Glenn's Generic Fighter Pit

[Glenn Weston]

Hello All, I am new here but have been slowly plugging away at my project over the past 6 years but have been pretty much at a stand still for the past 3 years & now starting back on the project again......They say it's never finished !!

Anyhow I have introduced myself in the "Introduce Yourself" section.
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16156

So now I am going to re-construct my original building log here for everyone to read, The original forum where these posts were made is now non-existant but I have a backup of it, so I would like to put it back online.

All the the re-constructed post will be marked as Such with it's Origianal Date, Otherwise all other posts will be current information at the time of the post.

Bear with me as there is 4 pages from the original forum so it may take me a bit of time to get everyting over Here.

Cheers Glenn.

[Matt Olieman]

Like I said before Glenn, look forward toward your coverage of the building your cockpit :)

Matt Olieman

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Originally Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 5:12 pm

Well, Here are some pics of the AcesII seat, & some pictures of my testing setup which is just some monitors & PC's setup on a desk, not much to look at at this stage but hopefully I will look back on it & think about how lost I am feeling at the moment, It is so hard to know where to start sometimes, I decided the seat was the best place that way I can get a feel for how far things should be away from my sitting postion, How high the glare sheild should be, how high to mount the displays etc.

So here you go, please ignore the wood grain & purple laminex, I am building from scrap that has been laying around the house here for some time, it will eventually get a paint job but thats not important right now.

ACES II Ejection seat Plans
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/118-1878_IMG.jpg

ACES II Ejection Seat Started
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/118-1875_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/118-1874_IMG.jpg

This is the concocktion of crap that went airborne in an online flight test with VATSIM ATC to make sure all systems worked OK, All frequency changes were made using the radio stack on screen using RW-Switcher, FSBus was not ready for this online test flight
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/118-1884_IMG.jpg

Initial software testing, Custom panel layout on the LCD Monitor by yours truly...& Rotated 90Deg using the latest NVidia Video drivers, This will be my center console just above/between my legs, all the primary instruments one would ever need.
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/118-1882_IMG.jpg

FSBus mounted in a PC Case, Very Convenient !!
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/118-1881_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Originally Posted: Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2004 6:15 pm

Here are some radio stack Ideas, with CCF backlighting & a negative.
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/119-1902_IMG.jpg

Dead CD-Rom's can be useful to make modules with.
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/119-1903_IMG.jpg

A bit out of focus cause it taken in the dark.
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/118-1898_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2004 12:04 am

OK here are the pictures of the completed seat less a spray job & upholstry, as you can see I am now starting to put together a bit of a layout to see where & how high the monitors should sit, the three PC's holding up the monitors are not the flight computers they are just junk PC's that are laying around here & seemed just the right height to sit the monitors on.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/t_img_2116.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/t_img_2115.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/t_img_2114.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/121-2119_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/t_img_2118.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/t_img_2117.jpg

[Michael Carter]

Nice work Glenn. I did the same thing with a 12" monitor for my engine gauges.

Welcome to the site. Glad to have another builder aboard.

Here is a site you may find useful during your build. Very nice folks to deal with.

http://www.bpbsurplus.com/lc/cart.php?target=category&category_id=308

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:06 am

HI Guys, once again...........Just thought I would show some small progress I have made.

I have not touched the project for a few months but am back into it again.

I have come to realise I will not be building from plans but rather studying pictures from sites of pits that other people have built & incorporating those ideas that I like into mine.

One particular design I really like is a pit designed & built by Joseph Bosnjak, it has good access to things even after the pit has been built.

Check it out.
http://www.f-16cockpit.com/ (Sorry this link seems dead now)

I recently picked up some real radio panels at a radio field day held in Wyong, north of Sydney last February, I have studied very carefully how the backlighting is achieved on the panels, it is very simple, there is a light carrier plate made of glass that is painted all round white, then printed on top with black with the white exposed where the lettering is, lights are inserted into the glass around the panel, once the light enters the glass it just bounces around inside reflecting off the white paint, the paint is obviousley translucent as well, I did some experiments with perspex painted white & LED's inserted, the results are quite good, so I am re-thinking the backlighting approach now & may not use the CCF lamps.

Anyway here some more PICS to look over.

Cheers Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2238_IMG1.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2237_IMG1.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2236_IMG1.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2242_IMG1.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2240_IMG1.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2239_IMG1.jpg

Here is the panel I used to look at how the backlighting is actually achieved.
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2243_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Thanks Michael, That looks like a pretty handy site, some good bits & peices there.

It sure can be hard to find things, particularly military style bits here in OZ.

Cheers Glenn.

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2004 12:30 am

Well Some more Pics to look at,
I have Finally settled down on some dimensions.

Also this seat will be adjustable like in a car, so I have allowed for that in the design.

It was really good to get rid of those PC's propping up the monitors & actually see them sitting on a proper shelf, it's actually starting to take shape now & is getting exciting.

Once I get the tub together I should be able to hook up some on board computers & maybe go for little test fly to see how it feels, I can tell you already just sitting in the tub feels quite good & that seat althought it does not look it, is extremely comfortable & it hasn't got any cusions yet !

The side walls of the Tub require large holes to be cut out to allow cabling access & to reduce overall weight of the sim.

Once this Tub is ready I will then start on the side panels, they will be of a ribbed design & will be like a side door & will be hinged at the front of the Tub, the side control panels will be housed in them once completed.

Anyway here some more shots.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2263_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2264_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2265_IMG.jpg

All just being held together with some clamps at this stage, just to make sure I have not stuffed anything up, but it's lookin' alright so far.
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2262_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2261_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2004 1:25 am

I have done some more work over the last few nights, Easter Weekend, so I have a bit of time up my sleeve.........I have screwed all the pieces together & got it all pretty square, went crazy with the Jigsaw too, the weight reduction is quite significant.

The Tub itself has not been fixed to the floor as yet, I think that will be the next job.

I have now cut a hole in the back of the seat while I had the Jigsaw out, this will allow placement of a Subwoofer in the back of the seat, I also plan to put one under the seat pan as well, this should add to the realism quite a bit.

So here is some more Pic's.

Cheers Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2271_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2267_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2266_IMG.jpg



[IMG]http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2270_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/122-2268_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 1:09 am

Progressing slowly & have now moved onto to side walls that will house the side control panels. The main TUB is now firmly screwed down onto the floor with wood screws every 200mm from underneath the floor, This now stops any sagging of the floor when sitting in the PIT, She's rock solid.

The side walls in these shots are being held in place with double sided tape & a couple of clamps on the end ones, the ribs will have the guts jig sawed out of them again to reduce weight & to allow cabling to pass allong the length of the sim.

I have re-thought the way to hinge the side walls, I plan to hinge them along the bottom along the floor & not at the end, this will stop the sim tipping over as side walls are pretty long. The hinges will be the post type so I can completely remove the side wall whenever it is required, say for transportation or dismantling.

I plan to use some thin bending ply, I actually have a little bit in the workshop & it is extremely flexible, almost like cardboard, to cover the ribs with on the outside. That should give a nice appearance from the outside.

I have just purchased some Rudder pedals on ebay & waiting for them to turn up.

All work on FSBus & the Avionics is on hold until I get the structure finished, I haven't even looked at the latest version yet !!

Here are some more PIC's.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2319_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2318_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2317_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun May 16, 2004 1:44 am

G'day once again, Have now received my rudder pedals that I purchased off ebay, these pedals are a very old thrustmaster RCS model, however they are very easy to modify, This set has been reduced by about 4cm in width to fit into my pit, the job was fairly easy to do, it took me a nights work to complete, They don't have toe brakes but I am planning on another mod to add them, I actually found some plans on the net in regards to the toebrake mod, but that will be done later.

Meanwhile work on the main structure continues........... I have now got the Right hand side basically assembled & hinged along the floor line.
The hinges are a dismountable type & can be picked up for only a few dollars at any hardware store, this allows for easy disassembly of the complete structure & will allow easy access when wiring or carrying out maintenance to the pit, On that note I also have decided not to use glue in any parts of the assembly thus the whole pit will be able to be dismantled all the way down to flat boards should the need ever arise.

I have taken a shot to show where main cabling will run down the side of the pit, I decided to cut the same holes in the end of the sides as well to allow data & power cable feeds into the pit, this should keep the main PC housings at the front & back free for hardware such as PC's, hubs etc.

I have now ordered & waiting delivery of a thrustmaster hotas system, unfortunately not the hotas cougar but the model before it, once the system is up & running I will consider the more expensive cougar unit.

Anyhow here are some more piccy's to see.

Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2330_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2323_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2324_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun May 16, 2004 1:54 am

Here's pictures of the assembled side fitted & hinged, you can now see where the side control panles will be housed, I still have to cut out some more access holes in just underneath where the side panels are to lay.

The whole side can easily be handled by a single person, it is put on by simply placing it onto the floor overhang with it offset a few cm to the front of the main pit, then pushed onto the hinge pins from the front of the pit, a couple of good taps & she's locked in.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2325_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2326_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2328_IMG.jpg

[Michael Carter]

Yes, it can be hard to find those odd parts. These are good folks to deal with and keep checking back at the site, always something new to look at.

I bought a very nice utility Duzs railed rack for the captain's side panel in the B727. You never know what you'll turn up there.

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun May 16, 2004 1:57 am

In position & held by a clamp at this stage.

I now have to disassemble this side & I am going to use the existing ribs as templates to cut out the left side, lucky I didn't use glue !!

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2331_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2329_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun May 30, 2004 1:19 am

Hello Once again, Have now constructed the bulk of the left hand side, it is now hinged & I have installed fasteners to hold the sides in place, so I don't have to keep using clamps.

I used what they refer to in the hardware shop as a "T" nut, often used in the end of table legs to allow the legs to be screwed onto a table, I think they maybe also referred to as a blind nut, I recall seeing them called that in a hobby shop, but I could be wrong. The ones I have used are 1/4" Whitworth thread & do the job just nicely.

I used a countersink head bolt near the seat so it would not interfere with the seat adjustment back & forth. I used a standard Hex bolt in the other two area's where I have fastened. 3 bolts in total on each side, Front, middle & rear.

I have also now cut out the extra access port holes in the sides to allow me to get my hands in underneath the panels once they are mounted.

I have purchased the top rail for the sides, this is going to be tricky to mount onto the ribs with the angles involved but not impossible, I want to cut a slot into the rail where each rib attaches to create a better join.

I have also purchased some 6mm MDF for the blank panel base & am now planning on on how it is all going to be mounted, again with the curvature of the outer skin when fitted this will get interesting, I may use some cardboard to get the rough shape before I commit to saw cuts.

Thats about it for now, hopefully the next update after this one, I will have a blank MDF panel & I can start to plan where things are going to be placed.

Cheers Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2374_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2372_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2371_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2379_IMG.jpg

Hex bolt & Access ports

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2381_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2376_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun May 30, 2004 1:25 am

All fastened together, these shots were taken before the access ports were cut out.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2368_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2369_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2370_IMG.jpg

This is a shot taken from the rear overlooking the top of the seat, you can see here the width & basic shape of the front panel.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/123-2377_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 2:46 am

HI..........Back again for another update.

Well I have now cut & fitted the top rail for the sides, I took the rails down to my brothers place as he has a routing table & routed off the top corners for me, I am happy with the results, no sharp corners to knock up against.

Well my HOTAS system arrived from ebay, I tested it all out with rudder pedals connected & everything looks serviceable. I have taken some piccy's of the controllers but that is not exaclty where they will be located, I am going for the stick between the legs format, although I have not completely ruled out a side stick mount either.

Finallly I cut the side console panels, heaps of room for switches & stuff so I can't wait to get stuck into the panel fitout, I just need to get the front console done & I think I may then start the paint work, I have now ordered 2 sheets of the bending ply that I will be covering the exterior with & hopefully they will be here next week.

Over the top of the monitors I am planning a glare sheild, not sure exactly how it will be constructed yet but I am starting to come up with a few ideas, now the side rails are in place.
It will be removable so I can access things, I am also considering a canopy but that is not high on the priority list as it has no bearing on getting the sim up & running.

For the panels I have used 6mm MDF & I must say it's great to work with, however it is reasonably soft too, so you have to be carefull not to drop the board or the corners will be easily squashed & go out of shape......Keep it out of reach of water too, it's like a sponge.
I found the 6mm stuff is quite strong & self supporting, as you can see my panels will not be affixed to a base all the way around but they are still very sturdy with this arrangement.

Well I now have to climb a ladder to get in & out of the pit, thats just what I wanted. I beleive it's the first step to true immersion into the sim, you need to feel like you are getting into something & climbing into this thing does just that. I will probably build a specially designed ladder or see if I can use a short set of steps from down the harware store but the the folding ladder here will do the trick for now.

Anyhow enough rambling, here's the latest pictures.

Cheers Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/124-2488_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/124-2484_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/124-2482_IMG.jpg

OH yes by the way I chickened out on the chiselling of the top rail where the ribs join onto it, it was just too difficult with the angles involved.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/124-2480_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/124-2483_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/124-2481_IMG.jpg

Some more.........

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/124-2486_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/124-2485_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:59 pm

Hi once again, well things have slowed down a little, mainly due to the fact that it's the middle of winter & just a bit too cold for me down in the shed, other factors that have held me up a little are:
I have been trying to work out in my head just how I was going to handle the centre console & front instrument panel, I have litterally spent weeks going over it in my head & allthough it looks pretty simple it isn't when you have nothing there & no plans to work off, the toughest bit was getting the angles correct, however I think I have come through with the goods & things seem to have worked out.

I also found that the seat was way too close to the dash & have now made an adjustment to the main tub so the seat can be further away.

I have now decided on a side stick mount similar to what you find in an F-16, simply due to the fact that because I want to do a duel seater & hopefully mechanically link the control sticks, the actual gymbal mechanism would have to be on the floor, therefore I would have had to extend the stick, this would then cause the controller to hit the front instrument panel in the full forward position..........not good!

So I am now opting for the side stick position, this should also make mechanical linking to the rear seater a little easier with the control rod running down the side of the pit. I HOPE !!

Having a side stick mount also makes seat forward/aft adjustment simple and infact I can have the seat right up to the console........I have two little blokes 5 & 9 yrs old, I am sure they are going to want to fly this thing so I had to take this into account.

So there were a few decisions to be made at this point of the build & thats what has slowed me down, thinking ahead is paramount & can save much work later down the track, so I am happy with it so far, as you can see I now have some trimming to do around the panels to get them into their final shape, the front instrument panel will not be that high it will be cut down to a sensible height.

So as you can see, the front panel goes like this, left CRT cutout in the new panel for the PFD, centre mounted LCD for primary instruments & will be a full IFR layout they will also double as STBY insruments for GC, right CRT cutout for the ND, I will probaly have some video switching for EICAS display & maybe other things like GPS, just have not worked out the logistics of it yet, I am planning a 7" Widescreen TOUCH VGA monitor on the RH console mounted vertically for an FMC, this may also be setup to switch to GPS screens & SB screen when typing maybe required for VATSIM, as I said stilll many things to work out but I will not fully know which way to go until I can sit in front of all the screens with them running to really know where I want things to be.

Cheers Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/126-2604_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/126-2603_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/126-2602_IMG.jpg

Front instrument panel fitted but not screwed down just yet.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/126-2607_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/126-2606_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/126-2605_IMG.jpg

LCD display will be hosting the custom instrument layout I created within flightsim, the panel will be undocked & moved to this monitor using an extended desktop.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/126-2608_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2004 2:06 am

Well it was time to see some action I thought, so I hauled all the computer gear down to the simulator & thought I would see if I can get it all together, at least the displays anyhow & perhaps sit in it & go for a quick joyflight........................

Well it certainly wasn't quick to setup, lots of cables & plugs & this is just the tip of the iceburg, won't it be nice when you can build a whole cockpit using bluetooth components !! I wish !

Anyhow I finally settled on the position/size for PFD & ND display cutouts, The Front panel is now srewed down & I have now shaped the sides of the front panel to the body of the sim as shown in the pictures below, the angled side panels have also been done but are not as noticeable as it was a very shallow curve, I used a clever little tool that I have had since my Tech drawing days from school, it's called a French Curve & can be purchased at any drawing supply shop. It's just a flexible type of ruler that can be bent to odd shapes to allow you to draw unusual curves, I just eyeballed along the hull & kept bending the french curve till I thought it looked pretty good, once it looked OK I then drew a line on the panel & Jigsawed away, I have checked the curvature by putting a peice of the hull skin along the ribs & I could not have got it any better any other way.

So now the fun begins, getting all the avionics to work, well the displays are a minefield in themselves, don't expect anything to work the way you think it should unless you have tried it & seen it for yourself.

I am sorry if this next bit is a little boring but this area is a major problem in simpit building........Skip it if you like but there are lessons to be learn't here.

Multiple Displays ?.........The big question, hows it done, what to do, what to buy & what are the limitations.

OK I will Take this from my perspective, there are lots of different ways to impliment your displays in a pit but those CRT's were given to me for free & I could not pass that up, so I made use of them in the pit, I was given 5 of them in fact. They will probably be replaced with LCD's eventually.

This was my theory, Buy a good dual head Display card for the Sim, The primary display Will be the Front (Out the Window View) & will eventually be displayed by projector, the second display will be the undocked custom FS instrument panel that you see on the LCD, My specific problem here is that the Instrument panel monitor needs to be rotated 90Deg cause it's on it's side, Well the latest Nvidia drivers have a thing called NVrotate so you can rotate your display however this cannot be done on a dual head card with desktop spanning switched on, I was caught out on this one, If I did not have the requirement for rotation then I would have been OK I think.

So I ended up buying a Geforce FX5700 Dual head & found all this out the hard way, By the way previous to that I bought a FX5200 dual head card & found out it just would not support desktop spanning at all, only display mirroring, which I had no use for at this point.

So Once I found I could not use the desktop spanning on the 5700 dual head I then went & purchased a PCI Geforce IV MX400 card to run as a second display card for the instruments, by the way for NVrotate to work the minimum display resolution has to be 1024x768 & the card has to have a GPU on board, so it has to be a Geforce IV or better, the TNT II card will not rotate using the Nvidia drivers, you need to use third party software called Pivot Pro, that works OK too.

Now I know what your thinking, you don't need a 3D accelerated card for the display of an instrument panel on an extended desktop, yep you are quite right, but when you start playing with FS2004 & all the displays to be utilised in the sim are required to meet DirectX 9.0 compliance, don't bother farting around with anything less than the Geforce series cards, TNT II's might cut it but I didn't bother going there.

OK now that I had the outside view & my primary instument panel going I found out something else, when you do undock your instrument panel & move it to a second screen you will get some stuttering on the main outside view, particularly noticable in tight turns, I have found by restricting the frame rate back to 30fps it helps but is still there, I believe there is no cure for this problem & you have to live with it.

OK so on I went to the Glass cockpit arena, The pictures you see below are FreeFD Glass Cockpit displays, the right hand Nav Display (ND) & the left Hand Primary Flight Display (PFD) are running off dedicated PC's that are networked by TCPIP using WideFS & pulling data out of flightsim using FSUIPC, Search google if you are after these great little tools, all pit builders use these tools or something similar cause most sims will have more than one PC in it.

I thought I was going to be clever & run two Geforce IV PCI cards in 1 machine with an extended desktop, one display for PFD & one for the ND, nope there is no way, due to the fact that these displays are written in OpenGL graphics language & require openGL acceleration to run, Windows does not accelerate the second screen on a second card in an extended desktop enviroment, I am led to beleive it will work on a dual head card with desktop spanning as the two display are running of the primary card & are both accelerated as it is treated as one monitor so to speak, but I wasn't going out to buy another 5700, as I have spare bits & pieces laying around here it was cheaper to build another PC, So the left & right displays each have their own dedicated PC, The display cards are Geforce IV MX400 PCI's & the machines are only PIII's Running XP, one of them only has 128Mb ram, so you don't need anything too powerful. I am using the Nvidia NVrotate utility on these monitors too so the whole desktops have been rotated not just the instrument itself.

So I was caught out on a few little things & I wasn't even expecting any trouble in this area but you live & learn, if anyone has any questions about these display issues feel free to drop me a line, I have learnt quite a few things about all this in the past few weeks.

Anyway I finally got it all running & stuck the speakers up against the seat & took it for a burn......................YEP it's worth it, I have now had a taste,
Even on the little 15" monitor it was quite alot of fun, but the sound & vibration from the SUB is what makes it, I still have another SUB to mount under the seat.

I can't wait to get all the switches online now & once a projector goes in, I think I'll be living in the garage !!

Cheers Glenn.



A wireless keyboard & mouse with USB connection is handy when setting up as you can hot swap between machines & not inhibited by cables

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2827_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2820_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2819_IMG.jpg

Some shots of the panel finally coming to life, by the way these CRT's give off some heat ventilation is going to be a big requirement.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2826_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2828_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2821_IMG.jpg

Flying around in circles & out of the cockpit for the photo shoot.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2832_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2824_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/128-2823_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 12:31 am

G'day once again,

I need to correct myself on a point above in regards to to the dual head video card information I provided, I overlooked a setting in Nview's control panels for the multi monitor setup, I was trying to use spanning but this was not what I needed, I needed to set the monitors up in dual view, this way the two monitors connected to the dual head card are treated as completely seperate displays & can be independantly rotated & independant resolutions, both displays are fully accelerated too.
Sorry for the misleading information.

So Now I am running only 2 PC's, FS PC which does the out the window view & the FS instrument panel on the rotated 15" LCD, the FX5700 is in that machine.

PC no. 2 is running the Glass displays, this card is a GF4-MX400 dual head running the left & right CRT's, both rotated in opposite directions & both fully accelerated to run the PFD & ND displays.

So there you have it, this was my aim & it took a bit of time & farting around with video cards before I got it the way I wanted but it can be done.

So I have now got hold of a Lilliput 7" High res Touch screen which I plan to use as an FMC in the pit, I am currently driving that display with a second video card in the PC No. 1 (The FS PC) So the FS PC has 3 displays attached to it.

I am most impressed with the lilliput display, very easy to read, touch screen works like a charm, but they aren't cheap, I landed it here from Hong Kong through ebay for $379 Ozzy Dollars including shipping/Insurance.

As you can see I had it running the standard FS radio stack, it was fully operational just using your finger for touching the screen, you do get a stylus with the unit but it is not really required to operate the radio stack.
I have also tested it with the Project Magenta's Boeing FMC, it works flawlessly.

I am building a hardware radio stack but I thought it would be worth the experiment to see how it handled it.

The lilliput touch software fully supports multiple screens, Right mouse clicks, It is a USB hardware interface, It also allows for an invisible mouse cursor, however that would be system wide, so your mouse cursor will go invisible on all monitors, keep that in mind.

The lilliput monitor would be a great asset in any pit, particularly flying online, this monitor could be very easily used for Squawkbox access & in conjuction with windows XP's on screen keyboard, you can have text based access back to the controllers if the need arises, without the need of a mouse or keyboard in the sim.

Here's Some pictures of what I was playing around with.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2935_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2931_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2932_IMG.jpg

[Michael Carter]

Wow! That was very informatitive. Thanks for posting.

[Glenn Weston]

Thanks Michael, Gees just reading back over it myself, I had forgotten alot of this information, Particularly the multi monitor problems that I struck.

Oh the hours that I have spent.......

One day I might just get to hop in it & fly !!

I just finished painting my new projector screen today but I will post current status pictures after I finish reconstructing the archived Log.

Cheers Glenn

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 1:14 am

Well I have now mounted all the flight controllers, & fitted the sub woofer into the back of the seat..............there is no doubt that I could not go back to a desktop sim ever again, the vibrations in the seat really make a difference to the whole immersion, I have read this many times but it's not until you try it that you realise just how much difference it makes, even whilst using a 15" monitor to look outside.

I have now ordered my main projector, I settled on the BenQ PB6200 it is 1024x768 & 1700 Ansi Lumens DLP unit, It is currently sitting in Sydney waiting customs clearance.

My main aim was to get the sim to a flyable condition by Christmas & I am on target, I have done a few small offline flights now, still much more work to do before I can really go online with VATSIM, gotta get some buttons & knobs going before I take it to that point.

The flight controller mounting was quite a bit of work, The throttle was not too bad, just fiddly cutting out the MDF panels & dismantling the unit so as I could poke the handle through the cutouts. There was no major modifications to the throttle during the mounting.

The Joystick however is a different storey, I had to cut about 4-5 CM's off the left side of the base of the controller to get the stick where I wanted it, this meant removing the circuit board from the unit & mounting that in a project box & extending all the cables, The stick once mounted under the panel was way too low & did not feel right, so I had to extend it by a couple of CM's, 16mm electrical conduit & 16mm counduit coupler fitted perfectly & did the job, I also have put a slight bend forward in the stick extention, ergonomics is everything when it comes to the controllers & it feels just right now.

The plastic ring that normally holds the rubber boot in place virtually fell apart when I removed it, so I manufactured a new one out of 3mm MDF, which came out pretty darn good.

I will post some more detailed pictures on the modifications on the stick & the fitting of the Sub woofer when I take them apart again for painting.

As you can see I have started playing around with some spray paint, I am not happy with the grey that I used, it seems too dark. The matt black panels are fine so I will probably paint the panels up for the next round of photo's.

Cheers for now.

Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2925_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2927_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2929_IMG.jpg

Joystick Pictures.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2928_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2924_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2923_IMG.jpg

Throttle & sub woofer mounting.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2926_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2920_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/129-2921_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:00 am

Hi Once again, well I have not done as much work as I would have liked to in the last few months, maybe cause I have been playing with my new projector too much.......I set the projector up in the lounge room for home theatre & have been watching movies every weekend since christmas so it's been getting a workout......I just love it.

I purchased 2 ceiling mount brackets that are identical, this way I can dismount it very easily from the lounge room & take it to the garage for some simming & vice versa.............Last weekend I mounted the projector down in the garage, threw up a white sheet from the rafters & bingo, a whole new world of simming.

Every time you move forward building a simulator the more it inspires you to go further with it, It's absolutely fantastic on the projector & now there is no turning back, this is the only way to sim!!

I have had a few people in it this week & they just get blown away by it, Even my wife thought it was pretty darn cool......Woohoo, I've got the green light from the boss.

I think sometimes when I tell people what I am trying to build they just don't quite invisage what I can see in my mind.............It's not until you show them that they can see what this fascination is all about.

My flight controllers have had upgrade chips fitted to them that now make them digital sticks, this upgrade was dicontinued last June which I did not know about & had already purchased/mounted the controllers.

Fortunately a fellow builder over in the U.S. offered to send me a set of chips that he was not using anymore, He posted them over & did not want any money for them.

So I would like to acknowledge "Bricklayer" (Craig Rochester) from the viperpit forum which can be found at http://www.viperpit.org/ for his generous contribution to my pit.

That forum has some really good information particularly targeted at the F-16 cockpit, it is worth a look for all builders commercial or military.
A great bunch of guys there too, all willing to help each other out.
Thanks Craig.

Well I will leave a few more pictures of my progress, things are really getting exciting now.

Some things I will be working on soon are:

The Glare shield.
I really have to pull the sim apart for a paint job.
Start working on the radio stack & panels.
I am also revising mounting of the on board computers (pictures soon).

Cheers Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/132-3230_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/132-3223_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/132-3232_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:05 am

Some in action shots, sorry if some of them are little blurry, it's hard taking shots in the dark.

By The way the bright line down the left side of the projected image is from a seem that is sewn into the sheet, it is just a temporary setup & I will make a proper screen eventually, however I must say the white sheet does a pretty good job !!

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/132-3227_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/132-3224_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/132-3225_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2005 1:19 am

The model I am flight testing with is a PC-9 in the "Roulette" RAAF Aerobatic team colours, this model was designed by Dave Friswell from http://www.aussim.com.au/ a fantastic resource for australian aircraft for flightsim.

I had the honour of being one of the beta test pilots for this model & it is just a pure joy to zip around in.

All my online flight testing with VATSIM is done under the callsign TESTER with the numbers being the month & year of the flight test, that way I can tell when a flight test was carried out from my VATSIM pilot logs.
For example TESTER035 is Month 03 Year 2005.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/132-3229_IMG.jpg

Over Sydney Harbour.......

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/132-3228_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:33 am

Well The Weather here in Sydney has been quite warm for this time of year & has allowed me to do some more work at night without freezing my *** off in the workshop.

So I decided it was time to do some laborious stuff that just has to be done like it or not..............I have pulled the system down now & preparing for painting, I purchased some undercoat today & the spray gun is ready to go.

Whilst running on the projector I had a friend of mine come over who has his unrestricted private pilots licence & is endorsed on the 172, he commented that the sim was actually better than the ones they have at the flying school & he could certainly utilise it for instrument training exercises, he also noted that he found himself lining up the sim housing with the centre line of the runway & other reference points on the horizon just like you would in a real aircraft............an interesting comment I thought.

One subject I want to cover in detail in this photo shoot is the business end of the simulator, The "Engine Bay" if you Like..........I have not seen many people discuss this topic much when browsing through websites & forums, most of the talk usually concerntrates on Interfacing & panel/Display setups.

I can't help but wonder how many people build a great looking sim only to find they have nowhere to mount the PC's that are going to run the whole thing, On a 747 Flight deck with a First Officer Position available this can run into as many 6-8 Machines & If you want some wrap around views with Wideview it can stack up to even more.

I originally built my Sim to house about 3 ATX full size machines (2 at the front & 1 at the back) but realised later this would be a limiting factor.
On a Fighter pit such as the one I am building there is not a great deal of places to put machines so I have come up with a solution that will allow me to mount 6 Machines at the front & 2 at the rear if I wish.

I have decided it is now time to start putting the foundations of the electronics into the system, Firstly custom fit the PC's as snug as I possibly can utilising all the room available.
Run an AC (240V) bus with powerboards allowing mains connection of equipments, Run a DC Bus 12V & maybe 5V around the sim allowing for lighting control & other ancilliary equipment that may require DC to operate & last but not least FSbus cabling.

With all these things in place it should give me the basic building blocks to then just move forward onto the finer details such as the panels & switches, that is why I have decided it is now time to do the painting, I don't want to have to unwire everything just to paint the chassis.

Something that came to my attention when setting up the sim in it's current state was access to the rear of the PC's, there are alot of cables running into the back of the machines & you need clear access to plug & unplug everything, You will always require to get to your machines for maintenance & upgrades, DO NOT OVERLOOK THIS FACT.

I am glad I have not rushed things because it helps for me to think about the way something is & review whether it has been done the best way.
This was the case with the PC's so I have now mounted them in a totally different way than I originally planned.

Here is the series of photo's, this setup allows for 2 full size ATX motherboards to be mounted in a space not much bigger than a micro ATX case.

Cheers Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3322_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3333_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3326_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:58 am

So what you need to find are some old ATX cases that are built with a removeable motherboard section, the paricular case that I have pictured above is one such case & was quite a popular model a few years ago.

The whole ATX section could be slid out by undoing 4 screws at the back of the case, Most of the cases I see these days are a completely single chassis.

So you might have to hunt around to find an old ATX case that you can do this with but there are still many out there in use I see them all the time.

It will make it easier if you can get them in pairs, as it keeps the mounting of the two boards square & symetrical, If you get 2 different type of cases you may have make adjustments to your mounting to correct for the different heights.

So I went & bought some drawer slide rails from the hardware & mounted a piece of MDF onto them that will slide into the front of the sim, on that board I have mounted the ATX section with some Aluminium angle & spacers to keep the metal chassis square to the board.

I then mounted a second metal chassis onto another piece of MDF in the same way, flipped it over & then attached the top one to the bottom one, again with aluminium angle.

The Hard disk drives are also mounted to the metal chassis with aluminium angle, The power supplies for the two boards are mounted onto the bottom MDF board, positioned in place with angle & clamped down with threaded rod, similar to a car battery mount.

The pictures probably explain it better.

The assembly can be completely removed from the sim just like a normal cupboard drawer for maintenance reasons, the upper & lower boards seperate with the removal of 4 screws, no harder than opening a normal ATX case !!

Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3328_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3325_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3327_IMG.jpg

Notice accessibility to the rear of the PC's is now from the left & right of the sim, this will make connections to the box's so much easier, let me tell ya !

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3329_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3324_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3323_IMG.jpg

Notice I could mount another two drawers in this configuration if I really needed too but at the moment the sim will run OK with just these two machines.

In these pictures you can see the setup of the power supply mounting using the aluminium angle.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3336_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3335_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3330_IMG.jpg

These last few shots now with everything mounted, by the way ventilation will be much better for the systems this way too as they won't be in an enclosed case, however I think I will need some fan's to get the air out of the sim once I start enclosing the whole thing.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3342_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3339_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3337_IMG.jpg

Come to think of it the building of a simulator is just a big case mod really, we mod it so we are sitting in it rather than sitting in front of it.

Cheers Glenn.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3341_IMG.jpg

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/731/133-3340_IMG.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:31 am

Well it's the end of the Queen's birthday weekend & I have gotten stuck into the pit again...........about a month ago I started preparation for painting, I have sanded back most of the surfaces, quite time consuming & not much fun.

I have painted the left & right consoles & front panel, just with matt black.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread here are the pictures on the joystick Mods, you can also see the F22 digital upgrade chip fitted to the joystick board in the project box, as you can see the Joystick board had to be moved to the project box because I had to cut a chunk out of the joystick base to mount it the way I wanted.

On the stick itself you can see the grey 10mm conduit I used for the extension on the handle, I also heated it & bent it slightly for ergonomic reasons. I used a PS/2 plug & socket that fits just perfectly into the 10mm conduit so I can separate the stick from the base to allow fitting to the panel.

I planned to get into the painting this long weekend but I got sidetracked with what I would call a pretty good score, I ran into a guy who said he had a bunch of IBM 15" LCD monitors in his garage that had no stands or power packs with them, I decided it was worth checking out & went round to test them........Sure enough they were working fine, he only wanted $40 each for them so I jumped at the chance & grabbed them all, I even have a couple of extra ones for spares, but at this point they are all working.

These units are 1024x768 Native resolution, have an external power pack, i.e. they run on 12V DC & are a breeze to dismantle.
So I dropped the painting exercise for now & just had to get them mounted.

The difference between the LCD & a CRT is just unreal, as you can see from the pictures the nice flat screen behind the panel looks the part.
The CRT's had a bit of curvature & I could not get the the screens right up to the panel because of the shroud. I have not done an active test run in the sim with them yet because I have it pulled down at the moment.

I allways planned on using LCD's all the time, just not so soon. The difference in heat dissipation is fantastic too, those CRT's ran pretty hot & was allways bothering me when the glare shield was going to cover them up, thats one reason I have put it off until now.

Anyway it was just one of those lucky things being in the right place at the right time............I have been monitoring Ebay the last few months looking for good deals on LCD's but they are still quite a bit of money, particulary when you are after three of them in one hit.

Thats about it for now.............not too far from the paint work now, I just need some good weather over a weekend & I should have it done.
The garage is a mess at the moment as everything is pulled apart & of coarse I can't fly it either in this state, so plenty of reasons to get the painting out of the way.

Cheers Glenn.

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page3_files/t_project_box.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page3_files/t_stick.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page3_files/t_base.jpg

Here are the pictures in relation to the LCD screens, you will notice that I could not mount the whole three side by side............BAD PLANNING on my part, but I got around it by modifying the centre console & mounting the circuit boards for the centre monitor on the rear of the front panel.

The left & right screens are simply removed from the cream plastic housings & bolted on to the back of the front panel.......Just out of interest, the actual displays are produced by Samsung.

You may notice I finally got around to doing the leg cutouts in the front panel too, that has been bugging me for a while.

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page3_files/t_ibm_monitor.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page3_files/t_rear_panel.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page3_files/t_displays.jpg

I just love the new profile, I guess the pit has just lost some weight too !!

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page3_files/t_side_view.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page3_files/t_rear_panel2.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Reconstructed Log
Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 11:23 pm

Well Painting is underway, lots of sanding, a few runs here & there, not a great deal of fun. It's a messy job & I did it outside so I had to wait for some good weather.

I have never really used a spraygun before so I just took it slowly. The secret seems to be spray it lightly, heavy spraying will result in runs.
I would spray an area lightly, then move onto another area allowing what I had just done to dry a little, then eventually come back to the original spot & do another light coat, keep going around like this & you eventually end up with a totally painted item.

It also seems that the thinning of the paint is important too, fairly thin but not too thin. I would suggest some experimentation before doing the actual job at hand.

I have got everything painted except the right console, still some sanding to be done on that one & then I will hit that with some paint too.

In the meantime here's how they came out.

Glenn.

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page4_files/t_seat1.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page4_files/t_painted3.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page4_files/t_painted1.jpg

did not paint the polycarbonate as I don't think the paint will stick, so I will probably leave it white, hopefully a nice cushion will cover that up anyway.

I will take some shots of the sub woofer placement in the seat once I have the painting completed, you can see it here masked with newspaper.

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page4_files/t_seat3.jpg

http://users.tpg.com.au/98262269/Page4_files/t_seat2.jpg

[Glenn Weston]

Well thats it for the reconstruction of all my old posts on the previous forum.

Everything now will be updates as I get things done.
There have been a few things since the paint job.

I have Purchased a a Telex PC-4 Real Aircraft Intercomm, I have wired it to a sound card & using real aviation headsets, tested it with roger wilco, it works beatifully.

I have also purchase some grey lambswool to cover the seat with, it has all been cut to size but is yet to be installed. It looks great on the seat, confortable too.

Recently purchased 4 sheets of MDF board for a Projector screen upgrade from the bedsheet, which I have now got up & painted white. Well the centre screen is done as of today.

I have also acquired 2 x 20 Amp Regulated Variable Power supplies, one will run the 5V Bus & the other a 12V Bus around the pit. I should not need any more power than that I would think.

I have also picked up some shakers & amps to mount into the seat, however the sub is doing a pretty good job up to this point.

I will put any new photo's up in the Album area & link to them there & will eventually put the archived ones there too, for the moment they are being hosted by my ISP & are low resolution but good enough for the moment.

Hope there is some good info there for somebody, any questions about anything just let me know.

Cheers Glenn.

[Glenn Weston]

I have now posted some pictures in the gallery of my projector screen upgrade that I am currently working on. I will link to them throughout this post.

This three screen system will be completely fold away as the garage where the sim is housed is also used for other things.

I really wanted to make use of all of the garage width & the only way to do that was to make the three sceens either de-mountable or fold away in a relatively quick & easy mannner.

I have chosen 12mm MDF for the screen material. I probably could have gone with a thinner board & made the screens lighter but I was advised that the thicker board would have less chance of warping through natural moisture in the air. I was advised to paint both sides of the board for the same reasons.

The individual MDF sheet size is 2400mm Wide x 1800mm High so the total screen width by the time I will have finnished will be 7200mm Wide.
For the moment I will be going for the Standard 3 Projectors with a single outside view using the Triplehead2go unit.

However the mechanism I am using here for the screen storage can quite easily be adapted to utilise the 5 seperate ouside views with screens at 90 Degrees to each other without too much modification, as you will see.

I first mounted the centre screen & have referenced all levels from that one.
It does very little except hang from an RSJ with some gate hinges & can fold up to the ceiling rafters.

Below is some of the hardware used to Mount the screen, the board weighs in at about 40-50 KG's so it is not an easy thing to manage & a hoist was used to assist in the fitting.

The 2400 x 1800 sheet is the perfect aspect ratio for 4:3 projectors & does not require cutting. These sheets are not found in normal hardware stores you might have to go to a special MDF stockist.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4052&size=1

Heavy duty Gate hinges were used as shown here.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4053&size=1

I mounted the hinges & temporarily installed two eye bolts so I could sling the sheet up onto the hoist, this made it very easy to manuvere into the correct position.
Once mouted I just Removed the two eye bolts & replaced them with normal countersunk bolts.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4058&size=1

I covered the countersunk bolt head with these adhesive bolt head covers.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4055&size=1

I then made some slightly bigger sticky paper covers that I stuck on top of those & when painted they are pretty much not even visible, I really didn't want to use any filler in case I need to dismount the screen although that would have given a much better finnish.

Note the hole punch shown here, they are a handy tool to have, they easily punch holes into 3mm MDF. Handy for panel work.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4056&size=1

Here is the the result, this is a close up photo, the screen is painted with just undercoat at this point.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4057&size=1

Here is the rear view of the centre screen showing the hinge mounted to the RSJ, this screen can now just fold up to the rafters when not in use leaving the garage available for other things, My fighter pit is on castor wheels so it too can be moved when not in use.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4054&size=1

In the next post I will show how I constructed the right hand screen that can be rolled to the right side wall of the garage & also folded to the rafters if required.

Cheers Glenn.

[Glenn Weston]

OK So now comes the interesting bit, I want to run three projectors & use the total width of the garage it needs to all come apart & be able to put it back together within a few minutes........Well this is what I came up with.

I investigated Bi-Folding door rollers down at Bunnings (A local Hardware store) here in Australia. I located the Manufacturer who was local to me & visited their showroom where I could play with their product out of the packet.

The rolling mechanism pivots about a brass bushing with a thread through the middle of it which makes it very easy for height adjsutment.

Here is the roller as purchased off the shelf.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4059&size=1

What I wanted to do is not like anything I have seen before & I couldn't find anything on google that would suit the task at hand.

I wanted to be able to slide the right & left side screens flat up to the walls out of the way when not in use but also wanted to have the screens at a 45 degree angle & be able to but them up against the centre screen when in use.

So I started thinking about using two sliding mechanisms, one for pushing the screen to the wall & one for sliding the screen up to the centre screen.

Thinking about the rollers that I played with I realised it could actaully be done just by using a peice of threaded rod...........Where would we be without threaded rod.......So I took the gamble & purchased the roller system comprising of 4 x Roller Trucks, 3 x 2400mm Tracks & 4 x Stops.

Here is a picture of the modified roller trucks using a small piece of threaded rod.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4069&size=1

So now we have front/back & left/right movement & I can adjust the height of the screen at the rollers & also square it up to the centre screen, I had basically solved all the problems I was facing in one hit.........

Here is a picture of the track that is mounted onto the RHS screen using a peice of 60mm Aluminium angle, the screen is mounted to this angle using the the same gate hinges as used on the centre screen. You can see the holes are drilled for the hinges at this point.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4070&size=1

So then I mounted the second & third rails up onto the side of the rafters, by the way the track comes in two forms of mounting, top mounting as used on the screen itself & side mounting as used on the rafters.

See here........... You can see one truck roller & stop in place in this photo.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4071&size=1

And here the fully modified trucks in place

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4072&size=1

Again two eye bolts in place, some rope & the hoist..........
The RHS screen now on it's rollers & fully moveable in any direction you wish all the way to the stops.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4073&size=1

Here it is butted up against the centre screen & squared off nicely, no gap at all between the screens.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4074&size=1


Here you can see the level has been adjusted right down to the mm using the threaded rod on the roller trucks, note the lock nut so they can't easily come undone........also the countersunk bolts I used to mount the hinges.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4076&size=1

Here is the rear view of the centre & RHS screens, I am just using some tape to keep them butted up against each other for now but I think I will use some sort of elastic strap that I can clip on quickly.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4075&size=1

And what I was trying to acheive the most was this, as shown, the screen rolled out of the way up against the side wall......And because it is mounted on hinges here I can also fold it to the rafters like the centre screen.

http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/watermark.php?file=4077&size=1

So at this point I have got the Right side done, I now have to go & purchase the materials for the Left hand side, fit it all up & get the paint out again.

Just slightly better than the good ole bed sheet...........

Cheers Glenn.

[Matt Olieman]

Glenn I've taken you're last two post and put them in the Tutorial Area. Excellent information. Please feel free to add to the tutorial, it's under your name here:
http://www.mycockpit.org/tutorials/browsecategory.php?c=6

Thanks again :) :) :)

Matt Olieman

[Glenn Weston]

Thanks Matt, It's a pleasure.......

As I said I searched high & low for a solution like this but zero results.
I didn't even know how to describe what I wanted to do in google.

I will certainly post again as I complete all three screens & demonstrating them all folded up.

If anyone wants any fiurther information please just drop me a line.

Cheers Glenn.

[jmig]

Glenn I followed you here from your gauge post. This is really looking good. You have a talent for building. It good to see another active military pit builder. :) We are out numbered friend. BUT, we got rockets and bullets. ;)

[Glenn Weston]

Thanks John,appreciate your comments, Yes maybe those guns & bullets may actually work one day..........

Have now completed my foldaway prjector screens & will post some updated pictures very soon.

Cheers Glenn