Simviation Forum - New Forum Survey: Homebrew Cockpits (see below)

Reply #120 - Oct 22^nd, 2003 at 12:28pm

Smoke2much Offline
Colonel
The Unrepentant Heretic
Sittingbourne, Kent,

Posts: 3879

Simulated Home Interactive Technology

is a very bad idea.

I think Homebuilt Cockpits/Flight decks would be ok.

Will

Who switched the lights off? I can't see a thing....... Hold on, my eyes were closed. Oops, my bad...............&&

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Reply #121 - Oct 22^nd, 2003 at 2:03pm

Vchat20 Offline
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Living in my virtual reality
so you don't have to.

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Quote:

Oh yes, I forgot to mention - if you're going to use any kind of C02 extinguishing system in an enclosed space (ie, your cockpit) make sure you're NOT IN THERE when it goes off. Hypoxia is a nasty thing....

Ric B.

maybe add another device to the C02 circuit that pops open one of the panels (whichever one is used for exiting/entering the cockpit) so you can get out without worrying bout fussing with opening the panel.

btw, im liking where this project is heading to. if I had the money, id like to take the pic Ric posted earlier with the 747 flight panel and expand on it. basically just simulate the WHOLE cockpit. including the full size door in the back for exiting which is used for going between the cabin and cockpit in real aircraft. have it all enclosed and eveything. like I said, simulate the WHOLE cockpit. but I barely have the money to start anywhere with this so im stuck at the idea stage.

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Reply #122 - Oct 22^nd, 2003 at 2:26pm

JBaymore Offline
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hombuilt cockpit!

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Quote:

My suggestion for a fire supression system would be a "plumbed-in" CO2 canister. You can get these at your local car tuners.

Ric,

WOW..... thanks! Never even knew such stuff existed.... but of course it would for "modified" cars. I'll have to look into it with the local "car buffs" around here. The electrical cut-off function concept would be about the same. I like the idea of undamaged electronics Wink

.

Hopefully it would not be outrageous in cost to implement. And even if it is a bit costly ... there may be ways to take the IDEA and do it more inexpensively.

And yes... I already thought of the breathing issue in the enclosed space with whatever fumes might get int there. Gee....maybe I could have this little oxygen mask on a hose automatically drop down out of a panel in the overhead .......... hum......... wonder if that has been done anywhere........ Wink

I was already planning on needing some real climate control features when I decided to enclose it. At the least, I will need a blower to supply cooler and fresh outside room air.... probably a bit similar to a car system. (No AC though!) All that electrical hardware generating heat will make the "box" an "oven" pretty fast. In mine it'll be 5 monitors, five CPU's, and the associated support stuff. So I probably will not need HEAT in there. For venting, Simple 12 DC or 120V AC blower with a grille to the outside room for intake, set up on a rheostat/switch.........with some PVC pipe, and some nice looking fittings for the panel side of things.

Thanks for the ideas.

best,

...................john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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Reply #123 - Oct 22^nd, 2003 at 2:29pm

Craig. Offline
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Birmingham

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i havent got time to read the whole of this post, but reading some of the posts i do have one thing to say.
with all these features you want to add, it adds up to a heck of alot of money prob close enough to your PPL level and perhaps even into the IFR rating:) why not just do that and fly the real deal?? i know i would if i could afford that cost:)
Cheers mates
Craig

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Reply #124 - Oct 22^nd, 2003 at 2:39pm

JBaymore Offline
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Quote:

maybe add another device to the C02 circuit that pops open one of the panels (whichever one is used for exiting/entering the cockpit) so you can get out without worrying bout fussing with opening the panel.

Vchat,

Not a bad idea. Mine will have a cockpit entrance door located right in back of the center console pedestal....... sort of like a real cockpit. I know that they make fire door actuators for buildings that automatically open doors..... but I would bet that they are costly. But if I set up the door on something like a a spring that wants to keep it open, then a simple solenoid activated latch to hold it shut could be de-activated to let it spring open.

Hum....... you got me thinking here. Thanks.

Quote:

btw, im liking where this project is heading to. if I had the money, id like to take the pic Ric posted earlier with the 747 flight panel and expand on it. basically just simulate the WHOLE cockpit. including the full size door in the back for exiting which is used for going between the cabin and cockpit in real aircraft. have it all enclosed and eveything. like I said, simulate the WHOLE cockpit. but I barely have the money to start anywhere with this so im stuck at the idea stage.

Really glad you are liking this. I hope more are inspired to try their hand. It can be less or more elaborate...as time, interest, and budget allows. Even a small addition to the home cockpit will increase the immersion factor.

The idea stage is really good too. it is full of endless possibilities Wink

.

I will try to post a shot here soon of what others have done with sharing your idea above. Some have started with buying a real cockpit from a scrapped 747 and then turned it into a home simulator. Talk about extreme realism! And extreme expense Shocked

!

Don't give up on doing SOMETHING....... just start a penny jar for the project. And look for discarded monitors and PC's wherever you can...... for doing a glass cockpit, even old PII and PIII's running in the 200-500 Mhz range will drive external flight gauges.

best,

................john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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Reply #125 - Oct 22^nd, 2003 at 2:58pm

JBaymore Offline
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Quote:

i havent got time to read the whole of this post, but reading some of the posts i do have one thing to say.
with all these features you want to add, it adds up to a heck of alot of money prob close enough to your PPL level and perhaps even into the IFR rating:) why not just do that and fly the real deal?? i know i would if i could afford that cost:)

Craig,

What do you figure that a PPL or a PPL with IFR would cost?

The goal of this idea (for me only) is to do this as cheaply as possible. I have seen websites where people put upwards of $30,000 into these simulators. That is NOT even a fantasy for me. If you check back in the thread a ways... you'll see that I am looking at things things to do pretty much "on the cheap".

That doesn't mean that others discussing this topic here will not invest larger sums of money. And some will invest less than I.

An example here is the "glass cockpit" concept. Sounds complicated and expensive. It isn't. Every single monitor and PC that will be used in mine for the cockpit instruments will be free. They are "junker" machines. But they will work just fine for what they need to do. People throw out such stuff all the time....... ask around with your friends.

So "on paper" the statement that the simulator will take four PC's and monitors to run the instruments alone sounds prohibitively expensive. Until you research the thing a bit.

The network setup to run it also sounds expensive....... But it will cost me $5.00 a machine for a 10/100 card (new....wired cards are cheap), $20 for the network hub unit (on sale now at CompUSA), and about $10 in cable and connectors (bought as raw components from a local computer network installer). (Turns out that I had most of this kicking around in the "junk pile" except for the hub.)

The software for the main glass cockpits instruments is free from FreeFD. FreeFD now interfacces to FDSConnect (mentioned elsewhere in this thread and in threads in the FS2004 forum section) as well as FSUIPC......... so the interface into FS2000/2002/2004 is now free if you don't want to spend the $35 for the FSUIPC and WideFS combination.

So you have a really valid point that people should consider when they get involved in this stuff. But from what I have seen of projected costs to get the real licence around here....... my simulator will be far, FAR cheaper. And I can fly it anytime I want. And I can put myself in the left seat of a large jet too...... which will never happen in my life in the "real world". Wink

best,

.......................john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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Reply #126 - Oct 22^nd, 2003 at 3:05pm

Craig. Offline
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Birmingham

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Howdy John
like i said i havent had the time to read the whole thread, so i dont know the exact costs your going to have to spend:).
if your gonna keep it cheap then cool:) like you said though it can go upwards of $30,000's though which would actually put you in the right seat of an RJ for Delta. as they would pay for the First officer training.
as for licensing costs, i have gotten quotes for $4000's for ppl and then roughly the same for IFR:) i dont know how much these cockpits can cost to make so it was a pure guess:)
Cheers Mate

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Reply #127 - Oct 22^nd, 2003 at 3:43pm

JBaymore Offline
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Link to FreeFD Glass Cockpit Gauges Software

Here is the main website address for the FreeFD cockpit gauges that allow you to set up a "glass cockpit" using a LAN setup with multiple PC's.

http://freefd.homelinux.com/freefd/

This is one of a number of sources of main glass cockpit gauges. I like the general feel of the stuff along with the "forum".

best,

.....................john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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Reply #128 - Oct 23^rd, 2003 at 10:34pm

JBaymore Offline
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Under the curse of the
hombuilt cockpit!

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Posts: 10261

LET'S CLOSE THIS THREAD AS A DISCUSSION AREA

I think that in order to make the transition to a new Forum dedicated to this whole general subject, that we should cease posting directly into this one massive thread.

As you can likely already see...... moving the various "topics" already jumbled into it over to some logical locations is going to be a bit time consuming already.

So please start a new topic here in the Forum for any new thoughts or continuations of what has been already started here. Please leave the (repost) labeled threads for the transfer of only the old stuff.

Thanks!

best,

..................john

Intel i7 960 quad 3.2G LGA 1366, Asus P6X58D Premium, 750W Corsair, 6 gig 1600 DDR3, Spinpoint 1TB 7200 HD, Caviar 500G 7200 HD, GTX275 1280M, Logitec Z640, Win7 Pro 64b, CH Products yoke, pedals + throttle quad, simpit

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