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A SimPit is born... hopefully


shallowjoshua

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Hello everyone,

 

I've been a longtime lurker and avid flightsim enthusiast for quite some time. I've decided to take the plunge and start working on my own simpit.

 

PLEASE, if you see me going wrong somewhere, let me know. I'm not above taking suggestions and criticism.

 

A little about me... skip if you'd like

I've played flightsims for as long as I can remember and I've always been interested in flight. I recently got back from my third deployment to the middle east, got out of the Army as an E-6 and decided to not only go back to school, but to pursue my dream of flight. I'm currently enrolled in Kansas State University here in the middle of the U.S., working towards my degree as a professional pilot. (For those interested, been flying Cessna 172s so far. Next semester I start to fly a Schweizer 300CBi Helicopter - Helicopters are my first love)

 

I have a pretty good background things mechanical, electrical and electronic, but by no means am I an expert (Not even a very good amateur. I've done SOME microcontroller programming but nothing real extensive. I feel this SimPit will help expand my skills without overwhelming me.

 

With all that being said, my brand new wife just arrived in Kuwait for her second deployment. So with her conveniently out of the way and unable to object, I can move forward with my simpit plans.

 

The Pit

This simpit will not REALLY be based on any specific aircraft. There will be a lot of specific panels, though. Mainly Black Shark and A-10 with some room to expand.

 

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. I'm toying with the idea of a swap-able front panel that will fit whatever aircraft I am currently flying. These would be thin enough to store anywhere and would enhance the realism. Currently, the pictures show the mounting location for two Thrustmaster MFDs.

 

I'm looking forward to continuing the design process and I can't wait to start the build. I got Mike's book the other day and it has already helped out a lot.

 

The pictures show the evolution of the design over a few days. I am, by no means, a mechanical engineer, so it may look over or under built to the trained eye. Again, I welcome comments or questions.

 

A few questions

 

I have a few questions for you experienced SimPit builders that I think will help with the development of my pit.

 

1) What do you wish you knew before you built your SimPit?

 

2) Is there anything you wish you had put into your pit that, for various reasons, you can't retrofit?

 

3) Should the front panel lay back at the angle it is now, or should it be vertical (Not really interested in replicating any aircraft, just want it to work well)

 

4) What methods are there for cutting square holes in acrylic? This would be for UFC buttons and whatnot.

 

Thanks for your interest and help!

 

P.S. The second picture is off about the panel sizes. For space reasons, the standard panel is 5 1/2" x 3". I've almost completed the layout for the panels and will begin to piece them together in Sketchup to check clearances. I'll post them as soon as they are done.

1.thumb.jpg.61c942a8cb1f1e1e019aac73db19ea07.jpg

3.jpg.d6c468b8934de2f0b185aa68b82f11c4.jpg

8.thumb.jpg.c4e56820ccf43023514785631663281a.jpg

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I suggest Google Sketchup. It has many PC products already modeled to scale (like I download the Logitech G940 to scale for instance). Also you can work out those engineering problems. For instance I wanted to inlay a touch monitor on my desk (Elo brand also to scale I might add). But thanks to the ability to model it in 3D I found I did not have clearence between the bottom of the monitor and the top of the keyboard that set in a slide out tray. That saved me a lot of headaches. Using this software (its free) is easy, innovative, and can save you alot of money in materiel cost due to unforseen fitting problems. Most people can design the desk/cockpit/whatever with little problem. Its all the equipment that goes ON the whatever that sometimes causes problems. Good luck friend.

 

Whoops...... I just noticed the screenshots (It's been a long long LONG day). Guess you already use Google Sketchup. Good man.

 

What I said still goes for all you builders to be out there. Measure twice (Google Sketchup) cut once ;).


Edited by ZQuickSilverZ

I need, I need, I need... What about my wants? QuickSilver original.

"Off with his job" Mr Burns on the Simpsons.

"I've seen steering wheels / arcade sticks / flight sticks for over a hundred dollars; why be surprised at a 150 dollar item that includes the complexities of this controller?! It has BLINKY LIGHTS!!" author unknown.

 

 

These titles are listed in the chronological order I purchased them.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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Update 1

 

Work continues. The first panel is designed. I'll probably build a mockup of this panel and make sure everything works just fine.

 

Walker, I PLAN to have one of the side panels swing out like a car door. Hopefully it works and I won't trip and smash my face into the pit :-D

AHCP.thumb.jpg.1125fd835b51fcdb634ed7ac04668e3b.jpg

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How did you add the text? I have not been able to figure that out yet. I mean I can ADD it but I can not seem to do it with any accuracy for size or location.

I need, I need, I need... What about my wants? QuickSilver original.

"Off with his job" Mr Burns on the Simpsons.

"I've seen steering wheels / arcade sticks / flight sticks for over a hundred dollars; why be surprised at a 150 dollar item that includes the complexities of this controller?! It has BLINKY LIGHTS!!" author unknown.

 

 

These titles are listed in the chronological order I purchased them.

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]

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With regards to the angle of the front panel. I have found with my 22.5" touch screen and other screens with similar panels that it is best to get them so that you are looking straight on. For a lot of screens it doesnt take too much vertical movement to be off place and the screen loses a lot of contrast. That can be a real pain for the TGP and you also loose good colours.

 

So, get the panel perpendicular to your line of sight when looking directly at it from your seating position.

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How did you add the text? I have not been able to figure that out yet. I mean I can ADD it but I can not seem to do it with any accuracy for size or location.

 

I try to place the text at an intersection of two reference lines (the tape measure tool). Further positioning is completely by eye using the red + signs that are on the face of the text. I get it as close as I can, and call it good.

 

Then it is just a quick explode and fill operation.

 

I wish there was a better way to line text up in Sketchup :-/

 

Maybe there is and I just didn't read the manual.

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With regards to the angle of the front panel. I have found with my 22.5" touch screen and other screens with similar panels that it is best to get them so that you are looking straight on. For a lot of screens it doesnt take too much vertical movement to be off place and the screen loses a lot of contrast. That can be a real pain for the TGP and you also loose good colours.

 

So, get the panel perpendicular to your line of sight when looking directly at it from your seating position.

 

Metal,

 

Thanks for the info. I'm going to try to do a test and see if my chosen angle will work. If not, it shouldn't be too hard to modify the design.

1423810221_LeftCautionPanel.jpg.16d74eb2d2c90acb8be201e39850a3fa.jpg

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Working on the seat position

 

Working on getting the seat position correct. I will be using some racing seats I happen to have sitting in my parent's attic.

 

I'm looking at a seat height of about 14". Right now it is looking like I may want to move the control sticks and seat back a little bit. I'm a little worried about being able to access the panels in front of the joystick (That was going to be where the CDU/PVI-800 went). There may be a bit of interference when the stick is full forward.

 

 

Anyone have any tips or previous experience for side stick setups?

 

 

 

 

I did not make the seat or the G940 models: Credit goes to Jeffro and Artifax for those models.

Seating.thumb.jpg.85bba981c15343e41bba1e546f96063b.jpg

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Hi

 

your work looks great !!!

 

Thanks Avlolga,

 

I hope it looks good in real life, too.

 

 

For this revision, I've done a good bit.

 

1) I adjusted the size of the pilot model to fit my size (6'1")

 

2) I got rid of a lot of extra pieces on the pilot model that my simpit won't have

 

3) Added a seat that very closely resembles the seat I'll be using

 

4) Moved the G940 controls back 3". I think this was the right choice and will work out just fine.

 

In the second picture, I've put a bunch of placeholder panels in the simpit to give an idea of what it looks like :-D

1536603587_Seating3.thumb.jpg.f711e938d852bec8a4bdd571d6b5db2a.jpg

1320809799_Seating4.thumb.jpg.aaa827d9894741195a54d6ddb1a999a7.jpg

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Hi

 

nice progress! :)

I'm new to pitbuilding myself, so we are in the same boat. I see that you are using a CAD model to figure out the layout of the pit. Again, I'm going the same route. However, I'm also working on a very simple version of my pit as there are a lot of small things you'll only notice when sitting in the pit (or maybe if you've already done one.

When looking at your pictures, I noticed that you placed the UFC quite a bit to the left. As the front panel isn't angled at the sides, you'll probably have to lean forward to reach the UFC. I might be wrong there - so give it a try.

 

Cheers,

Stefan

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