Modular Panel WIP

If only I didn't have to work...

Well, I think that applies to most of us pitbuilders...:cry:

Indeed you‘re showing fantastic work here!

Especially the tricky design for the jettison knob is clever. Like!

May I ask why you created „slashed“ gears instead of perpendicular ones?

Sorry for not knowing the correct technical term.

Are you already having an idea how to design the bleed air knob?

That seems to be another hurdle to take.

I'm with good company here :)

I gave the jettison allot of thought and decided this was the most compact way to do it and still have control over the sweep angle.

The helical gear is more a habit, it's meant to increase the tooth surface area maximising strength, not really an issue here though, so I could have used spur gears.

I haven't thought that far ahead, but I imagine it'll be the same geared design with magnets and HE sensors for the pull switch. It will need to be a more compact design as there's two in the same box.

cheers

John

Well, I think that applies to most of us pitbuilders...:cry:

 

 

Indeed you‘re showing fantastic work here!

Especially the tricky design for the jettison knob is clever. Like!

May I ask why you created „slashed“ gears instead of perpendicular ones?

Sorry for not knowing the correct technical term.

 

Are you already having an idea how to design the bleed air knob?

That seems to be another hurdle to take.

Just a wiring shot update for the latest panel.

cheers

John

I'm running some tests on my 3d printer with some A-10 panels. Right now I'm working on the face plate to the electric panel. On my 1st test I made the panel 4mm thick and I thought that was a bit too much. I'm now running a 2mm thick test to see how that turns out.

I'm learning Fusion 360 per your suggestion and so far so good. I have a lot more to learn though. I need to figure out how to get the bottom layers to play nicely with the top layer and then figure out some sort of box or rail system to mount them in. And then, of course, I need to order the electronic components and figure that all out.

Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your process.

-=gos=-

Hi Goslin, Congrats on getting started, once you've got the hang of Fusion360 and the limitations/tolerances of your particular 3D printer you can build almost anything. Just a slight learning curve at the beginning. Learn what your printer's tolerance is and design in the necessary gap between any parts.

I'm using ABS so it's got some flex, therefore my bottom panel is 4.5mm and my top 2mm. With PLA you could go thinner.

My printer can only print on a raft so though my bottom layer is a little rough I don't have any first layer issues.

cheers

John.

I'm running some tests on my 3d printer with some A-10 panels. Right now I'm working on the face plate to the electric panel. On my 1st test I made the panel 4mm thick and I thought that was a bit too much. I'm now running a 2mm thick test to see how that turns out.

 

I'm learning Fusion 360 per your suggestion and so far so good. I have a lot more to learn though. I need to figure out how to get the bottom layers to play nicely with the top layer and then figure out some sort of box or rail system to mount them in. And then, of course, I need to order the electronic components and figure that all out.

 

Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your process.

 

-=gos=-

Designed and printed the jettison button and rotary control knob. The lettering will be lasered with the rest later. Moving onto the switch headers for the four toggles shown. The multi-selector switch is geared to take 180 degrees movement on the knob to 120 degrees movement to the switch. The switch needs to move through 5 positions with 30 degress between them.

 

Design

 

Printed Components

 

 

Assembled Components

 

 

Lower Front Face

 

 

Under

 

 

Completed part, minus lettering.

 

 

cheers

 

John

That Jettison Button is awesome, nice design, I couldnt figure out how to make one and that is perfect!

Nice one.

Thanks Mr Burns!

Do you think PLA could work at 1.5mm to match the 1/16" aluminium plate of the real panels? Then you could add LEDs and switches to that and then a 6mm (or 1/4") printed or milled/engraved acrylic plate on top.

What infill percentage are you using on these?

And to repeat the top question on everybody's mind; when do you think we can start getting our grubby hands on those excellent .stl's of yours?

The helical gear is more a habit, it's meant to increase the tooth surface area maximising strength, not really an issue here though, so I could have used spur gears.

Thank you for the explanation.

Indeed, that‘s a good solution. I for myself had never been thinking so far for details.

I haven't thought that far ahead, but I imagine it'll be the same geared design with magnets and HE sensors for the pull switch. It will need to be a more compact design as there's two in the same box.

Concerning bleed air knob:

Haven‘t been seaching if the is an encoder with only 4 detents for a good price available. So far I am think of 4 microswitches, a metal ball and spring to make the „hopping“ from one switch to the other. Pull: Thinking about magnets and another switch - but only because so far I don‘t have any experience with HE sensors.

Keep on with you‘re incredible designs!

Eagerly waiting for every update. :)

Cheers

RS

Outstanding work on that jettison button sir :thumbup:

Cheers

Solo

I'm not sure that would be rigid enough, my bottom plate is 4.5mm to give the strength and 2mm top plate. Though I do print in ABS which is not as rigid as PLA.

My infills are 80% for the face plates, 60% everywhere else.

The box design is has been largely static so it's close. I do need to tweak two more things though, haven't gotten around to it yet.

cheers

John

Do you think PLA could work at 1.5mm to match the 1/16" aluminium plate of the real panels? Then you could add LEDs and switches to that and then a 6mm (or 1/4") printed or milled/engraved acrylic plate on top.

 

What infill percentage are you using on these?

 

And to repeat the top question on everybody's mind; when do you think we can start getting our grubby hands on those excellent .stl's of yours?

Cheers RS :)

The gearing is there to match the actual dial rotation range to the fixed 30deg segments of the rotary switch. So matching it 360->120deg is possible, of course I can't do continuous full circles like the real thing so magnets will be my solution with a HE sensor on an arm. The rare-earth magnets are quite strong so you'll get that indent feel without any "contact" friction.

Your design sounds great, that'll work, but I'll like to keep mine all plastic. HE sensors are very easy to use, I've recently purchased a bunch that deliver an open-drain output, now they can be connected straight to an Arduino pin without any extra circuitry.

cheers

John

Thank you for the explanation.

Indeed, that‘s a good solution. I for myself had never been thinking so far for details.

 

 

 

Concerning bleed air knob:

Haven‘t been seaching if the is an encoder with only 4 detents for a good price available. So far I am think of 4 microswitches, a metal ball and spring to make the „hopping“ from one switch to the other. Pull: Thinking about magnets and another switch - but only because so far I don‘t have any experience with HE sensors.

 

Keep on with you‘re incredible designs!

Eagerly waiting for every update. :)

 

Cheers

RS

Thanks Solo! In VR it's much easier to use then fumbling with the mouse.

Struggling with emergency/parking brake at the moment, DCS-BIOS is sending messages for PULL but sends an empty (nameless) message for rotate. I haven't encountered this before.

cheers

John

Outstanding work on that jettison button sir :thumbup:

 

Cheers

Solo

Hi Guys,

The vertical panel is largely complete. I have an odd thing with the Parking Brake where DCS-BIOS is not interpreting rotate properly. If I assign the Arduino pin to another DCS-BIOS function it works no issues so it's something with DCS-BIOS that doesn't like the EMERGENCY_PARKING_BRAKE_ROTATE command. I'll move on from here and hopefully find a solution later.

Got to say, flying with the flap control at finger distance from the throttle is very convenient.

Glamour shot :)

cheers

John

Excellent work as usual.

Thats awesome, I saw ALDI had some 3D printers on sale for $300, not a good time right now for me to buy with a new house, redundancies at work and a UK holiday but looking at your work is really making me think of a printer purchase next!

Also, it gets so hot over here with a hat for track IR and big headphones I was thinking of actually putting those air vents to proper use.

I hate it when the company is in redundancy mode, we had a big one in 2012 when the mining industry ground to halt, the threat lingered around for a couple of years.

The fan for VR is very useful in summer, cools me right down and I can wind it up by altering the cabin temp dial. The elastic band does a good job of eliminating vibrations. Will be building the right hand side shortly.

I hear there's a Hornet aerial performance display for the reception of our first two F-35's on the 10th? Are you going to see that Mr Burns?

cheers

John

Thats awesome, I saw ALDI had some 3D printers on sale for $300, not a good time right now for me to buy with a new house, redundancies at work and a UK holiday but looking at your work is really making me think of a printer purchase next!

 

 

Also, it gets so hot over here with a hat for track IR and big headphones I was thinking of actually putting those air vents to proper use.

Yes if I can get away from work, cant wait to see them flying around up here, I worked on the project in the UK whilst it was still a paper specification and cannot believe there are now so many flying.

I dont have a good camera so photos will be of limited quality to what will be available on line after their arrival.

Mining industry is really stepping up in the Hunter, I have applied for a job at one of the mines!

Sorry off topic :-)

On topic, is the parking break a printed cap on a standard switch or have you also engineered a pull twist switch for that too?

On topic, is the parking break a printed cap on a standard switch or have you also engineered a pull twist switch for that too?

He was mentioning that DCS-BIOS had issues with the parking brake rotate command...

I have created a pull and rotate mechanism, mechanically it's good just the DCS-BIOS receives the ROTATE command but seems to not be able to do anything with it. The PULL command is okay. There's a picture of it a few pages back.

On topic, is the parking break a printed cap on a standard switch or have you also engineered a pull twist switch for that too?

The hook design is complete, it has been printed just waiting for the clear coats to dry. Here's the Fusion360 model. Working on the "HOOK" lamp now.

cheers

John

3D Part was sanded and filled. The top coat paint colour is NATO Black. Rare Earth magnets were used to give it that "detent" feel. HE sensors aren't in yet, there's another set of small magnets for those.

I inserted a 3mm solid brass rod through the centres to give it more strength. I've threaded the top section to allow insertion through the panel slot.

cheers

John

1st post shows the Fusion 360 model. An hour later the completed product which looks phenomenal.

What is your reasoning for using HE sensors rather than switches?

Cheers mate :)

Space is premium and HE sensors are so tiny that they take up no space. Plus they never wear out and I don't need to rely on a contact join, just swing a magnet near it and I get positive voltage. The new ones I've bought are "digital" so I don't need any extra circuity, can connect direct to an Arduino pin.

1st post shows the Fusion 360 model. An hour later the completed product which looks phenomenal.

 

What is your reasoning for using HE sensors rather than switches?