Universal military aircraft homecockpit project

[Viper1970]

Thanks for this! I will take a look at Onshape.

So sad that TC does such a sh... 

At the other hand it's so intuitiv and simple to use, that even an 3D-amateur like me can make really amazing parts. That's the reason I still used it although I wanted to change to something more professional since a while now. But most of the alternatives are to complex and you have to learn endless hours before even thinking of making such parts as I made with TC now. That was always the reason I stayed with TC. I'm a very impatient guy and want to have quick results .

Edited January 21, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

So, as I could not spray paint my parts during the winter time at the balcony, I have bought some car paint for the jet gun and will now test if it's possible to do the paintwork with brushes and a lot of patience ( one thing I actually really don't have ) also. I will test this at my Hori HOTAS first, cause I don't want to mess the cockpit parts.

I hope the results are somewhat feasible, cause at the moment I always had to wait until the first warm days before I can start painting parts. We live in a flat and also my workshop is in the flat. So there is sadly no hobby-basement to do such things and spray painting inside a flat isn't the best idea .

Just did a roughly sanding and its still ugly as hell . All has to be disassembled again for further sanding...

P.S: This HOTAS is only for the command unit and for "retro flying" my old beloved sims like eg. the Janes series, but it will be fully programmable. I wanted something which isn't a "replica" at my other sim place and I always liked the appearance of the Hori HOTAS, so I decided to mod a used one I was able to get for low at ebay.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Viper1970

[Lobinjaevel]

Exellent work mate!

I agree that changing CAD program is a hassle, but I really think you will have no trouble getting in to Onshape atleast.

It's not the best but I like it the most, reminds me of the CAD I learned in school years ago.

I'd be happy to help you out, sending a PM!

[Viper1970]

The first mechanical parts of the center stick base, directly after printing 

[Viper1970]

And a stick I made the old fashioned way out of an TM XFighter long ago, before I owned a 3D printer. It must also be finished and will be used for the UH-1N (in another sim) and the Blackhawk. Still a lot to change and of course also some sanding and painting to do 

Edited January 21, 2022 by Viper1970

[agrasyuk]

great looking prints. 
don't be in hurry to paint - you can start sanding and patching and then paint properly.

I feel you on impatience though. Not only it's to cold to paint in my garage I also can't laser anything - the water is the cooling bucket is a big blob of ice

[Viper1970]

It's always a problem with the paint work, especially here in Germany, cause our summers aren't very long and I have a lot to paint.

If I'm not able to get it done, I have to wait until the next year.

That's the reason I will now try it with the brush method. Maybe it's not so good looking but the parts are ready at least. Sometimes you have to make a compromise, even if you aren't happy with it. Spray painting looks a lot better as doing the same with a brush.

[Viper1970]

Still working on my computers . At the moment I'm reworking all the cases, so that even the retro hardware fits in some of them. I'm also changing some elements to "NATO" grey, so that they meet the rest of my "flight den's" look and the one of the command unit .

Some parts must be spray painted, what isn't a lot of fun at the moment during this cold time. Fast spraying and instantly putting them in the warm flat, trying to do this without sticking on anything or making fingerprints at the parts.

Edited January 23, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

The bottom cases, changed the panel to the front and made conections for stacking

 

And the upper computer cases for the command unit. Those are all cheap Aerocool 300 midi towers.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

Not easy to get simple, clean looking cases without features for disco light show today, which I really hate 

And if you get any, they are mostly for office computers, so you have to tune them a bit on your own.

[Viper1970]

Does anybody has an already finished cyclic or collective from the guys who have my STL's? Must be arround 50 people now.

Would be nice to share some pics of the results. I'm very curious to see some finished controls, cause I'm still far away to built my own at the moment.

[Lobinjaevel]

I havn't yet, need to adjust it for my needs someday and find suitable buttons

[Viper1970]

I think I have posted the buttons I use in the thread, but I m not sure. They aren t top notch,  but do the job.

For the hats I use one from thingiverse, that I will mod a little bit. I print a 2mm hole inside the stamp, drill it out a bit and put a 2mm steel nail without hat (cutted off) in the core. That prevents them from breaking and they feel a bit more "top notch" .

I also tried those 5way china smartphone direction switches, but although they are small enough to fit nearly everywhere, they have one big drawback. They tend to let you accidentally activate the push function if you only want to use the direction switch.

That is the reason I will print my hat mechanics again and use those china hats only if thete is no chance to fit a bigger part.

[Viper1970]

They new fan grill . I hope my HOTAS parts will also print that perfect. Seems like repairing the printer and doing a complete new adjustment was a good thing. It is printing so smooth and error free now.

And this is only 2.5mm layer height. For the HOTAS I will use 0.1mm.

 

On top of the grill the hdd and power leds will be integrated. I hate those blue micro leds inside the power button. All my cases have orange for hdd, red for power and green for drives. I m a perfectionist in such things .

Tomorrow the grill will also painted grey, so that the big cases fit the look of all my other systems.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Viper1970

[agrasyuk]

I didn't print the cyclic yet either.

As for your PC cases it almost seems that you would really appreciate it being in a piece of furniture. 

I built mine into a retractable shelf. One above for DCS client, additional shelf below for upcoming server. Still need to make faceplate . I can also fit a proper U rack mount enclosure.  

[Viper1970]

Hey, thats awesome! I like the idea of being able to move them out, like a drawer.

I think I will steal your idea for my HTPC in the living room. At the moment its in an old desktop ITX case fitting exactly inside my selfmade hifi rig. The drawback is that I also must use an ITX power supply and it was already hard to find one with 350w. Now with the Ryzen 2600X and the 1650 Super its really at its limits.

I wanted to change this sometime in future and your idea is perfect!  

[Viper1970]

Cases done! Now its time to integrate the hardware. After this I can finally move to my HOTAS and panels at the command unit. 

[Viper1970]

In parallel I have printedall parts for my spring mechanism on top of the modified Cougar, which will be my center base. It also gets a Warthog electronics including the hallsensor. At the moment my helo extension for it is printing .

I will do prints now every day to be able to have as much parts as posssible already printed when I start with the work at the universal pit.

 

[Viper1970]

Spring mechanics and first half of the helo extension.

Only 0.2mm layer height. Grips will be 0.1mm.

Those mechanical parts are not smoothed. All the grip parts were additonally smoothed after 3d building, so they will look far better.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

The settings I use in Cura 4.13.0:

 

for the mechanical parts:

Nozzle size: 0.5

Layerheight: 0.2mm

Printspeed: 50mm/s

Support (if needed): 55°

Infill: 60% Lines

 

for the grips:

Nozzle size: 0.5

Layerheight: 0.1mm

Printspeed: 35mm/s

Support (if needed): 55°

Infill: 60% Lines

Edited January 26, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

The two mega towers for the command unit. Bottom two are for retro hardware, upper two are modern systems.

 

 

[Viper1970]

So here is what the things should look like somewhere in future

All is only lose stacked, but it makes an idea how it should be. This is the spring mechanic (for four diagonal springs which will be covered by a housing) which comes on top of the Cougar and the little curved helo extension with the Blackhawk grip on top. The extension part will be interchangeable with the one for the jets and also with the yoke. For the yoke the roll axis will be blocked.

At the moment I'm printing the jet extension which has a seperate paddle switch. My grips will not have a paddle switch directly connected. I will also remove them at the Virpil VFX and the TM grips.

 

[Viper1970]

The paintwork of the HOTAS grips for the command unit come closer to finish 

 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Viper1970

[Viper1970]

 

 

[Viper1970]

With simple idle and AB lock mechanism 

 

all not finished yet!

The throttle has two 4way hats, one (I)-0-I speedbrake, one (I)-0-(I) mode switch, one I-0-I toggle, two buttons, two encoder dials with push function and a thumbstick (slew) with push function which can be used as a joystick or a mouse. This ministick will be connected to a Codemercs mouse warrior card.

The base has one 5way rotary, three I-0 switches, one I-0-I switch, four I-0-(I) switches, two enoders with push function, one (I)-0-(I) flaps switch and one kill switch.

All will be fully programable with DirectX or macros using one Pokeys 57U for the throttle and matrix functions (24 functions) for the stick.

The HOTAS should work from Windows 98 up to Windows 10/11.

Especially for retro gaming like the old Janes Longbow, F-15, F-18 etc. this should be enough HOTAS functions. 

Modified TM TFRP rudders will directly connected to the Pokeys, so that all three devices (stick, throttle, rudder with toes) are only one electronical device with an additional mouse-stick. This is needed to be retro compatible.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Viper1970