Newbie building flight deck

[Rob65]

Hi,

I am almost completely new to simming. I did play around with FS 3.1 way back and I even bought a 'proper' joystick with throttle handle - nothing fancy just a MS Sidewinder. Never followed any lessons or bothered to look at procedures that should be followed, I was just passing some time plowing through the runway and all the fields around it I quickly discovered that a PC keyboard and a mouse are not the right tools to control an aeroplane and the stuff got thrown in a corner.

But now I am infected again (thanks Hessel!). I like to make stuff and decided to start flying again, combined with instrument building. Not a complete cockpit, there is no room (yet...) for one, but just some instrument panels, yoke, throttle and what else comes on my way. I still have my Sidewinder (I hope - need to check that last few moving boxes in the attic) so I can start building while playing/learning.
I like a challenge so I am limiting myself by not allowing any factory stuff or kits and the instruments should have the proper look&feel - all instrument will be completely made by me but I do allow others to help me out where I am stuck.

Just to show the first thing I started working on today: the standby attitude indicator of a Boeing 757/767:


Still only a design but in a few days the servos will arrive and I can then verify the size of the servos and start building.
Since I am a complete newby in the field of panel building I have no idea how to get the proper dimensions for the instruments. I used some known measurements, combined this with bevel design and sizes I found on the internet and decided to go for a 3.975 x 3.975" instrument.

Is this the way to go? Just guess what the actual size should be?
I am not too concerned about the exact shape of the cutout of the front panel or the exact markings on the indicator - I found that these do vary throughout the years - but if I mess up the dimensions I need to do a complete rebuild - something I don't fancy.

Regards,

Rob

[Sean Nixon]

Never followed any lessons or bothered to look at procedures that should be followed

Been there...

I was just passing some time plowing through the runway and all the fields around it

Done that...

the stuff got thrown in a corner.

and that!

And now I'm starting all over again. Just stay away from the corner!

Anyhow, welcome to MyCockpit.

Sean

[Matt Olieman]

Rob welcome aboard, glad to have you join our madness

It is amazing the passion some of us have in this wonderful hobby it's contagious, and the fellow builders are fantastic.

[Mike.Powell]

Looks like you're well on your way to a good design. One thing I recommend is providing additional support of the roll shaft. If you rely only on the roll servo for support, the roll servo will have a significant perpendicular load on the shaft. It will wear out faster, and may not provide a sufficiently rigid support for the pitch yoke and mechanism.

It's good to see another person dive into instrument construction; a topic near and dear to my heart.

[Rob65]

Mike

Looks like you're well on your way to a good design. One thing I recommend is providing additional support of the roll shaft. If you rely only on the roll servo for support, the roll servo will have a significant perpendicular load on the shaft.

Thanks, of course drawing is one thing - making the whole thing work is another ...
And yes - not shown in the model are two 608 bearings to hold the roll mechanism in place. I only added the important bits and decided to let the design rest until the critical components arrived.
Today the servos arrived; standard size (35 Ncm for the roll) and micro (12 Ncm) for the pitch. So now it is time to change and complete the design - I do need to change the design a bit to facilitate mounting screws.

It's good to see another person dive into instrument construction; a topic near and dear to my heart.

The book on instruments, untouched by my hands - but not for long
But first I need to start drawing again, need to produce some new pics to show

Cheers,

Rob

[Rob65]

I am not sure this is allowed to be in the newbie corner anymore ...



I've updated the design with the new servo dimensions - No ... I almost did a complete redraw to allow mounting of the module in the panel. Just visible behind the yoke are the two bearings to allow the roll rotation.

I've even created a small video showing the movement of the different servos on youtube: click here for youtube video.

Regards,

Rob (the builder)

[David Withers]

could be quickewr and cheaper to buy the little devil online?

awesome design work but!

[Rob65]

could be quickewr and cheaper to buy the little devil online?

awesome design work but!

Quicker? - Yes

Cheaper? - No.
The 'expensive' parts are the servos (5 EUR each - I need 2 or 3), the components for the OC USB servo card (7 EUR) and maybe two colors (humbrol) paint (6 EUR) that I do not have. All the aluminium and plexiglass is from a lot bought at a local store for a few EUR.
Ehhh ... OK, just ruined 4 2mm end mills just on the yoke. That's another 40+ EUR

Awesome design!

Thanks!
The whole idea is to have fun building instruments and make them work.
In the end I might even enjoy flying the plane

Cheers,

Rob

[Hessel Oosten]

Sometimes we see here comments like "AMAZING" and "AWESOME" ,
if there is made a picture of a screw....



BUT, this is ***really*** amazing and awesome !



Congratulations Rob, with this "great cockpit-building infection".

Hessel (infected cockpit-building victim too....

[Wendy]

Hi Rob,

It looks so easy like you draw this instrument. I'm pretty sure you're going to build this in no time. Love to see it working for real.


Regards Wendy