to model mounts and holes inside the box if anyone needs. 

The stepper motor that drives the emergency wing sweep has been upgraded to a Nema 17. 

All told there are roughly 60 screws, 10+ buttons and switches of various forms, 4 hall effect sensors, washers, nuts and well over 200 parts. I think I’m going to take a few weeks off from this before I start 3d printing. This has been a lot of fun to do and I’m excited to bring this baby to life! Let me know if you guys have any questions!

[The_Schtick]

@AusMumbles Looks fantastic Brother! I have been busy more often then not this year, unfortunately. I've spent most of my time sourcing parts. I hope to get rollin' on my pit after the holidays. I have to get some pictures of the working HSD and VDI on here for you guys. @Yogi8 I love the throttles brother!

 

[Elo]

On 10/9/2023 at 9:16 PM, Yogi8 said:

Gentlemen,

I am seriously jealous of the your pit Mumbles! That beast is absolutely beautiful. I'm trying to talk my wife into letting me do that but she wants children... I don't think she understands... this is my baby! This forum keeps me motivated and I really love seeing the photos of everyone's work.

Anyways. I know from the photos that it doesn’t look like much has changed but pretty much everything is different. I made it to v25 before I realized a mistake that pushed me back to v3. Derp. Anyways, I’ve hit roughly a 95% solution in modeling. At some point I’ll model the “REMOVE COVER FOR SWITCH ACCESS” cover, throttle position covers, flaps and friction position cover, but not any time soon. This has been a lot of work. I’m leaning towards not modeling the lettering on any of the handles (ie flaps and throttles) because I’d like to laser engrave those instead of 3d printing them. 

I modeled brackets for the Dzus rail because I want to build a sim pit and sliding this bad boy in there would be the crown jewel. That means I’ll be modeling the throttle arms with an angle offset at some point in the future. That shouldn’t be too much work (haha). 

Some changes have been made. The friction brake… it actually works.. finally.. The last photo is a little shot of the friction brake and all its bits and pieces. However, due to the friction brake being a dick, and the circumference of its parts being too large.. the flaps, right throttle and left throttle bearings have been changed from 603 2RS ball bearings to 6203. The 6203 has a larger center hole, which accommodates the size of the friction brake assembly. The emergency wing sweep bearing is still a 603 2RS. 

The emergency wing sweep arm articulates up and down and locks into place and the push button actually acts as a release! It has a tiny litlte spring inside and fiddly bits that are probably going to drive me bonkers during the assembly but at least it looks nice! That ended up being a lot of work but a very cool exercise in how parts move in relation to one another. 

I moved the Arduino. It can fit inside the throttle quadrant but because I’m in the process of sourcing/modeling/building rudder pedals and a stick, I’m considering having a stand alone box and wiring everything there with mini din connectors from each of the 3 devices so I can do a quick disconnect. I’d be happy to model mounts and holes inside the box if anyone needs. 

The stepper motor that drives the emergency wing sweep has been upgraded to a Nema 17. 

All told there are roughly 60 screws, 10+ buttons and switches of various forms, 4 hall effect sensors, washers, nuts and well over 200 parts. I think I’m going to take a few weeks off from this before I start 3d printing. This has been a lot of fun to do and I’m excited to bring this baby to life! Let me know if you guys have any questions!

Amazing work man, are you an engineer?

[AH_Solid_Snake]

@Yogi8 - your throttles are looking fantastic, great integration into a simpit too.

Did you consider using more stepper motors to drive the throttle levers themselves for the auto-throttle?

[Yogi8]

On 10/11/2023 at 10:11 AM, AH_Solid_Snake said:

@Yogi8 - your throttles are looking fantastic, great integration into a simpit too.

Did you consider using more stepper motors to drive the throttle levers themselves for the auto-throttle?

I did. I mulled it over for a month and went back and forth on how to squeeze another stepper motor or two into the tight space and ultimately it came down to making the throttle quadrant taller. That wouldn't be an issue if I had a simpit and could hide half of the throttles below the rails. I may design an attachment that the throttle quadrant can sit on and will house the spur gears and stepper motors... or maybe I'll redesign the whole thing when I have a room dedicated to this. I really wanted to make that work but just couldn't figure out a way.

On 10/11/2023 at 4:20 AM, Elo said:

Amazing work man, are you an engineer?

Lol nope, I sell windows.. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Yogi8

[Yogi8]

Prototype works. That’s exciting. 

[nicka117]

12 hours ago, Yogi8 said:

Prototype works. That’s exciting. 

IMG_1603.mov

So cool! 

 

Just curious, because im a very intermediate 3d printer with my ender 3, it looks like all the pieces should be pretty easy to print laying flat on their side, except for the top black slotted cover. Any thoughts on how to print that piece? Maybe break it up into 3 or 4 pieces and glue or screw them back together?

Edited October 16, 2023 by nicka117

[Yogi8]

3 hours ago, nicka117 said:

So cool! 

 

Just curious, because im a very intermediate 3d printer with my ender 3, it looks like all the pieces should be pretty easy to print laying flat on their side, except for the top black slotted cover. Any thoughts on how to print that piece? Maybe break it up into 3 or 4 pieces and glue or screw them back together?

 

I’m completely new to 3d printing. This is my first go at it. I bought a K1 Max about 3 weeks ago, and I kinda just mess with the slicer until I see something that makes sense. I do a test print and keep an eye on it. If it isn’t printing the way I like, I’ll kill the print and try something else. That’s really for the bigger prints though. Small stuff like this I just let run. I’m running the stock 0.4mm nozzle at 20% infill. I’m sorry if that isn’t much help. 

Here’s a quick build video of the Emergency Wing Sweep Handle. I hope this helps. I’d run the video at 2x the speed, I couldn’t figure out how to do that in the editor and I don’t care  enough to figure it out.

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Yogi8

[nicka117]

20 hours ago, Yogi8 said:

I’m completely new to 3d printing. This is my first go at it. I bought a K1 Max about 3 weeks ago, and I kinda just mess with the slicer until I see something that makes sense. I do a test print and keep an eye on it. If it isn’t printing the way I like, I’ll kill the print and try something else. That’s really for the bigger prints though. Small stuff like this I just let run. I’m running the stock 0.4mm nozzle at 20% infill. I’m sorry if that isn’t much help. 

Here’s a quick build video of the Emergency Wing Sweep Handle. I hope this helps. I’d run the video at 2x the speed, I couldn’t figure out how to do that in the editor and I don’t care  enough to figure it out.

 

 

Looks like you know exactly what you're doing. Can't wait to get my hands on the stl files whenever you get happy with how everything goes together. 

[RustBelt]

For oversized pieces the best method is to make a 45 degree scarf joint and use a plastic epoxy. (Or ABS slurry if you still print ABS/like hating printing) I really wish slicers just had that option in them to modify the print file on the fly. 

You’ll get better strength if you arrange the different sections of the part to mismatch the X/Y printing lines. 
 

Edit: Also, use clamps. Clamps are your friend. Better glue up, better strength.

Edited October 17, 2023 by RustBelt

[Yogi8]

Not sure what to do about the emergency wing sweep cover since it has a clear part.. I’m open to any recommendations.. aside from that this is the prototype. Time to figure out the DCS Bios thing. 

[MAXsenna]

Looks awesome!
Anyway, print it, make a mould and cast in clear resin. If you haven't done that before, just look up some model building on YouTube.

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Gareth Barry]

That throttle looks absolutely brilliant!

Did you include the four degree notches for the wing sweep handle?

For driving the autothrottle and wing sweep handle, i plan to use servos with clutches from dfrobot. When autothrottle is engaged, the arduino will store and keep sending the last position of the throttle to dcs, to tricj the game into thinking the throttles arent moving. When the difference between the autothrottle position and actual position is greater than some value, the arduino will then resume sending the actual position, which should mske DCS disengage autothrottle. Thats my idea anyway. Still waiting on my final batch of parts.

For the cover over the handle, im going with clear acrylic, laser cut.

[Tweety777]

That really looks awesome!! 

[Gareth Barry]

One other thing I might suggest, or at least what I am going to do with my 3d printed version of the throttle, is to use magnets and reed switches for the wing sweep handle extension and the cover open, they are quite unobtrusive and neat.

[nicka117]

13 hours ago, Yogi8 said:

Not sure what to do about the emergency wing sweep cover since it has a clear part.. I’m open to any recommendations.. aside from that this is the prototype. Time to figure out the DCS Bios thing. 

I’m speechless.

[Yogi8]

18 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

Looks awesome!
Anyway, print it, make a mould and cast in clear resin. If you haven't done that before, just look up some model building on YouTube.

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

Oh God, another rabbit hole to go down. I'll look into casting clear resin sometime down the road. 

 

18 hours ago, Gareth Barry said:

That throttle looks absolutely brilliant!

Did you include the four degree notches for the wing sweep handle?

For driving the autothrottle and wing sweep handle, i plan to use servos with clutches from dfrobot. When autothrottle is engaged, the arduino will store and keep sending the last position of the throttle to dcs, to tricj the game into thinking the throttles arent moving. When the difference between the autothrottle position and actual position is greater than some value, the arduino will then resume sending the actual position, which should mske DCS disengage autothrottle. Thats my idea anyway. Still waiting on my final batch of parts.

For the cover over the handle, im going with clear acrylic, laser cut.

If you figure that out I would love to see your autothrottle! As far as the EWS cover, the notches are modeled but I didn't print them. The EWS cover that I printed was just a prototype because I wasn't sure what to do about the clear part. I like the idea of clear acrylic and laser cutting, but I don't own a laser cutter. 

[RustBelt]

Make a forming block with a resin printer and heat shape a lexan or acrylic sheet for the emergency cover. Alternately just dimensions and a guide for others to make their own forming block. Don’t lock yourself to 3D printing alone. CNC, cutting patterns for router/dremel other print methods are all doable if someone is already on the DIY train.

 

a strong hair dryer or a heat gun is all you need to lay clear sheet plastic down nice and pretty. 
 

hell thin enough you can just cut the sheet in 2D and glue it into submission since it’s not a compound curve. That just needs a print out pattern to do.

Edited October 21, 2023 by RustBelt