Uuuuaaaah..! I have started building now..!

Sweeeeeeeeet deal dood!!:D:thumbup:

Absolutely in awe ...

Thank you guys.. :)!!

.. your kind words are my motivation for continuing you know..

Well, here's a couple of pics of todays work:

- After two coats of white gloss paint to prevent light from the LED's being absorbed by the dull topcoat, and reflect the light within the plexiglass. I put on another two coats of black paint. And the I used my trusty Dremel with a edge beveling insert to give the light a slot to light up the faceplate.

- It did need some slight touching up of paint afterwards.

- Here are the two optical sencors that will tell the stepper controller card where the zero-point is. Notice that I desided to have these sensors on the axle of the main instrument needles. I 'dunno if this is the best way, but it seemed right to define the zero-point from the main needle indocators?

- Just a bit of soldering of the sencors wires, and the light LED's wiring, and I'll be ready for the first test tomorrow..

.... now if I could find a satifying way to make the indicar needles..? I'm leaning towards using the same technique as I use when etching PCB's.. Only with a 0,2mm copper plate?

I was wondering how you were going to do that.

I thought of copper as well. Ferric Chloride is wonderful stuff ain't it? :D

My only concern would be the copper curling since it is a very soft and pliable metal.

This may sound a bit corny, but how about reinforcing the copper with a thin layer of JB Weld to reduce the risk of the needles bending on their own?

I am speechless dude... i am sure if you keep on going like this, soon i'll be seeing a helipad on top of your house or something... this is unreal man...

I was wondering how you were going to do that.

 

I thought of copper as well. Ferric Chloride is wonderful stuff ain't it? :D

 

My only concern would be the copper curling since it is a very soft and pliable metal.

 

This may sound a bit corny, but how about reinforcing the copper with a thin layer of JB Weld to reduce the risk of the needles bending on their own?

Well, I have noticed that the guys building scale plastic models use some kind of etched out plates for the fine details. And I remember buying such a detail kit way back when I decided to build a diorama of a AH64 chopper. But this was maybe 20 years ago, so the memory is dim at the best..:cry:

I am speechless dude... i am sure if you keep on going like this, soon i'll be seeing a helipad on top of your house or something... this is unreal man...

Thanx. :)

Building this instrument really wasn't that hard? At least when I think about building the HSI.. I'll be posting drawings and a simple how-to as soon as I have finished the thing, confirmed that it actuallty works, and have another pitbuilder make one for himself to get feedback on matereals, tolls and such.

I soldered the face-plate LED wires today, and it came out pretty nice?

Face-plate Lights off:

Face-plate Lights On:

That looks great!!! Can't wait to see it in motion. How are you planning on interfacing it with Black Shark?

Gonna need to bolt that sim to the floor so it doesn't take off inside the house when you're finished! Amazing work as always Trigger and inspiration to us all!

That looks great!!! Can't wait to see it in motion. How are you planning on interfacing it with Black Shark?

Thank you.!

This instrument will be run by a Opencockpits USB Stepper card like these:

Link to USBStepper Card manual:

http://www.andare-ing.com/uploads//USBStepper%20(english).PDF

One of these can run three stepper motors up to 24V and 1 amp per core. It has four input axles indented for connecting potmeters (manually adjusting zero and such in the cockpit), and three inputs for connecting position sencors (see picture below).

By having a small "flag", rotating with the main needle axle and breaking the light beam between the LED and the Light Dependent Resistor as it passes between the two, the stepper controller will know where the set zero point is.

The next instruments (fuel gauge and RPM instrument) will both be run with servos. And for controlling them I use Opencockpits USB Servos Cards (see pic below):

Link to USBServo Card Manual:

http://www.opencockpits.com/uploads/manual_usbservos_eng.pdf

As you see I have stacked up on these cards. Because allthough each card control 6 servos I'll be needing more than just these three for the complete pit.

The face-plate light LED's are controlled by a USB Outputs Card. This card is connected to any USB port and can control up to 64 outputs and up to 50 volts each (500ma per output). You can control the intensity by software and you can connect the cables without soldering. You can also connect 5 analogue inputs (8 bits) for general use.

This card is such a jack of all trades when it comes to outputs I just love it!

Link to USBOutputs Card Manual:

http://www.opencockpits.com/uploads/manual_usboutputs_eng.pdf

And/Or Paralell with these I'll have two or three Opencockpits MasterCards connected through a USBExpantion Card:

Link to Mastercard and USB Expansion card manual:

http://www.opencockpits.com/uploads/manual_expansion_master.pdf

Each Mastercard has 72 digital inputs and 45 digital outputs.

It has a bus to connect up to four displays cards. Each diplays card controls up to 16 7-segments displays. And I can have up to four displays cards connected to each Mastercard. Making it possible to control 128 7-Segment displays with my current setup.

But if I need more I'll just buy another Mastercard and connect it to the USB Expansion card I allready have. It can hold four of them, and I've just got two so far...:thumbup:

To illustrate how the stepper motor works in a flightsim instrument, look at the pics below from Scott Hendry . Here you can clearly see the position sensor flag as it passes throught the sensor.

You can see pictures and info on the instruments he's building or designing here: http://home.exetel.com.au/flightsim/flight_instruments.htm

Link to Scott's pitbuilding website (he's instrument building is simply kick-ass!): http://home.exetel.com.au/flightsim/index.htm

Hi trigger, I happen to be one of them modeler that likes to use "PE"... Photo etch kits for models are made from either stainless steel or more commonly brass, I would recommend using brass over copper due to it beeing more resistive against corrosion and a lot stiffer (0.2 copper is real flimsy)

Best of luck!

// Trekki

Trigger, you have redefined the term 'hardcore', and I'm not talking about porn!

I've got to stop looking at this thread!!! You're prompting me to want to do more and more on my project! STOP IT! :smilewink:

Hi trigger, I happen to be one of them modeler that likes to use "PE"... Photo etch kits for models are made from either stainless steel or more commonly brass, I would recommend using brass over copper due to it beeing more resistive against corrosion and a lot stiffer (0.2 copper is real flimsy)

 

Best of luck!

// Trekki

But can I etch out pieces form brass with the same etching fluid? Normally I use Ferrotrichloride or some other powder substance I can't remember the name of right now (I probably shouldn't have mentioned it then.. right!? hehe).

I'll have a talk with my old man about it when he comes home for christmas. Seem to remember that one of he's majors were chemistry.. (..gotta love the guy.! He's really cool. AND a walking encyclopedia as such)

I've got to stop looking at this thread!!! You're prompting me to want to do more and more on my project! STOP IT! :smilewink:

H*LL NO..! You just keep on reading this mate..! 'Cause I want to see where you are going with your pit..!

(BTW.. Really good job there.!)

It's not quite finished yet. I still have to dull out the black paint on the indicators with a topcoat of dull laquer. And the photointerrupters need to be replaced by new ones. For some mysterious reason I ordered 30V interrupters instead of 5V.. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

That's amazing work TH! I may have to plan a trip to Norway some day just to see this in action!! :thumbup:

That's amazing work TH! I may have to plan a trip to Norway some day just to see this in action!! :thumbup:

You'd be welcome to come over and play with me...

(eeeh...!? That obviously came out wrong..! But you catch my drift right?)

(Edit: I actually wanted to delete this post out off shame... But I can't help myself from finding language mistakes sooo funny!)

So, uhm,you're saying he has your permission to touch your stick?

:lol:

As trigger's thread is much read by many people, and he is always searching and thinking about "how to do better", I post a link to a french thread about collective DIY.

a french mod about collective with "electrovannne" stopping (I don't know how to translate this particular technical term in english)

seems to be a good idea

see pics and quick tech ref here : http://www.checksix-forums.com/showpost.php?p=1107299&postcount=21

You should put together a book documenting the project, setting out pictures, and explaining the process. I'd buy it.

As trigger's thread is much read by many people, and he is always searching and thinking about "how to do better", I post a link to a french thread about collective DIY.

 

a french mod about collective with "electrovannne" stopping (I don't know how to translate this particular technical term in english)

seems to be a good idea

 

 

see pics and quick tech ref here : http://www.checksix-forums.com/showpost.php?p=1107299&postcount=21

Why the hell one would use electro-anything for collective? :D

You'd be welcome to come over and play with me...

(eeeh...!? That obviously came out wrong..! But you catch my drift right?)

 

 

 

(Edit: I actually wanted to delete this post out off shame... But I can't help myself from finding language mistakes sooo funny!)

So, uhm,you're saying he has your permission to touch your stick?

 

:lol:

Ah, this thread's taken a bad turn... :lol:

As trigger's thread is much read by many people, and he is always searching and thinking about "how to do better", I post a link to a french thread about collective DIY.

 

a french mod about collective with "electrovannne" stopping (I don't know how to translate this particular technical term in english)

seems to be a good idea

 

 

see pics and quick tech ref here : http://www.checksix-forums.com/showpost.php?p=1107299&postcount=21

Brilliant idea this..!!!

Actually US military choppers use a magnetic clutch to achive the same effect. And all the ding-dongs and do-da's in my cyclic setup is an attempt to mimmic this force-trim. If I had known about this thingy (it looks like some kind of huge solenoid that locks the axle running through it by friction?), I would certainly have gone for this myself..!

Could you maybe ask him from me what this things original function is, and how it works? And be sure to compliment him richly from me for thinking out of the box, and just in general being brilliant!?

I give him two thumbs up!!:thumbup::thumbup:

You should put together a book documenting the project, setting out pictures, and explaining the process. I'd buy it.

....thinking.... I'm not sure I would buy a book written by me? But if you are voulentering to be my ghost writer, I could probably pull some strings and fix you up with a free copy once you're done? LoL.:smilewink:

Seriously, thank you ever so much mate. But when would I ever find time for building if I was to write a book? I would probably be considered the James Joyce of pitbuilding genre.. Probably informative, if understood..!:cry:

Why the hell one would use electro-anything for collective? :D

Hehe. Well I'm not an expert on the subject, but I seem to recall my collective being stuffed full of ellectro-things Bucic..? :huh:

Ah, this thread's taken a bad turn... :lol:

Reluctantly I agree Pitbuildr. We have other fora for that..!

(...allthough it leaves me strangly aroused to read th...... Naaaaw..! Just kidding..!)

Tonight has been all about wiring the Exhaust Gas Temperature gauge. Man I hate soldering..! Mainly because allthough I sat there for two hours, achieving nothing but a headache and blistered finger tips, before I had to give up for the night. This is the milestone where I finally get to see if my building skills actually work..!?

And there is a fat little boy inside me making faces and telling me that it probably will not..! I've gotta tell you guys, I really hate that fat kid..!:helpsmilie:

But I did dull the instrument indicators, and wired up the faceplate lights.

... I'm itching to get the other three gauges done now..! It's going to look sooo cool...!

... I almost forgot...

Hellfrog.? I've been a reader of your forum for quite some time now, and I want to compliment you on running a really cool and informative site..!

All you other guys should definately check out the Check Six forum. If I remember right it was here I first found information on how to use hall effect sencors. and the thread on that Mirage cockpit is just to drool over..!

I know we all call them frog eating surrender monkeys. But the french flightsim and pitbuilding community like Check-Six and 3rd Squad are really waayyy up front when it comes to breaking new ground.

(and you kick ass in inventing new extreme sports to... I just love Freeriding and Speedriding to.! My friends and me were planning a trip to Valdez this winter to do both things. But I signed up for a skiing instructor course, and that kinda' blew it for me this year.. Darned..!:doh:)

... sigh.. It's a fact that you can't do this, and think about work at the same time.. And I LOVE IT!

Hehe. Well I'm not an expert on the subject, but I seem to recall my collective being stuffed full of ellectro-things Bucic..? :huh:

I'm not an expert here either, I was just asking with the simplicity in mind. What does such a solenoid do in Western helicopters? Just keeps the collective in a fixed position? Do you think Ka-50 has a collective with solenoid? :)

IIRC even Eurocopter EC135 uses a regular caliper brake with a hand lever similar to those you can find on bicycles.

And there is a fat little boy inside me making faces and telling me that it probably will not..! I've gotta tell you guys, I really hate that fat kid..!:helpsmilie:

 

[

So go fire up a first person shooter or something and shoot the Bas****!:D

Joking aside, great work, man! Keep it up!:thumbup: