Display news...

[geneb]

A couple of weeks ago I chased down a lead and found a Mylar vendor that can supply material up to 124" wide. It's _cheap_. For example, a 100 foot roll of .5mil @ 96" wide is roughly $200 shipped.

We've also come up with a way around the patent issue - instead of the curved "ears" at the ends of the mirror, it can be more square - something shown as "prior-art" in the patent, but a feature we couldn't use because we couldn't get Mylar wide enough.

What this means is that we're now open to making plans & short kits available to people.

We're looking at two "reference" designs.

The first would be large enough to accommodate standard GA aircraft right around Cessna 152-172 size up to something around a Lear or Cessna Citation.

The second would be a "big iron" display that could be used with cockpits around the size of the Boeing 737.

If there is enough interest, we'll go ahead and get the design work done and I'll build Inventor models so you can see what they'll look like.

However, we're not going to build prototypes for either one of them until there is enough commercial interest. This doesn't mean a bunch of folks going, "Hey! I'd buy that!", it's some number of people (say 5 for this example) willing and able (and actually do!) put down a down payment for a short kit.
We're doing this because building one of these things takes a ton of time and effort when you're writing the manual for it at the same time. The materials aren't cheap either - the prototypes and kit parts will be in 18mm and 12mm Russian Birch - it's a high quality material. It's not the kind of endeavor that either one of us can fund ourselves on the hope that someone might buy one someday.

A "short kit" is typically parts that most folks can't make themselves - all the shaped parts, etc. Any dimensional lumber, fasteners, Mylar, projectors, etc. would be supplied by the builder.

We'll also look into providing the vacuum management system - this would likely consist of an Arduino Uno style "shield" and the parts to build a servo controlled bypass gate similar to what you've seen in our videos. Servo not included.

There will definitely be size issues you're going to need to be aware of if you're going to build one of these. Our single-seat version is a tight fit in a room with a 9' ceiling. You can just about be guaranteed that the GA display is going to be bigger than that and I shudder to think how much shop space that 7x7 display is going to eat up.

Because of the size & scope of this thing, don't expect any concrete results out of us until April-ish.

I'm going to re-post this to various places in order to make sure the folks that are interested see it.

Thanks all!

g.

[727737Nut]

I'm interested in one for my GA motion sim.  Think it would be possible?
Rob

[geneb]

I'm interested in one for my GA motion sim.  Think it would be possible?
Rob

Rob, I don't see any reason why not, but it all depends on what the final size for the GA display turns out to be.  The current model is about 10 feet wide.

g.

[Tom_G_2010]

I would likewise be interested in a GA setup.  To be very upfront though I may not be in a position to put cash down for several months yet as the display build is still several dollars in monthly budget and several build steps downstream for me.  However, as I am working on space planning at this time (working up the plans and budget for a room renovation to fit the sim) a ball park on GA dimensions and a shot in the dark at short kit cost would be helpful.

My biggest limiting factor at the moment is height as I may be capped at 7'6" in the current space unless I do some more serious renovations to the future sim room so the 9' figure mentioned has me concerned.  My pit is a being built in a Cessna 172N fuselage including the upper nose cowl / nose bowl and cut behind the front seats.

[geneb]

The problem you're going to run into involves the distance from the bottom of the screen to the floor and your head position from the top of the screen.  If your head isn't in the right spot, you're not going to get an accurate collimation effect.  The display could be lowered closer to the floor, but you may not have enough room for the simulator cab.

Wayne, if you're lurking here, can you chime in?

g.

[wledzian]

Gene is pretty much spot-on.  We may be able to reduce the display height (bottom of mirror to top of projector cage/screen support) by a few inches, but the real constraint will be the vertical positioning as dictated by your eyepoint.  If you are height-limited, you'll want to get your cockpit shell as low as possible.

Our design works well for a single eyepoint, but a design for a dual-eyepoint display fitting a GA cockpit will likely be at least 11 feet wide and require a 9-foot ceiling for a typical GA cockpit eye height.

Another major consideration is the cockpit shell structure - the lower edge of the mirror may be an issue.  We'll know more once we model a couple of representative GA 'pits.

(hint-hint: if you're good with Sketchup, a good to-scale model of your pit would be helpful.)

[Tom_G_2010]

. . .
(hint-hint: if you're good with Sketchup, a good to-scale model of your pit would be helpful.)

I'm a fair to average Sketchup hack, so I'll try to put something together.  Clearance along the bottom may be helped a bit by the fact that my fuselage only has the upper nose cowl so theirs a void under it due to the lack of the lower nose cowl.  My finished fuselage will look very much like the one pictured here from another builder:

[Tom_G_2010]

. . .
(hint-hint: if you're good with Sketchup, a good to-scale model of your pit would be helpful.)

I'm a fair to average Sketchup hack, so I'll try to put something together.  Clearance along the bottom may be helped a bit by the fact that my fuselage only has the upper nose cowl so theirs a void under it due to the lack of the lower nose cowl.  My finished fuselage will look very much like the one pictured here from another builder:



http://www.lentosimulaattori.1g.fi/kuvat/assorted+construction+pictures/upper+nose+cowling/DSC00413.JPG

[Tom_G_2010]

I found a sketchup drawing of a 172 that I was able to cut down to represent my sim pit build, see attached.  I had to tweak the scaling a bit to match the actual dimensions and I believe I have it within 3/4" in all directions.  Additionally, due to the floor frame design, I can drop the entire rig down another 4" if that gains me any benefit.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Thanks!
Tom G.

[Tom_G_2010]

I found a sketchup drawing of a 172 that I was able to cut down to represent my sim pit build, see attached.  I had to tweak the scaling a bit to match the actual dimensions and I believe I have it within 3/4" in all directions.  Additionally, due to the floor frame design, I can drop the entire rig down another 4" if that gains me any benefit.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Thanks!
Tom G.

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