After many(many) months of buying bits and bobs by 'stealth' (ie. Small packages from ebay that are under the wife's gadget radar) my 'pit project has finally gained a bit of momentum.

I was originally going to keep things super-simple and just build a desktop switchbox. After spending lots of time reading through this forum and seeing the awesome creations I decided to go the whole hog and build a full simpit.

I decided I wanted something simple - straight cuts and 45º angles... nice and easy... However, after taking my cut list to the local shop, I discovered I'd used the wrong stock sizes. As I was rearranging everything I remembered Gene's 'pit and wondered 'how much would it cost to have something like that cut on a CNC machine'. I emailed half a dozen suppliers across the UK and got replies ranging from insanely expensive to 'how are they making a profit?'.

CNC it is then!

Being a complete novice to 3D packages I decided to stick to my strengths and use Adobe Illustrator to design the parts. I was a technical illustrator for years, so visualising the 2D pieces in my head wasn't too difficult. I also spent some time creating cockpit training aids for BAE Systems Hawk aircraft - it's no coincidence that some of the dimensions exactly copy the MK109/209 export variant!

I knocked the design up in around four hours! A quick check with the tape measure and done! Emailed to the supplier.

As luck would have it a friend happened to be passing by the supplier and offered to pick the parts (he's registered on these forums as the delightfully named: SHARkeyWards_LeftBollock).

Anyway, here's some pics of the parts that are now sat in my garage (plus a few project pics).

Original cardboard mockup:


Building the sim-room (basically, half a standard UK garage - not very much room at all!!):


A view into the room - cockpit parts on the floor...


More bits (plus the small CNC machine I bought to do the edgelit switch panel cutting/engraving):


Yet more bits:


Couldn't resist a quick dry-fit! (not squared up properly, but you get the idea):

Fantastic job! I can't wait to see how it looks built.

\o/

g.

Looks great! That middle section between legs and its upper frame might need some support though.

Wow thats amazing so far did you make your own design or is it based off of plans. In any case looking forward to watching the progress.

That does look awesome!

How are you going to get in and out of the pit? Does the chair slide back?

Keep going, it looks great so far. Wrong side of the pond but I would have cut your CNC parts out at cost for you, anything to further the hobby. (and an excuse to play with my shiny new CNC table)

David

Many thanks for the comments chaps! I just hope my crummy woodworking skills don't cock it up! I'm ok with a mouse, but give me a powertool and anything could happen!


Yep, there's a box section that'll sit behind there that connects to the computer bay base that isn't on the pics.


It's my own design, I borrowed the shapes of the leg-cutouts on the main panel from a Hawk Mk109, but that's it. I wanted something like Gene's 109F/X but not quite as enclosed and with side consoles. A little bit like Steven190's in the show your pit thread (page 3).


I've got a couple of options - the chair does indeed slide back, I might be shortening the overall length of the 'pit by a whole rib - I've not decided yet. I have my eye on another type of seat that folds completely flat which would work nicely.


Thanks bud! I wish you were closer

The next CNC part is the aluminium plate that will fit over the 18.5" TFT panel to mask the instruments. I'll be cutting the bezels out of acrylic on my machine.

It's been a few months since all that nicely machined wood turned up on my doorstep, so what progress have I made? Not as much as I would have liked, that's for sure. Now that there's a March deadline to work to, I'd better pull my finger out...

Here's the base. It's as simple as can be. I got a sheet of 18mm spruce ply cut to size down at B&Q and bought some 3x2" planks. There's some 120mm locking castors bolted to the underside so I can move the pit out of the way when I need to use my desk (space is limited - thanks to Gene for the idea!)


Attaching the frame to the base. It's designed to break down into three pieces to fit through a doorway, so just screws at this point, no glue.


Another angle, but now the side console decks are in. They fitted perfectly into the slots on the front bulkhead.


The side console structure is all screwed together. Also, the structure for the centre console that supports the flimsy 6mm MDF piece that goes between the knees is attached.


Another angle, with the seat at the correct height (sat on my toolbox for now). I missed out on an ejection seat pan and PSP on ebay that went for £70 - it would have fitted perfectly - gutted! Still looking for the perfect seat - I might end up making one, I've drawn up a couple of designs that I might get CNC cut.

I've made a start on the panels and electronics too. Here's a pic of some translucent 5mm cast acrylic mounted in the mini-CNC ready to be cut.


Here's the result. The acrylic is sprayed black, quite a few coats to stop light leakage, then matt lacquered. It's then mounted back in the CNC to be engraved. The idea is to just take off the paint and as little of the underlying acrylic as possible - keeping that sort of tolerance over the whole face of the llightplate is the tricky part. This is just a prototype, but I was pretty pleased with the result for a first attempt. More thanks to Gene, your site was an invaluable reference.

The aluminium plate, handle and knob were all cut on the mini-CNC and will form the Landing Gear selector. Again, first attempt. I'll be making the bracket again out of thinner aluminium.


I've decided to skin the 'pit in 0.5mm aluminium sheet instead of hardboard or luan - it's arriving tomorrow. I was going to fork out to have it lasercut but that came in at £200, so jigsaw it is then! £28 + VAT, much more affordable! Once the skin is on, the structure is basically finished so it's painting time next.

Very nice work! I wonder what is CNC and where in the UK did you find cutters?

I'd like to build my own pit myself but at the moment, I got no power tools, now room for it anyway, so if things can come ala-IKEA, pre-cut and ready to be assembled, that would be awesomeness!

Same here love to hear more about your CNC. I have quite a few pc.s of white acrylic lying around for a toy like that!

Hey Valisk, this is going to be a very nice project, love the CNC pieces the perfect choice for "carpentry challenged" builders. Really good. Very impressed with the panels too.

Very, very nice! I'm glad to see it coming together! What cutter did you use for the lettering?

g.

Thanks for the positive comments chaps! ~S~

Ice - The large pieces that form the bulk of the pit (two sheets of 15mm 8x4 and a sheet of 6mm 8x4) were cut by a company in Birmingham for a surprisingly low amount, it's worth shopping around for quotes - If you can draw your 'pit plans in a format that the CNC shop can use, that helps keep the costs right down.

HitchHF - The mini CNC is called a 'Tonsen I', I imported it from China for $580, which I think is a bargain - it's a fantastic tool, especially if you're into modelmaking etc. All the tooling was bought off various ebay sellers. The plan was to sell the CNC once the panels were finished to fund the new PC build, but I'm keeping it. (don't tell the wife!)

One of the best pieces of advice I could ever give somebody new to CNC - use Vectric software, it's fantastic. The learning curve for most of the CNC apps out there is scary. I really struggled at first, but Cut2D makes things so easy. Thanks to Gene and PropNut for putting me on to that one.

choowy - You're dead right, CNC parts make it as easy as screwing together flat-pack, perfect for people like me that have zero wookworking skills (you can instantly tell which bits I've had to cut myself because they look dog-eared compared to the ultra precision of the CNC cuts). But more importantly it saved me so much time.

Gene - The engraving bit I used was the starter bit that came with the CNC, it was a little blunt too after I'd taken an accidental bite out of some alu sheet with it. It looks to be around 30 degrees with a 3mm shank. I need to buy some more - what would you reccommend?

Here's some updates - the port skin is finally on and I couldn't resist a quick check to see if the 18.5" LCD fits (£45 ebay).

Clamping the skin:


Screwing around... (6mm head security pinned TORX self tapping screws - I only chose them because they had an interesting head pattern)


Perfect fit! Shame I'm going to take it to bits - I hope I don't break it...

Any update mate? Looking good so far, I reckon there a few folks out there who would appreciate some kind of plans for something like this, and willing to contribute financially.

Hi archermav - I hadn't really thought about it to be honest... I don't know how much interest there would be - probably not enough to make it financially worthwhile. I'm amazed at the Spit 'pit that's available for £500!

If you're interested in the plans, drop me a PM

I've just sealed and undercoated the MDF - I'll post some pics once I've got the paint on.

Hey Valisk,

Any more updates you can share? Some of us live vicariously here! Keep up the good work.

Cheers,

Flying Colander

Finally got the MDF painted. Here's a few pics:

I thought I'd try out the stencilling technique on one of the panel covers that is out of the way:



Bracing for the 'between the knees' part of the main panel:



Spot the gremlin!



Sorry about the grainy,washed out colour on these pics. I'll dig my camera out for the next update.



Who knows, maybe Cliffs of Dover will be fixed by the time I get this thing finished!!!

Really coming along nice work!

Please keep the updates coming, that is a great project!

This is an impressive built Valisk, wish my CNC panels came out as nice as yours. I never thought to do the shaping, then paint them black, and then finish the lettering. Thanks for the idea. (Cute gremlin, bet he hopes to be at the controls sometimes).

Very nice!

g.

Any updates?

Thanks Prop - I learned everything I know about building panels from Gene's site - there's some great reference stuff on there.

The gremlin really does want to be at the controls! The only problem is, he's at the age where repeatedly whacking a screwdriver against my lovingly applied aluminium skin is more fun!!

Thanks again for the encouraging comments chaps, I know it's taking an age - I get precious little time. The good news is that I've finally finished the structure (pics coming soon) - the next focus is building the throttle quadrant and hooking up some of the switchgear, at long last!

Valisk, any chance you'd release plans for that thing?

g.

Hi Gene - I've already released a couple of copies of the plans - they're not anywhere near as comprehensive as your 109F/X, but if anyone is interested, just drop me a PM

Update time...

I scored this little beauty off eBay:



After looking online it appears to be a pilot's seat as fitted in some Bombardier aircraft. I'm currently working out the best way of mounting it. Unfortunately, even in it's lowest height position, the seat is a little too high for the 'pit, so I've carefully removed the raise/lower mechanism.

I've also had a bit of time to start work on my throttle. Here's the X35T after the redundant rudder mechanism and other holes have been filled:



And then sanded down:

To fill the large hole where the rudder paddle used to be, I cut some 3mm foam PVC to size and then heat formed it (using a halogen bulb as heat source) to match the curves of the throttle. A bit of hot glue to secure that in place and then I filled the gaps with Milliput epoxy putty - it's great stuff, very easy to work with so long as you keep a bowl of water handy to keep your fingers wet when working the putty into shape.

Here it is after a couple of coats of paint, plus the new switch positions drilled out. I decided to keep the primer finish on the lower half (I just liked the colour!) - the new throttle arm that I'm making will be in the primer colour too:



Here's the interior - you can see the hot glue/PVC/Milliput patch more clearly in this shot:

Here's a few pics with the switches in. I might yet spray the bottom half black, not sure yet (not that I'd ever see it when it's installed in the 'pit anyway!).

Those pot knobs will be getting replaced with some nice chunky knurled brass pieces - the shiny plastic is far too slippery. They look ok in the photos though.

The dark-topped switches are another eBay purchase, from a seller in Russia who said they were ex-military... I used them because they require a medium force to activate, but they give a nice tactile click. The white capped switches again give a nice click, but need much less pressure to activate, so I've used them for more common inputs (Push To Talk, for example).

Great job on the grip! Nice catch on the seat too. Hopefully it didn't cost you an arm and a leg!

g.

Anything new since the throttle? You wouldn't have any measurements laying around as to the plans to this would you? Top of the monitor to where the metal curves and height of the sides ? Front to back? I'm two weeks from beginning a pit along these lines of looks and function. My current pit is a sim cockpit systems fighter from. Looking to build something more immersive but generic. I've got my controls, lights and everything but the wood and paint. This build is really impressive.

Hi Chappy - sorry I've not got back to you sooner, I missed your post. PM me your email address and I'll send you a copy of the plans. Thanks for the comments I've been working on the throttle/prop pitch/mixture box, I'll post up some pics once I've got the thing screwed together.

Gene - the seat was a bargain, I'd been keeping an eye on eBay for ages until something interesting finally came along at the right price.

PM sent sir!

Well... it's been a while...

I decided to stop work on the 'pit last summer. I needed to fork out for a new PC to run CLOD and there was no way I was going to spend that kind of cash to play a broken game.

Nearly a year later and things have actually gone backwards... CLOD has flatlined and is waiting for someone to turn off the ventilator... The modders are still happily hammering the final nails into IL2's online coffin...

The 'pit is just in the way now. I'm probably going to dismantle it and flat pack it just in case a new WWII game ever comes along, but it looks like it'll be a long wait. Actually, what I'd really like to do is smash the 'pit into a million pieces, have it shipped to Russia, then insert it piece-by-piece up Ilya Shevchenko's arse.

Anyway, I need the space to finish this little project.

Happy 'pit building guys, hope to be back sometime in the future.

Hey Gene - if you're still around and still have that copy of the plans I emailed over, would you be able to host them on your site for anyone that might find them useful?

Cheers,

Val

http://www.diy-cockpits.org/valisk/valisk-cockpit-parts.dxf
http://www.diy-cockpits.org/valisk/valisk-cockpit-parts.ai

Note that I can't actually see any parts with the DXF file in DraftSight, so I expect something is funny with the .AI file. VCarve Pro opens the .AI file properly, but doesn't seem to be outputting a usable DXF when I do an export.

You might not want to give up on it yet Valisk. There's two new add-ons for CLOD that got reviewed here a short while ago and they appear to be pretty good. Full campaigns, career system, etc.

If anyone gets a good DXF out of that .AI file, please send it to me so I can update the download link with it.
(someone may want to create a new sticky topic where we can stick cad drawing links)

g.

Thanks Gene I've only ever tried to open the files in Cut2D - I'll see if I can get a working DXF file out of it.

To be honest, CLOD has worn me down. I don't have a shred of optimism left for it.

Which is why I own CLOD but still fly IL-2 1946. Experience with Silent Hunter taught me that it takes a whole lot to build a game to surpass a long loved classic (Silent Hunter III still has a loyal following, even though 4 and 5 have been released with mediocre results).

That said, I would love a good copy of your plans as I am getting ready to build a generic pit of my own, and while I have most of the design done, I love a lot of how you structured yours and would like to see plans so I can adapt mine.