Boltz's A-10 Build

[Boltz]

Time for some more pics. Progress has been slow but construction is nearly finished. There is still quite a lot to be painted and a few parts to be covered. Sidewalls need to be sewn but that is in hand. I still need to work out the joystick mount and cover some parts around the pedals and stick base, hopefully in aluminium for a good look. And outside decals still to be added

Then it will be time for the panels

It has been so difficult to resist the temptation to add all the parts I have to see what it will look like, maybe not for much longer

 

 

I will place an order for electronics this weekend which should get most of the panels working. I am still to decide on what to go with but I am leaning towards just paying up for an Arduino per panel with ethernet shield. I have spent enough money so far to not need to save a few pounds. If £300 gets everything working then that will be £300 very well spent

[LynxDK]

Damn nice Boltz :)

[agrasyuk]

Looking good there Callum. And about time :)

[Warhog]

Like WOW Calum. :shocking: You really made a dent in things didn't you. Know wonder we haven't heard from you in a while. Sneaking around building cockpit thingys while the rest of us are sittin on our duff (not me though:smilewink:) shooting the shit about stuff that doesn't really matter.:lol:

 

Really nice job there my friend.:thumbup: Keep those pictures rolling in.

[Gremlin77]

Wow these instruments are super impressive! I like the 3d relief of your front panels. Mine are all quite flat....

[Boltz]

Thanks guys. Been waiting for this day for about 2 years now:

 

I still need to put decals on the right side then will show some pictures of it. I think I need to add something on the forward section to balance up the look but I don't have much of an idea. There is still the screen mount to add which will break up the large area of grey a bit.

 

A huge thank you to Deadman, decals are of the highest quality and look very nice

Edited July 9, 2015 by Boltz

[Deadman]

Looks great it has been a long journey for you but it is all turning out you have a great pit there.

[JCook]

Beautiful simpit there Boltz. Very nice work!

[Hansolo]

Beatiful work there Boltz :thumbup: Really impressive.

 

Top job :thumbup:

 

Cheers

Hans

[MacFevre]

Fantastic Callum! Kudos!

[Boltz]

Start by replacing the wooden "dzus" rails with aluminium angle and create the frames along with some small box section and other stock.

 

In the end this will not sit upon the current wooden frame. I will either modify it a lot or build a new one from wood or aluminium. Some angles are not correct because there is still wood in the way of the new rails.

 

[weeb]

Calum your finding the same issue I had, the panels don't fit in the rails, I'm going to have to rebuild my side consoles by at least another inch wide. It's not rocket science, just a glitch. By the way your skin on the monster has really turned out well, cudos m8, I think I will go with Hans's solution.

[0414 Wee Neal]

Hi

would you be willing to share the dimension you used for the cowl arch, its the vertical height thats critical?

 

great pit by the way! in your earlier video i noticed that your front and side monitors looked great and it appeared that you were using a 3 view setup? how does that work for you? i have a 3 projector and curved screen setup, but cant get the 3 view monitor view to work very well.

 

thanks

 

Neal

[Boltz]

Weeb, all the panels fit but some switches near the edges of the panel will require small parts of the aluminium angle to be cut out for them. I recommend that you get a few panels done before remaking the consoles. That is what I have now done and realised a number of things that still have to be changed.

 

Hi Neal. I'll check the measurements tomorrow for you. I haven't had the 3 screens running for a few months but they really were very nice to fly with. The 3 separate viewports option seems to have been designed for the side screens to be at right angles to the front screen. I have the screens at about 45 degrees to each other and although it doesn't look perfect, it certainly feels great.

I suspect the problem you are having is that with a single smooth screen you will see the 3 joins between the 3 separate viewports. I'm not sure how you could fix. I recommend you ask the people over at simpit.co.nz what settings they use for DCS on the curved screen.

 

BTW 3 projectors and a curved screen sounds brilliant. That must be very nice to fly with

[Warhog]

Hi Calum

 

It looks like the frame for you MIP is cut from plywood... probably 3/8"? Is that correct. I'm getting close to needing a frame cut to size as most of my instruments are complete or close to completion. But I have been waffling as to what material I should use. If I use aluminum it gets expensive and I can't cut that on my mill. Its just too large. Plywood could work but I'm unsure as to the amount of flexing that may occur due to the weight of all the components. The real ADI and HSI that I'm using weighs in quite a bit. At least I can cut plywood in my shop. Not sure about using any other materials.

 

Whats your opinion now that you have your frame in place.

 

John

[Mike Powell]

If you want to go highly realistic you can build up a MIP frame from flat aluminum stock as shown here: http://mikesflightdeck.com/oldnews/oldnews_2011.html (scroll down a bit to where the A10 MIP pictures are.)

 

 

I used epoxy with fair results. If I did it again I would likely use Extreme 310 structural adhesive.

[Boltz]

Hi John

Mike's way with the aluminium is definetly the best. That is what I planned to do but I decided to at least cut out a template from plywood and that is what I still have. It's 9mm which seems like a good size. It is supported at the bottom by small cut outs, sides with threaded rod to the front bulk head and at the top by a dado in the 18mm ply glareshield top. That removes most flex but with real instruments you need something a lot stronger.

 

In the future I want to make an aluminium glareshield but since I am just using a screen at the moment, it works better with ply since it sits closer to the screen.

 

The perfect way IMO would be to build up a good template from plywood and then use a TIG welder to build the entire thing. You can then cut 3mm alum plate with a jigsaw and glue/weld it over the frame. That would remove any lateral weakness in the structure. I'm hoping to do that someday but I need to save up for all the real instruments first.

[Warhog]

Thanks Calum, Mike.

 

@Mike...I looked at you technique with enthusiasm as I could cut every piece with the CNC mill. I just wasn't sure how sturdy the complete assembly would be when you add heavy components to it. I considered doing it from .125" , with dados for all the verticals and drill, tap and screw all the joints instead of glue.

 

So this assembly doesn't wobble or flex as you built it Mike?

 

John

[Mike Powell]

I built the assembly in stages on a flat piece of MDF. I thought I would have to fasten supports to the MDF to hold the aluminum in alignment, but that proved unnecessary. I simply clamped the joints until the epoxy set. The major problem was squeezing too much epoxy from the joints, something I did not realize until the assembly was completed. When a glue joint is too thin it is not resilient enough. I've had a few joints pop loose. This surprised me because I built a small test article that supported my full body weight. This is the reason I'm leaning toward Extreme 310 in the future.

 

The completed structure without anything mounted in it will flex roughly 1/8 inch from an approximate 50 pound load applied vertically. I expect adding the panels will reduce flexing to almost nothing.

 

I build the assembly from 0.125" thick 6061T6511 aluminum bar.

[Boltz]

I'm definitely going to look into this again. Adding the some plates over th the top to cover some of the exposed areas around the MFCDs should reduce some of the flex as well.

[Warhog]

Thanks Mike

 

Thats an excellent endorsement. I am going to build the center section first and see how it stands up. I'll mill a groove in the two main verticals for the long horizontal member that ties it all together. However, rather than glue or epoxy I am going to drill and tap it all so I can screw it together. Nothing will pop out that way. I also decided to go with .1875" thick aluminum rather than .125", thats 3/16" to the great unwashed.:P Better holding power when using no.6-32's for the whole rig.

 

I'll be sure to post some pics as it becomes a reality.:)

[Boltz]

Converting AAU-9/A to Stepper Motor

 

Long time and not a lot has changed with pit building for me. I'm getting back into building now and spent last 3 days working on this project.

 

Here is a conversion of a real simulator AAU-9/A to stepper drive. The original instrument was driven from a synchro receiver mounted in the case. Driving the synchro directly is not worth the effort with other options available.

 

I used a VID29 motor on a piece of protoboard to act as the motor mount and for motor connections. All wires run to the Amphenol connector on the back of the case. Not shown in the parts below is the backlighting circuit.

 

Only a single hole was drilled for a bulb in the original but changing to LEDs meant I needed to add more. I drilled 3 more holes so the LEDs end up under the marked points on the engraved front. Original hole was drilled at 10 degrees out of where I would have liked but redrilling the hole would have been to close so I left it. Backlighting circuit is connected via 2.1mm power jack so the brass can be separated from the back panel of the case.

 

 

Assembled front with pointer

 

Completed instrument with backlighting on

 

And a short video to show the pointer movement and backlighting. Position is currently controlled by a pot so changing to running from DCS exports is a reasonably straightforward addition but not a priority now.

 

Also a bonus video I found on my camera when taking these photos. It's over a year old by now

 

Moving onto some other instruments now

[Deadman]

nice job getting the Osram displays working :thumbup:

[Duckling]

Yes. Looking good. Great job

[Hansolo]

Really nice work there Calum :thumbup: And good to have you back in pit building again. One day you will have to give me a hint on how to get the Osrams working. Keep 'em comming

 

Cheers

Hans