Mobile Driving/Flying Cockpit with Motion and Tactile ( Build )

[RCHeliguy]

I want to emphasize that last point. Although I thought my print results were quite good, I used a lot of other tools while putting this together.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Started on the Labels.

Hammered the magnets in using the master magnet to hole the correct orientation.

Still have many to go, but they are very solid. I'm currently using 5x2's.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I decided that the labels look "STUPID" and need to be completely uniform and smaller in font.

Got some feedback from a guy who operates a print farm printing out a copy of my dash for a friend.

 

[Callsign BH]

Clear acrylic sprayed black and then laser etched for the font looks great for flight sim panels. I assume it would be the same for this use. You can then put LED lights in the box as well and then have it backlit.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Clear acrylic sprayed black and then laser etched for the font looks great for flight sim panels. I assume it would be the same for this use. You can then put LED lights in the box as well and then have it backlit.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm a little crispy from the effort that went into this so far, so I may backburner anything that will require much redesign work.

What I've done is increase the magnet hole size slightly to reduce hammering, reduced the font size to a uniform 5 pts in Fusion 360 and reduced the height of the letters from 1mm down to .6mm.

The overall looks feels more professional. I'll print all the labels I can think of tomorrow morning and likely just go with that. The arrow is pointing to Menu 1 which seems to have the "just right" font size at least to my tasted.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'd be curious what labels everyone would want on their own button box.

I'd like to come up with a reasonably comprehensive list, so I can just batch a whole bunch of them and put the files out with this on Thingaverse for various needs.

BTW according to my Prusa Slicer the per label cost is about 2 pennies, so they are about as economical as buying someone's sticker sheets!

granted the magnets add cost, but I specifically added notches next to the magnet holes so they could be popped out and reused. I'll get to try that feature out on the current labels with oversized text shortly.

 

[Dont Panic]

Print first white background and then print black recessed letters.
Outside edges of the labels might need some black paint.

Or just use traditional Dymo lettering thingie...

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'm happy with what I'm making now for labels.

I just pulled everything apart again.

I'm still waiting for the 12V external connectors to get here and the internal 12V interconnects. They should be here on Tuesday.
I can't map all the ribbon cables to the button box until I have the 12V wire run internally. That's the last thing I need before I can complete this project. I do have some other controls ordered, but I'll wait until I have all of them before I touch anything again.

I'm making it easy for myself and have the fan wire in grey and the 12V power in black.
I'm expecting to drill a hole right behind the PWM board for the 12V external connector to the fan.

My extension cables got here early
Now everything will reach!!!

 

[Mike McCormick]

Great workmanship as always on your build. I don't always log on, but I've been keeping up with your improvements to your rig.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Now that people are trying to build this thing, I've been trying to come up with some better pictures showing the assembly.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Finally printed out the new smaller font labels and I'm happy with how they look.
I tried out the notches in the back of the labels to pop out the magnets from the labels I retired and they worked well.
I just used an X-Acto blade to pop them out.

The way this works is the following:

1. Take the BLANK master Label and drive two magnets into it IN THE SAME ORIENTATION.
2. Take 2 new magnets and put them on the smooth top of the blank MASTER Label and line them up with the holes of a new Label. Hammer the magnets into the label.
3. Put your MASTER LABEL somewhere safe.

If all the magnets are in the same orientation than they will be interchangeable.
It's also important to use the Master Label when situating the magnets in the panels.
1. Put the Master Label on the outside of the Panel with magnets towards the panel near where the magnets are going in position them over the holes.
2. Drive them in.
3. Use hot glue or anything else to make the magnets stay put on the inside of the panels. You do not want these falling out and sticking to your controls.

 

[RCHeliguy]

OMG! My 12V fixtures FINALLY arrived!!!!

I can actually finish this thing!

 

[RCHeliguy]

Lights Test. Still waiting for the Lit Button to the left of the Start Button.

Fan Test. These 12V connectors are OK, but a couple were defective.

I like how the 12V quick connects look.

Now to route all the ribbon connectors to the BBI-64.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I've been dreading this part, but it went smoothly. I just worked my way from the inside out and started with the Rotaries to make sure they started on odd pins.

Fingers crossed that there are no defective jumpers!

 

[RCHeliguy]

Now I just need to test all the inputs out and make sure the rotaries are working properly.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Followup to this. I've started mapping controls and "most" of them work, which means I have to open it up and trouble shoot things.

One button on the replay binnacle isn't working. The joysticks are mostly not functioning and they are both on the same ribbon cable, so the cable is probably just not seated somewhere. Shouldn't be too bad getting this squared away.

 

[RCHeliguy]

One of the ribbon cables has a bad pin which took some time to figure out. The push button on the ABS knob and the stop button on the replay binnacle are still not working. I'm not very concerned about the ABS push button.

I have more of the 12mm red tallish red centered buttons ordered and some more of the dark red 16mm metal buttons ordered.

I've already printed out a new side panel with all 12mm holes when the tall red buttons arrive since I drilled out a couple holes to 16mm. That was just so I could finish the box. I want all 4 buttons there to match and those buttons work very well.

The white buttons on the side of the front panel are just place holders. They are horrible buttons. I'm going to put 16mm metal buttons there. They are not quite as tall as the 12mm plastic buttons and I think that would work better there.

I'm not going to open things up any further to fix the stop button on the replay binnacle. I'm also considering adding a couple more buttons to the top of it.

Currently it is the following:

REW - Pause/Play - FF
Last Lap - Stop - Next Lap

I'm thinking of adding a Slow Reverse and Slow Forward button to the top of it.

I'm very happy with the layout ergonomically.

From a maintenance point of view, the wiring enclosure could be larger, but it's workable.

Today, I'm wanting to give it a work out!

 

[RCHeliguy]

Get up for one minute....

Have the controls mapped in Dirt Rally 2.0 and in iRacing. Printing another half dozen magnetic labels for it. One for Dirt Rally and another 5 for iRacing.

Really starting to enjoy how it feels in use. I figured this would go one of two ways. I would try it out and realize that I made a big ergonomic mistake or it would be right. So far I'm not feeling anything wrong and I like how it's working.

 

[RCHeliguy]

This is getting to be a sickness!

The trickledown is that there is always something that looks like it could be improved once something new is added.

I was looking at how unified my dash looks now from left to right and my HE hand brake jumped out at me as looking unfinished.

So I immediately noticed that I could route the wire through the middle if I drilled a couple holes making that wire all but disappear.

Then.... I started looking at leather sewing kits to make a boot for the handbrake to cover up all the bolts etc.

Red or Black leather???? Or Black leather with red stitching, or multicolor paneling with a narrow red panel in front and black on the sides.... So many possibilities.

I think my ProSim shift looks cool enough that I won't be tempted to cover it, but the hand brake looks like naked functional engineering and nothing more.

 

[GagarynGaribaldi]

You're a mad man! But you should print a cover for the handbrake mount to hide the brackets then sew up leather gators (black with red stitching) for the handbrake AND the shifter. In fact since you are in so deep anyway, I might be tempted to fabricate a couple of replacement steel plates to remake the handbrake arm. You know where you want it now, so the multitude of adjustment nuts and bolts are redundant and ugly.