Custom hardware control/switch panel - simpit WIP

[hakan]

Huzzah!

[MrOnak]

Woah... that looks bad ass

[AmeliaEatyaheart]

Looking good!

Looks bloody amazing, actually. How have you got so many action groups working for all your parts?

[Mulbin]

Looking good!

Looks bloody amazing, actually. How have you got so many action groups working for all your parts?

You'll want to look at this mod

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/74195-0-90-%28Dec29-14%29-Action-Groups-Extended-250-Action-Groups-in-flight-editing

[anak1]

2 questions.

Where are you getting your parts from?

What does rw mean under the control section.

[Mulbin]

2 questions.

Where are you getting your parts from?

What does rw mean under the control section.

I buy almost everything on ebay. Most electrical components come from direct China as the are one tenth of the price compared to buying stuff from the UK (which is probably made in the same factory in China!).

RW stands for reaction wheel, it toggles the torque on and off in pods and reaction wheels.

[anak1]

EBay you say? Never thought of that.

I got some cheap Arduinos from miniinthebox.com as well as some thumb sticks and other doodads. They didn't have any switches or dials or led matrix drivers but I got a really good deal on basic components.

[MrOnak]

Chinese vendors on Ebay are very good if you can wait for the delivery (or in my case - Germany - customs processing) AND if you don't need a datasheet. Getting things from Chinese vendors takes me around 4 weeks but Germany is on the long end there.

Sometimes you get a datasheet in a link but most of the times you don't. I don't buy a piece that I don't fully understand or where I don't already know where to get the datasheet from - but it's definitely good for components of all sorts from ICs to switches and stuff that's standardized like 7-segment LEDs, LCDs, SD card readers etc..

Comparing close-up shots from other electronic vendors with what you seen on ebay helps a lot in terms of finding datasheets by the way.

What's important to note is that most electronics is manufactured there anyway so depending on what you buy you're only cutting out the middlemen. But then, you don't get support either so it depends what you're looking for. I'd never buy an microprocessor clone like an Arduino from China because that undermines the whole Arduino innovation. On the other hand those RF transceivers you see everywhere are made in China anyway and have no innovation ecosystem around them so no need to pay the middlemen.

My 2 cents anyway

[Mulbin]

Yep, I can highly recommend it for standardised stuff. My 7 seg display boards are generic using the same led displays and MAX7219 chip as any other... but at one fifth of the price

Just need to find some code that works with MAX7219s do talk to kspserial now

- - - Updated - - -

I'd never buy an microprocessor clone like an Arduino from China because that undermines the whole Arduino innovation.

Not sure I agree, Arduino hardware is deliberately open source to allow other manufacturers to make the boards and processors. My mega was £5... instead of £45

[MrOnak]

Ok let me clarify that: I wouldn't only buy copies. Giving some money back keeps the machine going.

[Mulbin]

Ok let me clarify that: I wouldn't only buy copies. Giving some money back keeps the machine going.

Ahhh, that's fair enough. My first UNO was the real thing

What I certainly don't approve of though is the fake arduinos... the ones where they try to make it look like a genuine arduino, complete with the brand name and the "made in italy" logo.

If you buy a third party arduino make sure it's honest enough to admit it's made by another company! I've been very pleased with "Funduino" for example

Edited January 8, 2015 by Mulbin

[MrOnak]

Yes thats actually even closer to what I meant. I'm sure there are good third party arduino-like things out there and although I prefer to use the naked chip myself that's fine. What's not fine is something that customs might get your ass for, because not only does it makes your life less nice it also hurts those who started it all.

Part of (and only part of ) why the real Arduino is so expensive is because they have to keep changing the board layouts, silk screens, colors and special color resistors (!) to make sure their product can't be copied very well.

[Mulbin]

Progress update...

Art file is coming together... nearly finished the overhead and have started on the navigation and instrument panels.

I was recently given two massive 1950s oscilloscopes, I have kept the one in the best condition (still works!) and have stripped the other for parts. Take a look at these lovely, original 1951 dials

[hakan]

cool, I want some of those

[MrOnak]

That looks brilliant. Are you using inkscape for the layout?

[Mulbin]

No, I'm a graphic designer for a living so I have Adobe Creative Suite CSS This is done in Illustrator.

[Mulbin]

Here are a couple of quick mockups I produced this evening to give people a better Idea of how the different panels will eventually fit together within an enclosure. The final cockpit will not be open at the back but will be fully sealed with either 2 entry hatches in the roof or possibly one at the rear with seats that fold down for easier access.

[MrOnak]

No, I'm a graphic designer for a living so I have Adobe Creative Suite CSS This is done in Illustrator.

That explains a lot

[Mulbin]

Random thinking aloud post... Who would want to buy a control panel?

I'm toying with the idea of designing and manufacturing a run of smaller control panels to sell, plug and play and ready to go (with a link to Zitronen's plugin of course... or I could chat with him about a small cut for a packaged version of the plugin "in the box"). Price is a big issue though as the components alone would be quite expensive.

I'm going to have to give it a lot more thought, possibly a small kickstarter with prototype panels as one of the backer rewards might be the way to go. All depends on assessing a reasonable price for a control panel really. Currently available saitek stuff for flight sims sells at around £100 for a very small panel instrument, just a single guage or small bank of switches etc. I would look at a slightly larger panel (probably about 10" by 5") with multiple gauges, switches and warning lights.

Functions I would look to include would be;

Dial 1 - Fuel

Dial 2 - Monoprop

Dial 3 - Power

Switch - SAS

Switch - RCS

Switch - Gear

Switch - Brakes

Switch - Lights

Covered switch - Stage

Covered switch - Abort

Button - Action Group 1

Button - Action Group 2

Button - Action Group 3

Button - Action Group 4

Button - Action Group 5

Button - Action Group 6

Button - Action Group 7

Button - Action Group 8

Button - Action Group 9

Button - Action Group 10

Light - Fuel Warn

Light - Monoprop Warn

Light - Power level warn

Light - Charge/Drain warn

Light - SAS

Light - RCS

So is this something people would be interested in? Or do you think enough non-builders out there would want one to make it worth while?

[Daid]

Random thinking aloud post... Who would want to buy a control panel?

I'm toying with the idea of designing and manufacturing a run of smaller control panels to sell, plug and play and ready to go (with a link to Zitronen's plugin of course... or I could chat with him about a small cut for a packaged version of the plugin "in the box"). Price is a big issue though as the components alone would be quite expensive.

*CUT*

So is this something people would be interested in? Or do you think enough non-builders out there would want one to make it worth while?

I think you want to make a separate topic about this to catch attention. But first do a cost breakdown.

If you want to make it worth your while, calculate the raw part cost. Multiply it by 2.3x, and that will be about your selling price. Else, the chance of making a loss, or spending a lot of effort without gaining a thing is big. I know people who have done projects like this quite often, and 2.3x is about right. As you need to cover extra expenses like broken parts, shipping, assembly.

[MrOnak]

What you're forgetting is work time @Daid. This will be hard to calculate at Mulbins current stage.

Personally I had thought about something similar earlier on but I've decided that my time is worth more to me than anything I want to see on a pricetag. Granted, my panel is completely hand soldered and work could be cut down by manufactured PCBs but still, it is a lot of work. I believe I'm easily reaching 100 hours of work at the moment and I don't have code yet that works on the AVR.

Edited January 10, 2015 by MrOnak

[stibbons]

You're a much braver person than I. I'm enjoying my build a lot, but there isn't enough money in the world to convince me to ever do more than one.

[MrOnak]

You're a much braver person than I. I'm enjoying my build a lot, but there isn't enough money in the world to convince me to ever do more than one.

Amen

10chars10chars

[ethan829]

Random thinking aloud post... Who would want to buy a control panel?

I'd be interested, depending on what the final price comes up to of course.

[Daid]

What you're forgetting is work time @Daid. This will be hard to calculate at Mulbins current stage.

That's partially what the 2.3x factor is also for. And, you want to buy the panels that hold all the buttons pre-cut from a metal work company, once you go in the double digit amounts this is quite affordable. And laser-cut metal sheet looks awesome. So then the hours are just assembly and soldering.