Start of B737 NG Project

Hi all,

i decided to start with the MCP. My approach is to make this all by myself. I found great help on the OC site with the tutorial for the MCP. So far i am collecting all the small pieces i need and place them on three plastic boards. At the moment i am using saw and files to make the matching breakthoughs in the acryl. For the input signals to the computer i have the BU0836X - for the LEDS i think i will get a master card from OC. Update will follow.

Cheers from germany
Andy

PS: sorry for the bad image quality....

I think its fantastic making your own equipment, I haven't attempted anything as complex as an mcp but i'm researching a few other projects and i had great fun doing my Tq. The best thing is you can have the backlighting, you can choose anything you want when you self build.
keep us posted on your build please!

hey,
i have here an old mcp panel from hispapanels with some switches, and i don't need it anymore. so if you want i can send it to you. just send a pm.
greetings from germany too, christian

Good luck my friend :D

I am in the process of ordering to begin building too. I wish the best for your cockpit.

And don't forget, one thing that all coleagues here stressed was to have fun and flying time as the process of building goes on.

Regards from Athens, Greece

Nick

Hello,

before i begin with the real deal - i thought it would be a good idea to built a CNC router first. This was accomplished and here is the first work. The MIP Main Panel milled out of 10mm MDF Material. I made 3 pieces - although it would have been possible to make it in one piece. The work table of the CNC router is big enough....

Next step will be milling some panels out of white plexiglas (acryl) and paint with RAL7011. I hope to get goo results with engraving (removing) the color from the acryl. Then these plastic panels would be mounted on the MIP. Okok - long way to go...
http://www.mycockpit.org/photopost/data/705/MIP12.jpg


Cheers Andy

Keep up the good work!

Hi Andy,,

You may find this http://personales.ya.com/micabina737.../mcp/mcp1i.htm of help building the MCP, I am thinking of using this as well for building mine.

Kind Regards

Bernie.

Hi my friends,

i think it is time to provide some updates for my project.

After i got my CNC machine running (with fixed chinese controller card TB6560) it is possible to do my own parts. So far the MIP structure is nearly finished and the first panel is backlighted. I use the SMD LED stripes for backlighting.

At the moment i work on the MCP. The front panel is finished and engraved (with 0.5 mm end mill) and backplate also ready. I do not use a 45 or 60 degree engraving mill because i have issues with the height of the panel. What i do is to set Z Axis to Zero for each new block of letter i want to engrave. The workbed is not 100% even so this is the solution which works good for me.

I did test with a self constructed engraving head but no big success.

Last week i received my first 500 € shipment from Open Cockpits with important components like master card, output card, switches, buttons and knobs. I did some molding tests to make my own knobs with silicon form and epoxy resin and you can see in the picture what comes out if you can´t wait till the mold is dried.

I try to get the MIP, MCP and EFIS Panels finished till i´ll move the whole structure into my cockpit room. For software i discovered the PROSIM 737 solution which seems perfect for my needs - not to mention that the package is free at the moment. Next steps will be all the wiring and of course many hours learning SIOC.

Cheers from Würzburg / Germany
Andy

Great job Andy ;)

Keep on posting :)

I second Nick on that.....top job and I can see an excellent sim coming on!

Keep up the updates!

Hello All,

just some update on my project. The MIP is finished in terms of woodwork. Now i am ready to move the whole thing to my cockpit room for the wiring. For this i also ask for some suggestions how to approach the wiring. I have 2 BU0836X controllers from Leo Bodnar, OC Mastercard, OC USB Expansion card, OC Output card and 2 x Display card. I do not know how to approach the wiring in a good and organized way. I think i will place the 2 bodnar cards in the glareshiled behind the mcp as there are the most inputs at the moment which have to be connected. I also do not know how to make good connection which are connectable (and disconnectable) for fast connection of the components (should i go for 40 pin flatbed IDE cables ?).

Ok, as you can see on the pictures i most of the backlighting is done. I will install some 10 k potis to regulate the brightness of them.

The glareshield has been covered with black artificial leather over some 10mm softfoam matresses.

For the start i installed a 17 inch screen in the pedestal and will replace that with a touchscreen this year. The next steps will be wiring, installation of the missing components in the MIP, and getting the whole thing running with PROSIM737.

One major task will be to figure out how to mill the annunctiator holders and faceplates for them. I would like to see some gear indicators lighting up ; ).

Ok, as i said - i would be thankfull for any input from your side about the wiring topic. Some pics would also help.

Cheers from Würzburg / Germany

Andy

Is it 18x18cm in the windows? screen?

Hi,

the screens have a visible area of 16,5 x 16.5 cm.

Regards
Andy

How size do you print out in for the MIP panel? and how much inch or cm monitors do you use?

Hello All,

here are some updates about my cockpit.

The cockpit has been moved from the basement into the cockpit room. You can see the current status on one of the pictures. At the moment i do a lot of work to fill out the empty places in the MIP. This needs a lot of time. When this work is finished i will take care about the throttle quadrant.

One interessting aspect maybe: I managed to get the FMC running on my android galaxy tab using the iview app. But it runs very unstable and the response is not satisfying. Maybe a new software update has fixed these problems - i did not check.

I managed to buy a new CNC router (Moederl) which is far better than my old diy router. Now i am able to do my pieces in much shorter time because i can run at higher feedrates. You can see the AFDS panel and also (yiep yiep) the first homebuilt pcb board for it. I also can mill aluminum now. This will be handy when it comes to a new gear lever.

Having a cnc router gives you the problem that you really need to spend a lot of time for planning the parts. My workflow is the following: The autocad dwg drawing is the source of all information -> panel export as dxf for Cut2d cam software -> in cut2d i plan the tool paths and create the nc code -> export to Mach3 Software which drives the router.

Recently i started to plan the panels in 3D with Audodesk inventor. This increases the ammount of planning time dramatically but i can be sure that the parts will fit together and i do not have problems in during assembly.

Overall, i am quite satisfied with my current cockpit but i see 3 major issues which cause headache for me. 1. The encoders used in the MCP have the known problem that the BU card does not read the signal fast enough so when i turn the encoders, the BU cards misses some detents. This problem is known but i didn´t get a good solution yet. I will make a new MCP and can solve this problem then using a LUA program or using alps encoders which simulated a turn of the know. 2. The MIP is not made out of PDF but out of some weaker material (MDF was oput in the shop when i bought the material so i choose other material calles pressspanplatte. Now i am not satisfied with the stability but i do not want to make everything new. 3. The room where the cockpits is installed is too small for 3 projectors and an enclosure : (((.

A last thing, when i ordered electronic equipment here in germany, i found out that reichelt has some good knobs which are not as expensive as the OC stuff... check this linkhttp://www.reichelt.de/Drehimpulsgeb...6ef5c099aa99ee

So thats all for the moment. Have a happy new year !

Cheers from Germany
Andy

Attachment 5987Attachment 5988Attachment 5989Attachment 5990Attachment 5991

Hello,

my FMC is finished. Driven by Prosim 737, OC USBKeys, OC Output card. The whole thing has been drawn in Autocad - i did 3d modelling in Autodesk Inventor to see if the parts will firt (they do)... The circuit board has been done with Sprint Layout 5 from Abacom. All parts have been milled on my cnc machine. Here is the Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymgPm7Gxysw

Cheers
Andy

PS: If there would be a contest for speaking english with german accent - i might have good chances to go for silver medal.

Hello,

The FMC has been installed at its place.

How does it work?
The keypresses are recognized by an OC usbkeys card connected to the main computer. With sioc script (thanks Mario !) the key presses are changed into the right output values that the Open Cockpit FMC uses (as this is supported by PROSIM). Prosim reads the values from SIOC and controls the Prosim CDU application which is running on the client computer. The PSONE display in the FMC is connected also to the client computer and displays the output of the prosim CDU Application.

Sometimes, the cdu display does not show any reaction when i press a button - a second prosim cdu application open on the main computer shows the reaction. I have to check out whats the problem.

The FMC itself consists of front panel, buttons, circuit board, psone screen holder, psone display and the related control board. You can see on the picture how it is assembled.
It is backlit with the usual 12V LED stripes put behind the front panel. It is very bright at the moment so i will control the brightness of the backlight with a LED dimmer from hongkong i pulled from ebay for 1€ per piece and 3 euro shipment fee. You can see the dimmer and the nice easter egg packaging of the other 4.
Attachment 6369Attachment 6371Attachment 6368Attachment 6370Attachment 6373

I had trouble with milling the circuit board of the FMC, i broke 5 end mills (0.5mm) until i used 0.7mm mills. The circuit layout has been adopted from a website i fortunately found 2 years ago and downloaded the documentation that time. Now the website is gone. Sometime it pays of, just to download informations even when you need them in the future. The layout was adopted, which means i made the whole layout new with a program called "sprint layout" from abacom. Which is very good softare as it can create toolpaths for the cnc machine.

The connection of the PSONE lcd was done with the well known PSONE screen mod you can find everywhere in the web. Unfortunately the viewing angle of the psone screen is not the best and for the next fmc i will get a 5 inch display at www.lcdstore.deThis is the place where i also purchased an excellent 10.4 inch open frame display used as lower eicas screen.


Next project - throttle.

Cheers
Andy

Hello fellow Flightsimbuilders,

just some update about my project.

After i started with the CNC work for the Throttle Quad i decided that i should get some knowledge of 3D Modelling first, because this will be very helpful for the design of the throttle. So i decided to go for the center pedestal first and try out some 3D Modelling of the related panels first. Attached you´ll find a picture of the XPNDR Panel which is in design phase.

Besides the different planel i also attached some photos of the recent activities.

Attachment 6860Attachment 6861Attachment 6862Attachment 6863Attachment 6864Attachment 6865

The pictures give you a good overview how i design my panels. The major improvement is that i now use aluminum as support layer which gives the panels for strength. The backlighting is still done with some prefabricated LED stripes - i am not very happy about that because it means some odd soldering. I tried to include the LEDs onto the PCB but at the moment i am just able to make isolation milling with an isolation channel of 0.7 mm which is still to big to get many components onto the board. You see the pcb in one of the pictures.

Because i am a total lower when i comes to connecting a lot of cables in a clean way - i am happy to make a lot of cabling and soldering absolute because the use of the PCB i do now.

The next major project will be the throttle. I hope to make a good design with motorized levers. But this will take a lot of time to develop. I am thinking about the purchase of a small turning lathe to make also rotation symmetrical parts such as lever handles, some axes or maybe spacers and such stuff.

Some words about CNC:

Important is that you have some CNC router - seems clear. As you might do small panels, you do not need a big workspace 300 x 300 mm should be fine for the most of workpiece you need for a cockpit. If the machine is available you need some software. As described in the attached youtube video, i usually start with an auto cad drawing. The complete 737 cockpit as autocad file is available in the download section here. This gives you a good starting point. I take panel by panel and start putting the different components on different layer (Frontplate Layer, Engraving Layer, Alu Support Layer, PCB Layer Component Layer). The single layer is safe as dxf and then imported in Cut2D from Vectric Software. With that software i create to tool paths. The tool paths are exportet as TXT file to Mach 3 which controls the CNC machine. I put the aryl (plastic) pieces onto the machining table (wood) and use screws to secure them. The router motor is a Kress Spindle which is suitable for all plastic, brass, aluminum works. I did not try milling steel yet, but i thing the load on the bearings in the spindle will lead to extended wear or damage.

After the panels are done in the CNC i use some Scotch Brite and get some roughness onto the surface for painting. First use a primer, then 2 layers of car color out of the spray can. The parts need to rest for 4 - 5 day until they are ready for the engraving process. Engraving is done with the CNC machine. I use a 0.5 or 0.7 mm end mill. As my table is not very flat (0.2 mm height difference) it i necessary to touch the material with the en mill and set the Z axis to zero several times. But the result i ok for me. When the backlighting is on it looks very good.

Some words about the costs so far. Including the purchase of the CNC machine, tools, drill press, material, OC stuff, pokeys, monitors i have spend 11.000 € so far. For that money it would have been possible to purchase a lot of high quality cockpit modules parts from professional suppliers.

The return of investment is fun and a lot of knowledge you build up during building the components.

At last here is a link to a new Youtube Vid i just uploaded to provide some moving pictures of my workflow and the ADF panel....

http://youtu.be/gOa6oK-K-Es

Cheers from Germany
Andy

Hi,

Very informative videos and nice work! I am just beginning my build project (i.e. research, dreams) and see that a cnc machine can really make a world of difference. My question is: did you find your first cnc (the homebuilt) a useful step or if you were to do it again would you buy directly the model you have from mixware.de?

Ola,

if i were to do it again, i would go for a professional solution right from the beginning. The DIY version had some major problems with the control system and also with the stability of the gantry. If you only want to mill some small panels (plastic cutout & engraving) a DIY machine with a good control system would be ok, but as you continue to make your own stuff, you´ll definitely will come to a point, where a good and stable system is needed. You do not need to go for mixware.de stuff - i think ebay also can provide some good and maybe cheaper solutions. At least, buying a cnc router is expensive, but opens many possibilities not only for the flight sim hobby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f0bDPFJWKc

Cheers
Andy

Thanks for the quick reply. It is always good to hear from those who have tried both options before making a decision. I will let you know when I finally do decide to buy!

Love this project!! Congratulations the DIY solutions is hard! Keep the pics and videos coming!

Regards

Hello, current status of my sim on youtube. Today i received the Symulatory Overhead from Jakub and it looks very nice. It will look much nicer when it is installed somewhere in the distant future...

http://youtu.be/tGjeDxEtSyU

Have a nice 2013 !

Cheers Andy

Dear All,

it´s been a while and i´d like to show some update. We moved to a new house - i have more space available and thus did expand the Homecockpit. The Highlights are: New shell, original Throttle Purchase, Installation of the Poldragon Overhead and a fresh Homepage to cover my project. Attached some pictures, but please go to www.masterploxis.de to get the complete impressions.




Cheers
Andy

Hello,

it has been a while since my last post. I just want to tell you, that i made big changes to the Visual System. I am now running 3 projectors with a curved screen. The original TQ from the SW 737-300 is working as well. Check it out on my website. And i have been at the Lufthansa Flight Training Center in Frankfurt to check out the real stuff. It was incredible to see the professional solution. The visual system is fantastic and the hydraulic movements make it very real. After 2 mins - you forget that you sit in a simulator. Unfortunately i don't have 20 Mio. € and the space here to buy such crazy equipment.

Cheers
Andy