I just added a 19" monitor and Cougar MFD's last night. Spending today dressing up cables, dusting/cleaning etc. I work from this position for 8-10hrs daily!

Pics before the additional monitor:




After:







I will be using Helios to fill in the dead space on the additional monitor. I'm running TouchBuddy on the 8" touchscreen.

Special thanks to Airdog for the idea!

Slam

Working, eh?

Don't overwork yourself! HEHE

Lunch time is a blast!

Thanks for the props but I'm pretty sure I stole the idea from someone else. Your pit is looking good. I'm a week away from getting my touch screens for my helios all glass A10 pit....can't stand the wait though.

Hello Airdog67, Are you going with 3 touch screens? I will have 3 screen main View and 3 touch pit also, Waiting on mine as well..Cheers, Jim

Gonna start with 2 23 inch touch screens on each side of my center screen. Gonna keep my 24 inch 1920x1200 for my main view for now. My plan is to take my center 19 inch monitor turn it to portrait mode and have all the primary instruments and engine gauges on it. The touch screens will be on either side of center screen and the main view above those, all the switches and panels will go onto the touch screens since helios lets you design your own layout. I want all my screens mostly in front of me, I really do not want to have to look down and sideways if I do not have to...mine won't be as realistic as other pits but I look at is as being the future of aircraft as in it being all glass and all of it in front of you. I will eventually be getting a 40 or 42 screen for my main view soon also...gotta let the kids have their Christmas before I really get to enjoy mine.
Will be along the lines of this:

My new pit config...2 more days till I get a Touch Screen!!!

Any details on how you managed that side-mounted HOTAS? I'm thinking of making my own and ideas are greatly appreciated. I'm gonna be mounting a Cougar as well, at least for now. A TM Warthog may be in the works but that'll be mid-2011.

Cheers!

Here is a somewhat better pic of the mounting of the stick and throttle. About 10 years ago I bought this setup from a woodworker in southern california, its called the HOTASS, it consists of the parts you see as black on the stand my seat is mounted on. It was originally designed to be used with an office chair. I modded it to work with this pit I have now. It is made out oak. The plates that the stick and throttle are on are about 4x6 and have a slot down thhe middle with 2 allen bolts into threaded inserts so it can be adjusted forward aft. The pole is a 2x2 of oak and the base is about 3x5 oak. The base that it all hooks up too is made out of 1 inch thick oak and has threaded inserts for the stick/throttle stands to screw into. I can move my stick to a center mount in about 2 minutes.

Any chance of taking it apart and giving dimensions? Maybe I can make one of the local shops make one for me.

Cheers and have a merry christmas!

OK...here we go
Bases are 3.5x4x1 oak
poles 2x2's 8.5 inches long, cut with about a 15 degree angle. Thye height needs to be changed depending on your own setup
Base that are supporting the stick and throttle are 5x6x1 inches.
The base that they all attach to is about 27 inches across on the front. The pieces that angle back are 20 inches long when measured from the front edge and measure 36 inches across from the outside edges. The base is about 5inches wide and 1 inch thick oak.
I'm sure any hardwood would work....stay away from pine...use very sturdy wood or there will be to much flex.

Thanks for the measurements!


By base, I guess that's the white-colored part of the assembly? Reading your post again, I'm guessing you're referring to ALL bases.


Pole would be the one that connect the HOTASS to the stick and throttle, I assume both ends are cut at 15-degree angles? Why the angle and not just be perpendicular to the floor/90-degrees? For the stick base, that'd depend on the actual HOTAS being mounted, I guess, correct?


Is this the black-painted part? Again, what is with the angle? And do they angle only outward or downward as well?


I was curious about this, how do you make it adjustable?

Here are some plans that I found on the old H.O.T.A.S.S. website years ago and since they were out of business I had them on Frugals for anyone that wanted them to send a PM. I thought it was a pretty good system but they just wanted too much money for simple wood structure to fit the bill of a cheap pit solution.

Dimesions for the setup

How to assemble

How to add pedals

^ now that would have saved me some work a couple of days ago....thxs

Can you please tell me what size is your lower monitor in this picture..?

I can tell that it is a 19" WS.

Added new pic with dressed up cabling. Didn't want anyone thinking I was a complete slob! Still need to dust though :P