simulating rotary selector wheels

[lesthegrngo]

All, I have been thinking about how to approach the 10 position selector wheels on physical panels for a while now. My TISL panel uses mini rotary encoders worked by some laser cut acrylic wheels, and the display of the digit is a tiny little OLED panel. It works but is a bit complicated especially for little used panels. I really enjoyed making it as a learning and test case, and it has the advantage of displaying the correct digits no matter the starting position of the encoder. However in reality it is just making a complicated way of simulating a glorified ten position rotary switch with a numbered drum next to it.

Of course, while it is simple in operation, making a homemade version is another issue; I can count the number of small ten position rotary switches I have found online on the fingers of one elbow. Using a rotary encoder is out of the question without a digital display due to the fact that it simply selects the next position rather than a specific value, plus I think the RE's I used on the TISL were 18 positions per rotation. Size is a big part of the problem, there are a lot all packed relatively tightly together

So I have drawn a blank on how else to replicate it in an economical and DIY friendly way, so I would be really interested in hearing anyone's ideas on how they would approach it or how that have actually replicated it

Cheers

Les

 

 

[No1sonuk]

There's this:

 

I made my 5-way P-51 fuel selector switch like this:

[No1sonuk]

Another option is a "BCD" switch.  This is Binary Coded Decimal.
You get a 10-way switch that uses 4 pins.

You can even get some that would save some work:
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/rotary-switches/7810719

[agrasyuk]

5 hours ago, No1sonuk said:

 

I made my 5-way P-51 fuel selector switch like this:

 

love it. great job 

[lesthegrngo]

9 hours ago, No1sonuk said:

Another option is a "BCD" switch.  This is Binary Coded Decimal.
You get a 10-way switch that uses 4 pins.

You can even get some that would save some work:
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/rotary-switches/7810719

Not the cheapest way but certainly that would do the job exactly, nice spot. I'd never heard of them.

I searched fleabay and found some SMD cheapo chinese ones, I will order some to have a play with. With a 3D printer I may be able to make the appropriate wheel. I'll obviously have to learn how to interface them with an arduino too but one thing at a time..

Thanks again

Les

9 hours ago, No1sonuk said:

There's this:

 

I made my 5-way P-51 fuel selector switch like this:

Nice one!

Les

[Vinc_Vega]

Hi Les,

a while ago there was a post here, introducing BCD switches as a class in the dcs-bios library to replicate the thumb wheels of the IFF panel.

Look here for FSFIan's reply:

https://forums.eagle.ru/topic/160387-dcs-bios-v055-iff-panel-thumb-wheel-help

 

Regards, Vinc

Edited November 4, 2021 by Vinc_Vega

[lesthegrngo]

Fantastic, thanks Vinc!

Les