saskcan Posted December 1, 2012 Posted December 1, 2012 Welcome to my A10-C Thunderbolt II build thread! After drooling over some of the other builds I have seen online, I have decided to take the plunge. It will be a while yet until I can start to build but I will update my design progress as much as possible. I would like to document my pit for other builders as a reference and also a type of peer review. If you think I am doing something wrong, please let me know! I will be happy for any feedback either positive or negative (just take it easy on me-I'm new at this).
saskcan Posted December 1, 2012 Author Posted December 1, 2012 Fuel Control Panel Dimensions Here is my take on the Fuel Control Panel dimensions. I have left the dimensions in metric because that is what I am more comfortable with. Because they come from inches, the number of decimal places is a bit crazy but I kept them that way for ease of conversion. These dimensions are not taken from a real panel so they aren't guaranteed to be perfect. This will probably go for all of my dimensions throughout the build. I found a great thread by y2kiah which gave me a good starting point. I did make some modifications where I thought appropriate. The background picture I used can be found here. Also, a useful thread on panel dim's for DZUS. I modified their width to (5.75" = 146.05mm) Let me know what you think!
showtime817th Posted December 1, 2012 Posted December 1, 2012 Welcome to the club Saskcan. Showtime817th [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
Hansolo Posted December 1, 2012 Posted December 1, 2012 Enjoy your cockpit building and I look forward to see more :) 132nd Virtual Wing homepage & 132nd Virtual Wing YouTube channel My DCS-BIOS sketches & Cockpit Album
saskcan Posted December 1, 2012 Author Posted December 1, 2012 AN/ARC 186(V) Dimensions I had a little more difficulty with the AN/ARC 186(V) radio than the fuel panel. I read in another post that the panel in DCS is 1 unit too long. I believe it is modeled as 7 and I guess that would mean that it should be 6 DZUS units. Anyway here are my dimensions. The photo I found here and the line drawing from a google image search.
JG14_Smil Posted December 1, 2012 Posted December 1, 2012 Best of luck to you! That is some fancy measuring to the ten thousanths of a milimeter. :)
saskcan Posted December 1, 2012 Author Posted December 1, 2012 Best of luck to you! That is some fancy measuring to the ten thousanths of a milimeter. :) Haha ya it is because of the inch > mm conversion and since I am not sure about the manufacturing process yet, I thought it would be better to just leave them in there. I think the best tolerance for a cnc machines is typically in the 1/1000 of an inch range and that would be about 1/40 of a mm. Can anyone verify this for the sake of curiosity?
BHawthorne Posted December 2, 2012 Posted December 2, 2012 (edited) I think you'll find most home built mini-mill CNC work is around 0.010" accuracy worse case depending on the slop in the axis. Often more accurate to around 0.005". It depends upon the machine you're using though. When you're splitting hairs in 1/1000ths it's a bit moot point though for visual inspection. Most simpit parts people are guessing extrapolated from photos and in some cases are off by inches. Edited December 2, 2012 by BHawthorne
BHawthorne Posted December 2, 2012 Posted December 2, 2012 To give you an idea, when I worked for a aerospace subcontractor for Boeing, many parts had a pass/fail tolerance of 0.030" in the quality control process. I wouldn't worry about tolerances in the 1/1000" range.
saskcan Posted December 2, 2012 Author Posted December 2, 2012 AN/ARC-164 Dimensions Here are my dimensions for the AN/ARC-164 radio. I will probably keep using the 1/10 mm tolerances from now on :). By the way, these drawings are done in Visio. If anyone is interested in the actual .vsd file let me know and I would be happy to share it.
saskcan Posted December 4, 2012 Author Posted December 4, 2012 Fuel Control Panel Switch Alternatives Here are some alternatives I found for the fuel control panel switches. They are sourced from digikey. Function of the push-pull shutoff switches will not be duplicated. They are replaced with a normal push switch. Toggles: EG4828-ND Photointerruptor for Air Refuel Control Lever: 365-1246-ND Fill Disable Switches: 679-1047-ND Ext. Lighting Dimmer: CT3022-ND Line Check Button: 679-1046-ND Still need to find a knob for the dimmer. Does anyone have experience with these or other switches in a similar price range that could give a recommendation?
Deadman Posted December 4, 2012 Posted December 4, 2012 (edited) you might find push pulls that are cheaper than what you looking at now http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=95707 what knobs are you looking for? Edited December 6, 2012 by Deadman https://forum.dcs.world/topic/133818-deadmans-cockpit-base-plans/#comment-133824 CNCs and Laser engravers are great but they can't do squat with out a precise set of plans.
saskcan Posted December 6, 2012 Author Posted December 6, 2012 Hi Deadman, I wanted to reply to your post asap even though maybe not ready to answer... I will be working panel by panel designing and sourcing parts so since I started with the fuel control panel, right now the first knob that I need is for the exterior lights dimmer on the aforementioned panel. Once I get a better handle on the parts situation, I'll have a more complete list of what I need. If you are still making castings, I would be very interested!
Deadman Posted December 6, 2012 Posted December 6, 2012 there may be a run of knobs in January as posted if there is enough interest http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=1614575#post1614575 https://forum.dcs.world/topic/133818-deadmans-cockpit-base-plans/#comment-133824 CNCs and Laser engravers are great but they can't do squat with out a precise set of plans.
saskcan Posted December 9, 2012 Author Posted December 9, 2012 (edited) Fuel System Control Panel Render Here is a 3d model of the fuel system control panel. Since the throttles and LASTE will very likely be HOTAS warthog, I think I will next start work on the Aux Lighting Panel (the radios intimidate me...) Edited December 9, 2012 by saskcan changed attachment
saskcan Posted December 13, 2012 Author Posted December 13, 2012 Auxiliary Lighting Control Panel Render Rendered image of the Aux. Lighting Control Panel. Hope you guys like it! The text on the right hand side of the panel reads "AUX LTS" even though the panel in DCS shows AUX LTG. I believe it is wrong in the game. At least I have seen some A10A images online which show LTS.
Deadman Posted December 13, 2012 Posted December 13, 2012 it looks as if you have changed your font from one panel to the next ? What are you using now both of these panels use MS 33558. Yes your correct that AUX LTS is the correct panel marking for a real panel. https://forum.dcs.world/topic/133818-deadmans-cockpit-base-plans/#comment-133824 CNCs and Laser engravers are great but they can't do squat with out a precise set of plans.
saskcan Posted December 14, 2012 Author Posted December 14, 2012 it looks as if you have changed your font from one panel to the next ? What are you using now both of these panels use MS 33558. Yes your correct that AUX LTS is the correct panel marking for a real panel. hey thanks for the font tip! On the fuel control panel, I was just using the default sans-serif which is Tahoma. After looking through my installed fonts, I found that TechnicBold was a close match. The majority of the letters are sized at 3.3mm and the larger text on the right is sized at 4mm. Anyone know how these compare to the real panels? I found a free download link for the MS 33558 font as mentioned by Deadman. I will be using that where appropriate from now on. Also, here is a link to the MS revision C which looks appropriate.
BHawthorne Posted December 14, 2012 Posted December 14, 2012 Just a small note on the mil-spec font. It's designed that way so CNC toolpaths can be used to etch the font. A fine head endmill can be used.
saskcan Posted December 14, 2012 Author Posted December 14, 2012 Any idea about etching depth for CNC milling? I have been using .1mm in my models. Lots of details to work out but I am happy with my progress so far.
Hansolo Posted December 14, 2012 Posted December 14, 2012 (edited) When engraving in the black-and-white plate I use, I set set depth for 0.2mm, the tool is a 10degree engraving bit with a tip width of 0.1mm. Hope this give you an idea. Cheers Hans p.s. this is the bit I am talking about: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-175x10-x0-1mm-V-Type-HM-Gravierstichel-Fraserfur-Frasmaschine-Graviermaschine-/290804997742?pt=Fr%C3%A4sen&hash=item43b5541e6e Edited December 14, 2012 by Hansolo 132nd Virtual Wing homepage & 132nd Virtual Wing YouTube channel My DCS-BIOS sketches & Cockpit Album
saskcan Posted December 14, 2012 Author Posted December 14, 2012 Alright, I have got a model together for the SAS Panel. This one uses the MS font. On the previous panels, the round holes for switches have been the same size through all three layers but from inspection, it seems that the size through the backlight and engraving layers should be wider. This is reflected in the new panel. Here are the planned materials (which might change depending on budget/availability of better options) Yaw Trim Pot Yaw Trim Knob (but really I want one of Deadman's castings) Takeoff Trim Button SAS Enable Switches Monitor Test Switch If anyone knows a supplier of locking bar switches that is reasonably-priced, please share! I do not want to go the honeywell route and as far as I can tell, NKK only has the 'locked out of center' versions of locking lever.
MTFDarkEagle Posted December 14, 2012 Posted December 14, 2012 NKK have got lots of switches what you search. One example: http://nl.mouser.com/ProductDetail/NKK-Switches/S21AL-RO/?qs=%2fha2pyFadugka3xbYJsNPr4uJ%2fWOxdIxNxX38CJo7ElJdl%252bAg9Dewg%3d%3d That is one I use in my boxpanel and is very good! Look at that website you can find loads more of NKK switches (locking and non-locking) Lukas - "TIN TIN" - 9th Shrek Air Strike Squadron TIN TIN's Cockpit thread
metalnwood Posted December 15, 2012 Posted December 15, 2012 Any idea about etching depth for CNC milling? I have been using .1mm in my models. Lots of details to work out but I am happy with my progress so far. I dont know what material you are engraving with. If it is a material specifically for rotary engraving then it will tell you how deep the top layer is. You dont have to go much farther than that, depending on oh flat the table is on your CNC is to get even coverage.
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