y2kiah's A-10C cockpit build

[y2kiah]

well the CNC works pretty well within its limits. I need more powerful motors to cut faster, or with deeper passes. Above about 40 ipm I was losing steps when cutting MDF at .1" per pass, causing lots of messed up parts and botched jobs.

 

A few weeks ago one axis on my motor driver went bad during a job, so I had to get a new one and relearn the machine's characteristics with the new driver.

 

I also added a second X axis motor on the opposite side because I was getting racking on the gantry that caused some corners to be not square, and some bumpy edges. I've learned that racking is a pretty common problem on gantry machines, so many have double motors to solve the problem.

 

I've already designed and started building machine #2 which is based on aluminum extrusion, with only a few parts cut out with this machine. It'll be a lot faster, more rigid, with tighter tolerances, and I'll be able to machine metals with it. Here's a couple shots of the new machine design. It's pretty much a copy of the ShopBot, or Joe's hybrid CNC, but the Y and Z axes are improved to give more range of motion. The old driver and motors will be used for a smaller desktop engraving machine.

 

 

 

not exactly sure of the cost, let me try to figure out what I spent and I'll let you know

[pitbldr]

OK, thanks! I was curious if your process might be better/quicker/easier than mine, but it sounds like the CAM side may complicate it. I currently use Vcarve pro for my panels which limits me to designing them in 2.5d space, so I can't model the layout and the entire pit like you're doing, but with my limited skills, that's probably a good thing! :D

[power5]

What is the height of the flight stick from the floor?

[Deadman]

Bud the only thing i would add is something to adj the height of your ACES II replica mine is to short to just sit on the floor

[y2kiah]

what do you plan to do about it? have anything in mind? I've been toying with the idea of using the cylinder from an old office chair for height adjust.

 

it would be pretty sweet to hook it up to the cockpit switch and have a screw drive the seat height. I haven't done any design for the seat yet, still using the free model I found.

[Krebs20]

You might take some interest in old car seats. Steal the guts out one with electric adjust and hide it inside your seat.

I have an electric seat out of a Ford windstar. It goes forward/back, up/down, tilt forward/back, reclines, and I think lumbar. I would be willing to let it go for free. Although you have 2 panels I would be very interested in. Just need to pay the shipping. I can get you pictures if you are interested. I went with a manual seat because i didnt want to run power to the seat. If you check out my pit you'll see the kind of seat I'm talking about.

[sweinhart3]

I just bolted down a few 2x4 in a rail fashion to raise height and be able to push and pull out my seat if needed. not sure if that would go well in an all metal cockpit though.

[Deadman]

I am going to put on one of these

http://www.amazon.com/12V-DC-Electric-Car-Jack/dp/B000G2MHE4

To replace the real one located at the bottom of the picture, but i will make guide rails for the ACES II .

Edited September 24, 2010 by Deadman

[Ells228]

After reading for an hour catching up I have to say Awesome Job!!!

Can't wait to see the build pictures in progess.

[y2kiah]

panels cut

 

Hi all, just wanted to give an update before my thread fell off the first page :P

 

The first batch of panels have all been cut, here are some pictures of several of them. Unfortunately for me, but fortunately for someone else, these panels will not find their home in my pit. Sorry for the blurry photos, but my hand was not steady enough. Keep in mind these are not cleaned up yet, the tabs need to be filed down, they need a good washing and light sanding.

 

 

 

 

The first couple shows the top side, these are back-lightable and have a nice high contrast white surface for the lettering. The last photo shows the back side with pockets cut out. Next update will be after painting and engraving. If you are in need of a particular panel or panels, send me a PM.

[sweinhart3]

Looks good. Wonder who the lucky pitbuilder is. :music_whistling:

[Dantx101]

y2kiah. Wow, awesome work. I would be interesting in what you would charge for a panel set. Unpainted and not labeled.

[Duckling]

Good progress y2kiah. Watch up for the size of the cutouts below the lightpanels. Think you have though, but just in case. They look a bit narrow for a regular size switch "nut". I swapped the my earlier choise of 20mm for 25mm to ease the build. Had to re-cut a few of my the first lightpanels.

 

Cheers

Gus

Edited October 14, 2010 by Duckling

[pitbldr]

Very nice work!! :thumbup:

 

I am just reaching the point where I am ready to engrave a couple test panels as I work out the best method. Mind if I pick your brain and ask how you're planning on doing yours?

 

Right now, my process is...

 

1. Cut out panel and holes for switches, etc.

2. Apply several coats of black paint.

3. Apply several coats of clear coat.

4. Use a .002" 60 degree engraving bit

 

OR

 

4. Take them up to a the local Techshop and use their laser engraver. I imagine I'd have the best results from this, it's just not as convenient as doing it at home. :)

 

Still working out/testing how I'll handle backlighting.

 

What's the thickness of the acrylic you're using and have you tested backlighting it yet?

[Dantx101]

FYI Pitbldr.......just for fun, I tested our YAG laser on a spray painted piece of clear acrylic.

 

Its outstanding. Nice and sharp edged and did not affect the clarity one bit.

 

Do not have a Co2 laser to test, but if the shop you find has a YAG, you should be impressed.

[pitbldr]

Yeah, I bet the laser work would blow away the engraving method. The shop close to me has an Epilog (45 watt I believe). If I decide to use it, I just have to join which costs $99 a month. They have a ton of other equipment though for metalworking, woodworking, plus a plasma cnc and a shopbot. I could spend a lot of time up there! :D

[Dantx101]

I'm betting the engraving would look best if you were trying to make it mil-spec, but I'm trying to make what I can with what I have. So its tons of experimenting for me. I might try to use the laser to create cut lines on a piece of acrylic...saw cut...spray paint........then laser off the paint where needed.

 

Should be ummm interesting lol

[y2kiah]

Good progress y2kiah. Watch up for the size of the cutouts below the lightpanels.

They fit the standard size heavy duty switches that I have. I guess I can't guarantee that they'll fit the real mil spec switches, but at 25 bucks per switch, I'm not worried about satisfying that crowd. :)

 

Very nice work!! :thumbup:

1. Cut out panel and holes for switches, etc.

2. Apply several coats of black paint.

3. Apply several coats of clear coat.

4. Use a .002" 60 degree engraving bit

What's the thickness of the acrylic you're using and have you tested backlighting it yet?

 

I'm using the same process but with #3 and #4 switched, so I clear coat after engraving to seal everything up. I've tested some engraving and it does look very good, but takes FOREVER on the machine with such a small bit. I'm tempted to settle for rounded corners on the letters but one stroke per letter and a larger bit. I'll try that out at some point, but also means I'll have to redo all of my lettering layouts.

 

I use a 1/16" Matte/White engraving plastic bonded to 3/16" acrylic for a total of 1/4" thickness. The Matte side faces up, so the white surface actually sits about 1/32" below the top of the panel. This way when I engrave I'm guaranteed not to completely punch through the white layer.

 

Back lighting looks good with a simple flashlight test. If I were to do LED backlighting, I use 2447 or 7328 acrylic to act as a diffuser, which is the case on these panels. You will need quite a few LEDs with this method though to get even coverage. For my panels, I'm planning on engraving a 1/32" deep pocket on the back side to fit an EL sheet in, and I will use clear acrylic behind the engraving plastic. EL sheet will be expensive but something I'm willing to do one panel at a time.

 

I just have to join which costs $99 a month

Wow if you can get all your panels lasered in one month for a total of $99 dollars, I would do that in a heartbeat. Pretty cool service you have there, I can't see anything like that around here.

[Deadman]

what font are you using on you panels?

Some that have been recommended on other forms

You will notice that some have rounded ends and some don't

 

F-16 panel font

MS 33558 font

Trade Gothic 18

Edited October 15, 2010 by Deadman

[y2kiah]

So far I've been using Franklin Gothic Medium on the panels, would be interesting to see how they look in those other fonts though

[pitbldr]

 

I'm using the same process...

 

I use a 1/16" Matte/White engraving plastic bonded to 3/16" acrylic for a total of 1/4" thickness. The Matte side faces up, so the white surface actually sits about 1/32" below the top of the panel. This way when I engrave I'm guaranteed not to completely punch through the white layer.

 

Back lighting looks good with a simple flashlight test. If I were to do LED backlighting, I use 2447 or 7328 acrylic to act as a diffuser, which is the case on these panels.

 

Wow if you can get all your panels lasered in one month for a total of $99 dollars, I would do that in a heartbeat. Pretty cool service you have there, I can't see anything like that around here.

 

 

Thanks for sharing! Sounds like our processes are similar with a few variations. My plan at this point is to use 1/16 acrylic (2447 or 7328, whichever looks best) bonded to 1/4 clear acrylic. The clear half would have my LED's embedded in it, but I still need to determine the type of LED's I'll use (individual or strip) and how I'll embed it. I had thought about using the EL sheets, but don't know enough about them and the price was considerable too. I'll be very interested to see how that works out for you.

 

I'd love to be able to go in and do all my panels in one shot too! Realistically though, I'll only be able to get a few panels done a month and will be building the pit in small phases. However, I have thought I may also use their 4x8 shopbot in cutting out pieces for the pit. I have a 2x4 CNC, but doubt it could handle all the parts I'll need. :)

[y2kiah]

I had a productive weekend, I cut out all of the back panel blanks from sheet metal on the table saw. WHAT A MESS. I have aluminum shards impaled in the shirt I was wearing. Next time, I'll wear an apron. Making a full set for the left and right consoles (that's 30 panels including blanks) is just such a big job. And I have to do it all over again at some point for my own pit... yeesh. I also fashioned a painting station in my garage/shop that shrouds the piece and sucks air in one direction through a filter. I'll be doing a LOT of spray painting this week so this was a must. I'll post some pics of it later.

 

In other news, my hotas warthog is on the way so I need to start building my pit. I'll be cutting out templates for the ribs from hardboard on the cnc machine, then using a jig saw or router to cut the ribs from birch ply. I have come to hate MDF despite its many advantages, and I refuse to work with it anymore unless absolutely necessary. It turns to powder, covers the entire room with a blanket of dust no matter how big the room or how good my dust collection is set up, and it's impossible not to breath in some of the dust even with a mask on.

 

In other other news, the Arduino electronics solution I've talked about in some of my previous posts is starting to take shape. The firmware is almost finished, and I'm making good progress on the server. The server is written in C++, is very lightweight and fast, and runs multiple threads to take advantage of multicore processors. The server also incorporates the V8 javascript engine, so you can perform any special processing to fix up interface issues right on the server. If you want to get sophisticated, you could even completely implement certain avionics that the host sim does not provide. Basically you create your pit configuration in a visual IDE, save your project to an XML file, and deploy the file to the server folder. The server then knows everything it needs to run your pit, and it will connect any microcontrollers to any sim software (for now just DCS) through event messages, with absolute minimal network traffic. In the Arduino world, they have announced a board with TCP built right in, in lieu of serial, which will cut down on the cost of this solution because a separate ethernet shield will not be required for each board.

 

I'm calling the protocol NISE (Network Interface for Simulator Electronics) and the various components are

* NISEStudio (the IDE)

* NISEServer (the TCP server)

* NISEAgent (.lua files for DCS, SimConnect for FS10, etc.)

* NISEArduino (fimware)

 

Here is a teaser screenshot of the IDE. This runs on Windows XP, Vista, 7 using the .NET 4.0 framework. It's still early in development, so many features are not implemented yet.

 

[Feed]

I'm gonna cry ...

 

If you need testers, sign me up.

[pitbldr]

Man, you were busy! :thumbup:

 

I'll be interested to see your painting station. I'll probably need to set one up myself or either go outdoors - may have to copy your design. :music_whistling:

 

Can I ask why you're only cutting the templates on the CNC and not the actual ribs? Completely agree with you on MDF... that stuff is messy and unhealthy. I only use if for my spoil board since it is extremely flat, but I hate it when it's time to resurface it!

 

I'll be watching your NISE project closely. I am leaning toward OC hardware, but need to understand what both solutions offer and which will work best for me (I have very little knowledge of programming or electronics). I did learn that the local TechShop offers an Arduino class and even sells the card. I may end up taking that just for the learning experience.

[Duckling]

NISE work Y2kiah :-)

Looks VERY promising. I have to make a recap on Aurdino system to try to grasp the possibilities. Seems you just carved out quite a bit of the sim interface market just now. This will be a blockbuster application.

 

Cheers

Gus

Edited November 8, 2010 by Duckling