What have you done for your simulator today?

[ame]

I reviewed the dimensions of the knobs and decided to print them using my super-awesome matt-black PLA filament. They came out really nice. Now I am re-printing the body in the same filament. That'll take a while...

Here is the front view of the hardware. A couple of things are fake, but things are where they should be, and the right size and shape. The white rings around the rotary knobs are a bit poor because I daubed correction fluid on there instead of paint. Never mind, you get the idea.

I need to drill a hole through a rotary switch to allow the drive shaft for the volume control to go through. I probably won't wire it up, but it would work. The screw just below that is fake. The light sensor is for looks, again, it would work, but won't be wired up. The concentric frequency knobs work, the three pushbuttons work, the toggle switch works and the on/off switch works. By "works" I mean "will work when hooked up to an interface board".

[ame]

Actually, I'm not happy with the knobs. Especially the left side ones. I'll re-do them later.

Anyone know anyone with a real set of these instruments?

[ame]

Finally the last component arrived- 3P4T rotary switch. This will be the on/off/mode selector.

I drilled out the centre, so that I can pass a 3mm acrylic rod through it. This couples the volume knob to the volume pot, which is behind the selector switch.

I still have to re-do the selector knob and volume knob, but all the parts are present, and the switch mechanisms work. The next step is to wire everything up to the HT16K33 PCB and then write a bit of test software.

I haven't made a PCB for this because the switches etc. are peppered throughout the device. I could make a partial PCB, for the LEDs, for instance, but I'll probably stick to point-to-point wiring. I'm not making a production line for these- I only have to make six. And so does anyone else who wants a set.

[ame]

Ok, well the first photo indicates that I might indeed need to make a PCB. That's the top LED display and the 5 additional indicator LEDs.
The second one shows that the LEDs I've done all light up.

I'll do the rest and use this for experiments and development, but it's not really repeatable for the casual hobbyist.

[Trevor Hale]

WOW, that looks awesome!

[Joe Lavery]

I Guess there should have been a K in there somewhere Trev?
Otherwise that's not a very nice comment to make....       

Joe,

[Trevor Hale]

LOL My bad Joe

[Joe Lavery]

Hi all,

I've been busy over the holidays making some more stuff for my sim.

A wet compass designed to work natively with arduino via MobiFlight, or should work fine with OC cards. It uses a stepper motor and is backlit. The stepper driver card is obviously included.

I've also made a dummy Rudder Pedal adjuster and a dummy EVAC panel, which I guess could be pressed into service if need be.

The Dzus strips were simply made to go each side of my new FDS CDUs. I couldn't get any in the UK, so I drew them up in CAD and 3D printed them. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Anyone interested in these bits drop me a PM, (not the Dzus they are not viable). They are all made from Acrylic, not metal, (other than the screws, motor etc).

Joe.

[navymustang]

Very nice work. The rudder adjuster should be of interest to many on the site.

[blueskydriver]

Hey Joe,

Sent you back a reply PM, put me down for a set of the rudder pedal adjusters and the compass please...

John

[ame]

Hi all,

I've been busy over the holidays making some more stuff for my sim.

A wet compass designed to work natively with arduino via MobiFlight, or should work fine with OC cards. It uses a stepper motor and is backlit. The stepper driver card is obviously included.

I've also made a dummy Rudder Pedal adjuster and a dummy EVAC panel, which I guess could be pressed into service if need be.

The Dzus strips were simply made to go each side of my new FDS CDUs. I couldn't get any in the UK, so I drew them up in CAD and 3D printed them. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Anyone interested in these bits drop me a PM, (not the Dzus they are not viable). They are all made from Acrylic, not metal, (other than the screws, motor etc).

Joe.

I have made Dzus strips with 10mm aluminium angle tapped with M4 threads spaced 3/8" (9.525mm) apart. I actually didn't drill and tap them all, but I marked them all and drilled only the ones that line up with the panels I wanted to install.

I used M4 cheese-head screws in 3D-printed collars to look like Dzus fasteners. Other builders might choose an Imperial measurement.

[ame]

I have also done a 3D printed compass, but it's a different style. It's based on a WL1001KCA1 from SIRS Navigation.

I was driving it with a 28byj-48 stepper motor in the bulkhead above, but I am going to change that to an X27-168 or similar which I can put inside the body of the compass (it's tiny!).

[RayS]

Scored this beauty off eBay yesterday. A great compliment to my Garmin MX-20 moving map. Hope to be reverse-engineering this bad boy soon.

The LCD video is just progress I'm making on the CANBUS project for eventually converting the sim back to MSFS2020.

[mickc]

I have also done a 3D printed compass, but it's a different style. It's based on a WL1001KCA1 from SIRS Navigation.

I was driving it with a 28byj-48 stepper motor in the bulkhead above, but I am going to change that to an X27-168 or similar which I can put inside the body of the compass (it's tiny!).

I have done the same thing with a real compass but i replaced the 28BYJ-48 with a DF Robot FIT-0503 stepper.   Its tiny, and with the gearing, its 2000 steps per revolution.
Should easily fit inside your compass.   

[ame]

Hi there,

I couldn't get the 28byj-48 to work reliably. I wasn't sure if it was missing steps, or if I hadn't counted them properly (there are a couple of variants around with slightly different steps-per-revolution).

Also, that stepper needs a driver, which is quite large. The speedo steppers do not.

I have a X27 589, which has the wires coming out of the front. The X27 169 has them coming out of the back. So it depends on how I can route wires inside the body of the compass as to which one I use. Then I can hook it up directly to the gpio pins on the micro. No driver needed. Each step is 1/3°

[mickc]

I have a X27 589, which has the wires coming out of the front. The X27 169 has them coming out of the back. So it depends on how I can route wires inside the body of the compass as to which one I use. Then I can hook it up directly to the gpio pins on the micro. No driver needed. Each step is 1/3°

The only issue with those motors is that they have internal stops at 0 & 315 degrees, they arent 360 degree steppers

[ame]

I have a X27 589, which has the wires coming out of the front. The X27 169 has them coming out of the back. So it depends on how I can route wires inside the body of the compass as to which one I use. Then I can hook it up directly to the gpio pins on the micro. No driver needed. Each step is 1/3°

The only issue with those motors is that they have internal stops at 0 & 315 degrees, they arent 360 degree steppers

Indeed. You can buy versions without the stop, but it's very easy to open the motor housing and remove the stop. I'll report back when I've done one.

[ame]

Quick update on HT16K33 support with ALPS pulse switches.

There is good news and bad news.

The good news is that it works. I can hook up two pulse switches to the HT16K33 as if they are keys in a matrix keypad.

The bad news is that the results are inconsistent. I don't know if the switches are bad (when they are $11 each normally and $1 each from China you have to wonder...) or if the design is incompatible with the HT16K33.

The pulse switches are quite elegantly designed. Inside is a toothed wheel which meshes with the edge of a tiny plastic 'shuttle'. There are two pairs of sprung switch contacts at the left and right sides of the switch body. When the knob is turned the teeth on the wheel push the shuttle to the left or right, depending on which way the knob is turned. The end of the shuttle pushes one pair of contacts together. Once one tooth has passed the shuttle the shuttle springs back to centre, but it can't go past the centre and can't activate the contacts on the other side.

It's quite clever, but the switching event is very brief. It is literally a pulse. The HT16K33 has debouncing code inside, and I think it massages away a genuine switch closure as if it were a bounce.

I need to make a quick test harness with an Arduino or something to check if faster sampling of the switch will detect the closures more reliably, or if the shuttle or spring contacts are ever so slightly misaligned and don't actually connect.

I have noticed that one switch will work for about half of its clicks. The other for about a third. Again, it could be that due to manufacturing tolerances the contacts don't actually close, or close too quickly to be reliably detected. If I turn it really slowly then I can get the wheel to push the shuttle and make a switch closure that is longer before the tooth passes and the shuttle flicks back.

A bit disappointing. If the switches are marginal then it's not worth buying 'genuine' ones. I'd be better off using rotary encoders and a different chip. The HTK1633 is still good for multipole switches and human-timescale pushbuttons.

[RayS]

Work continues on the CANBUS interface project. Testing range and signal clarity with 200' of 2-conductor cable between the transceivers. Much thanks to JamesP for helping out with the code.

[Jet-A1]

Hi Folks,

Here's an updated pic of my on-going 737 throttle build, now using two Saitek quadrants. With two quads, I've finally been able to add the Speed Brake handle. I spray-painted and finished the handles with white then applied acrylic laquer which took a few passes, to build up the thickness. On the quadrant it's self, I have two spare axes, one of which I've been trying to assign to Gear up/down. However P3D looks for a switch for this rather than an axis. One for looking into with FSUIPC I think. Not sure what to assign the final spare axis to. Happy building!

Derek

[RayS]

Landed me a Garmin 430 control head off eBay last week!

Been working on tracing out all the front panel wiring and installing a gorgeous 800x450 LCD panel.

It'll be driven by the Flight-1 Technologies 430 trainer software interfaced directly to X-Plane with the display area cropped and sent to the unit via a freeware app called "Scope Mirror", which takes a user-defined section of 1 display and sends it to another as a full screen display.

[Jet-A1]

Ray, that looks great! In the pic, is that LCD driven from the Garmin's own (boot up?) software or is it actually being generated from XPlane? Great reverse engineering work. Can you post a pic of the how you did the back connections? What power source runs the Garmin now it's not in an aircraft?

Derek

[FredK]

An impressive masterpiece I say!

Fred K

[blueskydriver]

OMG! You guys are totally killing it! Just when I thought it was getting too quite here on Cockpit Builders, you guys drop these awesome bombshells! All I can say is FREAKING AMAZING!

For my own simulator, just about to finish the projection screen stand. Got the curved PVC tubing on last night, and now some cleanup, then it'll be back to putting the FDS shell together.

Lastly, I will not attach the actual screen material until everything else is done. Don't want to take the chance of getting a smudge mark or snag because it will be there forever if I do, and it'll drive me even crazier seeing it.

John

PS Thanks again for keeping this thread going, like I've said before, I check it at least 5 times a day...if not more.

[Jet-A1]

Great John!

When you get the visuals set up, post some pictures. I can see the logic of leaving the physical screen till last, no disasters there required..!

Derek