Need some help designing panels.

[Corvidae]

Hello.

I've just gotten my first 3d printer and getting really excited about making a lot of stuff for a Harrier semi-pit, but I've already hit a snag.
I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the correct measurements for the panels, knobs, etc...really don't know where to start, is it just mainly guess work or is there some special technique I could use?
I'm not looking to have the work already done for me, just need a starting point

Planning on making the UFC first and then see if I can do some work on a throttle quadrant.

I do have some experience working with CAD programs and planning on using Fusion 360 for most of the designing

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[Zoren]

What I did using Blender was to create a cube of a size of one of the panels, let's say 150mm x 100mm x 10mm (height not important yet...).  Scaled my image of the Hornet panels to match the cube's size.  Then I would create the panel using the imported image to map too.  For the height, I guessed on it as they are not that thick.

 

Then I would export the object into something that my 3D printer software liked and went from there.  It worked for me.

 

 

[Corvidae]

Hmm well it doesn't sound overly complicated, I'll give it a go.
Thanks!

 

[Nikolas_A]

Start with the mil specs

MS25212 for starters

[Corvidae]

9 minutes ago, Nikolas_A said:

Start with the mil specs

MS25212 for starters

Not sure what this means, pretty new to this.

[PickleMonster]

MS25212 is the set of standards laid out by the US and adopted by many NATO countries that define the sizes, colour, fonts and other items related to aircraft panels.   The side panels will usually follow those standards.  You'll also want to read up on Dzus rails and fastners, which is the items used to fix those panels to the cockpit.  You'll probably not want to use Dzus due to the costs, but it'll give you some measurements for your own fixings and help work out the height of your panels.  Width wise the standard is ~142mm.   These however won't be much use for an up front controller which is mostly bespoke.

 

One bit of advise I'd give for your front panel.  Figure out how to make it work first before trying to figure out the layout.  The space you have to mount everything and how you drive your MFD's will define a lot.  Do you want everything free floating with individual mounts for your MFD/Tiny screen combos and UFC?  Or do you want a big panel which looks like a traditional aircraft pit?  Do you want a single monitor to drive your MFD's as well as a couple of gauges and some additional exports such as RWR's or the F-16's DED?  Get some paper and plan it out first, knock up prototypes using cardboard or cheap sheet materials.

[agrasyuk]

best of luck on your build.
I attached some  documents that floated around the forum. 

with that 3D printer doesn't look like the best tool for purposes of making panels

MIL_MS25212 Basic Panel Dimentions.pdf Panelbuildingfocussedondimensions.pdf

[molevitch]

There are lots of posters of cockpit layouts. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Harrier-AV-8B-Baseline-Cockpit-Arrangement-Poster-McDonnell-Douglas-VTOL-Print-/143188294740

 

buy one, or scale an image grabbed from the net in Photoshop or similar graphics package. Find an object to scale to from the real world, eg the diameter of a gauge or the width of the cockpit. In my experience, engineers/designers prefer whole numbers rather than fiddly fractions, so a gauge is likely to be 8 cm or 3.5” diameter. Print off the panels on paper, 1:1 scale and glue them onto corrugated card sheet (disused cartons, Amazon supply them with every delivery!) and assemble. You can then sit in your cardboard pit and assess the results before going to the lengthy and expensive process of creating the working model.

Also, get as many “square on” photos of everything you want to model. By which I mean, not shot at an angle, so yo have a good flat reference with minimal perspective distortion. Scale these to 1:1 also.

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by molevitch
Added a thought...

[CorporalCarrot]

One of the cool things about Fusion 360 is that you can import JPGs and other picture files as a 'canvas'.  If you import a picture of your part into Fusion360 as a canvas, it'll appear in the list on the left.  You can then right click on the canvas in the list, and choose 'calibrate'.  You'll then need to pick two points on the picture, which you know the dimension of, then enter said dimension, and Fusion scales the picture correctly.  You can then create a sketch over it and just trace out the details required, and then use the sketch to create your 3D model.

 

I hope this makes sense?  I've used this method plenty of times, and it's pretty straight forward provided your picture files are of a reasonable quality.  

Edited December 3, 2020 by CorporalCarrot

[molevitch]

1 hour ago, CorporalCarrot said:

One of the cool things about Fusion 360 is that you can import JPGs and other picture files as a 'canvas'.  If you import a picture of your part into Fusion360 as a canvas, it'll appear in the list on the left.  You can then right click on the canvas in the link, and choose 'calibrate'.  You'll then need to pick two points on the picture, which you know the dimension of, then enter said dimension, and Fusion scales the picture correctly.  You can then create a sketch over it and just trace out the details required, and then use the sketch to create your 3D model.

 

I hope this makes sense?  I've used this method plenty of times, and it's pretty straight forward provided your picture files are of a reasonable quality.  

I was about to mention that too! Fusion 360 is just a superb program for this kind of work.

[molevitch]

Example of cardboard and paper mock up. Scaled using dimensions of an authentic component bought on ebay, a radio compass unit measuring 14cm x 14cm. Some images from an mi-24 manual, and some from stripped down photos.

 

The cardboard version is from March 2019. Today, my pit is nearing completion, but still probably 3 more months to go.

Edited December 3, 2020 by molevitch

[Corvidae]

5 hours ago, CorporalCarrot said:

One of the cool things about Fusion 360 is that you can import JPGs and other picture files as a 'canvas'.  If you import a picture of your part into Fusion360 as a canvas, it'll appear in the list on the left.  You can then right click on the canvas in the list, and choose 'calibrate'.  You'll then need to pick two points on the picture, which you know the dimension of, then enter said dimension, and Fusion scales the picture correctly.  You can then create a sketch over it and just trace out the details required, and then use the sketch to create your 3D model.

 

I hope this makes sense?  I've used this method plenty of times, and it's pretty straight forward provided your picture files are of a reasonable quality.  

That is indeed very cool...I've just started using the program, so will try that for sure!