Community Event / Creation Its Begun - Because You can't Have Too Many Cockpit Build Threads Can You?

[VR Mr Teatime]

Hi Everyone,

Having built my own CNC router, which helped me in completing an Elite Dangerous themed case mod, I've started getting my ex-flight sim/racing sim cockpit converted for Elite Dangerous use and a VR headset (not sure if Oculus or HTC/Valve yet):

I'm three videos into what will likely take the rest of the year to complete and the idea is to retain both the flight/space sim and racing functionality, which the aluminium extrusion construction will help with. The racing sim functions may or may not come in handy when driving the buggies....I'm mean SRV's in Horizons.

I will be jumping about a bit from item to item, as I get to them:

Part 1 - Introduction:

[video=youtube;wSJJr1tEn90]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSJJr1tEn90[/video]

Part 2 - a quick joystick mod:

[video=youtube;9bcxQv3D_WI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bcxQv3D_WI[/video]

Part 3 - a new chassis:

[video=youtube;hf6MKzv0-aw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf6MKzv0-aw[/video]

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Part 4 - not everything went to plan.....

[video=youtube;-l-RgapLhdI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l-RgapLhdI[/video]

 

[Battlegrade]

Neat, welcome to the build crew, we never can have too many builds my friend.

 

[Tempered]

I am so jelous of that cnc router.

Can't wait to see the finished pit.

 

[Cataclysm72]

Subscribed!

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Thanks guys,

Unfortunately the day job has got in the way a bit this week, but I should be finding time this weekend for "making chips" on the CNC machine...

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Got something done on the pit over the weekend (after a lot of offscreen climbing the Fusion 360 learning curve) - here's the results:

[video=youtube;YN0cXqvgSOA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN0cXqvgSOA[/video]

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Hi All,

Been a while since I managed to get anything done on the cockpit, but this week sees the first mounting plate made and attached:

[video=youtube;sCOKI_zh-yk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCOKI_zh-yk[/video]

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

A week off work and with other chores and tasks getting done I managed to get some time to work on the pit. This started out as just another mounting plate for the Thrustmaster Cougar stick, but ended up being a bit more than that:

[video=youtube;zo-RXJzBIYI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo-RXJzBIYI[/video]

 

[Cataclysm72]

A week off work and with other chores and tasks getting done I managed to get some time to work on the pit. This started out as just another mounting plate for the Thrustmaster Cougar stick, but ended up being a bit more than that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo-RXJzBIYI

Sir, excellent work, i wish i had a cnc mill like that. anyway, great job on the mounting height. I'm happy to see i am not the only one thinking all these joysticks are too high up.

 

[Cataclysm72]

A week off work and with other chores and tasks getting done I managed to get some time to work on the pit. This started out as just another mounting plate for the Thrustmaster Cougar stick, but ended up being a bit more than that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo-RXJzBIYI

Sir, excellent work, i wish i had a cnc mill like that. anyway, great job on the mounting height. I'm happy to see i am not the only one thinking all these joysticks are too high up.

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Sir, excellent work, i wish i had a cnc mill like that. anyway, great job on the mounting height. I'm happy to see i am not the only one thinking all these joysticks are too high up.

Thanks Cataclysm,

Of course I'm now eyeing up the throttle for similar treatment, but that's a more involved mod, which will need a new "arm" milling as well as a side plate and other bits to do it properly. I've just started CADing up a new set of rudder pedals in Fusion 360, so that will be the next task (amongst other unrelated projects).

I built the CNC mill from scratch, although I did get some help refining my initial design to make it rigid enough for useful aluminium work from the MYCNCUK forums (great bunch of people there).

I guess it took me a few months to get the thing working initially and I'm still slowly upgrading bits on it when its not cutting things and I find the time. Of course I've spent a lot longer to get to where I am at the moment in terms of learning how to machine within the limits of the router and its still a growing field so you never stop learning new things e.g. adaptive or trochoidal toolpaths (do a Youtube search for i-Machining to see some stunning machining, that would probably reduce my CNC rig to scrap metal if I tried it).

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Hi All,

Apologies for the necro post - its been a while since I made any progress on my cockpit, mostly due to scraping the spare funds together for the mod in the vid below (that and other projects). Hopefully more activity will be forthcoming in the following weeks.

[video=youtube;tkziLY9Rgrg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkziLY9Rgrg[/video]

 

[Battlegrade]

Hi All,

Apologies for the necro post - its been a while since I made any progress on my cockpit, mostly due to scraping the spare funds together for the mod in the vid below (that and other projects). Hopefully more activity will be forthcoming in the following weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkziLY9Rgrg

Nice, however I bet less time on the video productions and more time on the building will get you much further.

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Nice, however I bet less time on the video productions and more time on the building will get you much further.

Yeah true - that and making guitars and other stuff

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

A quick video showing a flight test for the modded stick and the first time I've sat in the pit for actual flying since starting the project:

[video=youtube;rsf-ZKM0_rA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsf-ZKM0_rA[/video]

 

[Cataclysm72]

Nice!

 

[JaySity]

this is the only reason i need to get a pc build so i can play elite dangerous like im in a space ship.... puts the xbox to shame

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

A bit of a preview after a couple of evenings work and I'm making some progress on the rudder pedal design:

The main components are pretty much there and will be CNC milled out on my machine using 6082 Aluminium, but there are some details to be worked out e.g. centre return mechanism and electronics routing. The latter will be hall sensors embedded in the aluminium somewhere around the floor plate to lateral arm pivots.

I still have to decide on whether to wire in toe-brakes and whether this will interface back to the Cougar or use a spare Leo Bodnar board I have.

More as I do it....

PS. Nearly forgot - ignore the lack of chamfers in some areas - the CAM part of Fusion 360 takes care of that i.e. no need to model it as its done in machining.

 

[Cataclysm72]

A bit of a preview after a couple of evenings work and I'm making some progress on the rudder pedal design:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c166/CCWashout/Rudder Pedals v24 Small_zpsisfieuk1.png

The main components are pretty much there and will be CNC milled out on my machine using 6082 Aluminium, but there are some details to be worked out e.g. centre return mechanism and electronics routing. The latter will be hall sensors embedded in the aluminium somewhere around the floor plate to lateral arm pivots.

I still have to decide on whether to wire in toe-brakes and whether this will interface back to the Cougar or use a spare Leo Bodnar board I have.

More as I do it....

PS. Nearly forgot - ignore the lack of chamfers in some areas - the CAM part of Fusion 360 takes care of that i.e. no need to model it as its done in machining.

Wow that looks awesome!!! I can't give rep, because i'm out but you surely deserve it. I did mine in acryl sheet bcause i do not have access to an aluminium cnc mill, but only a 40w laser cutter. Very jealous, i totally want to see what more you come up with!