Hi Guys,

Here is a quick tutorial on creating a simple, inexpensive USB panel.

This panel is based on the Ultimarc A-PAC USB controller, which is cheap (US$39+ship) and easy to
use -- it has screw-terminals rather than requiring ribbon cables/electronics knowledge.
It can handle up to 28 buttons/switches (switch toggles are converted to momentary keypresses in software - see end of tutorial).
http://www.ultimarc.com/a-pac.html
[UPDATE 2009-01-18 - fixed link]




First I bought some SPST switches and a sheet of Lexan (plexi-glass). Here I was playing with some possible layouts.




Second, I bought a 1/4 inch "glass bit" for my drill at the local hardware store.
I marked out where I wanted the holes on paper, taped it to the lexan, and clamped it down.
Then I used a finishing nail and hammer to make a starting notch for drilling each hole.
NOTE: it's better if you leave the protective sheet of coating on the lexan, as it can help make it more resistant to cracking.
You don't have to push very hard on the drill -- just let the bit do the work.
Drill away!




Then I did a little test just to see how the switches looked, when they were mounted. They
just screw on with a nut on the back.




Of course, at this point I couldn't resist testing it out , so I did a bad job of temporarily wiring up the switches.




At this point I had tested it and it was basically working (except when the wires
were shorting-out because they weren't soldered/fastened properly )

Finally I had the basic panel done, but I needed an enclosure to house it in.
A brainstorm lead me to gut the insides out of an old CD-ROM drive that was no-longer working.




I cut down the size of the lexan with a plexiglass knife (be careful with these!!)
And I added some black paint to give it the glossy look.
At this point, I had to go and buy a very small drill-bit for the mounting screws.




Then it was time for the serious soldering. It had been a while, but it all
came back -- like riding a bike! LOL




And finally...









the finished product!!





All that remains is to come up with a labelling solution. I am considering using
plastic transparencies with labels on top, so I can have swappable templates
for each simulator.




As far as programming...
The A-PAC shows up as a pair of game controllers in windows.
I'm using a program called SVMapper to convert the on and off toggle switches into momentary keypresses.
(thanks to Sokol1 for letting me know about this utility)



You can get that utility program here:
http://forum.sukhoi.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=70479&d=1173468799


For more complicated mapping, I recommend using the free AutoHotKey scripting language:
http://autohotkey.com

Thanks to GrizzlyT, Kimchoc1 and others for their encouragement!




Hope this helps someone to save some cash, or simplify their pit!



Cheers,

Our little Lazer's not a virgin anymore.......Oh, they grow up so fast.

Seriously, nicely done.
Very clever using the CD drive enclosure, too. I just love that kinda stuff!
Your sitting around thinking, "How the hell am I going to do that?", then the lightbulb in your head lights up...."What if I try this?"......
In the end, 0% cost and 100% ingenuity.

Keep up the good work. You're well on your way to a complete lack of disposable income.

Very cool, I need the extra inspiration right now, trying to get back to my control box project. Does that board support rotary encoders?

EDIT: NVM I checked the link!

There are plenty of encoder boards out there (Opencockpits, Hagstrom, etc.) but most are kinda pricey, for what you get.
Unless you need it to control an axis (or to respond to acceleration) and you're just mapping key presses, you can get away with using a simple pulse switch.
(Sometimes referred to as a "knitter" switch, too.)

A pulse switch is dual-pole, momentary contact, rotary switch that sends out a different stream of switch pulses, as it's rotated CW or CCW. Your controller sees it as two momentary switches and it doesn't require a control voltage either. The key feature being that unlike a standard dual-pole rotary switch, when you rotate CW, it sends out only CW pulses. The same for the CCW rotation.

I get mine here: @ Mouser

A very easy way to get rotaries, into the cockpit!

That is great looking! I love seeing folks make stuff like that and being creative. So does this guy have a usb wire and plug that comes out of it now? And now it can be programmed? Neat stuff.

Yes, there is a 6-foot USB cable coming out the bottom of the panel.

You just plug it in to your PC, and it shows up like a joystick. (in Control Panel->Game Controllers)

Then you run the SVMapper program that I mentioned above and setup your mappings.

So for example, I flip the top-left switch up. SVMapper sends an 'f' key to the Sim, which turns the flaps on. I flip the top-left switch down and SVMapper sends another 'f' key to the Sim, which turns the flaps off.

Thanks for the questions.

I think I will add more detail about wiring to the tutorial, and maybe make a video of the panel in action.

Cheers,

I'd love to try something like this out. I've never done any electronic soldering before but maybe with some patience and taking my time I could do something like this. I've never done anything with electronics before but I do small wood working projects and other things and love working with my hands and tools. Do you have to have electronics know how for something like this?

I wonder if I could find some pre-fabricated electrical boxes or something to that affect at home depot for the actuall houseing. That's what's neat about this though, I'm sure there are several things you could come up with.

I really don't know much about electronics, and I didn't use any electronics knowledge to build this.

All you need to know is:
how a basic single-pole, single throw switch works
how to use a drill
how to solder


Here's a good video intro to soldering:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BLfXXRfRIzY

For enclosures, also consider Radio Shack -- they have different sized metal and plastic enclosures specifically for electronics projects.
http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032276&cp=2032058.2032230

Or just use a tupperware type container. Paint it black -- no-one will know


If you DO want to learn more about electronics, I recommend "Getting Started with Electronics" by Forrest Mims.
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-El...94503283&sr=8-1
(no affiliate crap)

Also, this guy also has some good introductory videos on electronics:
http://youtube.com/user/electroninstructor

You can do it. Just do some research, and take it one step at a time.

Cheers,

Cheers for this excellent tutorial. I do have a couple of questions regarding switches...

If the switch is not "momentary" (i.e only sends a single pulse when switched to the on or off positions)can the SV Mapper just send a single keypress command instead of a stream (i.e. like if you were holding down a particular key)?

Also am I right in my understanding of switches that there are 2 basic types i.e. momentary and not?

Cheers

Exactly -- that's the beauty of it. You use software to change from "always on/always off" into momentary keypresses.

Otherwise we would be stuck with only using momentary switches with this board.