Back to the beginning

I am going to give up on the 737 for financial reasons, way to involved. I have finished all of the pedestal panels, mcp, efis, etc. Packing them up and putting them away. Started working on the 5th Bell 206 gauge today. It is the turn coordinator gauge. Finished cutting out the parts and did a partial assembly, now to program it in C++ for FSBUS. I was really having fun making the panels for the 737 though, and the knobs and buttons for the switches. The Bell is less intimidating and will take up less room.

Milt

Oh well if you gotta you gotta.. Kidding. Great to have another helo builder here. They are growing in popularity. If I may I'm going to point you to a Bell JetRanger build that's a favorite of mine.

Bell Jet Ranger Simulator

He uses a LCD 'projected' instrument panel but there is loads of other stuff you may find interesting. Best of luck on your build

Ron

Thank You. That is the site that got me originally started. I have the collective and all built at this time. Just need to refine it. Did the programming for the turn coordinator tonight and it is working just fine. That makes 5 of the gauges complete at this time.

Milt

Glad to have you back Milt! Glad to hear there is hope for us wannabe instrument makers too. How are you running the TC? 2 servos?

I'd actually like to see some progress shots too? I was thinking of building a tach and manifold pressure gauge for my C185.

Yes, I am using 2 servos, one for the turn ball and one for the turn rate. Only problem now is, I made the instrument in the 3" format and for the Bell it is supposed to be in the 2" format. Just need to recalculate the size needed for the frames and the plates, and use micro servos instead of the standard servos. I bought each of the 48 pitch gears from 'servolink' and have made molds for pouring my own gears. Did about 50 gears a couple of days ago and they mesh perfectly. The cost per gear when I mold my own is about 10 cents each, if not less than that. The resin gears that I make are not as strong as the delrin gears that I bought, but mine are not going to be required to rotate at great speeds or continuous rotation, so they should be ok. Packed up all of the 737 pedestal panels and put them in a box. Do not know what I am going to do with them now. I am going to concentrate on the Bell. I have almost finished cutting out the panels for the Bell. Using 1/4" (actually 5.5mm) lexan for the panels. Trying to do this so that it is not necessary to have to use backer panels, think I have gotten that all figured out. Will post some pictures later in the build.

Milt

Thought I would show a couple of the gauge faces that I have drawn over the last couple of days. These are all for the Bell 206. Some can be used for other aircraft.


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Milt