My first video

My first video, this is the space I will rebuild the simulator, most of it will be rebuilt and hopefully become somewhat better.

The renovated space for the sim.

There is something about this hobby that makes you build something, and then redo it again after a while.  I develops slow and steady and knowledge expands and the lowest level quality increases for each new knowledge that comes, but my approach to the rebuilding it again will be a little different.

Only parts with decent quality I can accept will remain and be mounted, and with that I hope this rebuild behavior disappears.

One thing after another…

I have had my 3D printer for just over a year now, and it has worked absolutely superbly. Until a few weeks ago. It started crashing into the bed and it turned out it was a circuit board that had broken. Instead of buying new I upgraded to my Wanhao Duplicator 9 to the MKII kit and Antclabs BL Touch sensor which includes a new circuit board. Since then, the printer has been struggling with stuck plastic. Researched the web and instead of troubleshooting and fixing I also took the opportunity here to upgrade the machine with Bondtech extruder but when I removed the print head I simultaneously broke the hotend, so now I sit again waiting on the mailman for a new swiss hotend.

Furthermore, I will soon start renovating the room which will be the dedicated simulator room and the remaining areas will be used as workshop, with 3D printer, CNC milling machine and soldering station. At present, we are still cleaning out all the old crap we have accumulated over the years.

For MIP I have cut out the backplate, and the frame that will hold the construction together is assembled. While I wait for the new hotend I will continue with the CAD drawing and clean in the upcoming simulator room.

Back to the drawing board

Now 2mm aluminum sheet has been purchased. Currently sits with Fusion360 and measures in so everything fits. I am completely novice in Fusion but teach me slowly but surely.

Furthermore, I have previously made a gear leaver of plumbing parts and springs. The result was not to my satisfaction, so I turned to the 3D printer and printed out a gear leaver. The measurements were bad and overall the feeling was not right. So now I give Karl’s design a chance and hope for better results than before.

Link to 737DIYSIM gear lever on Thingiverse.

I will also fill the space in front of the screens with glass or clear plastic. The holes in the MIP backplate surrounding the screens are made slightly larger to fit the glass. The joint is covered with MIP screen frames.

Before dismantling

An image from the simulator as it stands today, MIP backplate in 5mm MDF wood, and no faceplates. I’ll make them in aluminum instead.

Unfortunately, the panels from flightsimulatorparts are not super quality, but it was the first thing I bought and simply did not know better. They get off to a start, can always be replaced afterwards. The buttons are 3D printed, sanded and painted. The standby instruments in the picture above are from the same 15 “screen which shows the upper eicas screen.

I came across 3 flightillusion gauges and thus will switch to these. I know they are not the right instruments for NG but they are too cool, so i am going to fit them anyway. My mission now is to find a screen small enough to fit between the instruments and the landing gear lever.

I hope I can find the time of the week that comes and meet my friend with the industry sized CNC Router, to cut out all the holes in the new MIP backplate.

Main Instrument Panel

Planning MIP with the parts I already have. Using the measurements from marcuspilot.com and the same technology as Karl from 737diysim.com. He builds an absolutely amazing simulator in mostly wood, if you haven’t seen his blog and videos check them out! He is also kind enough to share a lot of his measurements and these are exactly the ones I will use.

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  A real Boeing 737NG, the goal is to get as close to this as possible.

The frame is made of wood, MIP backboard as well as MIP faceplates will be made out of aluminium. The panels acrylic plastic I recycle my old ones from flightsimulatorparts, at least initially. The quality of those panels is not the best but the dimensions are good and the degrees of rotary switches right so they will get off to a good start.

I will build the entire main instrument panel as a single unit, where lower MIP and glarewings, autopilot and EFIS all sits together. Mounted with IO Cards on the backside for easy access. To run LEDs Phidget64 Cards will be used, naitive dim control without using resistors is just fantastic. Inputs will be controlled with OpenCockpits MasterCard. 72 digital inputs per card, and 3 cards per usb cable I get very far. In addition the outputs can be used for relays. Servos with GSA card to run Flightillution gauges standby instruments and flaps. Steppers and 7-segment displays are run with Arduino Megas. Everything is mounted in a package controlled with 5v, 12v and a usb cable. At least that’s the plan the entire MIP on 3 cables + monitors.