Interest check: Landing Gear Panel, Flap Gauge

[agrasyuk]

Hi fellow builders,

I'm working on my landing gear panel and with the current run of landing levers and knobs i thought some might be interested. I'm not building a replica pit and this is not 1:1 copy, but only few here build to the T. as shown its probably going to work for very few people other then me (if at all) but i'm open building it to your specification (size, additional switches, etc.). for those with proto sized levers opnening can be adjusted. behind there are screw mounting points for gear lever assembly.

 

here is my construction approach:

 

3 layers.

top plate on white plexiglass painted and engraved,

spacer,

bottom plate holding switches and LEDS for backlight.

 

 

switches sit on additional spacers (provided) which gets them elevated above the circuitry of backlight. if you have any nice switches ie NKK locking ones you know they already have similar spacer. as a result i can get even underneath switch itself to get nice even lit lettering. my approach to good backlight is numbers. as we used to say in armored corps "what not goes by force goes by lots more force" :) and with Leds being dirt cheep (~8$ for 200) i don't see why hold back

 

 

this is how panel looks assembled.

Landing gear indicators are in works, they will look the part. i am trying somewhat different approach to this,will show when ready. Bezel is 51-49 outside/inside diameter sits on top of 50mm opening covering the seam of the lense. components of Flap Gauge (backlit as well) shown below, minus the pointing needle whis WIP

 

 

here is how it will be mounted. i have number of servos on order from china, mounting system for them will be done as soon as it is here. I'm planning on "translating" 180 degree rotation of servo motor into 90 degree of pointer motion so it doesn't break off if servo goes crazy. or i can just allow such travel where needle safely goes off scale.

some resedue from old sticky tape visible, this one is for me so i'm reusing bunch of old material , yours will be clean :P

 

 

 

my take on landing gear lever clear knob. for some reason i can not find a single 5mm red LED, IOU to show this lit

the bottom left part is not needed but it looks cool so i decided to show it :)

 

 

 

assembled

 

 

i'm offering

* A landing gear panel as is or made to your specifications, with flap gauge or not, ready to be backlit by you or with LEDs installed and soldered by me.

* Flap gauge, either as is (50mm opening exactly) or scaled to your opening. mounting points can also be adjusted to your need.

price... i have no idea. i'm not going to make a living out of this one, so you should be happy with it , i prommise (well, if you believe these things entitle compensation)

 

waiting to hear from you.

Cheers!

Edited January 26, 2013 by agrasyuk

[agrasyuk]

i will be showing off my gear lever and knob soon. was thinking to get Toms but attempted my own and so far looks promising.

 

i did get several PMs the other week regarding this, thanks for your interest your vote and help is appreciated

Edited January 9, 2013 by agrasyuk

[TomDK]

+ 1 :thumbup:

[Cowboy10uk]

Looking good. Another thread to follow closely :)

 

Cowboy10uk

[agrasyuk]

top post updated with picture of my landing gear knob

 

well, thats quite an experience, making one is quite different from making couple sets, bunch of lessons learnt .

 

for those who expressed interest, status update:

somewhat reworked - tested backlighting on the concept and rearranged the LEDS for better result. i was asked how is the package held together. on any picture i could find i did not see screws from the face of the gauge, so to hold the pack together during mounting i'm going to be using couple dubs of super glue. once mounted it is compressed and securely held by mounting screws anyways.

but all the other layers are pre-drilled so if you want just add 2 holes on front plate and screw it together. will provide adapre ring to make the front panel sit deeper for screw head clearance upon request.

 

Edited January 14, 2013 by agrasyuk

[TomDK]

Cool !

 

A own small laser CNC must be great in our hobby :thumbup:

I know that it is much much work to bring all this parts in vector graphics ! Great !

[agrasyuk]

update, Servo motor holder and 2:1 reduction gearing is ready. lighting the pointer needle proves to be complicated . the splines on the servo seem to be way to delicate, i could not find a pattern for small gear to sit on motor reliably so a drop of CA will be needed there. same goes for the big gear.

 

also apparently i used the last M3x25mm screws i had for this, will take a bit time for the order to get here

 

 

 

 

 

[agrasyuk]

quick update, lighting the needle is complete. i think it looks even better in person.

so the gauges ready to be assembled.

ADD: as soon as i get more screws from China :)

 

Edited January 22, 2013 by agrasyuk

[Intrepid1]

That looks fantastic I would be absolutely interested in purchasing one of these landing gear panel kits from you, when you have the integration with the sim down ..count me in

 

Randy

[Gadroc]

Very nice!

 

Mind sharing your trick with lighting the needle?

[agrasyuk]

of course.

the needle is cut from clear 2.5mm acrylic sheet. painted matt white on edges and bottom, LED is glued into resession in needle laterally on the invisible edge. shining "into" the needle. legs of diode are bent into the plastic tube to avoid bending the and breaking contact at solder point. so the shaft is also wire channel. the downside is that needle not detachable from the shaft. i understand that using 8 diodes is a bit to much for this, but they are dirt cheap :)

i got my hands on pile of 1mm Acrylic. will be playing with that as well to see if i can make everything shallower and avoid the "looking into a bucket" feel

here is somewhat blurry picture.

 

 

 

 

the temperature at the moment is way to cold for good painting, waititng till it warms up a bit to show the landing panel

Edited January 22, 2013 by agrasyuk

[moken]

Great work!

 

Servo motor how to connect the game?

[agrasyuk]

First gauge was complete and sent for evaluation.

 

getting closer to completion

 

kit for the lever mechanism. this way everything can still ship in a flat envelope

 

 

parts of lever glued together. for the ease of assembly the guides are bolted on after the lever is in the main holder. i did not want a big throw for myself . others will be able to request their desired angle of throw (adjusted by relocating the pivot axis closer to the edge). mounting for limit switches will be added in next prototype.

 

or It can be made one piece if one is not concerned about the bend.

 

 

prototypicaly sized panel and painted lever.

this one is with 7mm wide X38mm tall lever opening for me. 11mm x30mm version is coming up.

 

 

 

 

ADD:

 

Overall this how everything looks so far

 

Edited February 4, 2013 by agrasyuk

[Merlin-27]

Amazing work. Well done.

[bnepethomas]

Nice work, I'm interested, gt an approx price in your head?

 

Cheers

 

Peter

[agrasyuk]

thanks for your comments guys.

 

bnepethomas, i do have price in mind. but before i announce it i want to finalize and demonstrate everything that is involved. at the moment i'm working on indicator covers.

 

 

for now couple questions for those who think they might be interested once this complete:

 

*. how would you want to see the TEMS button opening?

 

at the moment it is 12mm opening in bottom layer and 18 in mmddle and upper. that way the button i'm using

(in black of course) sits deeper and there is opening for bezel. adequate?

 

* how would you want to see the Downlock override button that does not have function in game?

 

at the moment i have 12mm opening in top and middle layers and 3mm in bottom. i plan to cut a wooden dowel to appropriate size, paint it red and hold it in with a screw from behind. adequate?

[Krebs20]

Use the downlock over ride button for the landing gear horn silence. Just a thought.

[agrasyuk]

thanks Krebs, this is indeed good idea.

 

Working on indicators and i think i have a version that i really really like. what bothered me with solutions i seen so far is clearly visible engraved text when the indicator is not lit. to overcome i glued a "Filter" - piece of dark green plexi on top . laser cutting side pieces did not work so they were cut with your ordinary non CNC hobby knife and ruler. Material is a wallmart "for sale" sign (Polystyrene). after completing the first set of i took on making 3 sets at once to see if i will be able to produce a good number of them, so now i have some spares ready

 

 

judging from real landing panel pictures i could find i came pretty close to how the real ones look. any suggestions as far as improvement needed are very welcome.

 

Indicator parts

 

 

 

Assembled

 

 

 

Installed and test lit. no light bleed at all to the dim middle one. perimeter is glowing, but that looks acceptable to me. what is somewhat upsetting is that it is somewhat less bright then the panel itself. oh well.

 

 

 

the dark green front filter actually looks completely black IRL

 

 

 

another angle.

Edited February 3, 2013 by agrasyuk

[agrasyuk]

Working on next version of lever mount and i think i have a good "release" candidate.

Consolidated parts between for 7 and 11mm width versions to save on confusion.

 

 

 

new set laid out. added notches for easier assembly and holes to route the wire away.

 

 

 

 

main lever mount assembled (with CA glue). halves are almost symmetrical, the only position sensitive detail is holes for guide plate. however if one is mistaken during the assembly the fix is as easy as drill one set of holes in the main assembly (guide plates are reversible). i will provide marks for recommended position

 

 

 

 

 

this will be done once the the mount is attached to the back-plate and the 3 layers of main panel are bolted together:

Lever attached in its axis. threaded guiding rod is bolted on the lever through the opening. the difficult part here is to put washers on both sides of pivot axis, had to fiddle quite a bit till i got them on. thinking to add a access hole to make that operation easier.

 

 

 

 

guide plates and limit switches are bolted on. switches fit the 7mm version exactly. to mount on the 11mm wide version some washers will be required. spring action is accomplished with rubber band (hair crunchy i stole from wife :) ) sits on shoulders and pulls on guiding rod keeping the lever in its position. for those who will want to use a pull spring mounting holes are provided above the pivot axis (2 pairs of them so you can fine tune the pressure).

 

you have option to use one switch. depending on which lever you going to be using (my or Tom's) limit switches will require appropriate bend in the lever to exactly sense the position.

 

 

 

I think that i actually got pretty adequate motion range. with the current arrangement lever is held securely in its position, but can be actuated even without much pull. for those who want a more positive lock i can provide guide plate that will require to pull on lever before position can be changed

gear down position

http://images61.fotki.com/v546/photos/6/733156/11510877/CIMG1751-vi.jpg

gear up position

http://images51.fotki.com/v303/photos/6/733156/11510877/CIMG1752-vi.jpg

 

 

 

comments and requests for individual changes are acepted

Edited February 4, 2013 by agrasyuk

[Gadroc]

Very nice setup... pretty cool the things you can make with nothing but flat sheets of acrylic.

[agrasyuk]

yep, this is still mind boggling for me. here it is on screen and here it is fabricated...

 

side thought: while working with CAD i'm growing to appreciate the work of designers from the past. we actually had a full size stand-behind drawing board at our house and i remember my mom (electronics engineer specializing in PCB routing and later on IC layout ) working late nights behind it. that was quite a thing to watch the precision and the meticulousness.

 

and here is me, mr. sloppy, without pertaining education whatsoever mirroring, scaling, cutting and pasting stuff away on screen ... :tomato:

[TomDK]

WOW !!

 

I am looking forward for this !!!:thumbup:

[Hansolo]

Very nice craftsmanship Agrasyuk. Very neat work indeed

[Jimbo]

Look amazing - I'd be interested. Let us know once you have a price in mind.

[agrasyuk]

I'm Finalizing the kit and will post this in for sale section once i have a picture of all stages and a complete assembled product. feel free to drop me a note if you understand how the final product will look and would like to "preorder".I already started making parts for those who contacted me in private.

 

Prices (for those we had discussion in private prices stay at what we agreed).

Package 1

Panel complete with indicators (60$) flap gauge(50$), gear lever kit and lever mount(45$) + downlock override assembly (10$) for total of 165$ (Fair?) + shipping and paypal fee.

 

Package 2 for those with Tom's Gear Lever

Panel with 11mm wide LDG lever opening, complete with indicators (60$), flap gauge(50$), matching gear mount (20$), downlock override assembly (10$) for total of 140$ (Fair?) + shipping and pay pal fees.

 

stencil where to cut and where to drill holes in Tom's lever will be provided. one of the openings is actually elongated to allow the lever to slide couple mm back and forth. to accomplish this you will actually need to drill two holes and connect them , dremel or neddle file will do). aluminum is soft so it should be possible. in any case this operation is completely out of my hands, so...

 

 

Package 3:

you tell me what you need/want.

 

 

unless you specify otherwise the opening for TEMS button is 12mm on back plate and 19mm to accomodate the bezel on middle and top layers. i assume you will be using standard toggles with 12mm opening . the only electronics that come with this is 8 LEDs for the gauge, servo motor and limit switch. this is to make sure you have the right part and it fits into my mounts. If you'd like i can assemble things for you, provide, mount and solder LEDs, glue together and paint the Lever. please let me know in PM and we will discuss.

 

 

 

 

for now some pictres to show the raw items

 

landing Lever and knob(2 kits shown). all clear parts are 6mm thick acrylic.

Lever: 2 pieces for the lever itself, 2 angled sides. after it is glued you will need to fill the resulting void in the bend with something (i will try to grind them to shape but not promising at this point). if you'd like lever without the bend i can cut it in one piece.

 

Knob: middle layer with cutout to hold 3 5mm Diodes, 2 side covers with engraved middle ring (one on lower left yet to be engraved). at least one side cover should be glued to middle piece. i will cut a shallow groove near base to let out LED wire.

Knob is clear, to make it foggy you will need to give it a bit of water paper. and bevel the edges a bit for better look

 

 

 

 

Lever Holder kit.

2 kits shown (and some extra parts) , one with 7mm and one in 11mm width for those who purchased Tom's lever and knob. the final version is completely symetrical so there will not be any confusion during initial assembly part, has a service window that will allow easier lever mounting and any adjustment to limit switches. limit switch mounting hole position is changed to immediately work with my lever without any need for fine tuning. i will include one switch to make sure you have the right one. since it has both NO and NC positions one is all you will need really.

 

below is the assembled bracket that i made during prototyping. since it is perfectly usable it will be installed on my panel.

 

 

Panel itself. 100mm by 200mm which fits Y2K's design i've been told and only few mm short of real panel. one on left obviously still needs to be painted and engraved (once it warms up a bit). those who order will need to specify their desired arrangement as far as TEMS and DWNLKOVRD buttons.

 

 

part breakdown of the gauge. it will come semi assembled , center hole drilled to exact size. LEDS will be attached but you will need to wire as i'm not sure what is your approach for this might be. there are 8 LEDs total including the one for needle light, i'm connecting them in strings of 4 to 12V rail of separate computer PSU.

 

on right side are "SAFE" indicator parts. i will preassemble the filters and sides so you will get total of 3 complete indocators to be glues to middle layer after the panel is complete.

 

Edited February 10, 2013 by agrasyuk