pitbldr Posted February 27, 2011 Author Posted February 27, 2011 BHawthorne is right, it's more of a process of finding the right settings than having an exact dimension. I suspect I'd need some type of laser measuring device to even determine the depth. I can barely feel the letters when I run my finger over them. I can say that it's thicker than one layer of paint, but not two. :) Thanks Feed! :D
Avilator Posted February 27, 2011 Posted February 27, 2011 Got it, thanks.:thumbup: I only respond to that little mechanical voice that says "Terrain! Terrain! Pull Up! Pull Up!" Who can say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. -Robert Goddard "A hybrid. A car for enthusiasts of armpit hair and brown rice." -Jeremy Clarkson "I swear by my pretty floral bonet, I will end you." -Mal from Firefly
icemaker Posted February 28, 2011 Posted February 28, 2011 great panels !! Is there any possibility of backligthing of panels and buttons?
pitbldr Posted February 28, 2011 Author Posted February 28, 2011 great panels !! Is there any possibility of backligthing of panels and buttons? Yes, I am using clear acrylic to make my panels, so backlighting is possible. My pit won't have backlighting though until after I get all the electronics for the controls worked out and have all the panels in place in the consoles. I experimented with LED's for the backlighting a few months back and I think they can do the job, but placement and how many you can use for each panel is important.
-Ice Posted February 28, 2011 Posted February 28, 2011 Hiya pitbldr! Any news on when you can offer these up to the public? I'm itching for my CDU now that I know how to use it! - Ice
pitbldr Posted February 28, 2011 Author Posted February 28, 2011 Hiya pitbldr! Any news on when you can offer these up to the public? I'm itching for my CDU now that I know how to use it! Very soon I think. My CDU is 95% done, I just need to finalize the best process for making the buttons. The UFC is about 80% done. Unless I run into any major issues, I think I can offer these up within the first couple weeks of March.
HitchHikingFlatlander Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 Incredible work - absolutely fantastic! Ditto nice stuff there! http://dcs-mercenaries.com/ USA Squad
ACUTech Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 It's just friggin' awesome dude! =ACU=Tech TECH Systemes Computer 1 Computer 2 [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
pitbldr Posted March 2, 2011 Author Posted March 2, 2011 Thanks gents! :D Had hoped to get a lot more done in the past two days, but one of my IT clients has kept me busy. My wife is out of town this weekend though, so should have plenty of time to get caught up. 1
hog_driver111th Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 Looking forward to it. Let me know if you want me to announce our other idea. A-10C - FC3 - CA - L-39 - UH1 - P-51 - Hawk - BS2 - F-86 - Gazelle - F-5E - AV8B - F/A-18C i5-4590 - GTX 1060 - Oculus CV1 - TM:Warthog [sIGPIC]http://forums.eagle.ru/signaturepics/sigpic9979_1.gif[/sIGPIC]
garengarch Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 put me on the: "I'll buy one even if I have to sell a child" list please :) Vega 2700x /16Gb ram/480Gb SSD/1Tb Seagate/nVidia 2080/Win 10 64 bit Rift. T-flight pedals.
BHawthorne Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 put me on the: "I'll buy one even if I have to sell a child" list please :) Ug, who wants a child for a panel set? Children are a more expensive hobby than simpits. :lol:
-Ice Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 Thanks gents! :D Had hoped to get a lot more done in the past two days, but one of my IT clients has kept me busy. My wife is out of town this weekend though, so should have plenty of time to get caught up. I got a better idea - quit work and divorce the wife. I want my UFC and CDU by Friday. :music_whistling: Just kidding. Take your time. BTW, how are we doing with regards to actually powering and connecting these panels to the PC? - Ice
pitbldr Posted March 2, 2011 Author Posted March 2, 2011 I got a better idea - quit work and divorce the wife. I want my UFC and CDU by Friday. :music_whistling: Just kidding. Take your time. BTW, how are we doing with regards to actually powering and connecting these panels to the PC? :lol: Funny you should ask... I was just thinking about this today. Not having much electronics experience myself, I've not crossed that bridge myself. I have been considering the options for doing this (opencockpits, arduino, etc.) and watching a couple members who are working on projects, but I've still not decided how I'll do mine. If I had to decide today, I'd be going with opencockpits. Today though I found a guy in my town that does PCB design and fabrication. I've contacted him about helping me design and make boards that I can use with my panels. Just to be clear, I am only talking about boards that would allow me to interface with something like the opencockpits cards, not something in place of them. I envision these being simple boards that would "mount" behind my panels and connect to whatever interface solution I use. I am thinking of something using SMD pushbutton switches or micro switches. If and mind you, IF I end up with some boards that others are interested in, I may offer to get a batch of those when I order mine. I am just not sure about this aspect of it yet though since I have a long way to go to get there. I still need to sit down with this guy and explain what I am doing, what I need and see what he can do and how much it'll cost. Stay tuned and I'll post when I have anything new. :)
jrsteensen Posted March 3, 2011 Posted March 3, 2011 The simplest solution may well be Leo Bodnar's boards - simple hookups and one of his boards should be able to drive either the CDU or the UCP. OpenHornet F/A-18C 1:1 SimPit Website :: DCS Thread Link :: Discord :: Github ::
icemaker Posted March 3, 2011 Posted March 3, 2011 The simplest solution may well be Leo Bodnar's boards - simple hookups and one of his boards should be able to drive either the CDU or the UCP. Not sure you have enough buttons managed by the bodnard's card... i planned to use USB keyboard matrix to use with UFC and CDU...
pitbldr Posted March 3, 2011 Author Posted March 3, 2011 I'll be using something like Opencockpits cards to interface with the computer, but what I am looking into is a breakout board that would go with my panels. Basically, a PCB with pushbutton switches that mounts to the back of my panels and then interfaces with the opencockpit hardware, xkeys, or some other IO solution. I have one of Leo's board already and I may use it, but it is a little more limited in the number of inputs it can accept, meaning I'd need several of his boards if I went that route.
-Ice Posted March 6, 2011 Posted March 6, 2011 pitbldr, are you saying Leo's boards can't handle a CDU/UFC setup? Can you link me to that opencockpit stuff you're talking about? - Ice
pitbldr Posted March 6, 2011 Author Posted March 6, 2011 pitbldr, are you saying Leo's boards can't handle a CDU/UFC setup? Can you link me to that opencockpit stuff you're talking about? Nope, not saying that. Leo's boards will work well for anything that is just sending a keystroke to the PC. However, his boards only allow up to 32 inputs and the UFC needs 34 inputs. So you'd need three or four for a CDU/UFC setup - more if you're also using custom MFD's like I'll be doing. And each one uses a USB port - you can't daisy chain them that I know of. Each Opencockpits master card can accept 72 inputs, but also allows for 64 outputs. Plus you can get the USB expansion card and hook up 4 master cards to it (that's like 288 inputs). All of this on one USB port. Here's a link to the OC site: http://www.opencockpits.com/index.php?newlang=english
HitchHikingFlatlander Posted March 7, 2011 Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) Well Leos Board has 32 inputs with an 8-way hat that can be wired to use individual buttons too. It could work, if it is the latter thats 40 buttons with the 8 way POV hat. Well for the UFC at least...... Edited March 7, 2011 by HitchHikingFlatlander http://dcs-mercenaries.com/ USA Squad
pitbldr Posted March 7, 2011 Author Posted March 7, 2011 Very true. I had forgotten about the hat switch. Don't want anyone to think I've said it can't work, it can, it will just limit the number of inputs per card is all. :)
-Ice Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 I'm guessing you're talking about this product, pitbldr? Because if you're talking about this master card, it requires a PC parallel port rather than a USB. - Ice
Feed Posted March 8, 2011 Posted March 8, 2011 (edited) But by using a USB expansion, as pitbldr stated, you connect up to 4 Master Cards to the USB expansion, instead of directly to a parallel port. Master Card alone = connect via Parallel port. USB expansion + (up to 4) Master Cards = USB port. AFAIK, OpenCockpits & SIOC no longer officially support connecting directly via Parallel, either. It may still work, though. The USB outputs card does not include provisions for switched inputs. Edited March 8, 2011 by Feed
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