Aerosim Solutions B737 simulator rebuild

[Westozy]

Gwyn,
Can I ask what material the front panel is made from and what is its thickness.


Thanks.
shim

Hi Shim,
The panel is cut from 6mm Trovidur PVC, it will be primed and painted in epoxy enamel before mounting.
Cheers Gwyn

[Westozy]

Hi all,
At last I have cleared the backlog of orders and made another start on the Aerosim Solutions B737 simulator! I have just sold my old throttle and overhead so I thought I would start by making a new TQ. Here are the first pictures of TQ handle bodies, the backing plates that the lever handles attach to will be made from 3mm aluminium plate.
I'm not really planning to release a B737 TQ as a product as there are already so many available elswhere but I am thinking about releasing my VCarvePro CNC files at the end of this build when the set is completed for other CNC users. Stay tuned for more progress on the TQ build as it happens!!!
B737-Throttle-lever-body-1.jpg
B737-Throttle-lever-body-2.jpg
B737-Throttle-lever-body-3.jpg
B737-Throttle-lever-body-6.jpg



Cheers Gwyn
Aerosim Solutions

[Westozy]

Gwyn,
Can I ask what material the front panel is made from and what is its thickness.


Thanks.
shim

Hi Shim,
I used 6mm Trovidur PVC sheeting for the MIP, it is great stuff to work with and quite strong!
Cheers GP

[riche543]

Like that idea of vcarve files nice !! keep us posted Gwyn

[Westozy]

Hi all,
More progress this week with the lever handles completed, I'll start design work on the housing next. I will be making molds for producing the engraved throttle knobs shortly!
B737-Throttle-lever-3.jpg
B737-Throttle-lever-1.jpg
B737-Throttle-lever-2.jpg


Cheers Gwyn
Aerosim Solutions

[Efe Cem Elci]

Hi Gwyn,
As I understand, there will be no physical limitation to pulling reversers while the throttle levers are not in idle, right? That's how I see it in the lever mechanisms at least...

[Westozy]

Hi Gwyn,
As I understand, there will be no physical limitation to pulling reversers while the throttle levers are not in idle, right? That's how I see it in the lever mechanisms at least...

Hi Efe,
Absolutely correct, a real TQ will not allow reverse to be activated unless the levers are in idle. I decided that a physical interlock is not neccessary for my own simulator as FS won't allow reverse higher than idle anyway and it would mean a lot of additional work. Whilst it would be great to have 100% accuracy in operation of all the components I make, I try not to lose sight that I am building parts for hobby simulators. When I make components for my own simulator I am also focussed on the fact that I might be developing a new product for Aerosim Solutions. Keeping cost and complexity to a minimum is high priority for me, (the KISS principle!) I will probably not release a B737 TQ as there are already so many available out there and the new FDS Jetmax unit looks such a winner, that would be my choice if I couldn't make one myself! I might however offer to sell components such as thrust levers, handles, TQ knobs, lightplates etc. I really like designing "make it easier" parts for the community and the variety of custom orders keeps it interesting. The "closed for trading" message on my website has only slowed business slightly and orders keep on coming despite the message! I will re open mid year bigger and better, hopefully with a switch to fulltime production!

Cheers Gwyn
Aerosim Solutions

[Westozy]

Hi all,
I made some good progress on the Boeing this week after catching up on customer orders. I made a full scale drawing of the side elevation of my sim frame in VCarvePro6.5 which made it a lot simpler to design the shape of the MIP stand. I still had to cut out the pieces by hand as the parts are too big for my CNC machine, I really need a bigger machine! I built the CDU bay/Mip stand out of 12mm PVC and 10mm white acrylic sheeting which made it a little on the heavy side but it sure is strong, the mip is around 18kg with the monitors fitted. The beautiful FDS Promax CDUs look fantastic in there, I will have to remove the Dzus fasteners and fit normal screws later and this will allow them to sit another 6mm lower in the apertures. The display monitor between the CDUs is a 10 1/2" touch screen I picked up on Ebay for $150, it was a little too long but this has turned into a fortunate positive, the monitor controls are just visible. When I make the TQ stand I will make a little access cover for the monitor buttons. If you look closely at the MIP you will see the three monitor controller card mounted in the lower part of the square bezels, this will make monitor adjustments a lot easier. I have made the hinged strips but haven't fitted them yet. The auto throttle motors have arrived so the TQ will be the next item on the 'to do' list!
CDU-bay-MIP-stand-01.jpg
Trial-assembly.jpg
Rear-of-MIP.jpg
FDS-Promax-CDUs.jpg
B737-rebuild-016.jpg

Cheers Gwyn
Aerosim Solutions

[fsaviator]

Gwyn,
you never cease to amaze me... It looks fantastic. I'm also building my new MIP right now and I thought it looked great but now

I'm building out of sheet steel though. Fes' up, Gwyn, you have a PVC fairy down under, don't you? You must get great prices on PVC.

Seriously though, looks good. My CNC is down right now as I blew it up trying to wire in some proximity limit switches but I just got my new board and hope to be up and running soon.

Cheers!

[Westozy]

Cheers Warren, PVC fairy LOL! I do like working with PVC, it makes it easy to produce accurate parts with a good finish. The only downside is the weight because of it's density. My rudder sets are about 9kg and quite expensive to post.
Here is the result of the first 10 hours on the trim wheels, again fabricated from PVC!
Trim-wheel-1.jpg
Trim-wheel-2.jpg
Trim-wheel-3.jpg
Cheers Gwyn
Aerosim Solutions