GarSim530

[Steve1970]

Hi

I just thought I'd say hello, I've been working on a Garmin530 hardware panel.

I am in the throws of completing the GarSim530 design and thought you may like to see my progress so far.

Basically I am making a glorified "joystick/input controller" which interfaces via FSUIPC to FSX or more specifcally to Reality XP's fantastic GNS530 software add-on

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/Sv15sBSO9mI/AAAAAAAAAsM/CwW-who-t_Q/s800/iso.jpg
Here is the overall design using Solidworks 3D Cad.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/Sv15shP-e2I/AAAAAAAAAsQ/2p6Arvbqkjg/s800/iso%20no%20face.jpg
and without the face plate

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SvQFtlGwd2I/AAAAAAAAApc/9S5a-7z6UrU/s400/Garsim530Iso.jpg
This is the PCB Panel with the various encoders and push buttons laid out around the LCD screen

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/Sv15rykSxPI/AAAAAAAAAsI/Rqu53xBhGnI/s400/PBB.jpg
Here is my printed circuit board which is currently in manufacture by Tecbridge circuits (I designed this on freepcb - yes its free!)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/Sv17_MY-WTI/AAAAAAAAAsY/by_h6BEJv0c/s400/LCD.jpg
The LCD screen is a 5.7" VGA unit - I resized the Reality XP gauge to fit just the map to the screen

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/Sv17_V84EbI/AAAAAAAAAsc/jIBFSfnRjP8/s400/interface%20card.jpg
The Interface card is from Leo Bodnar - its a BU0836X


http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/Sv17_w0P4qI/AAAAAAAAAsg/QmolZtyX4Ok/s400/encoders%20n%20buttons.jpg
Various encoders and bushbuttons

As soon as I have more done and as the other parts arrive I will keep you updated.

All the best

Steve.

[JimmyGerrard]

Very nice Steve, these Garmin GNS series-based projects keep appearing and each one looks absolutely fantastic. Keep us posted!

[Steve1970]

Very nice Steve, these Garmin GNS series-based projects keep appearing and each one looks absolutely fantastic. Keep us posted!

watch this space, full details to follow, parts will be arriving in the next couple of weeks.:-D

[Steve1970]

Hi All,

My PCB arrived today, here are some pics, been busy soldering but off to the pub now with my better half! Will test tommorow, fingers crossed all will work fine!

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SxAtiyN0-9I/AAAAAAAAAu4/Cmu9fo2qjb0/s800/PA270729.JPG
The PCB I designed on Free PCB and manufactured by Tecbridge circuits, have a couple of spares due to minimum order requirements




http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SxAtvCIpngI/AAAAAAAAAwM/Kzvpt57Pbgg/s800/PA270750.JPG
Soldering, with the good old lead stuff!! forget the lead free, it is so hard to work with.

Thanks for viewing
Steve.

[kermit]

Hi Steve,
It looks very nice indeed.
Do you have an extra unit and a faceplate, I`m very interested
greetz

[Steve1970]

Hi Steve,
It looks very nice indeed.
Do you have an extra unit and a faceplate, I`m very interested
greetz

Hi Kermit,

Give me a few weeks to finish my design and then I can let you know. I would like to make some changes as this is my first attempt at something like this, so I may need to redisign the PCB to include some better switches and bascklighting if required.

thanks steve.

[Steve1970]

Hi All,

Just an update, starting to look a bit like gps


http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SxQuJQdiFqI/AAAAAAAAAzk/xmlUiLoliKA/s800/PA300726.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SxQuSsj_67I/AAAAAAAAA0M/JqpEo8gi9pE/s800/PA300736.JPG

Thanks

Steve

[Ronson2k9]

That's looking awesome. Great job..

[Steve1970]

Hi All

Finally finished my Garmin 530 box. I will be posting a PDF document in the next week or so, containing all the information needed if you fancy building one yourself.

Thanks,

Steve

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SyOqYmmrf7I/AAAAAAAAA8U/KDAXTXpZtto/s800/PB110736.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SyOqZR_QwkI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/KzHM-JQ85Lw/s800/PB110740.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SyOqbwN4I0I/AAAAAAAAA8o/qT9Rn92A6Gw/s800/PB110767.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SyOqaBCV2mI/AAAAAAAAA8c/bBZefB-N_fc/s800/PB110746.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SyOqbexFK8I/AAAAAAAAA8k/F7SZX-R4H9k/s800/PB110766.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8q107uANuIQ/SyOqajo6wRI/AAAAAAAAA8g/4ZUDrlss22A/s800/PB110748.JPG

[No Longer Active]

That is the best looking GNS 530 I have ever seen so far!

Simply amazing!

I would love to order the faceplate if you have any more!

[GARich]

That looks excellent - well done!

[Jylhami]

Beautiful !

How did you do the texts ? silkscreen ?

I am also thinking about the "3D" frontpanel, injection moldeing is very expensive, but there is a method doing this at home.
Let's see how i can manage this.

[Steve1970]

The text is a dry transfer made to order, google Blackham transfers. Works very well, and he has a negative so could make you a copy.

Steve

[No Longer Active]

Is custom text expensive?

Lets say I wanted some legends made such as 'magnetos' or 'lights' for my MIP would it just be cheaper buying rub-on lettering as to custom text.

Thanks.

Alex

[Steve1970]

Is custom text expensive?

Lets say I wanted some legends made such as 'magnetos' or 'lights' for my MIP would it just be cheaper buying rub-on lettering as to custom text.

Thanks.

Alex

if you have lots of text then no, the transfer is made from a negative which cost £30 and the transfer itself cost £14. Blackham transfers did mine, you could also check out letraset, they do sheets of 4mm White text, but I would imagine that this is hard to apply in a straight line. The benefit of the custom transfer is the the complete word is ready to rub on and there is no carrier visi ble, the end result looks very nice.

I think that it is worth it.

Thanks for your kind comments.

Steve

ps next project is the bendix king nav/com 2box. For this I am employing g a mix of open cockpit cards for the displays and Leo bodnars card for the encoder inputs, he makes it so easy.

[maliga00]

Is a amazing project! Thanks to share with us. Nice VGA display , where did you buy?
Regards
Alberto

[Steve1970]

thanks for the comments, check earth LCD
see here-
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18787

[iwik]

Hi Steve,
Well done,ive been lookng around at many attempts and they are good,yours take the cake.Im looking into doing something that had a 3D panel.
Had you thought about making a short Form kit consisting of the Front panel and PCB.The other parts are readily available,i think a lot of people would take you up on this.Seeing you must have put a lot of work into it,would be a shame not to be able to reap some rewards.I for one would be a taker as it is.Looks extremely professional.Doing a short form kit doesnt tie you up in
support like a finished product would.Please give it some thought and keep us posted.Looking forward to the promised PDF.
Les
P.S What did you make the Front Panel out of and was it done.

[Steve1970]

Hi, Yes you are right, I have to get the PDF finished. I will try to get it done asap but Christmas has been really busy for me.

As for supplying a kit, I think that is a good idea but I think the PDF will give you all the info to source the parts yourself, I can also make the cad models available and the gerber files for the PCB.

I would rather do this than sell kits because it gives something back to the community. I have had a lot of help from the resources available here on this site.

Regards
Steve.

[iwik]

Thanks,
Fully understand,Xmas is always busy.Would be very much appreciated if the CAD models and Gerber files were avaiable,my 3D skills are Nil.
Look forward to this imfo,no hurry just take your time.
Les

[Steve1970]

Hi,

As promised, I have posted a short video on you tube. I am now movie expert and the quality is not great, but it does at least show the unit in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OESqytRad0

comments welcome.

PS the PDF should be up on here by this weekend.

Regards,

Steve

[iwik]

Hi Steve,
Excellent video,demoed your unit beautifully.Cant wait to get all the imfo.You have spurred me on,this was just what i needed.
Thanks again for following it up.
Best Rgds
Les
P.s Like your setup,any chance of some pics,see you are using PM GAIFR.

[Seyton]

Wow!! Incredible! :shock:


Where did you buy pushbutton and knobs?

Thanks a lot!

[Steve1970]

Hi,

The push buttons are from Mouser and the Knobs and Encoders are from Leo Bodnar. The knobs for the encoders are also available from Farnells (Elma is the manf)

All details will be in the PDF.

Regards,

Steve.

[Seyton]

Steve, thanks!
I'm really looking forward for your .pdf! :D

[No Longer Active]

I'm really looking forward for your .pdf!

...me too!

[Steve1970]

Hi

Please find below a link to the PDF document containing all the info needed if you would like to build a unit similar
http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_bT-MUTZ3P2MjA1MjQzZDEtYTY3MC00MGRmLWFlZjctZGNjMWYwYTI2NmI5&hl=en_GB

Regards,

Steve

Comments welcome.

[AK Mongo]

Excellent design and pdf manual! Thanks!

[Seyton]

NO WORDS :o:!::o super work!!!!
Thanks again!

[colt45]

Steve,

Thanks for sharing your "design" via the pdf file. Eventhough I have already built my own Garmin based GPS it is much lower tech (yet fully functioning) than yours. If the day ever comes that I want to take it to the next level your guide will prove to invaluable.

One minor thing - there appears to be a font (Technic Bold) used starting on page 15 that doesn't show up on my version of Adobe. It is used where you show revisions to files on your system. Any suggestions on how I can get that text to show up as something other than a series of dots and dashes.

Again thanks for sharing your GPS with us.

Cheers, Dave

[iwik]

Hi Dave,
Yes i found the same thing.Do a google on TechnicBold font and d/l and copy to Font Folder of Adobe.
This should fix it.
Steve did a great job.
Rgds
Les

[colt45]

Thanks Les, that did the trick.

Cheers, Dave

[Ivanknight]

Oh my god!, this is one of the most espectacular things that i've ever seen in my life! haha you're a genius man, than you very much for the .pdf and for the video.

Cheers!

[Steve1970]

thanks very much for your kind words
Steve

[No Longer Active]

How's your mip coming on steve? If its anything like the rest of your gear then we are in for a treat!

[Steve1970]

Hi Alex,

My MIP is coming along nicely. I have had the front panel laser cut, It is at powder coating and should be back this week. The gauge rings I am turning myself at work as we have a lathe, They will be made from acetol rod. The front panel will be screwed to an MDF frame. The MDF frame will have legs so that I don't need a desk to put it all on. The MDF case was made from 5 CNC routed panels 1inch thick to give some rigidity and weight. Last night I finished making the cowling for the top of the MIP. For this I have used BendyMDF and formed the cowl over the MDF frame. I took it to get vinyl trimmed today, as this needs to look good.

I hope to get everything set up within the next few weeks to at least get to a stage that I can fly it. There are still lots of things to do such as the AP panel, XPDR, ADF tuner and DME unit, but these will be done one by one to suit budget.

Will post some pictures shortly.

Steve

[Ronson2k9]

Awesome job in several fronts. Design, Build, Documentation. Thanks so very much for all the info. It's really inspired me to get back at my MIP again. I've not had a easy move at times due to the weather but now it's complete and I can back to building again.

[jrphcien]

Hello Steve ! absolutely fantastic !!!
I am a private pilot looking for a way to pratice the more accurately possible while not flying in the real world !!!
I do not have your talent and do not have any time at all to build this solution
Do you think that with fsuipc and go-flight module, 1 can manage to programm all the functions like you did ? or
do you plan to sell units ?
thank's in advance
Jean-Louis

[webitman]

Hi Steve

I have just found and have been reading these posts about your GarSim530 exellent project and i would love to build this, i see its some time since you did the PDF file but would you still have a copy of it, only the link you have is now dead

Paul

[Steve1970]

Hi Paul

I am not sure why the link is not working, I will need to check this. Did you know that I am also selling the units on my website. It is probably cheaper than you can build it for because I am ordering the parts in larger quantities. You can check the website here. www.emuteq.com

Here is the download link
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=362&act=down&actionhash=1317921012-0bc236f9ed6fba3b4b8992b652c02e2d2ba41498


Cheers
Steve
www.emuteq.com



Hi Steve

I have just found and have been reading these posts about your GarSim530 exellent project and i would love to build this, i see its some time since you did the PDF file but would you still have a copy of it, only the link you have is now dead

Paul

[webitman]

Hi Steve

Just been to your site, this unit looks amazing and i would love to purchace it, unfortunatly funds are not forthcoming as i am now retired, if i could get the PDF then i can build this over a period of time as funds allow.


Paul

Edit: Clicked your link and greeted with this:

"Your submission could not be processed because a security token was invalid.

If this occurred unexpectedly, please inform the administrator and describe the action you performed before you received this error."

[iwik]

Paul,
Go to downloads, its there now to download.
Regards
Les

[webitman]

Thank You Les
Have now downloaded file.

Paul

[Scorch]

I'm looking at the Garsim 530 and the PDF is very impressive. A question, since the BU0836X board can support many encoders, is there any reason I can't build the 530 into a panel and use the same BU0836X and add other 0 detent rotary encoders for ADF, VOR, ADI, Heading Bug, etc? I gather wire length can be a concern, but aside from that, for the non-gps encoders I am considering these from Mouser:

encoder
http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=ECW0J-R24-CE0024Lvirtualkey65210000virtualkey652-ECW0J-R24CE0024L

knobs
http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=450-CK1560virtualkey56100000virtualkey450-CK1560

I am in the US, so some of the sources cited in the forum are not practical for me. I don't know much about this, so any advice is welcome. Thanks!

[GlobalGentleman]

Hi! Built one of these a while back. Not sure I fully understand....are you wanting to add the rotaries onto the g530 panel itself? Or onto a larger a/c master panel, like a c172, and then just use the extra inputs/outputs of the same 836x? I used digikey for most of my hardware and had good luck with them. Those at mouser should be fine though.

[Scorch]

Yes, a master panel. Sorry, should have been more clear about that. I was looking at digikey, and I thought you had to buy in bulk to order from them. 1,000 pieces for example, is that not the case?

Do you have any photos of your 530 you could share? I'd love to see it. Thanks!

[Ernesto Lombeyda]

Hi Steve!!! one question:
Is possible program or app for link software with Prepar 3D (realityXP not found) ....please!!!
Thank´s!