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Modular A-10C gauge controller for DCS Bios


lesthegrngo

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Yeah, you hinted but I was too dopey to take it! Never mind, live and learn, or live at any rate.....

 

So massive progress now that the pin issue is resolved. Last night I had two LCD modules, and three gauges all running together, plus the master MAX487 chip is now installed on a wireless shield mounted on the Mega.

 

It's not all as perfect as it could be though. I noticed that as more slaves were added, the LCD displays started displaying corrupted characters (one or two on each display, so nowhere near as bad as before) plus I noticed that two of the three gauges started hunting backwards and forwards every ten seconds or so. I'm wondering if there is interference creeping in, I know that my test rig looked like a plate of spaghetti. I also find the movemnt of the steppers to be quite rough, not as smooth as I have seen others attain.

 

I also have found the EasyDriver boards to be super sensitive; as I was arranging the wiring to prevent shorts I caught one of the wires and partially dislodged it. That board was instantly toast, like the other three from previous tests. There's no external indication of an issue, they just stop working.

 

If someone can suggest a more robust stepper driver I would love to hear from you, as these are too easily damaged for my liking.

 

Lastly, I would like to repeat a previously asked question. How to you tune the physical gauge movemnt to match the on-screen and/or gauge markings? Is it the max step function in the sketch, or is there another way of doing it?

 

Cheers

 

Les

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I also have found the EasyDriver boards to be super sensitive; as I was arranging the wiring to prevent shorts I caught one of the wires and partially dislodged it. That board was instantly toast, like the other three from previous tests. There's no external indication of an issue, they just stop working.

 

Yes you should do that

WCEChAR.png

 

This is taken from this turtorial on the EasyStepper; https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/easy-driver-hook-up-guide/all

 

 

Lastly, I would like to repeat a previously asked question. How to you tune the physical gauge movemnt to match the on-screen and/or gauge markings? Is it the max step function in the sketch, or is there another way of doing it?

 

Without having done too much I'd say yes. You need to know how many steps your stepper takes per full rotation. Many have 200 steps per rotation ~ 1.8º per step.

 

If your scale is only 270º then this is your max step= 200/360*270 = 150.

 

Now this only applies when you are using full steps. Your EasyDriver can be set for full step, half step, quarter step and eight step using MS1 & MS2 according to the truth table in the Sparkfun turtorial I linked to above.

 

Step settings.......Steps per full rotation

Full....................200

Half....................400

Quarter...............800

Eight..................1600

 

So in the example above if you run eight steps and want to scale for 270º then max steps are:

1600/360*270 = 1200 steps

 

MS1 & MS2 has internal pull up so if you dont attach anything to them they are set for eight step.

The Easy Driver is able to operate in 1/8th, 1/4, half, and full step (2 phase) modes. These four modes are selected by the logic levels on the MS1 and MS2 input pins. Normally, the pull-up resistors on the Easy Driver hold MS1 and MS2 high, which results in a default setting of 1/8th microstep mode. You can pull either or both to ground to select the other 3 modes if you want. See the table below:

 

Found here; http://www.schmalzhaus.com/EasyDriver/index.html

 

Cheers

Hans

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Thanks - I was under the misapprehension that microstepping actually improved smoothness, so from my perspective that is not worth doing. Will have a play with the 'max step' value and see what I can come up with.

 

I hope I can get the corrupted characters and gauge hunting under control too, it is not something that happens over USB using essentially the same sketch.

 

Cheers

 

Les

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Was getting a bit pissed off with the electronics so I thought I'd have a relaxing day with mechanics, which I'm more at home with. They're 90 degrees out because they are just test pieces, but the gauges look like they should be fine. I have to make the definitive gauge backplates with the correct angles and matched to the game, but as proof of concept I'm happy.

 

Mechanics is so simple, the electronics feel like witchcraft compared...!

 

By the way, only the top right gauge has the protective film removed from the 'glass'

 

Cheers

 

Les

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Edited by lesthegrngo
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  • 2 months later...

Guys, I've been busy in the background making panels so have not had had much of a chance to input anthing recently. Here's a couple of pictures of the WIP right console just to show that I haven't dropped off the planet!

 

I will soon come up against some trickier parts, so will be coming back here for guidance

 

Cheers

 

Les

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  • 3 months later...

Slowly but surely coming along - getting the right feel for the CDU / MFCD / CMSP / CMSC buttons was tricky, but through trial and error I got there!

 

I still am not sure how to tackle the RWR and standby attitude indicator, I suspect I am already pushing the limits with four monitors (1 main display, 1 for each MFCD and 1 for the main attitude indicator and heading panel). If you have any ideas on those I'm interested. I'm also interested in better potentiometer / encoder knobs, the ones I have are too long and so the splines on the encoder / potentiometer barely reach the internal splines on the knob. Again, any pointers gratefully received.

 

Les

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Edited by lesthegrngo
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Could you share your way of making buttons? Like that on MFCD.

Did you CNC engraved them from acrylic and painted white?

 

They are easy to make, and you can either use a laser cutter / engraver or CNC engraver to make them. They are made one of two ways, one slow but more accurate in terms of shape and dimensions but a pain if you need to make many. The other is faster, but shapewise and dimensionally a bit more variable. However both start with a piece of opal (white translucent) acrylic, which has been sanded lightly on one side to give a key for paint, then washed with detergent to get rid of any oils and sanding dust etc. If you can get hold of proper Scotchbrite, the purple one, that will leave scratches so fine that the paint completely covers it and leaves a very smooth finish. I then spray the sanded side with whatever colour is appropriate. I have found rattle cans of acryl type paints to be fast, give good coverage and adhere well, with the bonus of drying quickly.

 

The first method uses the CNC engraver. I have one of the 3018 type available for about 200 euros on Amazon. Use acrylic sheet 5 or 6 mm thick, and first engrave the letters / symbols, then making sure that you don't move the cutting head switch to a single flute cutter ( I use 2mm) and use that to cut the profile 4 mm deep around the top part, then cut the remaining depth about 0.8mm wider at the bottom so that it leaves a top hat section. I would recommend light cuts (I use 0.2mm deep cuts) and using water with some dishwashing liquid in it as a coolant, as the acrylic can melt and blob up terribly. I do a four by four lot each time and you have to stay next to the machine as it can go wrong very quickly. If you make the final depth about 0.2 - 0.1mm short of the full depth you can prevent the buttons being damaged by the cutters as they break free, and the buttons can simply be snapped loose at the end.

 

This method generally results in properly square buttons that are nicely matched in terms of dimensions and with good shape radii on the corners.

 

The second way is to start with a 4mm sheet of opal acrylic, sanded and painted as per the previous method. You then use the laser cutter and engraver (mine is a K40 clone) to first raster / vector engrave your symbols and characters, then vector cut the outlines. I then get some 1mm and 2mm thick clear acylic or polystyrene sheet and laser cut squares that are about 0.8mm bigger on each side, and glue them on to the bottom with superglue. Sand the bottom of the parts so that they fit together tightly.

 

This method is a lot faster, you can knock out 50 button blanks in five minutes, and another 5 minutes for the base squares. However their accuracy is not as consistent and they are not as square. In my case, as the fascias that they fit in are laser cut too, I have found that by making a number of buttons with the same symbol (which doesn't take much longer but obviously uses more material) , I can then selectively fit the buttons. Another less obvious advantage of the laser cut method is the economy of the material - the CNC engraver reduces at least 50% of your acrylic to fine white dust, great if you are a snow globe maker but no good for us.

 

For the feel, I ended up making diaphragms from that white foam protective packing sheet stuff, which seems to be used a lot these days. I have various thicknesses of it which I then laser 'cut' at very low power to make correctly shaped pads that fit behind the buttons to give the spring, and also ensure the buttons sit forward correctly. You have to play with the shape a bit, too thick and they become sort of squashy and hard to press, too thin and they don't hold the button right. Difficult to describe, but you know when it is right because the action of the switch is correct.

 

Anyway, hope this helps, I have .nc gcode files and .dxf / .svg files if anyone needs them

 

Cheers

 

Les


Edited by lesthegrngo
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Looking good!! Great job!

 

How did you make your caution panel? The text looks fantastic!

 

I have some self adhesive transparent film I bought (I'll have to look up the details) off amazon that I printed using a laser printer, which printed the background in black, but left the text 'clear'. I then used my airbrush and some Gunze Mr Color flat black lacquer paint (not the aqueous acrylic) to lightly spray over it until the clear areas were just covered. I then cut out the backs from 2mm opal acrylic which was also sprayed with a light coat of the Gunze flat black (if you hold the acrylic up to the light you should still be able to easily see the light bleeding through), and then cut out the film button fronts and stuck them on.

 

The backlights are green SMD (0805) LED's and the buttons allow the light through nicely, but when off you can hardly see the text

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Les

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I have some self adhesive transparent film I bought...

 

Thanks for the great info!

It's a little Hard for me to understand now, but I'm sure it will be more clear when I start building it myself.

 

I have a laser printer and have a 3018 cnc on the way, so hopefully I'll get there.

 

Again, great job, it truely looks fantastic!

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These are the transparent sheets I got

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Premium-Transparent-Clear-A4-Self-Adhesive-Inkjet-Printable-Sticker-Sheets/292120379161?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

It's easier to do than describe, and if you have access to a laser cutter making the CWP 'lenses' is a breeze

 

Cheers

 

Les

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Thanks for the share!

I have a color laser at work, will experiment with letter colors aswell!

 

Right now I'v have a meltdown in Illustrator, FCS 2 and down will have black background with transparent text, above that will have black text and transparent/red background.

 

The pathfinder keeps bugging so that some of the text doesn't get stenciled out when text next to it is :bash:

 

(image doesn't show that part)

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