Nikolas_A Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 Nice, but why don't you start a new thread instead of posting in someone else's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaliG Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 Poster gave nothing, but took from the comunity, , this is an advertising thread about his HID controller and some nice engraved parts. Wrong aproatch in my opinion. I may be wrong ( I wish ) but from all the pictures posted here and my 5 minute browse of his website.. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] TaliG - 373vFS “Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketsefletser Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 Nice, but why don't you start a new thread instead of posting in someone else's? Sorry! I’m new to this site! Won’t happen again! Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fusedspine33 Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Any updates on your project Alex? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippoa Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 What is the name and where you bought that buttons with caps for MFD? Same that are used in Thrustmaster MFD panels? I am looking for something similar for JF-17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobinjaevel Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 He made them himself, as he states in the thread ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlacleyCole Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 Well I’m too late but since the main goal was fast and cheap what’s wrong with the cougar mcfds? BlackeyCole 20years usaf XP-11. Dcs 2.5OB Acer predator laptop/ i7 7720, 2.4ghz, 32 gb ddr4 ram, 500gb ssd,1tb hdd,nvidia 1080 8gb vram New FlightSim Blog at https://blackeysblog.wordpress.com. Go visit it and leave me feedback and or comments so I can make it better. A new post every Friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippoa Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 Everything is fine with them, but in JF-17 we have 3:4 aspect ratio large monitors. I thought about using 11.6" monitors, with placing buttons on perimeter. And I am looking where I may buy some similar push-buttons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippoa Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 Did you use some LED driver for DDI buttons? I saw some IC on your PCB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippoa Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 Also, what CAD did you use for PCB? Will you upload your project files here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fusedspine33 Posted December 12, 2019 Share Posted December 12, 2019 Well I’m too late but since the main goal was fast and cheap what’s wrong with the cougar mcfds? They are the wrong size and shape for an F-18. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_rcpilot Posted December 24, 2019 Author Share Posted December 24, 2019 Sorry guys, I've been travelling a lot lately, work has kept me busy. There has neverthelsss been significant progress with this project. I'll be able to log back with more replies and updates in a week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razi Posted December 24, 2019 Share Posted December 24, 2019 Looking forward to the update! I would love to learn more about how your doing the software side, if possible. Or even a few suggested things to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCook Posted December 26, 2019 Share Posted December 26, 2019 Looking forward to updates on this exciting project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_rcpilot Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 (edited) Alright guys, time for show n' tell. My original plan is pretty much complete now. Voilà! (Image attachment fixed now) I've been working on and off this project for the past few months. Sometimes it felt like a rollercoaster ride coz they did screw up quite a few things at the factories and I had to halt the whole project and join them working out a solution. Fortunately it paid off pretty well. Pit building is an addiction for which there's no way out. As this project moved forward, the original plan has evolved too. I've enjoyed myself and I'll keep logging back to share my enthusiasm and new progress from time to time. Would you mind sharing a little more of your manufacturing process? I'd love to see more for when I'm building my own panels. Cheers! Hi Lobinjaevel, generally thicker material helps distributing light more evenly. And it's more important to strategically plant those LEDs. If you 3D print your prototype panels, make sure you properly sand and polish the surface before applying the paint. It's very difficult to get it right the first round. I've got a hug box full of failed panels, that's how I learned it in a few years. Nice and crisp - looks absolutely smashing Thanks man. Did you use some LED driver for DDI buttons? I saw some IC on your PCB Kind of. They are regular shift registers with digital outputs. I didn't need brightness adjustment capabilities, so no ASICs were required. Looking forward to the update! I would love to learn more about how your doing the software side, if possible. Or even a few suggested things to read. Hi Razi. I'm not a full-time software developer, but I do write my own C# or C++ applications. C# comes in handy for proof of concepts. For coding the release version I'd always turn to professional programmers. The following doesn't necessarily work for you, but since you've asked, I always start with a notebook and a pen to lay down my initial ideas, then a group of blank documents and spreadsheets are created and updated alongside the actual software project to keep track of latest architecture, key flow charts, algorithms, data structures and custom protocol stacks. A complete set of documentation makes it a lot easier for both the professional programmer and myself optimize the software in the future. The custom protocol in particular helps me keep track of the firmware project in parallel with the software side. TBH I haven't read much about software, so I can't make any suggestions even if I knew your goal. But I'd be glad if my experiences could help you in some other way. Looking forward to updates on this exciting project. Hi John, it took so much longer than I thought, lol. But it's moving forward anyway. I'll be back soon with more updates. Edited January 9, 2020 by Alex_rcpilot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stang Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Looks Fantastic Alex! I like the way you simplified the MiP for ease of construction and layout. Nice craftsmanship. Stang out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightShiftNinja Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Beautiful work alex.... looks awesome!!! Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noluck Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Alex, I'm impressed by your design. Having been in military flight simulation since the late 80's I've seen some designs before, but your very well thought out logical approach to this is nothing but spot on. This is one of the best, if not best of implementation of latest hardware/software integration that I've seen in a while. Back in late 80's I worked with McDonnell Douglas on a F/A-18 reconfigurable simulator for Navy CVN/Carrier use. Back then we use what was out there to replicate the front instrument panel. The front cockpit art was rear-projected onto a screen in which had a touch screen membrane over that. Back then, there were no development hardware and software as we have today, we did what we did with what we had. Actually, once used a large glass CRT monitor with touch screen overlay, boy was that a beast to mount. Pilot knees into the glass touch screen = not good. Next was to make some 3D parts to add to the screen, never got to it. BTW: the whole simulator ran using a multi-buss II rack running about 10 parallel 386 CPU boards under UNIX. After retirement, I'm still an avid PC simmer (own about every title since Sub Logic's Apple II sim). This definitely has my attention as I'm a new user of DCS, in particular F/A-18C. In fact, the last simulators I was involved with, designed for the US Navy, were 8 each F/A-18 C Block 20's. So I'm home here. Just wish I had that complete spare set of all those actual flight hardware cockpit and panel switches I had. Not sure what happened to them... they probably got tossed. Just found this thread and I'm VERY interested in your project, this is exactly how I was going to approach a possible sim build. Need to keep my software, hardware and integration skills up to speed. I would be very interested to carry this design approach, I/O, etc. over to the remaining consoles to complete the simulator if you have no immediate plans to. I hope you might find to share your design and doc's sometimes in the future? Or offer them for sale, I'd sure buy them. Keep the awesome work! Cheers --- PC: Windows 10 Pro X64, AMD FX8120 8 Core @ ~4.0GHz, 32GB DDR3-1600, GTX 1080 8Gb, 1 TB EVO 860 SSD | Displays: 3 Dell HD 1920x1080 @ 5520x1080 windowed ||| Hardware : TM Warthog HOTAS Stick+Throttle | 3x TM Cougar MFD's | WW Combat Panel | WW Landing Panel ||| Mods: F/A-18C | F-16 | P51-D | UH-1H | C130-J | NTTR | Persian Gulf | Syria | Channel | Normandy | WWII Assets | Super Carrier | Combined Arms Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larsony99 Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 What a time to be alive. Cool stuff. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_rcpilot Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 (edited) Looks Fantastic Alex! I like the way you simplified the MiP for ease of construction and layout. Nice craftsmanship. Beautiful work alex.... looks awesome!!! What a time to be alive. Cool stuff. Thanks gents. I've been a bit busy lately. Plus I needed to learn some new stuff. Will keep working on this project once these are sorted out. @Noluck Would be a shame if they have tossed those parts. Hats off, what an experience to be part of the history of the hard core flight simulator industry! I wish I had that experience because it felt so exciting just reading your text. The advancement in electronics did bring forth plenty of better tools for us, especially in the human-machine interfacing domain. And I happen to have taken tremendous interest in this area. The purpose of this project isn't just building a pit so I can sit there and play, it's more of an experiment for me to apply what I've learned to something practicle so I can come up with even better stuff in the future. I do intend to continue with this project and build it into a full cockpit. It's just that I'd want to hold things back a bit before they are ready for release. Kinda wanted them to look good in pictures:D. But I'm not obsessive–compulsive enough to withhold all of the early prototypes. Here's a video of my latest test with the landing gear unit. You might wanna wear a pair of shades coz that light was so bright that I needed to dim it way down afterwards. Plus I was using the Helios export protocol in the video, and the gear handle light wasn't included in the data stream. But now I've also incorporated DCS BIOS protocol, the problem for the light has been solved, still gotta rely on my standalone logic to implement that downlock though. I'll make another video with the new parts and software. I will be working for most of the time so I won't log back regularly, and I can PM you my contact info if you wish to stay in touch. Edited March 20, 2020 by Alex_rcpilot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex_rcpilot Posted June 21, 2020 Author Share Posted June 21, 2020 Came back with some updates. I've decided I couldn't live without the vertical panels, so here they are. Here's a pic just to show you where I'm at at this moment. All the levers and knobs are fully functional. Some of the features are not yet supported in DCS, I can work around that with my own code. The HUD and canopy frame are just there for cosmetics. The frame is sturdy enough so those handles are functional too. Plus, a batch of new parts fot the Martin Baker seat have also been built with the help from my friend William. Now I get to put the pit together. I'll log back with more progress. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larsony99 Posted June 21, 2020 Share Posted June 21, 2020 That's pretty incredible. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Lighty Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 That is commercial grade - absolutely magnificent - well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_mu110_ Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Looks fantastic, I'm curious as to how readable the exported AMPCD is compared to regular in-game one. Check out my skins and mods on the User Files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lobinjaevel Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 Everything is amazing, one of the best build I've seen, looks flawless! But the best part for me, that canopy bow! :joystick: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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