B737 Rear Cockpit and CB Panels area build/measurements with pics

[blueskydriver]

Hey Everyone,

This thread is for building the rear cockpit and CB Panels area of a B737. It'll have pics and measurements that I used for mine. However, mine have been adjusted for my sake, but they're not much different from the correct values.

I will put up pics in the Cockpit Builders Gallery, and then put a link in this thread to it. As for the measurements, I plan to draw out something simple giving all values of each piece of material used. More or less, it'll be an instruction guide.

Hopefully, I'll get a couple videos posted on youtube, so it'll help give a better overview...

John

[fordgt40]

John

Thanks, much appreciated. I am just about to fabricate that part of the cockpit 

David

[blueskydriver]

Hi David,

You're very much welcome.

Here is the link to the gallery page:

http://www.cockpitbuilders.com/community/index.php?action=media;sa=album;in=37

I just checked in with Ivar to make sure it was okay to share his pics. He is happy for me to share them exclusively here on CB or via email. Therefore, if anyone uses his pics, please remember to accredit them to Ivar Hestnes.

His pics, as well as mine will be forthcoming. The measurements will be today or tomorrow since I have to sort them out and draw up something "quick and dirty"

Best Regards,

John

[blueskydriver]

Okay, Ivar's are in the Gallery, just follow the link above. They're labeled Ivar1-Ivar27.

Mine will be later...

John

Ps. Trevor or Bob, if you're reading this, could you check the mass upload function? I got errors and no uploading occured. I had to do each picture one at a time...

Thank you

[N737AG]

Thanks John and Ivar for the pics. I also have the original CB panels and "cabinets".

Currently I am thinking of a slight variation : move the CB panels further back in order to allow for 2 jumpseats that I have from a 727. And I might convert the cabinets into a bar. You just flip one of the panels open to find your bottle of scotch or vodka. The other one has the ice. The other one the glasses and some snacks. Of course, the emergency exit leads straight to the guest room 

Axel

[blueskydriver]

You're Welcome.

Axel, I actually bumped mine back a little bit to allow more room for me, but it was no where near the distance of the B727. In that case, you basically start the FE (2nd Officer) position at the point of where the B737 CB panels would start. Thus, taking the width of the FE position and add about 6-8 inches is where your CB would now be.

Do you know the width of the FE? Mine is covered up in the B727 and the other is a storage bin. However, it is roughly 30 inch or approx 76cm long, so the actual position of the CB panel in B737 (FO side) is normally 630mm (63cm) from inside the cockpit door (door is 30mm thick). Now, the cockpit door is normally 218cm from the front firewall (behind the MIP), so all I did was extend the distance from the front firewall to cockpit door by 38 cm (15 inches), and then all my measurements started from the door going inward.

Door to Pilot side wall with the back of Jump Seat Cusion 25cm from door, length of seat is normally 42cm, but I shortened it by 3.5cm, placing the front of CB panels on the Capt side still at 630mm (63cm). Therefore, that little space that looks like a place to hang your jacket is 38.5cm long. All together that leaves me 15 inches or 38 cm from the back of the seats when they're all the way back and to the side on the J-rails. Normally, the CB panels are a few cm away from that point...

For you, just add another 15 inches to my values (total of 30 inches) between the front firewall and door distance, and then you're all set. Of course that is if your jump seats are less than 30 inches long?

John

[jackpilot]

And I might convert the cabinets into a bar. You just flip one of the panels open to find your bottle of scotch or vodka. The other one has the ice. The other one the glasses and some snacks. Axel

Axel, you made my day!!!
Wilco.!
This is the ultimate customized personal airliner design for those long oceanic flights we love.

[blueskydriver]

If you look at Ivar's you see he did the bookshelf design which is very useful. You could do the same, but just add doors; although, that'll be on the outside. Still, you could do both sides with doors. Large ones on the exterior and smaller ones on the interior.

I know one thing, there are mainly two back end designs and that is the rounded, follow the curve of the shell, or the box, square it off like Scott did and how most Airline Sims do theirs. I chose the box design because it is so much easier to do.

You can get away with a lot of smaller support pieces (using scraps) to hold things up, and the beauty is you'll never see them. Plus, you can follow the curve of the shell on the inside with less amounts of material versus large pieces of wood/metal (your choice) that would otherwise have to be cut on the outside curve. Then, you'd still have to follow the curve on the inside. Ivar's work is amazing, but he is very good at woodworking, in which case I am not. So, for me it'll still look right, but a little less finesse.

I am still working on getting pics up...

John

[N737AG]

John :

Thanks a lot. At this point I am attaching the flight controls platform to the flightdeck platform. Once I have done that and rigged all the control cables between the flight controls and the centering/force/feel units, I will be able to mount the FDS shell. Then I will have all dimensions figured out for the correct positioning of the jumpseats and the bar (sorry ... the CB panels).

I intend to go a similar way Ivar did. The panel behind the captain will include the electrical cabinet, that is, a cabinet where I will locate all power supplies, SYS Cards, Phidgets Cards, etc... - basically all electronics. I do not want to do any electronic stuff inside the flightdeck once it is finished.


Axel

[Sean]

The panel behind the captain will include the electrical cabinet, that is, a cabinet where I will locate all power supplies, SYS Cards, Phidgets Cards, etc... - basically all electronics. I do not want to do any electronic stuff inside the flightdeck once it is finished.

I'd thought about doing that, but there's a lot of cables to then take to the likes of the overhead and MIP. How do you plan on doing the wiring?

Sean

[blueskydriver]

Hey Sean,

You just beat me to the same question...lol...yes, Axel like Sean says, how would you account for the wiring? As mine is now, all the Overhead wiring is in the space behind it, as well as all of the wiring for the MIP is behind that area. Thus, only USB cables run out to a rack/cabinet where all the computers (9 each) for the sim are located, so those are the only cables really that I have to worry about.

The other big thing you might want to put in the back is some type of Air Conditioner (AC) inlets or even a portable AC unit with the exhaust tubes going out a window or a cutout in an exterior wall. Pretty much like the guys in the B747, who do "World Flight" each year, I have a portable AC unit setup with cool air blowing above the cockpit. However, now that I boxed it in, I will have to place venting ports into the top of the box, so the cold air tubes will be able to blow the air inside the box.

The biggest thing I have learned is that homecokpit based sims' produce a lot of heat and they need cooling. Therefore, if you put another heat producing item in the rear, as well as those already in the front (MIP) and top (Overhead), you'll be sitting in a 360 surround hot box...

On a different note, are you going too add AP motors to your yoke/columns/pedals? If so, we need to talk via Skype or whatever. I want to pick your brain a bit...

Best Regards,

John

[Sean]

My plan is to put a full height data cabinet in the dead space behind the F/O, which will have front access via the in built door and rear access via the fake cb panels. When I build my PC's, I'll put them into rack mount cases and they will sit in here. There'll be enough room for the interface cards and power supplies, etc. My only hesitation would be the amount of cables leaving towards the overhead and MIP, for example.

For that reason, my MIP interface will almost definitely sit behind the MIP, same as the overhead board will be close-coupled to the overhead. That way, I'll just be taking USB and perhaps power supplies to the remote locations, much like you John.

Sean

[N737AG]

I had both my OH's already wired and ready, with the FDS-SYS Cards mounted to the same OH. Really beautiful work. And then ..... I got the mag switch for the Yaw Damper. To install that switch and wire it, I had to completely remove the SYS Card, remove a great part of the wiring. Crazy thing.

This got me thinking : there are always going to be new things in the market. And you always want to have them. Would any upgrade be this kind of nightmare ? No way.
- Any upgrade or modification or addition should be fun
- No work of cutting wires, soldering, punching etc should be made inside the flightdeck (it gets dirty and is highly uncomfortable)

So I decided to modify the panels : I installed, depending on the Panel, DB9 or DB25 breakout boards. All the switches and annunciators are wired to the board. At the electrical panel I also have the breakout boards, from which I connect to the SYS Cards. Between them I use simple DB-25 printer cables.

With this concept, when modifying, repairing or upgrading, I can very easily remove the panel from the OH (or the MIP) and comfortably do the hardware modifications on a bench. After that I plug the cable back into the panel, and fasten the panel back into the OH and it's done. Just need to configure Interface IT if needed.

Works like charm. I'll try to upload a pic


Axel

[blueskydriver]

Axel,

Holly Cow! I think yours in the first I've seen done like this! This is exactly how panels are done on the real planes (just different connectors), so I think your work will be the next step for a lot of builders...

Where did you get the breakout boards from?

John

[N737AG]

Holly cow ?? .... this is why I never finish   

You are right about the connectors. I decided to go with these breakout boards because they are easier to get, a lot easier to mount, a lot easier to wire. I got most at www.gravitech.us, but also several on ebay.

What I liked about the Gravitech ones is that they are fairly easy to accomodate due to their dimensions.

The spacers are 2 inch and I bought them at Mouser.


Axel

[fordgt40]

Modularity and ease of removal is key. I have adopted this principle throughout my build and it is comparatively easy to remove any panels. Here is a photo of my MIP N1, Speed Ref and Flaps panel, where I use .1 inch pin connector strips. I needed the legend key of the connectors to aid the failing memory 

[Sean]

What do you use to connect the panels to your interface boards Dave?

[fordgt40]

Hi Sean

I use standard pcb interconnect kk headers where you have to crimp on or solder little spring connectors to each wire then push into the connector until it clicks in place. A little fiddly but a guaranteed connection and you can get the connectors in varying sizes to suit. The connectors also ensure that the wires stay in the correct order  Here is a picture of the back of my EFIS unit which shows it all. If you want specific links for supplies then let me know

[blueskydriver]

Double Holy Cow! Both Axel and David's wiring jobs are great! Mine would take the "Spaghetti Award". My Overhead wiring is like a big pot of wires with plastic ties to help it look like stuck together spaghetti. If I pull it down I get it all in my face...okay, sort of...but you can picture it right?

Someday, I am going to rewire it to look much more professional, but more so to just allow indivdual panels to be removed when needed. Thanks guys for sharing your pics.

John

[Joe Lavery]

Just to reiterate what John just said, this is the back of my O/H before I finished wiring the SYS card in.
Spaghetti city... hangs head in shame 

I though mine was neat until I saw David's and Axel's.

Joe. 

[Nat Crea]

Sheesh...not that bad Joe!
This was my DB9/15 effort some three years ago:

http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4232&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

How time flies 

Nat

[Joe Lavery]

Nat, I think the idea of making each panel a separate entity, with its own wiring and some form of plug connection is the way to go. If I every rewire I will definitely do that.

I hope to add proper backlighting to the O/H at some point which will entail taking out each panel and either adapting them, or remaking them if that's not viable. So that would be the chance.

Another nice job though Nat.

Joe.

[N737AG]

Joe

It certainly was a huge efford after having a readily wired and completely functional OH. But it was well worth it. I am really glad I did it

Axel

[Karl737]

Hi guys,

Posted this before and it didn't come through... yet  Probably my fault though, maybe too many pics.

Anyway, ill try again with less attachments.

Hope these help someone.

Cheers,
Karl