Cost?

Hello there,

I'm very new to the whole cockpit building scene...very new indeed. I can barely saw wood straight and the last time I soldered something was when I was 11 and made a simple alarm clock.

I was making a list for the things I would need from the LEOBODNAR website (I've been told it's the best by various sources, it seems common knowledge around here, like Carenado make the best C208 kinda deal) to make a simple switch box with...many switches. Rotary and push.

11 rotary encoders
10 pushbuttons
21 cables with 3pin connector plug
BU0836X board
knob covers for rotary encoders

I calculated this to be around £200.96 (close to $315) . This would exclude packaging and making the actual box for it.

Question. Does this sound about right?

Am I missing something?

This comes out to not that much cheaper than buying Saitek products to do almost the same thing so I would like to know if I'm on the right tracks. I expect to make mistakes (sometimes costly ones), get frustrated, lost confused etc. but let's start on the right footing!

Thanks folks!!


Tarik

I can see cost is a major element in your decision making and it's important to weigh up the costs of the components and value you put on your time in wiring the components up. This will determine whether it works out best to wire up your own parts or to buy in plug and play pieces (saitek as a good example)

Lots of factors to consider. If time isn't a constraint and you have plenty of it go for the learning curve of interfacing but if you find time limiting then obviously the plug and play aspect is the way to go.

I get the impression you have a reasonable knowledge of electronics so with the right research and parts you are well on your way, and it seems with the parts above you know what you're talking about.

All the best!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geremy Britton

I can see cost is a major element in your decision making and it's important to weigh up the costs of the components and value you put on your time in wiring the components up. This will determine whether it works out best to wire up your own parts or to buy in plug and play pieces (saitek as a good example)

Lots of factors to consider. If time isn't a constraint and you have plenty of it go for the learning curve of interfacing but if you find time limiting then obviously the plug and play aspect is the way to go.

I get the impression you have a reasonable knowledge of electronics so with the right research and parts you are well on your way, and it seems with the parts above you know what you're talking about.

All the best!

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I'm glad I came across as a knower...


truth is I don't know ANYTHING. I can't even remember what the symbology for a resister is anymore. I simply did my research, read the product descriptions and used some logic, looking at the pictures and realising that three pin connectors would make my life easier etc.

Time? No I don't have a lot of time to tinker day by day but I'm in no rush. I'm doing this for the learning process more than anything. I already have a rather decent setup going for me, so I can still sim in the meantime, I'm just here to learn. I really want to learn to be that guy I sounded like :p

As for interfacing...not a clue...I was hoping that the day I bought Pete's FSUIPC (that's right, still on demo :rolleyes:) I could figure things out from there.

Cost: Yes it's a relatively important factor. The thing I "designed" is meant to have slightly more control than the cheaper "plug-n-play" products, but if I were to make a mistake that would cost me a bit, I would be annoyed, but okay with it, because I'm sure I would have learnt a lesson.

...still worth it? lol sorry I ranted

Building my simpit has been a long journey, and I still have alot of work ahead of me. I would first define what you are building, are you looking to build an exact replica of say a 737? Or are you trying to build something more universal, something that you can comfortably fly various aircraft in? Is it gonna be a one seater, or a two seater? Cost is obviously the biggest limitation in this hobby, and if you are like me you are on a tight budget. Like Geremy said, I would weigh your free time spent making a panel against the cost of purchasing saitek panels. But if you going for an exact replica of a real cockpit, making it yourself is probably the way to go. I have the saitek panels, (see the vid at the bottom of this post) and for my needs, and someone who has limited free time, these were the way to go. They provided the functionality I needed right out of the box, and my little bit of free time was spent building the enclosure and other sim related tasks.

Welcome to the hobby, and just out of curiosity, what simulator software are running?

SimAviator13

Hello simviator :)

I'm planning on (for now) making a very simple rotary switch box for general purpose (any aircraft). I tried to post something before but I don't know where that went... :-/

I run FSX. i know I know, X-plane has a better aerodynamic model but the fact is I love the user friendly interface FSX has.

The gist is, I'm on a budget when it comes to bulk spending. i'm okay with spending a little here and little there to a large sum eventually, but one big whoop is a nono for me.

I know nothing about cockpit building. I actually have a pretty decent set up already (seen below) but I just want to LEARN. I somehow gave Geremy the impression I know some of my stuff. That was misleading. I just did some research, found out roughly what each piece of equipment did and determined I needed that. Then comes the actual bit of fitting it all together. I don't have a clue, but oh boy am I excited.

Not much time, but I have no dead line. This is a hobby and I'm young :) Patience is a virtue I must have and the best bit is, I can still fly meantime. I want to do things with little steps at a time. If I succeed in this project, I'll have had a huge victory. The next step would be to learn some more and build something a little more complex. I'm doing this for the flow, not the end result.

PS. LOVED THE VIDEO. My PC can only run two monitors right now though

Attachment 7780

Sounds like you the right attitude in your approach, and I wish you the best of luck with your build. I also use FSX as my primary simulator. Even though I do have Xplane 9 and 10, the addon market (free and payware) for FSX has so much more to offer. Not too mention with FSX you can tweak/edit/adjust just about anything via text editing cfg files. So in that regard, FSX offers me alot more in terms of customization, and control.

Also, I am unable to see your attachment unfortunately.