The Custard Pit :)

[Devon Custard]

Ok, ive been silently hanging around these forums avidly reading all your exploits and drooling over your home made bits of awesomeness. And so its time for me to get started, finally managed to pluck up the courage and order a few parts and plugged some of the together and wow it worked first time.

 

Leo Bodnar BU0836X + push to make button switch + USB cable and 5 mins of careful cable cut/strim/solder and i have a working joystick interface - one button only:). Didnt think it could be so easy (pride cometh before the fall?), but anyway this was just to prove that i could so something before i got started.

 

So over the years ive amassed a few things for Xmas etc at present i have

 

Thrustmaster MFDs

TM Warthog HOTAS

Saitek rudder pedals

2 8" USB display (for the MFDs)

 

and finally an abiding desire to actually build my own pit. So say hello to the latest addition to this crazy family.

 

 

I had spoken to Glider about getting some of his panels but i cant bring myself to actually ask him if hes still going ahead with stuff especially at this time of year. So i think im probably going to get my own CNC and engraver - im planning on a few other home projects to justify the costs. Pit wife isnt too happy about my soldering adventure today so i think im going to be in the garage for this build. Lots of design work and part sourcing until it gets warm enough then :)

[Boltz]

Good to have another venturing into the madness of pit building. Best of luck in building your pit and make sure those "other home projects" get done or you won't be building anything else when the wife discovers why you really bought a CNC.

[Feed]

^^^ +1

 

Welcome to the insanity, and good job on the interface. :)

[Devon Custard]

Parts are starting to arrive and ive decided to dive in at the deepend and go for the CDU panel first up. Figure by the end of that ill be reasonably au fait with a solder iron :). Using waxi's CDU build as inspiration.

 

Still struggling on finding a decent CNC to buy in UK so may just get panels custom cut.

[JaseGill]

Devon,

If you find a good custom panel cutter in the UK let me know. I'd be interested too and not only for DCS.

J.

[Devon Custard]

Sure. Will do Jase. Where in Berkshire? Im Farnham, Surrey so not too far from you.

[Mr_Burns]

I just built a CNC - and trust me, it isnt that hard.

 

What is hard, is the bloody software, after 3 days I have managed to get the machine to write words (substitue the router for a pencil).

 

Its pretty big too, once I get fully into it I will create my own panels and I fancy getting into making model aircraft.

 

Dont think its out of your skill range to build one, take a look at my old 'pits' ive got 2 left hands!

[Devon Custard]

I just built a CNC - and trust me, it isnt that hard.

 

What is hard, is the bloody software, after 3 days I have managed to get the machine to write words (substitue the router for a pencil).

 

Its pretty big too, once I get fully into it I will create my own panels and I fancy getting into making model aircraft.

 

Dont think its out of your skill range to build one, take a look at my old 'pits' ive got 2 left hands!

 

If i was being honest (and trying not to sound big headed) i dont think anything is beyond me - given enough time to learn it, however im trying not to get too swamped by all the things im having to learn just to get started. Theres so many new concepts and terminology im learning. Just trying to get up to speed with the cockpit jargon is awe inspiring but learning the electronics is what im focusing on right now. Picking up material construction/machining skills is probably secondary on my list. When i get around to actually wanting some fancy facia's for my panels ill probably change my mind.

 

A few of things im setting out to do first

 

1. Learn how to integrate the various controls/switches im going to use into DCS and/or Helios. Kinda means testing one of everything.

 

2. Design/build a working set of gauges. This means learning translating gauge outputs to some servo/stepper motor. Ive seen some good examples here to get me started :)

 

3. Build the CDU. Actually at first glance i thought this would be hard but its just 67 switches and a VGA displayl. A big enough joystick board or multiple would be enough for that so maybe thats a quick win and something to actually get me started.

 

Building my own cnc will probably happen but thats way down the list for now.

Edited January 1, 2014 by Devon Custard

[Devon Custard]

Well thats 2 hours well spent. Finally managed to get DCS World working with my Steam A10C key.

 

Worked out how to create viewports for my MFDs and CDU.

 

Now if only ParcelForce(farce) would deliver my components i could start building....

[Devon Custard]

Im so enjoying this now, i really am like a kid with a new toy.

 

Hooked an arduino uno up to HELIOS via EOS and got a toggle switch working. I know its all simple steps but im trying out all the various options before i get stuck into a serious build.

 

Want to try and build an arduino interface via EOS for some 7 segment led displays. Gonna need to order some shift registers i guess. My education in electronics continues....

 

Prototype UFC and CDUs built,

[Boltz]

Please post some pics when you get something to show. I haven't used Helios for 7 seg displays but I do use Arduinos with 74HC595 shift registers, they are relatively simple to get working and can be used to light individual LEDs as well as 7 seg displays although with 6 daisy chained together a simple piece of proto board can get quite full and busy with wires and resistors.

[Devon Custard]

Please post some pics when you get something to show. I haven't used Helios for 7 seg displays but I do use Arduinos with 74HC595 shift registers, they are relatively simple to get working and can be used to light individual LEDs as well as 7 seg displays although with 6 daisy chained together a simple piece of proto board can get quite full and busy with wires and resistors.

 

 

Will do. The EOS protocol/libraries is kinda daunting at present, mainly because theres so few tutorials on it. Looks like ill be reverse engineering it from examples :) I can feel the old grey matter getting stressed already :)

 

OOOOPS must clarify that last comment, no way a disrespect to Gadroc (think your work is awesome and its giving me loads to play with) or the community (read a similar post which Gadroc flamed to death :) made me smile and then think "oh dear"). Actually if anyone can point in me in the direction of some solid instructions on how one wires up multiple Arduinos on this EOS bus that would be champion.

Edited January 5, 2014 by Devon Custard

[Hansolo]

Hi,

 

Try and looks at Whartsell's thread or try and PM him. He most definetely know how to attache multiple Arduinos using EOS:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=1834591&postcount=23

 

Cheers

Hans

[Devon Custard]

Please post some pics when you get something to show. I haven't used Helios for 7 seg displays but I do use Arduinos with 74HC595 shift registers, they are relatively simple to get working and can be used to light individual LEDs as well as 7 seg displays although with 6 daisy chained together a simple piece of proto board can get quite full and busy with wires and resistors.

 

Only way i see this working at the moment is by hijacking the Set Display Text command and writing my own code to output bytes to the shift registers. If i can get Helios to output all the UHF data in a single string (lua scripting?) then that should work fine.

[Devon Custard]

Finally managed to get my exports working. Wanted to prove i could export some of the display data from ACS to an arduino driven setup. Running Helios but couldnt see a way to export some of the segment displays, so i threw in a 3rd party script (thanks to Joe for the LUA interface tips) export that to a UDP socket which i capture with some C# and then write out over serial to the Arduino.

 

Finally the arduino im using standar CC 7 segment displays with some shift registers. Eventually hoping to drive most of my LED displays from one or two arduinos at most.

 

 

 

[Devon Custard]

Now to work out how to get my servos working :)

[Boltz]

Looking good! :thumbup: Quick progress!

 

Now you have the exports working then it should be relatively easy to connect the servos. Find the exports, change them to a servo position and then use the Servo Arduino library to output the position. I used the built in Examples especially the "Knob" one to play around with the servos.

[MacFevre]

I am in awe. Truly a daunting task to take, but one that is not only dreamed by most, but needed. All I can say is thank you for forging these trails, since one like myself can only wish they had the ability.

[Devon Custard]

I am in awe. Truly a daunting task to take, but one that is not only dreamed by most, but needed. All I can say is thank you for forging these trails, since one like myself can only wish they had the ability.

 

Thanks Mac, always nice to hear compliments. But seriously first time i touched a breadboard was 2 weeks ago, i learnt how to read resistor markings about a day after that. I spent a day working out how to wire a CC 7 segment led, the following day. Whats holding me is the time waiting for RS to deliver the components as i need them.( oh and having to work as well)

 

I know what you mean tho, most of what i see on this forum looked like voodoo and black magic for the 2 years i spent hovering on the edges. I just need the impetus to get going, that came in the form of a week to myself over xmas so i went looking for a hobby.

 

The learning curve is bit steep but im setting myself small goals along the way, so far ive wired a cdu, ufc and now im playing with exports and servos :) Its all doable.

 

What im really dreading is the panel fabrication because dodgy soldering can be hidden:D

 

Get stuck in, drop me a pm, can always share the pain with you hahah

[Devon Custard]

Well been a fun day today what with stomach flu and a regular view of the back of my bathroom door.

 

Started out stressing out this servo motor issue, foolishly bought a bunch of hs55 motors which now won't do the job unless I want to design a gear train which sounds like fun but is going to be a pig to do 12 times over. Seriously hegyck needs his head examining :)

 

So anyway went back and looked at my export app, reverse engineered gadrocs export.lua. Nice scripting there. Ended up started designing my own lightweight protocol to run over serial to arduino. It's not until you've spent a few hours agonising about why your own code won't work that you get a feel for the amount of work that others have done. This site seriously needs a BUY BEER FOR THIS PERSON button :) I believe gadroc has one of those on his site ;)

 

Anyway the fruits of today's labours finally came good when I worked out I didn't want the actually values for my dials/read outs in just need what the sim thought they were. So got my ILS buttons to work fine. When I complete this the list of credits is going to be huge

 

Tomorrow I'm going to hack that CMSP OCR code :)

[Devon Custard]

Update:

 

 

As you can see i expanded my arduino project a bit. First circuit of my own design, im driving 4 BCD to 7 segment 74HCT4511s from 2 x 74HC595 Shift Registers. Only 4 pins on the Arduino used. Depending on the power requirements i can theoretically drive ALL the 7 segments displays in the pit now from one board. Just a case of writing the sketches and ive got that cracked now. Output from my UDP listener already sorted, just need to put this onto a panel i guess.

 

Also i can use this design (minus the BCD decoders) to drive the caution display panel. Its just an 8x8 matrix i believe. Didnt want to pay $125 for the phidgets board and this is much easier.

 

Managed also to get the flaps output working with one of my HS55 motors so all is not lost on that purchase. Stepper motor arrived yesterday but i didnt purchase the H bridge, awaiting that before i take my gauges any further.

 

Im rapidly running out of electronics stuff to do now before i actually need to start assembling panels and a frame, so i think im going to start on the actual cabling layout for the panels. Sketchup here i come.

 

Out of interest where did everyone else start? Did they build the frame first or did they start with panels? Im tinkering with the export and electronics as i kinda think theyre essential.

[Jimbo]

That's amazing work! I'd love to have a fraction of the skill needed to put that together!

 

Where did I start? mostly looking at this forum with an increasing sense of jealousy :). I started putting the electronics (inputs mostly) together for the most frequently used functions (eject in my case :D). Essentially some simple switches and rotaries, I then started to get these arranged into the various panels I had. After that, I used Dimebug's plans to put the left and right consoles together so all the kit had somewhere to 'live'. I'm actually in the process of going back to basics and putting a project plan together as I've got a lot of stuff that's 80% complete and hardly anything that's 100%. I'm very close to scrapping my pit and starting again with a clear set of goals in mind, My plan of attack is going to be. ACES II, Outer Frame, Inner supports for panels etc. electronics. as I have some nice left and right panels, but no where to sit :) so something clearly went wrong somewhere!

 

Outputs remain something of a mystery to me, so (somewhat cheeky, I know) i'd be very interested if you had plans to release your solution / software to the community.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Jimbo

[Devon Custard]

That's amazing work! I'd love to have a fraction of the skill needed to put that together!

 

Where did I start? mostly looking at this forum with an increasing sense of jealousy :). I started putting the electronics (inputs mostly) together for the most frequently used functions (eject in my case :D). Essentially some simple switches and rotaries, I then started to get these arranged into the various panels I had. After that, I used Dimebug's plans to put the left and right consoles together so all the kit had somewhere to 'live'. I'm actually in the process of going back to basics and putting a project plan together as I've got a lot of stuff that's 80% complete and hardly anything that's 100%. I'm very close to scrapping my pit and starting again with a clear set of goals in mind, My plan of attack is going to be. ACES II, Outer Frame, Inner supports for panels etc. electronics. as I have some nice left and right panels, but no where to sit :) so something clearly went wrong somewhere!

 

Outputs remain something of a mystery to me, so (somewhat cheeky, I know) i'd be very interested if you had plans to release your solution / software to the community.

 

Well as youre the second person to ask today, ofc i will. I'll write it up and post it as another thread.

 

Seriously, the only skills i had coming into this - about 3 weeks ago - was coding, the electronics stuff is actually really easy to pickup, you just need to spend a LOT of time reading. Google is your friend :)

[Devon Custard]

Uh hmmmm, Oooops?

 

Just ordered laser engraver/cutter in moment of madness........ CNC is on order too..... Hope pit wife doesnt get tooooo mad :)

 

:)

[MacFevre]

So what did you order?