Thrustmaster MFD Cougar Pack - LCD Home Edition

Well I'm not planning on building a pit,

but it is nice to have a little more immersion

in the Flight Sims / Gaming.

I'm thinking of adding a 20 inch monitor ( HDMI )

and mounting the MFD's onto it somehow.

I have a X-52 Pro FlightStick, TrackIR 5 and the MFD's,

2 Monitors, soon a third as I have said.

I use blue tax currently, it dies tend to get 'claggy' from the heat of the monitor.

Other thing I did was superglue hinges to them and the monitor so you can fold them away if you want to use second screen. I did however still need to use a piece of blue tack on the side opposite the hinge as they sag and can stand off the monitor.

I've used double sided sticky Velcro but obviously it leaves some behind on your monitor if you plan on removing them.

Last bit of advice from me, some users have cut a strip of plexi and mounted the MFDs to that with Velcro, blue tack glue. You can then attach this plexi with blue tack or Velcro in the corners where you wouldn't notice it. Personally if I did this approach I would either try on cut recesses in the plexi so them mfd sits inside and flush with the monitor or cut recesses the size of the internal circumference, then Paint the insides of the cut out black and use a white permanent marker to drae lines from the osb all the way down to the bottom of the cut out next to the screen. It can be ver difficult to see which screen function is meant for which osb especially if you are using dms to set up weapons or the replication of the waypoint input thing. I would think this would get worse the further you standbyour mfdsvodd thevscreen!

Hopefully some useful tips!

Thanks for the Input. I was actually

thinking of the Plexi Mod and was

wondering if I should do a cut-out

or not.

:-)

Well I went with Velco and mounted them

on the Upper part of the monitor.

Used a Rubberized Foam with an

adhesive back thats usually

used to help furniture grip the floor better.

Used the foam where the MFD's would touch

the monitor.

Works Great !

Mission complete!

I've successfully managed to mod mine MFCDs too. Screens fit just right once the enclosure is glued together and in place. The package looks great and 800x600 resolution monitors are more than enough for this mod.

I've got two suggestions for anyone planning to do this.

• Modify the cutting plans a little and move the power DC socket more to the outside. Otherwise you will end up with the tight squeeze for the power socket.
  
• 2mm thin walls make this a bit fragile construction. I would suggest something stronger like ABS or polycarbonate, plexi is much easier to break.
  
• You will need additional 2 video outputs (HDMI, DP or DVI will do the job with some converter cables. This may be a problem if someone already have multiscreen setup.
  

Despite these small issues the mod is very much worth to do. No way this can be compared to paper inserts supplied with the Cougars and is much more compact solution than installing much bigger full screen like others suggest.

I’m sending big thanks for the OP Speedbird696 who helped me to source the acrylic and responded promptly to all my questions.

Hi all,

I'm following this amazing MFD project and I wish help the community with my little contribute.

I rescaled the drawing from inch to decimal (mm) and I modified the layout for A3 sheet. I did that cause I found an on-line plexiglass cutting service in my country (Italy).

If there are some italian users, I report the link:

http://www.matterlab.it/taglio_laser/en/content/9-taglio-laser

http://www.matterlab.it/taglio_laser/en/taglio-incisione-laser-su-pmma-plexiglass/715-laser-cutting-on-plexiglas-20-mm-thick.html

I sent the drawing yesterday evening, right today they shipped my order.

I also modified the design for the VS-TY2662-V1 driver board.

I will keep you updated.

Bye!

MFC-print_dec.zip

Made mine today, but don't know to make it work with DCS 1.5?

Are you guys using Helios or UltraMFCD?

Are you guys using Helios or UltraMFCD?

None of these. I one-off used Icontrol server (free) just to easily create lua files. And thats it, no need to run anything in the background etc. Works with 1.5, just need to adjust resolution in DCS settings and choose created monitor config.

Does any have a US-based company that can laser-cut plexiglass? I'm interested in building this but don't have a company (that I know of) around my area that can do this. Any suggestions from those that have done this already?

You can also configure everything natively. See here:

http://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2616874&postcount=799

nice proj

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi all.

Just briefly.

Thrustmaster MFD Cougar Pack is great but with LCD is amazing!

I have seen e.g. Lilliput UM-80 8" or tablet solutions. None of them i did not like.

So there is my own idea:

- MFD Cougar Pack

- 2x LCD panel 8"

- 2x display control board

- phone chargers 5V USB, HDMI cables

- 2 mm plexi box (laser cutted)

You should really make and sell these as a side business for lazy (and less skilled) people like me that would rather pay extra $'s and have them shipped complete :) There are probably a lot of people that would be willing to buy these off you.

The thing is, you don't really have to do anything. You can just get an 8" Liliput LCDs and stick it behind the MFD. Then just put a sheet of thin aluminum and paint it black. For example, the "For Sale" signs that they sell at any hardware store is perfect. Easy to cut, easy to paint etc. I can post some pictures if anyone is interested.

The thing is, you don't really have to do anything. You can just get an 8" Liliput LCDs and stick it behind the MFD. Then just put a sheet of thin aluminum and paint it black. For example, the "For Sale" signs that they sell at any hardware store is perfect. Easy to cut, easy to paint etc. I can post some pictures if anyone is interested.

just upload your pic ;)

Hi all.

Just briefly.

Thrustmaster MFD Cougar Pack is great but with LCD is amazing!

I have seen e.g. Lilliput UM-80 8" or tablet solutions. None of them i did not like.

So there is my own idea:

- MFD Cougar Pack

- 2x LCD panel 8"

- 2x display control board

- phone chargers 5V USB, HDMI cables

- 2 mm plexi box (laser cutted)

so box is completed done by yourself from scratch?

So here's how I did it. Not as elaborate as the OP, but certainly easier to accomplish.

You can see the rig in action here. Excuse the mess, as I'm busy building some physical switches. Notice the left and right MFDs are put together with slightly differently.

You can see the close up of the MFDs here:

Notice the blank space that's covered in black on the left side? All it is an aluminum "for sale" sign that I picked up at Home Depot (or any hardware store). Like this one

I cut it to cover the spare space on the 8" Lilliput monitors and painted the back of the sign with matte black spray paint.

Another close up of the MFDs:

Here you can see what I did to put it together. Basically, you take the frame off of the MFCD - just a few screws. Then you slide the Lilliput behind the MFDs and secure it using double stick tape. The Lilliput monitors com with a stand/pole to help stabilize it. You can see it in the picture. Everything fits perfectly. Modify the monitor lua file like this:

Are those USB monitors?

Yes they are: Model number UM-80/C. That's the *non* touch version. On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lilliput-Um-80-Monitor-non-touch-Screen/dp/B003LS95SG/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1454440538&sr=1-1&keywords=lilliput+8+inch

Yes they are: Model number UM-80/C. That's the *non* touch version. On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lilliput-Um-80-Monitor-non-touch-Screen/dp/B003LS95SG/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1454440538&sr=1-1&keywords=lilliput+8+inch

if this 7 inch one

http://www.amazon.com/Tontec%C2%AE-Resolution-Raspberry-Rearview-Headrest/dp/B00OOJPAGW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1454444671&sr=8-2&keywords=7+inch+vga+monitor

can it be fitted to the back of mfd (insert to the back not mfd attached to the top of screen)

The problem is that the 7" screens are *just* a bit too small to fit the MFDs from TM. I'm talking about the screen estate and not the physical form factor. As I recall, the 7" will fit just fine behind the bezel of MFDs. But you'll see a little gap. Not terrible, but you'll see the gap. So I went with the 8" and hid the parts that I didn't need.

So it's a judgement call on what makes sense. I'm pretty sure there were youtube videos of 7" Liliputs in action.

What do you guys think of this one?

Would it work??

http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-TFT-LCD-Display-ModuleHDMI-VGA-2AV-Driver-Board-for-Raspberry-Pi-/181395634298?hash=item2a3c05b87a:g:XaMAAOxy4eJTNB5o&autorefresh=true

What do you guys think of this one?

Would it work??

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-TFT-LCD-Display-ModuleHDMI-VGA-2AV-Driver-Board-for-Raspberry-Pi-/181395634298?hash=item2a3c05b87a:g:XaMAAOxy4eJTNB5o&autorefresh=true

I'm using the same set and putted it vertical, it's fit perfect. You can export more info on spate part of it. Check my signature

bought a 7" one and although a little bit small, does look awesome

Nice! Enjoy it.

I will keep you updated.

Done. :smilewink: