Custom Control Panel

[stibbons]

10 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

Ordered some thin black ABS sheets and more aluminum

I have a sheet of aluminium composite (aluminium bonded to a black core of... PVC, I think). Bought it for an enclosure, as it's lighter and easier to bend and make curved edges than aluminium. But have been wondering about just etching through the top layer for detailing. 

10 hours ago, reifsnyderb said:

Though, maybe I should just go with black ABS plates as opposed to aluminum?

I think your aluminium panels look great. ABS would be OK for some stuff, but definitely don't replace all of them! 

[reifsnyderb]

12 hours ago, stibbons said:

I have a sheet of aluminium composite (aluminium bonded to a black core of... PVC, I think). Bought it for an enclosure, as it's lighter and easier to bend and make curved edges than aluminium. But have been wondering about just etching through the top layer for detailing. 

I think your aluminium panels look great. ABS would be OK for some stuff, but definitely don't replace all of them! 

 

I like the aluminum as well.  However, I'd like to make the panels look more "modern" as they really remind me more of something from the 1960's at the moment.  I suppose they could be painted...

 

 

[reifsnyderb]

I've got the Leonardo Arduino, Mux Shield II, and headers in.  Working on the electronics.  After that, I'll need to do the firmware...

 

[reifsnyderb]

The rectangular push buttons came in over the weekend.  I made up a switch panel and took a picture.  Being able to upgrade or modify small sections is a nice feature.

 

Edited December 11, 2017 by reifsnyderb

[reifsnyderb]

Lots of progress with the Arduino Leonardo and Mux Shield II.  Some basic code is in place and I now have 48 inputs via 2 "joysticks".  I need to figure out how to do the toggle switches yet.

[reifsnyderb]

Found out Unity, which KSP uses as the game engine, only allows for 20 inputs per joystick.  So, I changed the code such that there are 3 joysticks with 16 inputs each.  The arduino/mux shield now works with both push-button switches and toggle switches such that toggle switches send a signal that a button is pushed then release it 1/4 of a second later.  It works very nicely.

I also got lots of  connections finished and will be posting another picture soon!

[reifsnyderb]

New pictures!  I still need to wire the 6 rectangular buttons yet.   :-)

 

 

[reifsnyderb]

Yesterday I made up a bracket for the Arduino Leonardo and Mux Shield II.  This morning, I installed it.  

Some things of note:

1.  At the moment, the Arduino is hot-glued to the bracket as I didn't have the correct screw size.  That should be changed.

2.  The wires are just plugged into the headers.  There should be connectors on them.  It should work, however.

3.  I need to do something about the grounds.  I am thinking it would make sense to put a connector on each sub panel so as to daisy chain them together so there would only be one grounding wire to connect to the Mux Shield II.  (At the moment, I just soldered on ground to another sub panel and found 5 other ground points on the boards.)

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2017 by reifsnyderb