My modest MFCD Panel + Poor Mans UFC

[Deadman]

Looks really Good CubPilot:thumbup:

[bigbadthomazzz]

WOW! Looks awesome, how did you make the upper parts. The fire pull switches and stuff (dont know how to call it :S)

[beynesairforce]

Very nice ..... incredible ...... amazing ......

Is possible for you to give advice / schematical plan with dimension of the "fire bar" ??? :music_whistling:

[CubPilot]

Thanks for your kind comment Deadman. It does look a lot better than a simple rectangle sitting on desk!

 

As for how I did the fire handles, etc. They started out by taking closeup screen shots of them in the sim (I have Track IR). The parts are modular in that I split it up into three parts, left side, middle (fire handles), and right side. So when doing the screen shots I split them up in a similar manner. Once I had the graphics I went into my photo editing software and tweaked the color of the yellow slashes (yellow was different colors due to shading in sim). Then I printed them out, put the three modules together to see how wide they would be. I held it up to my panel and from there adjusted the width to fit my panel by adjusting the size of the screen shots (equally for each module) & printing them out again,etc.etc., until it looked about right for the width of my basic rectangular panel. That's how I started.

 

I will post more details with pictures later this week. I will be away from the computer for the rest of today.

[CubPilot]

Very nice ..... incredible ...... amazing ......

Is possible for you to give advice / schematical plan with dimension of the "fire bar" ??? :music_whistling:

 

The size was determined using screen shots and resizing them so the glare shield fit the width of my basic rectangular panel and look about right with my panel size. This allowed me to use the screen shots for the graphics rather than make them from scratch. So, I guess it depends how large your instrument panel is. I'm sure mine is not the same width as the real thing. I sized my panel to fit the available space that I had on my desk.

 

I had one other thing to consider with the Fire handles module. I have my two flood lighting LED units semi hidden on the bottom of the black areas between the fire handles, so I sized these parts to a width that would match the width of the LED units I had bought.

Edited June 18, 2012 by CubPilot

[Wartski]

Really nice work!!

[beynesairforce]

Ok, it's not a real A10c size .

One more question, what card to you use to connect switch to your PC ?

 

I planned to make my own UFC with a Leobodnar usb card (BU0836X). I think having enought input for the "fire bar" switch on it.

[CubPilot]

Ok, it's not a real A10c size .

One more question, what card to you use to connect switch to your PC ?

 

I planned to make my own UFC with a Leobodnar usb card (BU0836X). I think having enought input for the "fire bar" switch on it.

 

I have a BU0836 card that I use for the TM RCS rudder axes (I have a TM Warthog so I needed to convert the RCS's to USB). I needed to build a breakout board for the button matrix required with this version. Leo had not come out with the "X" model when I bought this card.

 

If I counted correctly there are 28 buttons that are active in the sim on the UFC. Six other buttons do nothing in the DCS A-10C UFC, so I did not include them in my keypad UFC. These are the FWD, MID, AFT and the three unlabeled buttons under them on the UFC.

 

The BU0836 has 32 buttons + four hat buttons. I think you could use the hat buttons for two of the rocker switches on the UFC as these would never have two hat buttons pushed down in normal use (two buttons pushed at once would result in a 8-way hat switch "corner" output). So I think you would have enough buttons to do the UFC with Leo's "X" board + a few left over.

Edited May 31, 2011 by CubPilot

[CubPilot]

I divided the glare shield into three pieces (modules) which makes it a bit easier to make.

 

1. Left - Jettison Stores Module

 

2. Middle - Fire Handle Module

 

3. Right - Fire Extinguisher Discharge Module

 

 

OK, off to the Fire Handle Module

 

 

Above is the bottom view of this module. The top is the front, the bottom is the back. This is made of 3/4" thick MDF material. Starting at the top are two protrusions that are the areas between the Fire Handles. The horizontal notches are used to house the Led flood panel lighting units on the underside of the module. Directly below these LED notches are four smaller notches, which are the openings for holes which go down and out the back of the module to route the LED power wires towards the back of the panel.

 

The numbers 1,2, and 3, are lined up with the three vertical holes for the Fire Handle shafts. There are no bushings, the holes in the MDF is the bushing. The fit between the Fire Handle shaft and the hole is loose enough so the shaft slips in the hole with very little force, but not so loose so it wobbles around inside the hole. The three notches going across the Fire handle shaft holes are used to limit the travel of the handle (more on this later).

 

The three notches at the bottom of the module are there to mount the switches for each Fire Handle.

 

 

 

This shows the Fire Handle which is attached to the shaft with a set screw. The shaft has a notch milled into it which does four things. It limits the travel of the shaft both in and out as well a not allowing the shaft to rotate. In addition it allows for minor adjustments to rotate the handle so it lines up with horizontally with the bottom front of the module.

 

 

 

The notch in the handle shaft sits a little above the notch cut into the MDF material. This allows the white UHMW Polyethylene block, which wears well and has a low coefficient of friction, to slightly rotate the shaft for horizontal fine tuning. The UHMW material will allow for a smooth movement.

 

 

 

All three Fire Handles installed. The three UHMW blocks have two tapped holes in each block to accept the adjustment screws which are installed through the top of the module.

 

 

 

Top view of installed Fire Handles. The adjustment screws for each handle fine tune the handle rotation by loosening one screw and tightening the other screw a bit. Tightening or loosening both screws adjusts the drag on the shaft. The drag setting wants to be enough so the handle stays put when activating the switch, but not so much as to move the whole instrument panel when activating the Fire Handles, which risks pulling it off the desk.

 

 

 

The module is painted, wired, and assembled! The white items at the top are the green LED flood lighting units. The black LED power wires on the right exit through to the back of the module and connect to the dimmer and power supply. The white wires that loop around at the center of the module connect the two LED units together. The white UHMW blocks are covered with black electrical tape to help them be less noticeable. The Fire handle switches are installed along with their activators.

 

 

 

Top view of the module. The top of the MDF was covered with 1/16" 3 ply Burch Plywood. This makes the top of this module even with the other two modules. I cut holes through the plywood for access to the Fire Handle shaft adjustment screws. The two screws at the top attach this module to the main panel. I will cut the backside of the Fire Handle shafts shorter at a later time.

 

 

 

 

 

Closeup of a Fire Handle switch and actuator. The switch is really made for surface mounting on a PCB. I soldered two wires on to it and with a bit of epoxy in the notch we have a Fire Handle switch. The actuator, the aluminum bit, is attached to the shaft with a set screw. The bolt and nut allows fine tuning for the switch activation. It's adjusted to push the switch down, but not put so much pressure against it to risk breaking it.

 

There you have the Fire Handle Module, ready to be installed and wired up.

 

Now I realize that some of you may not have the tools that I do. But even so you might get some ideas from this as to how you might be able to do something similar and get similar results. Creativity is a wonderful thing.

 

:pilotfly:

[hog_driver111th]

Dude, that is really awesome. Your creativity IS a wonderful thing. The simplicity of the switch using the screw to push it down totally makes sense. I hope I can build something like this one of these days. Do you think later you'll put a plastic cap on the pull handle part (where you have the decal) with an LED going into it so it lights up when there's an engine fire, or will you stick with the decal?

[CubPilot]

Dude, that is really awesome. Your creativity IS a wonderful thing. The simplicity of the switch using the screw to push it down totally makes sense. I hope I can build something like this one of these days. Do you think later you'll put a plastic cap on the pull handle part (where you have the decal) with an LED going into it so it lights up when there's an engine fire, or will you stick with the decal?

 

Thanks for your kind comments. I probably won't do anything like that. It would take a PCB that could read that data from the sim to turn on the LED. Not impossible, but right now I don't know how to do it and if it involves any LUA programming I would be sunk (or any other type of programming). I can modify code if it's a small change (sometimes), but writing code from scratch isn't in my vocabulary. I can see that info on the main screen and that's enough for me.

 

My main reason to build this panel was to get as much weapon stores and controls as possible with the MFCD's. The LDG Gear, Fire Handles, and the others I'm adding because the USB PCB has enough positions to do them, so I might as well use them. Also to get away from that "rectangle" look I started out with and make it more like an A-10C instrument panel while keeping in mind my main reason stated earlier. Oh, one other reason, I enjoy making things and figuring out how I'm going to do it.

 

Right now I want to get this done as I do have other things to do now that the nice weather has arrived here. Maybe in the future I may add or modify things, not ruling anything out.

[PanelBuilder]

Very nice indeed.

Colin

[Gadroc]

Thanks for your kind comments. I probably won't do anything like that. It would take a PCB that could read that data from the sim to turn on the LED. Not impossible, but right now I don't know how to do it and if it involves any LUA programming I would be sunk (or any other type of programming). I can modify code if it's a small change (sometimes), but writing code from scratch isn't in my vocabulary. I can see that info on the main screen and that's enough for me.

 

Helios supports the Phidgets LED Controller board and can be used to do this for you with out any LUA programming.

[CubPilot]

Helios supports the Phidgets LED Controller board and can be used to do this for you with out any LUA programming.

 

Thanks for pointing that out Gadroc. Your work on Helios is simply amazing :clap_2:>>>>>>> :thumbup: ! I had been following Helios on and off but didn't know it had that kind of support for the Phidgets board (never really looked into the Phidgets board). That might become useful sometime in the future, maybe next winter. I really want to get what I have on my plate at the moment done and working so I can actually use it with the sim. Still have the two main panel side wings to finish up and the LDG Gear handle, LDG/Taxi Light, and Anti Skid switches needs some final work. :D

 

 

 

:pilotfly:

Edited June 1, 2011 by CubPilot

[CubPilot]

The next two modules, Left - Jettison Stores Module and Right - Fire Extinguisher Discharge Module

 

 

These two modules are the easiest to make.

 

 

The above photo shows the back side of the Left & Right modules. The main body of each module is made of 3/4" MDF material. I chose this thickness so that I would have enough room for the switches that are in each module. I then glued a 1/2" wide x 3/4" high strip of MDF material to form the ledge at the top and on the backside of the modules as shown above. This ledge matches the thickness of the main panel and the height of the Fire Handle Module and attaches to the top of the main panel. I traced the shape using the graphics I printed out at the very beginning of this project and cut the straight parts on the table saw, the curved parts were cut with a good quality jig saw (no 30 year old Black & Decker jig saw used here). A bit of finish sanding to fine tune the curved sections and I was on my way.

 

I then cut some 1/16" 3 ply Birch Plywood to width and the proper shape for each piece. I then wrapped this around the MDF main body, gluing it to the top, bottom, and sides. The straight portions presented no problem. But the curved parts did. Normal plywood is made with the grain of each ply (layer) glued together at different angles in relation to the other layers of the finished product. This makes the plywood equally stiff in all directions and makes it difficult to bend around curves. One solution would have been to steam the plywood and make it bend that way (if the glue used in this plywood could stand all that moisture). I did not have an easy way to steam the plywood, so I went down another path. I got some 1/16" thick balsa wood. This wood did not have any layers, it was a solid piece, readily available at the Hobby shop that I bought the Birch Plywood at, and was very flexible in one direction (90 degrees to the grain).

 

The holes seen at the backside of each module are for mounting the switches.

 

 

 

This picture shows the top side of each module. Before I glued this up I cut the plywood and balsa wood to the same width. Figured out the length I needed for the straight parts covered with plywood and the curved parts covered with the balsa wood, plus a little bit more length to allow for final trimming. I then glued these two different materials by butting the edges together to form a smooth, even joint. I placed them on the table saw top with the plywood against the fence, some wax paper under the butt joint area so as not to make a gluey mess on the top of the table saw, then pushed the balsa wood tightly against the plywood, finally I placed some more wax paper and a heavy weight on top of both pieces of wood. I left it like that overnight, had a nice evenly joined piece of wood in the morning.

 

The two holes in the top of each module are for the screws to attach them to the main panel.

 

 

 

 

The plywood/balsa wrap is glued and complete. Nice curves huh? :smilewink: The graphics are installed to locate the holes for the switches. Also shown is the aluminum push button guard for the Stores Jettison Button.

 

 

 

Painted and installed Left Module.

 

 

 

Painted and installed Right Module. :D

 

More to come.

 

:pilotfly:

Edited June 1, 2011 by CubPilot

[Cali]

Some of you guys are just plain good at this stuff.

[Duckling]

Looks fantastic, CubPilot :thumbup:

[CubPilot]

Cali, Each of us have our own special talents. If we can all help each other out then all will be well with the Universe.

 

Thanks Duckling, I checked out your A-10 cockpit project and it doesn't look amaterurish to me. Nice job right back at ya. :thumbup:

 

 

 

Left Wing Panel with LDG Gear Handle

 

 

LDG Gear Up, the switch on the right makes a connection.

 

 

 

LDG Gear Down, left switch makes contact, right switch breaks contact.

 

 

 

Front view, LDG Gear Down.

 

 

 

Back side showing LDG Gear Handle pivot. This is a "KISS" (keep it simple) design. The real deal requires that the handle be pulled out a bit to choose the LDG Gear configuration. I was afraid I would pull the panel off the desk with the "pull" design. Besides, I won't be pulling any "G's" at my desk to need that feature. :smilewink:

 

The object under the nyloc nut is a spring. Turned out the spring was too weak to do the job so I just compressed it more until I got the amount of drag correct so the handle stays put. I put a piece of UHMW tape between the LDG Gear Handle and the bracket. Makes for super smooth movement for the handle and requires no lubrication. The two black screws (sticking out of right side of bracket) are the UP/Down stops to limit the handle movement.

 

 

 

 

Attached to main panel.

 

 

Next the Anti-Skid and Taxi Lights Switches.

 

 

 

 

:pilotfly:

Edited June 3, 2011 by CubPilot

[HitchHikingFlatlander]

Awesome stuff Cubpilot!

[pcalvert]

Yes - really nice job. How do you do your metalwork. Do you have a lathe?

[pitbldr]

Great work!! :thumbup:

[CubPilot]

Yes - really nice job. How do you do your metalwork. Do you have a lathe?

 

Yes, a small table top metal lathe and a medium sized milling machine (not table top size or one that sits directly on the floor, it sits on a base cabinet, not a mill/drill with a round vertical column, mine has a dovetail "knee" for the Z axis [up/down]). For wood, a router & router table, a decent Contractors Table Saw, a good Jig Saw,and a cordless drill with various drill bits, and other hand tools. I used each of these tools as needed for the various parts of my instrument panel.

 

So, I probably have more tools than most, but some would have more/better than I do, others less. Having good tools and the correct tool for the job can make things easier and produce better results, no doubt about it. That being said, sometimes a different tool can be substituted for the best tool to do a certain job. I don't have a band saw, which would probably been a better choice to cut the curves at each side of the glare shield. I got by using a good jig saw, the cut ended up being pretty square to the face of the piece, which was the desired outcome.

 

 

:pilotfly:

[CubPilot]

LDG/TAXI Light Switch

 

 

Been away from panel building for a few days. Just finished knocking out the LDG/TAXI light switch.

 

 

 

The switch is a SPDT flat handle switch. The aluminum part is the beginnings of the switch handle add-on. There will be two set screws to hold the add-on to the switch handle.

 

 

 

Another view, the switch handle goes into the slot in the add-on.

 

 

 

Almost finished switch add-on. The three small balls will go on the front of the add-on, which has three holes milled into it at a depth of 1/2 the diameter of the 5/32" diameter balls. I could have used BB's, if I had any, which I didn't. I looked online and I would have had to buy 1000..... just to use three! Ended up getting SS balls from a machine shop supply company. I only had to get 100 @ about $6.

 

 

 

Another view of the ball sockets.

 

 

 

A little epoxy and those little balls look right at home! Before the epoxy completely set up I cleaned up any excess that squeezed out around the balls using a small jewelers screwdriver.

 

 

 

Finished base coat of paint. I need to get shorter set screws.

 

Now all that's left to do is to.... ummm.... cough, cough........ paint my three balls gold (or yellow or something). :shocking:

 

 

 

 

:pilotfly:

Edited June 8, 2011 by CubPilot

[pcalvert]

Great stuff Cubpilot. How will you get your gear lever to work with the sim? I would like to try something similar :)

[PanelBuilder]

Ingenious!

 

Colin