Complete A-10C Cockpit Interest?

But there is some big problem !

The interfacing to connect the panels.

I think jetpilot use the best interfacing solution via can bus system. You connect to control Box and four exits for the can busses, there are "plug and play" use one or all panel. Wich interface solution would you like to offer ? Or is it a problem who to resolve by the user ?

My favorite was an complete construction Kit, but the interfacing to connect 25 panels and more is not easy i think.

Best Regards

Ghostraider

Ghostraider: CAN Bus is simply a communication protocol and has nothing to do with how hardware would connect to DCS itself. CAN bus would be used to allow multiple microcontrollers to communicate which would then be sent onwards to DCS via a separate protocol.

Now a Little Update.

We now have the first Panel Prototype to show, tho the top text is a bit off, and the Smaller text needs to be a Little big bigger.

The panel is made in one piece of acrylic, with carvings for the switches on the backside, and rounded edges on the front.

Now we are working on the PCB for the panel backlight, and we hope to show you Pictures of a backlit version very soon.

And of course it needs a black painted aluminum backplate too.

Hi LynxDK,,

I may just be me but it looks like the holes for the switches are too big, Could be that you have been running the "wrong" circle on the router. Has happen to me on more than one occations :lol:

Cheers

Hans

Personally I would be interested in a full UFC, CDU and counteremeasure panel.

Maybe even panels for the rest but without all the electronics and switches etc.

One thing I've thought for a while would be very cool is if someone sold a "complete panel pack", no electronics or switches or anything of the sort but just the acrylic panel itself, painted, with lettering and then the buyer could do the rest.

Always happy to support fellow Danes though!

Well the holes on the original Armament panel are accually bigger than the rest of the cockpit, why, dont ask, but they are, and the switches are mounted in the backplate.

Take a look at this:

So yes, right now without the backplate, and the switches it may look odd, but it will all look right when its all mounted.

And to answer your request SafetyTurtle, i can only say that that is exactly what we would like to do, if there is any interest.

Offer panels in difrent "stages" og finished, so people can decide how much they wanna spent, and how much they want to make themself.

And Again, as we are making fully cockpits for ourselves... we will come around all the panels at some point.

Awesome to hear and I think your plans sound great and I hope they work out.

I would personally prefere to do everything myself, but have to realize I can't do everything ^^

And it's always cool to meet "local" pitbuilders...may have to figure out a way to do a Lan at one point ;)

I'm certainly interested in just panels as well, perhaps with empty PCBs. I can buy and wire up the components myself (although would certainly appreciate parts lists and suggested suppliers with the panels) but have no facility to design and make the panels or PCBs.

Awesome to hear and I think your plans sound great and I hope they work out.

I would personally prefere to do everything myself, but have to realize I can't do everything ^^

I know exactly how you feel, and thank you, our goal is to offer the community Great quality Pit Hardware at reasonable prices.

And it's always cool to meet "local" pitbuilders...may have to figure out a way to do a Lan at one point ;)

That sounds very interesting indeed, we are a few playing, so that would be really fun.

I'm certainly interested in just panels as well, perhaps with empty PCBs. I can buy and wire up the components myself (although would certainly appreciate parts lists and suggested suppliers with the panels) but have no facility to design and make the panels or PCBs.

Sounds good, we wont release anything before we are totally sure, that the backlighting looks as it should, but when it does, we will have panels for purchase like you suggest, with PCB's that people can assemble themselves.

Partlist is also one of our ideas, the less we have to do with each panel, the cheaper the price :)

But we might supply the LED's and the Resistors for the PCB we design, simply because then we can assure that all panels look the same, and are able to connect to the Light Panel when we get that made.

Would be a shame if people use too bright LED's, and end up with a panel with too many Hotspots, when we make the Light Panel, the Whole cockpit will be dimmer controlled, as the real thing.

And that Means we also intend to make replicas of the Flood Lights, and working lights for Gauges for those who are interested.

Well the holes on the original Armament panel are accually bigger than the rest of the cockpit, why, dont ask, but they are, and the switches are mounted in the backplate.

Oh dear. You are right. I think I have been using Reactor One's drawings and never though to check it. Sorry about that :-)

Cheers

Hans

Personally I would be interested in a full UFC, CDU and counteremeasure panel.

Maybe even panels for the rest but without all the electronics and switches etc.

 

One thing I've thought for a while would be very cool is if someone sold a "complete panel pack", no electronics or switches or anything of the sort but just the acrylic panel itself, painted, with lettering and then the buyer could do the rest.

 

Always happy to support fellow Danes though!

+1 on this idea...

:thumbup:

But we might supply the LED's and the Resistors for the PCB we design, simply because then we can assure that all panels look the same, and are able to connect to the Light Panel when we get that made.

Yeah, that might be a good idea to try and ensure some consistency in the finished product, which could in turn lead to new customers who see it at their friend's house or in photos online and are suitably impressed and it shouldn't add much to the cost and very little extra shipping costs as they're small and lightweight items.

Another option might be to just recommend certain LEDs but add some boxes/dividers to the back of the panels to create light isolation zones to prevent spillover but that would obviously increase bulk and shipping costs. If spillover can be adequately controlled without this, then great but if not the customer, who may find it quite hard to construct something suitable themselves, might prefer if you could supply it.

Whilst it's obviously up to you, I would suggest making it clear that you're not going to spend hours helping people work out how to put the electronics together and programming boards if they've only bought panels from you, otherwise you could quickly find you're overwhelmed and unable to run the business efficiently and make the panels. Providing helpful information for download is one thing but providing tech support on an individual basis is quite another matter and should really be reserved for those who've bought finished products, or at least complete kits, from you.

Whilst it's great to want to support the community and provide good customer service, I've seen too many viable businesses fail because they overstretched themselves and were unrealistic about what they could actually do whilst still remaining profitable.

Whilst it's obviously up to you, I would suggest making it clear that you're not going to spend hours helping people work out how to put the electronics together and programming boards if they've only bought panels from you, otherwise you could quickly find you're overwhelmed and unable to run the business efficiently and make the panels. Providing helpful information for download is one thing but providing tech support on an individual basis is quite another matter and should really be reserved for those who've bought finished products, or at least complete kits, from you.

 

Whilst it's great to want to support the community and provide good customer service, I've seen too many viable businesses fail because they overstretched themselves and were unrealistic about what they could actually do whilst still remaining profitable.

+1

I'd suggest making it very clear that any electronics and software support you provide only happens as a courtesy. Do it in a publicly accessible forum to reduce the amount of repeated questions. Also, this way anyone can take a look for themselves should someone accuse you of having bad customer support.

The point is that you have to defend yourself against the very small, but possibly very vocal minority of your customers who are morons and/or trolls. You need to feel free to ignore those individuals without fearing that they could destroy your reputation, otherwise they will suck up all of your time.

Once you start supporting a setup that involves Export.lua like Helios, DCS-BIOS or similar, there are just so many things out of your control (different antivirus and firewall software, possibly broken because of malware infection or someone who thought that installing three firewalls would make his PC "more secure") that you cannot make any guarantees.

Something like this is what I had in mind to stop light bleed http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2352310&postcount=30

It's obviously easier to do that with the caution panel but perhaps the idea could be adapted to work with other panels with controls as well.

The way we have designed the Panel is accually so that the light is reflecting inside the panel, in such a way that all text is lighted nice and even.

At the moment there are some light escaping underneath the panel, in the installation area, but not at the front, i dont know how important that is but that can also be eliminated if its an issue.

We will keep tweeking the setup until it looks just right, and we will do that to each panel type, to ensure the outcome.

We will keep you posted, and with Pictures soon too :)

OK cool, sounds like you've got it sorted :) Personally I wouldn't have thought that light escaping behind the panel would be anything to worry about, as that's going to be enclosed anyway.

Oh dear. You are right. I think I have been using Reactor One's drawings and never though to check it. Sorry about that :-)

 

Cheers

Hans

Thats totally fine.

Im accually making an effort making every single panel as close to the real deal as possible. That Means that every screw, hole and mark is carefully placed in the design.

I really hope that people will notice my attention to detail, i know there isnt much on this one panel, but it will be a thing, Fx. when we announce the Gauge Panel, which is not too far away.

Something like this is what I had in mind to stop light bleed http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2352310&postcount=30

 

It's obviously easier to do that with the caution panel but perhaps the idea could be adapted to work with other panels with controls as well.

You are over thinking it doveman. Good backlit panel is not very hard to make. There were several designs , including mil spec based ones that were shown on this board. And I think the mil standard documenr itself was also posted somewhere here before.

Seeing as you're in Denmark I really wish I could help you guys somehow, sadly, I know very little about computers and electronic stuff ^^

As mentioned we where close to show you our Gauge Panel prototype.

So here it is, im sorry if the Pictures are a Little wierd, but it was taking in a hurry, Better Pictures will follow soon.

The panel is accually finished, and the small Lights are fully capable of lighting the gauge area up with a small 1,8mm green LED, which Means, that every light are hollow in the top, and the base, so its very easy to install LED's

The panel is for use in front of LCD screen running Helios, and the individual Gauge Ring, can be made longer so that it reaches all the way Down to the Screen, to ease Installation.

Let me know what you Guys think.

Looks very good LynxDK.

Keep up the good work!

Looks good.

As I see it the light housings are just a decoration - if anything light from there will not be visible or subtly color distort the onscreen image. Those onscreen gauges are "naturally backlit".

But its those little decorations (together with demi screws etc) that bring things to life. I did make something similar for my onscreen EMI bezel.

Looks good.

 

As I see it the light housings are just a decoration - if anything light from there will not be visible or subtly color distort the onscreen image. Those onscreen gauges are "naturally backlit".

But its those little decorations (together with demi screws etc) that bring things to life. I did make something similar for my onscreen EMI bezel.

You are right, the light housing is just decoration for use with Helios. But it would be stupid if we made the lights not working, if there is people who wanna make their own Gauges to fit behind.

We have been talking about making real gauges sometime, but we have too much going on at the moment, so its not something we wanna do now.

Accually its not All finished.... didnt have time to paint the gauge rings. Green, Yellow and Red. But it will be there on the Next Pictures :)

My Friend with the awesome camera isnt here right now, so i took some Pictures with my own. They are not quite as good as my friends, but i think you live :)

Here some Pictures of the Painted Panel.

And also a Little addon to the Armament Panel