Jedi's A-10C home made cockpit

[metalnwood]

Hi all.

 

What would you guys say would be a reasonable price to have this pit laser cut. I just got a quote back for $994.20

 

I have no idea what the going rate for this sort of thing is but for that price I'll do it myself with my wobbly hand and jigsaw.

 

I havent seen the plans so I dont know how many sheets it takes to make it. That does sound steep allowing for a few full sheets as I think in the other thread you said you were supplying the material.

 

It's really unfortunate having heard a few people recently getting fairly large quotes for these jobs. All I can figure is that the places you guys have been are reasonably busy for work and are quoting a little on the high side to get rid of you or if you accept they will certainly fit it in at that price.

[SimHog]

I havent seen the plans so I dont know how many sheets it takes to make it. That does sound steep allowing for a few full sheets as I think in the other thread you said you were supplying the material.

 

It's really unfortunate having heard a few people recently getting fairly large quotes for these jobs. All I can figure is that the places you guys have been are reasonably busy for work and are quoting a little on the high side to get rid of you or if you accept they will certainly fit it in at that price.

 

Yeah, I had to supply the sheets but that is a given with this sort of project. I provided the shop with .dxf files that geneb created (post #91).

 

I'm happy to build it myself but my carpentry skills are novice at best and I would have saved a ton of time getting it cut by cnc.

 

On the plus side, I'm going to enjoy the challenge.

 

I saw your cnc machine in the other thread, how much did that set you back? More than a couple of sheep I bet ;)

Edited August 31, 2012 by CoderX71

[BubbaMc]

Hi guys,

Is it possible to use these plans for 1200mm x 2400mm MDF sheets? These are the closest I can get to 4' x 8'.

 

Cheers

[geneb]

Here you go, BubbaMc.

http://www.geneb.org/a10/wharthog-2400x1200-sheets.zip

 

Has anyone cut a set of parts from the drawings I provided?

 

g.

[Psyrixx]

GeneB I'm looking to take on this project here over the Memorial Day weekend, actually. I'm going to try and use your plans layout using the measurements in Jedi's (screw finding a place to CNC... more fun to break out my jigsaw!)

 

Will update you with progress.

 

Edit

 

Turns out Adobe Illustrator can open dxf files and scale them at 1:1. I've saved the files as PDFs which you can print out in "poster form" at 1:1 as well, simply overlay onto your 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4" plywood (6mm, 12mm and 18mm respectively) to trace, then proceed with your cuts. :)

 

PDFs are attached in a .zip file in this post.

JedisCustomA-10CPitPDFs.zip

Edited May 25, 2013 by Psyrixx

[jay43]

That's a cool one looks easy to make but curious what gross size area does this require to fit it in.

[Psyrixx]

I went ahead and processed Jedi's earlier drawing.

Material requirements are three sheets of 12mm, one sheet of 18mm (a VERY partial sheet) and one sheet of 6mm. Each sheet (except the 18mm) is 48in x 96in.

 

The document size of the 3/4" stencil is 20 inches by 48 inches so if you go with a 24 inch by 48 inch sheet of plywood you'll be good (660mm x 1220mm x 18mm).

 

note to all, further needed for this pit are 2 steel pipes wich hold the seat and backrest.

Dimension for theses pipes are:

- seat support: 25mm/550mm

- backrest support: 25mm/510mm

 

So total materials:

• (3) 96 inch x 48 inch sheets of 1/2 inch thick plywood (3 - 2440mm x 1220mm x 12mm Plywood)
  
• (1) 96 inch x 48 inch sheet of 1/4 inch thick plywood (1 - 2440mm x 1220mm x 6mm Plywood)
  
• (1) 24 inch x 48 inch sheet of 3/4 inch thick plywood (1 - 660mm x 1220mm x 18mm Plywood)
  
• (1) 20 inch long x 1 inch radius steel pipe (510mm x 25mm metal pipe for backrest support)
  
• (1) 22 inch long x 1 inch radius steel pipe (550mm x 25mm metal pipe for seat support)
  

 

Jedi also included a few CAD drawings that show which pieces go with what section of the cockpit, I've turned that into a non-to-scale PDF that you can just look at to get an idea of how this bad boy goes together. I haven't actually built it yet (just found this thread and did all of this conversion last night so I'll be taking a shot at building it soon) so for now you'll just have to kind of guess at what goes where once you've cut your materials from the plywood sheets.

 

Approximate Cost for Materials

Did a quick search on Lowes.com this morning for basic materials for this build.

Prices subject to change and may not be representative of your local stores.

 

$15 USD / sheet for 1/2 inch plywood

$13 USD / sheet for 1/4 inch plywood

$15 USD / sheet for 3/4 inch plywood at 24 inch x 48 inch sheet

$4 USD / 1 inch x 48 inch wooden dowel, you could cut this down to size and I'll bet it would hold most people's weight

 

Approximate base cost of materials for this pit: $80.

Then hopefully you have plenty of time!

 

:thumbup:

Whartog Home Cockpit by Jedi with dimensions.pdf

Edited May 25, 2013 by Psyrixx

[XRay_Specs]

Hey, one quick note that may be handy for you in advance - if the monitor you want to fit in the instrument panel section isn't 17" (if it's larger, like mine), you'll need to cut away part of the two pieces that fit behind the 6mm instrument panel and slot into the front base. Have fun!

(Also, I haven't checked your files, but are you using the updated stick hub that's 2.5cm higher than the original? You'll need it!)

 

Check out my build here if you're interested:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3773478/XRay_s_Pit#Post3773478

[Psyrixx]

Dude your pit is amazing, done without power tools!

 

I believe I'm using the higher stick hub as I grabbed the latest available CNC plans from geneb (in which I'm sure I remember him mentioning it including the updated stick hub). I'm going to be integrating a 16" monitor for the MFCDs, and probably not displaying any gauges at this time.

 

My primary reason for building a pit is to have a dedicated seat for DCS with the joystick, throttle and rudder pedals in appropriate positions that can easily be moved out of the way of my regular desk when not in use: I have no problem using TrackIR to glance at my gauges etc. So two MFCDs, proper mount positions for HOTAS and pedals, a seat that doesn't swivel from side to side and the ability to slide it out of the way when not gaming.

 

I might get an itch and upgrade it at some point to include gauges, but at the moment I'm not too interested. :)

[XRay_Specs]

I understand :)

 

Hope the build goes well!

[Psyrixx]

Here's a gallery that I'll keep updated with my cockpit build progress.

 

http://imgur.com/a/ON36P (Updated 5/30/2013)

 

I've got all of the 3/4" pieces cut out, now I'm trying to figure out a cost effective way to get the 1/2" and 1/4" materials to my house as neither my wife nor I have cars that are large enough to transport full 8'x4' sheets of plywood. Might just spend the $35 and have it delivered by the local lumber yard.

[Rolibi555]

Hey Psyrixx,

 

I will be starting soon with the same pit. So I'm gonna watch your work very closely :-)

Its looking good so far.

 

Good luck with your project.

[Briareos]

Help with Jedi's A-10 plans

 

Hello everyone,

 

I am the new guy here and I really want to build my cockpit like Jedi's. Of course I have dumb new guy questions. I downloaded the PDF files that Psyrixx posted so that I could print them out and use them as a stencil. I have a friend that can print out large sheets but when I sent him the PDF files he told me that "The A-10 files are all designed for a 48" printer, My monochrome printers are all 36" wide. There is a way to tile the pages with some overlap that might work for you, See if you can find a way to split the A-10 files into 36" max width (leave a least 1/4" margins all around). If you are able to size the sheets and re-save them in PDF format at 100% scale than I will be able to print them". I am not sure what he is talking about but is there any one that can resize these files to work with a 36" printer and still keep the same scale? If not then my other questions is if I wanted to try and print these plans out on my own small 8 X 11 printer using poster setting do I need to adjust the Tile Scale or overlap any. Right now it says the tile scale is at 100% and the overlap is set to 0.005 in. for a 1:1 scale do I need to adjust anything?

 

Thanks for the Help

 

Briareos

[Madfish]

Salute gents

 

am I right that I need a combination of the two plans gene posted (quoted below) if I want to cut out the most "recent" build?

 

The 6mm and 18mm dxf's appears to be missing in the version for the 2400x1200 sheets.

Also I found duplicates if I go with the latest 2400x1200 version and just add the 6mm and 18mm dxf ( I believe one of the 6 mm side panel details is also in the 12mm-2400x1200-sheet-2.dxf file) from the earlier post gene made.

 

Ok, I've just posted a corrected version of the files. This includes the dogbone errors that Wayne found (Thanks!) as well as getting the leg-length of that one 6mm part fixed.

 

The new file can be had here:

http://www.geneb.org/a10/optimized-wharthog-12oct11.zip

 

g.

 

Here you go, BubbaMc.

http://www.geneb.org/a10/wharthog-2400x1200-sheets.zip

 

Has anyone cut a set of parts from the drawings I provided?

 

g.

 

 

Aside from that, yeah, I'd love to cut a set from the drawings - I'm just a bit confused as to what plans are most recent and make a complete set:helpsmilie:

 

Thanks in advance :)

[geneb]

Going JUST by memory, I don't think the 6mm or 18mm parts even took a half sheet. I'm not in a position to check at the moment.

 

g.

[Psyrixx]

I can take pictures of the plywood I've got, all marked up.

 

The 6mm is about 3/5 of a sheet and the 18mm was about a quarter sheet.

 

Here in the states we get 4'x8' plywood, and they sell 2'x4' pieces as well which is what I used for the 18mm (3/4").

[geneb]

I just took a peek at the 6mm dxf and it should fit easily on a 4x8 sheet of material. I'm in Washington State, so I have a good hand on what's available. :D I'd highly recommend going with a Baltic Birch if you can afford it. You'll get true 12mm and 18mm thicknesses and it's a very strong plywood.

 

Are you planning on hand-cutting all the parts instead of running them on a CNC machine?

 

g.

[Psyrixx]

If he's hand cutting, my PDFs will probably work better than the .dxf files as they've already been sized for 4x8 plywood sheets. I've got mine all marked up and ready to cut, it's been super hot and humid here in Georgia so I haven't made much headway on actually cutting the plywood into pieces.

 

I went with CDX, cuz it's cheaper, but do wish I had spent the extra money on birch. Maybe after I've cut out what I've got (and make sure my carpentry skills aren't shit) I'll use those pieces as forms and re-trace over new wood. The CDX will work fine once painted, it just certainly doesn't look as professional or "finished". ;)

[Briareos]

Psyrixx,

 

Please see my earlier post. Can you fix your PDFs to fit on a 36" printer instead of a 48" printer. If not than please let me know how you got them printed out so that they can be used as a stencil.

 

Thanks.

[Rigby]

Hi Jedi,

 

Your flight pit looks awesome, I am pretty new myself to the world of flight simulation, but needless to say I am so addicted that it is crazy.

As my collection of joystick's, mfd's, rudder pedals etc., are starting to out grow my current desk.

How would I go about possibly acquiring some plans for your cockpit design, as I am thinking of building something exactly like yours in the very near future.

 

My e-mail address is nrigby@bigpond.net.au,

Kind regards

Rigby

[SimHog]

Here's mine so far.

 

The side recesses are too narrow for the G940 throttle so I made two boxes to raise the throttle which clear the side panels. Worked out quite well.

 

Still need to finish off the seat and give a lick of paint and I should be ready to go.

 

 

 

[Low Blow]

Here's mine

 

http://www.aef-hq.com.au/aef4/showthread.php?44780-Time-to-get-busy-building-my-pit

[SimHog]

Here's mine

 

http://www.aef-hq.com.au/aef4/showthread.php?44780-Time-to-get-busy-building-my-pit

 

Very nice finish.

 

What wood did you use and I'm assuming you got it CNC'd?

[Low Blow]

Very nice finish.

 

What wood did you use and I'm assuming you got it CNC'd?

 

Thanks Coder. It is mdf. Yup good spotting...cnc. :thumbup:

[Morpheus]

Hi guys, thanks for sharing your work. I began to build mine two months ago, and when a pilot of my team saw what i was doing for me ......he wanted the same. I built not one but TWO cockpits :music_whistling:. Fun is that his is finished and not mine :megalol:. I am painting it. Some pics of building of the two cockpits, no cnc, all cuts with electrical tools. Some modifications to the seat, we fly Alphajet, not A10. And i have integrated support for my PC :thumbup:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connections for USB and Headset

 

 

and installed

 

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I'll post my photos when cockpit will be painted and finished

Edited August 23, 2014 by Morpheus