marstr.online

Building a custom cockpit - Part 1

DIY

Shortly after seeing this video (Link), I felt inspired to build my own variation of this. I could just copy what's in the video - but I'm limited in space, so I need to build a slightly smaller version. Also, it should fit exactly on and in my desk setup.

Originally, I was going to buy a few of the panels you can find here (Link)

This is the list of what I want to achieve:

- Custom avionics and switch/button panels
- Must fit into desk setup
- Ideally extensible or interchangable in components
- Functions as some kind of keyboard emulator or actual controller with buttons and axes
- Buttons and switches must be mappable to their assigned use with the flight simulator (but could be used in other software)

I already knew soldering will be involved in this project and there are no two ways around it. So an opportunity to get skilled in that area as well.

I first designed the flight displays in Blender, applying values of the material that I will most likely use: MDF 6mm thick plates. These will be held in place by screw placement in different positions, ultimately creating the case of each unit.

Here's an initial design of a box, made for my desk and made of 6mm thick wooden material:

The yellow bits are placeholders for screws. While this design does work, it is limited in space, consists of quite a number of smaller custom-cut parts, I could not find any service online that will cut parts to size this small. So I had to discard this kind of design.

Next, 3D printing. In the video I linked above, a 3D-printed replica of the Garmin G1000 exterior is used. While I cannot use units this large, I could come up with a similar design for 3D printing, assemble it, and build my unit. Here's my 3D print design:

This is what it would look like assembled - each part can be printed separately, and then put together. It looks real neat, even has a designated area for the Arduino in the back, plus a gap for the cables...

It turns out that using even the cheapest 3D printing service I could find near me, this case would cost me about 200 Euro - and I would need two of those. And to be honest, I am not ready to spend this much money.

So... I went back to square one but came up with probably the best idea: build a panel that has everything - along the entire width of my desk. Or to be more precise, along the length of my monitor stand. It turns out the service I initially found that can cut wood to size, will accept my sizes and cutouts.

A look at a draft:

The huge gaps are obviously for the LCD panels. The buttons for the below the displays do fit nicely.

This design gives me quite a lot of design freedom and is not as limited as the other two - plus, I will fare a lot cheaper with that one large piece, than the other two designs.

DIY items:

- 8 inch LCD Screen with display driver unit x2 : (Link)
- Pack of black momentary push buttons: (Link)
- Soldering iron station: (Link)
- Helping hand: (Link)
- ELEGOO Mega 2560 R3 x2: (Link)
- Keyestudio Prototyping Plates: (Link)
- Header pins: (Link)
- Cables for soldering: (Link)
Pack of small cable ties to keep the cabling clean inside the housing: (Link)

As you can see, all of these combined aren't too expensive.

Let's build this thing.