B747-400 project

[Goodenough]

I thought to attach a picture of my project. Moving at a snail's pace but making progress.

[Trevor Hale]

Looking good so far. Nothing goes fast when it comes to flight sim building. Lol

[Goodenough]

Thanks, that's true....

[bernard S]

i see you have cages for real clocks .. when you get around to it ..they are arinic ..ate you going to simply power them and pilot input changes ..or are you going to go via immulated fmcs ? just carious

[Goodenough]

I remembered what you said about using OEM versus simulated and it would be cool to get them interfaced with arinc and a power source so that they light up.
I have real B747-400 clocks too and the gear lever panel is real with lever just took it apart. Its my plan to have something made so the gear lever works.

[bernard S]

clocks are a goof example... easy tp.power in sim.. pilot imputs and bingo they work.. but to make them function per aircraft not so easy .re gear what made to make it work ?

[jackpilot]

Hi Bernard
Would be nice to expand on that, as you probably know how to do it .
Why not open a new post and explain, in a "clock for dummies" style, how to make them work properly.
Many real clocks around and very few working as they should.
Jack

[Goodenough]

Bernard, Jackpilot it would be good to find out as I know both of you have much experience when it comes to interfacing and wiring instruments in order to make them work. The gear lever Bernard is in the CAD drawing stage and then next CNC.

[Goodenough]

Working on positioning overhead panel.

[bernard S]

very very cool excellent progress

[Goodenough]

OK now the overhead is exactly where it needs to be....that was a big job!
I worked today on getting the window trim in place and wished I had a hanger like some of the builders on CB. I'm sore from having to twist and tuck in this very confined work space. Oh well at least I'm warm. I also managed to squeeze in some time and took the throttle quadrant apart and give it a good cleaning. I want to have the backlighting work and see how far I can go with getting the thing to work.

[bernard S]

may i make a few suggestions before you proceed further ... air conditioning   good idea to start considering that... it gets hot in there...also your spk wires also headset wires and run your tiller cables .and get dome chart etc lighting working ... also now the best time to complete evac pull ... thats a long cable to run.. may like to consider this as solution

[Goodenough]

Bernard is the evac. cable attached to the part in the picture. This looks interesting....

[bernard S]

thats what i said ..make that and attach evac pull cable to it .. then easy to reset ..    see the black cable is evac cable to T handle

[Goodenough]

OHHH....I see it now.... 'thanks for the picture and the advise to start hooking up wires before I get to far ahead of myself.

[bernard S]

air con , comm wires interoir lighting   evac 

[Goodenough]

For the interior lighting, overhead map light, and glareshield, can you tell me what power source will work best, and is it multiple form different sources? The wiring is all there but I need to determine how to connect the wires to the power source.

[bernard S]

good question Perry... what power sources do you have currently .. and are you sure you want to stick to aircraft lighting and no convert to something softer    ie LEDs   and side step dimmer transformers .aircraft lighting gets hot ..and is not that reliable . now you see why i suggested stop where you at and do lightinging ..lol ..you now have   options .. ..what do you mean the wirining is all there .. like a couple of dangly bits or something more juicy   

[Goodenough]

My fellow B747 builder says if the lights in my glare shield map and dome are 28V bulbs then I'm going to want to wire to a PWM board to control the dimming and buy on Ebay a 28V motor controller from China.

What I mean by wiring being there is the glareshield has all these long wires with connectors attached to it.

[Goodenough]

Here is what I see under the glareshield

[B747-400]

Hi Perry,

your sim looks great! Good luck for all your efforts!

I'm using LED stripes for my FDS MIP .. 12 V dimmable .. so I cannot be much of help here. But I'm following this thread because I'm not very skilled with electronics ... 

Cheers
Hans

[Goodenough]

Hans thank you!
You are much too modest. From seeing your sim and what you have accomplished I would say that you know more than I. Are the LED strips connected to a FDS- IBL- DIST Panel Power distribution board?
I'm thinking to hook up the dome and map light and use LED strips for the MCP light

[Goodenough]

I couldn't resist....I had to check if the throttle box would mate with the MIP frame.....and it does.....whooo hoo

[B747-400]

Perry,

I'm planning to hook the LED stripes up to SimStack.

Cheers
Hans

[bernard S]

your funny perry    why would it not mate up you have OEM (Orginal equipment manufacturer) MIP (main instrument panel ) and TQ (throttle quadrant) that being said i would like to buy the flap resolver from you.. its the green can thingy with three cables coming out of it about half way down when throttle levers are setbto zero on rhe right hand side.. ..I assume you doing a pot conversion for flaps..

now onto your power..this is what i was hinting at earlier when i said do your dome lighting etc ..and do evac pull whist you think about your choices for best way forward and these are your options

A) All real .. thats going to exceptionally expensive and very time consuming you will need a 400hz 360 /420 frequency converter and DC power units ..relays etc etc .. plus it eats power to run.however this gives you fit feel form and function but is nightmare on scale of 10

B) real but converted for sim use ..from this you get fit feel form and and a good bit of function this is only a scale 7 nightmare

C    simulated  often more expensive than real from this you get fit and a good bit of function scale 4 nightmare

i can only tell you about going all real and help you out converting TQ and other items .. If i was in your shoes today..before i spent another cent i would do this.. 1.. reachout to someone on forum to someone that has all simulated items wuth a mix of real parts.. 2.. come to visit tx ..3 seriously consider what my real budget is in terms of time and money and finally whatvtype of flying do i want ..procedures etc or poke holes in sky ..there is a compromise to be had