AeroPlayer53 follow up on my blue light

This period I do not have so much time for the cockpit: a new digital camera, the Nikon D300, the sunny weather and a lot of work keep me well far away from the simulator.

Riccardo just added a thread in the italian forum I follow describing the progresses of his home cockpit. As he said, the work started from the description of blue light of my home cockpit in the Cockpit light post of this blog. I found his proposal very interesting: he used strips of blue LEDs to lighten the instruments instead of the whole cockpit. He fixed the LEDs below aluminium arms fixed on top of the instruments.

For my taste, the arms are too far over the instruments and can interfere with the movements during the flight. But having the LEDs almost in contact with the panel could lead to a very good result. The reflexions, especially against a plexiglas cover, should be taken into account.

I wish to thank Riccardo, AeroPlayer53, for reading my blog and sharing his experience in the forum.

In the mean time I have received the landing gear and a new master card from opencockpits. The landing gear seems to be good and smooth even if not as smooth as I expected. 

Master caution button complete!

It took me something around four months for designing and building but the button is now complete. It seems a lot of time but you have to think that:

1. I don't have a CNC machine (and I don't want to buy one because is very expansive)
2. I wanted to spend as few as possible (what I have found on the net was around 30EUR)
3. I wanted to use only COTS

I spent most of the time finding the right components to use and made a design. The initial design was published in a post in december. When the project was ready, I bought the two aluminum squared pipes and started building the button with my dremel. A picture was shown in another post in february.

The button at this stage looked very ugly with the 2 big springs and it was also very hard to press because the springs were very hard. But it did its wok. You have to keep in mind that the only visible part is the upper side.
However, at the moment I had to put the leds I discover that there were not enough room in the upper side. Initially I wanted to put the LEDs in the little pipe while the moving pipe is only the big one. This solution was not suitable because the light would have passed from the holes between the pipe making a very noisy reflection. I had no other choice then rework the bigger pipe leaving more room for the LEDs:


As you can see the upper side is now longer. I have also mounted the switch: when the user presses the button, the bigger pipe shift down and presses the switch closing the contact. At this point I made an extraordinary discover: the switch is enough to move the biggest pipe in the original position when I don't press over the big pipe so the two springs are not needed anymore. The movement of the big pipe is very smoot and when the switched is cliked it emits a very nice sound. Unbelievable but is much better then I expected.
I have put screws in the upper side to hold the support for the LEDs. The support is composed of a shape piece of wood divided in 2 horizonthal lines each of which contains an array of 2 LEDs. The red line is at the top and the red at the bottom. After some investigation I have discovered that an output line of the master card can feed 2 LEDs connected in serial without resistance:

The handles in the upper side will hold the button against the frame in the cockpit.
For covering the LEDs, I have bought some white slides to print with my inkjet printer. I have printed the label in dark black leaving the written to appear in negative :

The written has been covered by a piece of plexiglas that protects the label agains my fingers.

I have finally connected the electronics to the master card and made some test to be sure that everything is working. At this point I have mounted the button in the cockpit. This is the view from the rear (internal) side of the cockpit:

And this is how the button appear in my cockpit:
In my opinion the final result is quite good. The movement is very smooth and the sound when I click the button is wonderful. The yellow LEDs are perfect but I would prefer the red ones to be stronger. However the final result is much better then expected.

Finally the cost. I think it cost a total of 12EUR more or less. I still have along piece of the sqaured pipes that I can use for other button. For example the 767 annunciator as a very similar button for the G/S Inhibit button. The same strategy could be used for korry switches but this implementation nedds a lot of space in the back side of the cockpit so it could be difficult to put two of this button enough close one to the other.

There are a lot of technical issues that I did not talk about in this post of course. If you are interested in the project, want the exact measurement or any other clarification feel free to send me an email or post a comment in the blog.

A picture of the Master Caution

As I promised a few days ago, this is a picture of the MC.

You can see the two squared pipes, one inside the other. The upper handles will be fixed to the cockpit frame. The two springs at the bottom keep the two pipes in the right position and allow to press the button. A switch at the bottom left side catches the pressure of the button.

Now the difficult part is to fit the leds in the upper side. I have already shaped a little holes card to fit in the big pipe. The card will be hold by a set of screws in order to keep the leds upon the hole and avoiding the lights to pass through the holes of the pipes.
At the present I plan to put 4 red and 4 yellow leds in the holes. Over the card of leds, I put the plexi and over it a little piece of white paper with the written.

I hope the final result will not be so bad. As I said, at the present I have the impression that the movement of the button is not as smooth as I hoped at least compared to an electronic switch. I will go ahead building that button but I am still not 100% that this tool will never be part of my cockpit.

in fact last week I went to conrad and bought a squared button where it is possible to fit one led. I am investigating if it is possible to fit two colored leds inside the button and if I succeed I will probably choose this second solution even if the button is not as big as I wish.

Master caution again

The master cation frame is finally ready, I will post a few pictures one of these days.

The final version is slightly different from the original design, in fact the two springs had to be put between the two lower brackets. It means that the two springs push the brackets away one from the other instead of pulling. I have tested the movement of the button and it works even if it is not as smooth as I wish. I guesst I have to put some oil between the two pieces of aluminium but it can never be as smooth as an electronic switch.

There is also another problem due to the windows made in the outer windows to let the upper brackets pass outside of the pipe to fix the button to the cockpit frame. The windows will be a problem when the leds are on because the light will pass also throught the windows creating an undesired game of lights. I have thought to two possible solutions and I will probably adopt both of them:

1. mount the button in such a way the window will always be below the frame (in this way I guess the light will be much less because the wood will naturally stop it; I should probably add a fisical protection like a piece of dark gumi)
2. try to mount the led in the upper most side of the outer pipe with a dark gumi in the back (for this implementation I should investigate the usage of special very little leds like those used to light handy phones; the light will probably be inserted into the plexi; particular caution must be applied while cabling the leds because they move together with the outer pipe whenever the button is pressed or released)

In the mean time I think it is time to start designing the right side of the cockpit. I have to put there more commands usually found in the upper side of the real cockpit like fior example the trust control, the gear lever and so on. I have submitted yesterady an order to opencockpits getting a new master card a few switches and the gear lever of the 737 (I had found a 767 model too but was really too expansive).

Master caution button project

Here below you can see a picture of the master caution button project.

The green box is the bigger squared pipe. The litle pipe, inside the green box, is represented by a black box.
The big green box moves up and down around the blue supports (there are 2 holes in the big pipe and the supports, screwed in the little pipe, will pass through such holes).
Two springs kee the button in the upper position. When the user presses the button, a switch is closed activating a line in the SIOC software.

The blue supports in the upper side are screwd to the panel and fix the button in the right position. The other 4 supports, at the bottom of the 2 pipes are needed to blck the switch and the screws. You can imagine a hole in a pipe whenever a support is fixed in the other squared pipe.

Plexi has to be fixed very carefully because it needs to support user pressures that could be quite strong. The plexi will have a written but the caution/warning message will be distinguished by the color of the leds (yellow for warning and red for alert).

The picture has no sizes but if someone is interested I could write down a better project with measures. However, the little squared pipe is 7cm long and the biggest is 6cm. I have bought such pipes in a workshop for around 3EUR each.

At the present I have cutted the two pipes and made the holes in the biggest one. The holse still needs to be refined. and I ma still thinking which is the best way to do that.

The design is quite clear for me. But there are a lt of techinical issues that i don´t know yet how to address. For example how to fix the springs and the switch. And even which type of switch to mount.
Another point is the plexi that should have the same level of the surface of the pipe but fixed somehow to allow the user to press it without bracking or moving.
Finally, until the whole button will be ready I don´t know if the bissgets pipe will move smoothly enough inside the little one.

As usual, I will post some picture in the blog.

Master caution button design

After browsing the web I have found that master caution buttons ready to use are quite expansive (something like 50EUR or more). I found that price so unbeliavable for a single button that Ideide to try to build one from scratch.

I bought two squared pipes with a very similar size in such a way the biggest one surround the little one leaving a very little space. I will put the leds into the little one while the bigger one moves forward and backward. When in backward position it will press a switch in order to clear the warning.

I kno that what I said is not clear enough. If I have enough time I will draw the project and put here an image.
I still have some concern about this idea but I found it a very interesting challenge.

That´s it for now. Merry Christmas and happy new year to everybody!

Cockpit light

If you fly by night you know that it is very dificult to see the landscape outside of the windows. You can trick the monitor but the result is always bad looking. To enhance the situation you can think of turning off all the light and fly in a dark room. This strategy works of course but it is very difficult to find the keys of the keyboard or, even worst, you can't write down notes while flying online. Well, I don't know you but I have to write down al least metars, radio frequencies and take off clearances.

I agree that the problem of the lighting is temporary because when all the controls will be implemented at hardware it will not be needed anymore to find the keys of the keyboard. But what until then?

I thought about this problem for a long time and arrived to the following conclusion. I need a light that can be turned on and off independently of the simulator and maybe later on integrated with the 767 light switch. The light should be strong enough to allow writing notes and reading the keyboard but not too strong to reduce the visibility of landscape details flying by night.

I bought a couple of blue led strips and positioned in the upper right and left side of the closet. They are turned on and off by an apposite switch positioned below the table.

The following picture shows the environment while flying:

You might easily find it kitsch but for me the final effect is quite good: no artificial light reflected in the two screens, lightning is soft and relaxing but strong enough to read the keyboard or write down notes.

A possible next step could be that of integrating the lighting to the 767 cockpit. The two 24 leds strips needs 12V power that I already have in the power supply. The SIOC software already catch the events of the cabin light switch but up to now it only sends the command to the simulator. It would be possible to close a 5V output line that in turn powers on the leds with the help of a raleigh or something like that. It is something I will think about...

Last but not least the price. I payed the two strips of 24 blueleds, a 12V dedicated power supply, cables and the switch around 50 EUR. Half an afternon was the time to mount the hardware in the closet.

New radio and MCP panel

The refactoring the radio and MCP panelsis finally completed. You can see a snapshot of the previous situation in this post. The radios were in the left side in two white wodden frames. The MCP and the EFIS were below the two monitors in a very big wodden box bought from Ikea a lot of time ago.

The idea was to have a new box with the EFIS and the MCP in the upper side and the radios at the bottom.The new panel is shown by the following picture.

As you can see the new panel is much more compact. The little screwed panel in the upper left side is intended to contain some buttons controlled via opencockpit. That panel is not as wide as I hoped so I think I will put there not more then 4 buttons. For sure it will contain the master switch and the toga.

Just behind the webcam there is the power switch and another switch to close the contacts of the dip switches of the CPFlight MCP for upgrading the firmware.

The wood is painted with a water paint and the color is RAL7043. The new CPFlight radios have almost the same color of the panel while the old ones, the MCP and the EFIS, are quite different. However the final result is not bad and for sure much better then the original situation.

Yesterday night I made my first flight with the new panel, from EHAM to LIMC. I took this photo while climbing to final FL310 under Brussel CTR:

You can see the panel back lighted. In the left screen the VC and in the rigth monitor IVAP, the FMC and the radio panel. Most of the time, I use the left monitor to browse the charts.

Just upon the rigth screen you can see the three leds of the cabin light, the read and white beacons from the opencockpits light panel.

Work in progress with MCP and radios

Last weekend I began the building of the new panel with MCP, EFIS and radios I bought from CPFlight.

The panel is composed of a box of 64x17 cm to be positioned below the left monitor. In the upper side of the box there will be the EFIS then the MCP. At the bottom, from left to righ, XPNDR, COM, ADF VOR. 

At the present the scheleton of box is completed and the elictrical components are in place. There will be one button for turning ON/OFF the electronics and a two poles switch button for upgarding the firmaware without insering the 2 dip switches in the rear side of the MCP by hand. In this way the firmaware can be upgraded without moving the panel.

At the right upper side of the front panel there is less space then I initially supposed: only  a 8x6 cm little panel. I will put there the master switch, the GA and the button to switch between auto and manual setting of the VOR for the capitain.

In the first step this panel will be empty but ready for the replacement with the panel with the buttons.

For the GA button I have found at conrad a little squared button that can be reasonably used. It has no led on board and so it can't be back lighted. 

The master switch is the most complex button because it has more then one led, at least a red and a yellow one for caution and warning. Till now I have found no button like that on the market. Of course it is sold by specialised web sites but it is very expansive.

The button to switch between manual and automatic VOR tuning can be one of the button (with a green led) I have already used for the light panel.

I am currently investigating the way to build the master switch and korry buttons. I subscribed to mycockpit forum and ther I have found some interesting solution. I will create a new post later with some good solution.

Refactoring of the MCP/EFIS/RADIOS panels

It seems that next week I have to put all my stuff out of the shelf :(

I'll take the chance to fix the not working button of the light panel. At the same time I want to change the setup of the MCP, EFIS and radios. Current setup was in fact a temporary solution that is in place for more then one year. 

The idea is to create a wodden frame having the MCP and the EFIS in the upper side and the 4 radio modules at the bottom. If I have enought space, I will insert some controls in the upper side of the panel. I am thinking of the master switch and GA button or the annunciators or something else. The new panel, painted in RAL 7043, will be placed below the 2 monitors, where the MCP and EFIS are at the present. Giving that I already have at home all the wood I need, i guess that this remake will last for some days only. 

At the end, I will have the left side free for new panels and space on the left for e new panel that I am designing right now.

My idea for this new panel and for the following is to be modular. I mean that frame of the panel will be fixed and sub-panels will be mounted. In this way it will be possible to unmount a sub panel for upgrading or fixing without the need of open everything. Actually, this is nothing new...

Beside this refactoring, I am thinking of a new panel to put on the right side of the MCP/radios panel. I ahve thought a little bit on what controls I have to put in and I am now focused on the engines startup, the gera lever and myabe the flap. I have brosed the net for componets and I have found a gera for the 767 for 280EUR. It is crazy so I am going to build my gear level from scratch and depending on the result I will build a flap lever too.

I am quite disappointed fro the prices of hardware components on the net. Specialised web sites have crazy prices and I am probably not the best to browse electorinc web sites...