Hi Guys,

I finally finished my first panel!

I'll post a quick tutorial, for those who are considering making their own.

The panel is based on the Ultimarc A-PAC USB controller, which is inexpensive (US$39+ship) and
easy to use -- it has screw-terminals rather than requiring ribbon cables/electronics knowledge.
http://www.ultimarc.com/a-pac1.html




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 something to
house it (an enclosure).
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 at last!!





I'm pretty happy with it. It makes engine startups and turning on lights and flaps, etc. easy to execute without having to remember the keystrokes.

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 sim that I play.




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 keypresses.


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


Thanks to GrizzlyT, Kimchoc1 and others for their encouragement!

Hope this encourages someone to try creating their own panel!



Cheers,

(1) This is good material for EECH Central. Can you upload it there?

(2) Is there a way you can make the gear go up and down by a switch (thus switch down = gear down, switch up = gear up)?

Man, Grizzly! I peeked again to the pictures of your simpit, it makes me drool...

That pit of yours is awesome!

Ok, I'll make a page this weekend.



Yeah that works. Canopy open/close, laser on/off, nav-lights on/off, etc.

I'll try to put together a video soon, so you can see how it works.

Cheers,

I added some more detail about tools and materials, and about the wiring process.

http://www.eechcentral.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tutorial:_Creating_a_Panel

I thought it was time, for a couple new pics.

For those that have been following the build...I have changed plans, from my original idea, and have opted to continue building it on the old wood base. Originally, I was going to replace it with a modular, welded, metal frame but time and costs are proving to be too prohibitive.
It will still be fully enclosed, as modular as possible, and with just a metal framed "roll cage", to hang everything off of.

So to that end, I have raised up the platform and braced the underside.
It didn't need to be done but it made everything line up easier and gave it a feel of climbing up into it.



I also beefed up the framing that the front dash was mounted to.



As you can see, I started work on the electronics cabinet, too. The KE72 & USBKeys are mounted to the back. The USBOutputs board, for controlling the indicators, will mount under the monitor. The PCs, power supplies, amps, etc., will go in the cabinet. The monitor is mounted on a floating plate, on the threaded rods. That way I can lift and tilt it into final position.



The graphics???.......well, that was just for the fun of it!

I've been working on a new fresnel mount, too.
I wanted something sturdy but lightweight enough to hang off the monitor's face.

- It all started with a couple of pieces of 1" thick, plastic/fiberglass honeycomb panel, to make the front and back plates. (They came from a shipping box, for some machine parts.)
- They were gapped and tied together with the four 3/4" square rods of extruded aluminum.
- Their cut-outs were lined with aluminum L-stock, to clean up the edges.
- The inner walls were .032" aluminum sheet metal, riveted together and then lined with black "flocked" paper, to eliminate stray light.
- The lens was held in with small aluminum strips, screwed to the L-stock.
- The TrackIR mounting legs were removed and it was hard mounted to the face.
- On the back of the rear plate, the cut-out was trimmed with foam rubber strips, to fill the gap and cushion it, from the monitor's face.
- Removeable nylon/velcro straps hold it in position.

The final result was very light weight and it holds the lens flat and square!
All that remains is to tie the edges of the front faceplate into the enclosure....eventually!

Impressive fresnel mount! What is the size of the monitor?

Do you run into any angle restrictions with the TIR mounted where it is at?

Thanks.
The lens sits in front of a 21" CRT. (A Samsung 1100DF.)

The TIR placement works fine.
I use a TrackClip Pro, mounted to the side of my helmet and the display's center is at eye level, as opposed to most desktop screens that you look down on.
(So, center left is just about right on.)

Also, the 650mm focal length lens I use allows me to sit back farther. When I am in the seat, if I put my arms straight out in front of me and extend my hands straight out too, my middle fingertip just touches the lens. (With the monitor's face about 11" back from that.)
The pics don't show it in it's final position, either. Once the monitor's height, twist, and tilt are dialed in, it will be pushed forward until the lower edge of the fresnel faceplate just touches the backside of the shroud. Which fits just right into my pit, as the top of the front dash should be at about a full arm's extension away.

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OK, my check-book is out ... How much ? ... including shipping to Jersey.

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