New Adventure - Working to setup a cockpit

[LoneRegister]

Good Morning all!

I am working to build out an F16 cockpit using Tek Creations panels.  I have an idea, where I would design and send to a fab shop, 4 aluminum panels for the right and left console mounts for all of the control panels.  Using his mounting templates (DXF files?) - I should be able to get the cutouts right.

That being said - I am totally new to the idea of designing files to represent this.  And am 100% willing to learn, and make mistakes.  With all the knowledge here, I was hoping to presume to ask for a few pointers, website links and software packages that can be used on KDE Neon / Ubuntu desktop. (I use windows for DCS and iRacing, but that is about it).

In addition to that, I have 2 Thrustmaster USB MFD button panels that I'd love to get working internal screens setup on.  Is there an authoritative site that has done this already?

I assume that cutting aluminum with a laser cutter involves several thousands of dollars of investment.  Perhaps black Plexiglass might be the way to go?  Or perhaps I design the files and send to a "cutout" shop? (is that even the right word? LOL).

I realize I am stepping into a very, very deep rabbit hole - and while I have google'd a bunch about laser cutters, cad, etc... It's a bit overwhelming, and I would welcome a bit of mentoring as I start out.  Getting pointed in the right direction by the knowledgeable people here, I think, would be very, very helpful.

Thank you all in advance - and I appreciate any of you that are willing to give me gentle or not so gentle nudges in the right direction.

[crash test pilot]

Have a look at "The Warthog Project":

 

https://thewarthogproject.com/

 

He is also here in the forum as romeo kilo.

Its about an A-10 cockpit, but much of the process is adaptable. He inspired me to build my own A-10 Simpit.

[Jocman]

My 50 cents....

Now it's about 5 year I'm working on my cockpit (well, I started planning an designing everything in the far 2010.....)

Currently I think (or better I hope) I'm starting seeing the end of the tunnel.

For my project, I decided to build a home made CNC (it tooks me lot of time - meaning years), then I got even a laser cutter (but not suitable for my intents), a FDM 3D printer and a resin 3D printer.

I designed, then realized by myself my panels, using PMMA panels. Designed ad realized by myself the prototypes of all the PCBs.

My suggestions are:

- the "cutout shop" could be a good choice, in terms of speed and quality. Evaluate the balance price/benefits. I'm not sure about working on my panels with my CNC, but for sure for the PCBs I decided to send the files to a PCBs shop (China). Comparing the time needed for self build, the materials, and the quality, expecially if you need several identical PCBs: i.e. my arduino / RS485 interfaces; Until now I've about 30 arduinos connected, so I needed 30 PCBs. it was relatively pricy (not really, honestly) but very quick (15 days). Doing by myself would request about a couple of months, plus the cost of material, tools (the router bits are very fragile), etc.

- try to figure out as better as you can the final result you wish. I love my cockpit (of course, I made it, it's my creature), but honestly if I could go back to the past, I'll change several things and the aspect will be very different than now.

- same, even for the electronic side, consider many solutions and their development. In my case, I designed my first version of the interface, I ordered the PCBs, built and tested. It didn't work fine. Then I started again to design it (and study better the problem), then reordered the new PCBs. Now it seems the right way, they work, but currently I've a bounch of old version PCBs there in the corner, useless....

- switches, rotaries, etc: have a look to the market.....There is a lot of variety (every time I surf in Aliexpress I found something new....), and once again, coming back to the past, I'll change for sure many things... And this side of the cockpit build maybe is the more expensive....

There could be really a lot of thing to discuss about cockpit building, a neverending story....

Edited August 2, 2024 by Jocman