Making New MFCD's- A10C Warthog Simulator
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- čas přidán 9. 09. 2024
- Welcome to The Warthog Project!
This video shows my design and build of A-10C Warthog MFD Replica's.
These replace the Thrustmaster Cougar MFD's ive been using, which are F-16 Replicas and too small with less buttons than the ones fitted on an A10C.
All my plans, panel files, and 3D printing .stls are free for download at thewarthogproj...
I sometimes livestream on twitch- / thewarthogproject
Or check out my Instagram at- / thewarthogproject
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
How much did this cost?
Answer is explained fully right here! - • What it Cost! - A10C W...
What Game/Sim is this?
Digital Combat Simulator World (A-10C Tank Killer II) - www.digitalcom...
Can I have a free copy of all your panel design files?
Yes you can! - thewarthogproj...
What software do you use to warp the projector image? Fly Elise-ng Immersive Diplay Pro - fly.elise-ng.n...
What software do you use to export the gauges on the main panel?
Helios - github.com/Hel...
What are your PC Spec?
Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master, Intel i7-9700k OC to 5ghz, 32GB Corsair RAM, Gigabyte Aorus GTX1080ti Waterforce Extreme Edition, Samsung 920 EVO M.2 1TB SSD (OS and DCS), Samsung 860 QVO 2TB 2.5" SATA SSD (Storage), Two XSPC 360mm Radiators, EKWB Velocity CPU Waterblock, EK-RES X3 250mm with D5 water pump, Custom Hard Tubing, Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic Black Case. All RGB turned off!
Sorry about the sections of silence throughout this video. I chose to simply mute it rather than re-upload it after a shady copyright claim... Tip. Don't advertise your music as free to use for youtube creators if you intend to later copyright claim them for the ad revenue. That's called being an asshole.
dogs
What lazer cutter is that?
I think you should do an episode where an A-10 pilot comes in and tests out your sim pit. It looks amazing.
Would love to, but its hard to come across any A-10 pilots in Australia!
@@thewarthogproject If you build it, he will come....
The Warthog Project I live in Melbourne and been watching your project progress with amazement and respect. I’m an ex helicopter pilot and I know what I’m going to do when I get older!
I think finding a warthog pilot holidaying here (post pandemic) wouldn’t be impossible. Would be incredible to watch.
@@imaner76 Won't even have to invite him. His instinct will lead him
He won’t knock on the door when he finally arrives, there will just be a deafening BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!
Me when I got the A-10: I want a setup like this.
Me a month later: oooooo f-14 I want a Whole RIO setup.
Me a week later: Oooooooo f-16 is on sale
yup
Next Episode: Making a real A-10C to prank my neighbors
I am so in awe of this project. I hope you will continue this channel with related content, even just gameplay or something. This channel is just too good to get buried in the youtube algorithm.
NICE!
BTW. I've used JLCPCB once or twice for custom PCBs, their design tool does not need a Post grad degree to use and understand (lots of libraries and components you can plug in), they also have a SMT assembly service so once you design and order the PCB you can have them assemble the boards with SMT components. Your board then arrives complete.
NB. No financial connection or interest, just a happy customer.
I'm absolutely sure they would even sponsor a video or two and provide pcbs free of charge. They sponsor my channel and are very chill about not requiring excessive amounts of advertising for them other than a link in the description and a quick mention at the beginning of the vid.
Awesome job!!! You can put felt around the rocker switches to eliminate the light bleed through.
Hey great idea!
On your rocker switches ad a curved lip on the back so it blocks the light creep and still allows it to rock. Both the cockpit and the engineering massively cool though.
Good idea- but easier said than done. The laser software I have can only engrave at set heights, so it wont do a curve. I could hand sand them, or maybe 3D print the rear part or the button. Might look into that later!
@@thewarthogproject How about adding a thin black felt or cloth skirt that is tacked onto the center of the switch but freely flexible on the edges?
Rubber!
Thank you, interesting and enjoyable. It’s generous of you to take the time to make the videos. We all benefit from learning and sharing. I also extended the white lines with electrical tape that’s a good mod that anyone can do it makes a big difference to the look and functionality the parallax effect is a real pain otherwise. Regards, Mark
That laser cutter is magic.
So impressed with your abilities to design this cockpit.
Mate, you are actually a legend! Keep doing your stuff man, I'm thoroughly enjoying watching your project 👍
Amazing work Ray! I love the button solution of cutting and gluing using the C02 laser, never thought of that! Keep posting!
Amazing genius! I'm waiting for the next episode !
Very Nice!
@18:02 We do too! Amazing dedication to your passion. Well done!!!
You are a HERO!
Top notch craftsmanship,well done sir !!!
Dude keep up the amazing work the only reason why bought a thrust-master joystick and throttle is because of u and started being a a-10 warthog in arma 3
Love these vids,watching them made me purchase a cheap CNC engraver & am having a ball,thank's for the inspiration mate!
Wow... I cannot believe the effort you put into this (ongoing) project. I would pay all the dollars for a setup like yours! Great video series, thanks for your time and effort. It's obvious that the Warthog is a plane near and dear to the hearts of many, many, many people. Great job!
It really is a lot easier to be able to CAD up the PCBs with proper edge routing, assembly, component placement, connectors and hole alignment. It really would be worth your time to learn!
I’d probably have one big PCB built up for all the lights around the ring.
Holy s***! What a cool sim setup!
I'm just trying to think what aircraft I'd go to this effort for...
New viewer - holy crap man... awesome design work.
Mate im asking my wife if i can come and play at your place. You have all the cool toys. 🤪
That is just amazing.
Hi Ray, a great upgrade to your simpit. I really like the marker lines using white electrical tape. I might add that to mine. I've found that because the position of the MFCDs is not in straight line of sight, it's not always clear, when looking quickly, which button is for which function.
The back lighting looked evenly spread so good job there. I did have a concern myself with the cost of tactiles with integral LEDs, but managed to source cheaper ones of Ali express in the end
Nice one, thanks for sharing
Cheers Craig. I bought some of the cheapest tactiles with LEDs i could find- they ended up being an almost yellow colour and very dim so i stopped looking. Also- Im using one of your ideas from your last video as well. I'm planning to cut a new EMI surround and add the painted green/orange/red bezels to add some colour.
Me: "Thrustmaster Cougar MFDs are more than adequate for any sim rig."
T.W.P: "Hold my beer..."
" I think it looks pretty good" - Understatement of the year, right there, mate. I'd lay down money for these, wonderful work!
Great job mate!
This is epic. Nice work
Amazing work, bravo :)
Mate, what an incredible effort.
Awesome to see!
What an amazing project! Thank you for sharing this, I’ve got a lot of videos to go back and watch! Subscribed 100%
Absolutely awesome, Thanks for sharing. Can you specifIcly show the wiring of the tactile switches, to include how they are ran from and to controller. Building AH64 TEDAC. Share wiring diagram, please ? Thanks!!
This is crazy good! you should be proud of your work! A+++
Outstanding!
You’ve done an awesome job. I’d love to have a set of 3 for my f18. I have the cougars but yours look better. I think your hobby is more along the lines of building flight simulators and not as much flying them. Keep up the great work man
Absolutely amazing work as always.
Wish I could do half of what is needed to complete something like this. I would ask how much to build me one for the F-14 but I am pretty sure it would cost more than a real F-14. LOL
Very nice design and manufacturing! Your rig is awesome!
Nice... Very nice.
finally a new upload :)
Amazing job again. You really should stream your flights in multi camera now !
Impressive work mate! Love watching your videos. Have got a lot of inspiration from you. Keep up the awesome work on your sim!
Awesome fab work bro! Great looking stuff and one hell of a setup!!
Excellent work!
Inspiring.
You're a really crafty bloke! You should start a business selling this stuff at a premium! Damn I'm jealous of your cockpit, what an excellent job you've done!
Did you consider using the more expensive tactile switches with centre LED, just for the rocker switches, which should avoid light leak through for those type switches?
Great job on these. Thanks for posting the update.
A little vertical lip around the underside of the switch should also help reduce the light bleed, and you could 3D print that for a few cents.
Love watching your videos mate, very interesting and you present so well
The only thing missing now is a phisical HUD
They make huds for cars, im positive with some creative tweaking and some reprogramming you could probably get it to work
I put rubber sheet behind my rocker switch to block light :)
the level of perfectness .. any chance for the Hornet cockpit??
I want one.. but i just dont have the space for it in my house!
Absolutely insane dude. Love it!
I Admire all the work you have done. Would you please do a video on your laser cutter?
Will do
nice. why not put a hole in the bottom half to recess the LED? could also try 3D printing TPU, stopping the print half way, set in the button acrylic, and then continuing the print.
amazing videos!!! please more of these construction videos. What Laser cutter do you use?
Its the cheapest Chinese K40 i could find on eBay at the time. Its been upgraded with a 60 watt tube and a DSP from www.lightobject.com. All up it ended up costing about a grand, and has been running for about five years with no failures yet.
Intro - where's the BRRRRTTT?
The lack of BRRRRTTT in this video was noted. I have indeed broken my own rule of having BRRRRTTT in every single
video. I promise the next video will make up for it by including excessive BRRRRTTT.
Proper backlit panels are done the way you have made the pcb. The only difference from your panel is that they don’t use multiple layers of plastic. Real aircraft panels are made of CLEAR plastic and painted with blanking paint and then engraved. Now the way the engraved lines fluoresce is simple... you put a thin layer of paint on top and as the engraved lines are lower than the surround all you do is put a piece of cloth on a scraper, add a bit of thinner and just wipe the excess off.
It’s a bit more faff but it stops the one thing I absolutely HATED about my old panels... HOT SPOTS. Also it ate light because of the white layer stopping it passing through properly meaning you have to turn up the brightness which causes light leakage. The proper method means using lower wattage lights, no light leak and you still get a lovely fluorescent line... AND you can even have coloured lines mixed with white ones like you see on Boeing and Airbus panel (and many others).
Oh and how did I find this out? I sat on one of my REAL ATR72 wing panels and broke the sucker in two... I used to think it was multi layered as well but then found the bottom layer of the clear is painted thin white and the upper lines are painted white (actually parchment) on my panels or whatever you need. And it’s pretty easy to do. Ironically I found it out after trying to glue together multiple layer, multiple colours and then painting over the top because one panel has white, orange and green lines on a single panel which did my head in.
Anyhoo, love your Hog pit... loved it so much I’ve started on making my own. So thanks for that (love you and hate you in equal measures mate lol).
Oh and you commented on the TISL panel having those dual lit buttons. I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out. Just make a button like normal, cut it in half and then epoxy glue a thin sheet of aluminium between the two part then paint and leave to dry.
Cut out a holder for the button on your cnc (or laser), then without moving the holder you drop in the button and engrave it (making sure the alignment is the right way round... yeah, learned that the hard way) then put a long button micro switch behind another pcb with the two LEDs. A small hole let’s the micro switch button reach up to the switch.. but the real secret to avoiding light leak is to put some foam rubber under he button with a hole for each led and the centre micro switch button.
Works a treat and is way cheaper than a real one yet works and looks just as good.
I've got a few real panels as well. I have experimented with that method in the past, the problem is the painting. Having it clear, painting it white, then having to mask up each individual letter is VERY time consuming. Then paint it black, remove the mask, and end up with paint bleed so it looks terrible anyway. Not to mention the white paint has to be a uniform thickness in the letter, not easy to do at such a small scale, even with an airbrush.
For me in my garage- no way i could get a better result than what i have now via engraving the black paint to reveal the white acrylic underneath.
Hot spots can be minimised by placing the LEDs carefully, avoiding putting them directly under a letter. Or do what i did, and use shear power and flood the whole panel with LEDs to avoid hotspots. It's not perfect, but im pretty happy with my results!
you should make and sell this stuff
Wow nice work on those MFDs! They are considerably larger than Viper MFDs. With my aging eyes maybe I should have built an A-10. Lol. I’m curious how you measured out your buttons so that match up to the onscreen button as you indicated in the video?
Thanks mate! I was using F16 ones for ages, with the size difference now it is much clearer. For the spacing, I found some decent diagrams of it on the manufacturers website, so I based all the measurements on that. I just imported those images to coreldraw, set the scaling to the correct outer dimensions (the only ones I actually knew) then designed my panel over the top of it. Then I just hoped that ED had the viewport correct- Which of course they did!
@@thewarthogproject wow that’s a testimony of both your work and DCS. Looks perfect in the video. Well done 👍
Mate, fucking awesomeness
You're fucking insane. I love it.
That Wasn't Me. That Was Patricia .
I wish these were sold somewhere
Amazing, Great job.
I’m building a similar setup for my Batmobile I’m about 3 months from finishing
Amazing work as usual.
I’m sure you’re better then those A-10 pilots because they don’t know how to make a home cockpit 🤣
Amazing work...
IRL you NEVER see a plane bank away from a tanker like that.. Looks cool tho'
Yo man, love the project, im setting off on my own Home PittCock journey, but i know nothing about electronic lighting, i think i have everything down BUT ..... Backlighting!!!
What a pain in the scrote backlighting is. Ive used a MOSFET breakout board to separate the 12v supply from the arduino board so i can trigger the backlight from Mobiflight.
Im on 3x 3.3v white LEDs and a resistor per loop, arranged in parallel loops on a 12v circuit.
But the circuit can change to a different power brick. I "calculated" the resistor value to require 100R resistors..
The result is amounts of light barely detectable to the human eye 😂
Any recommendations on troubleshooting a power discrepancy and selecting a power circuit or changing out the resistance?
Kinda scared to slam a load more current through it tbh.
Honestly don't think I've ever been so envious of anything as I am of your amazing setup.. I don't know if you talk about it much in your videos because I'm just starting to watch them all but how you hook them up to those boards and get them to function is there a program or do you have to make a program how does that all work
Impressive stuff.
Fantastic work! An inspiration.
(You're using stripboard here, though… it's not a PCB if it's not printed and not a circuit ;) )
Did you use stripboard or PCB's on your sim?
@@paulaglet4255 stripboard up to now. I have a CNC engraver that could make engraved circuit boards, but having made a couple I'd rather fire up Kicad and pay JLCPCB a few quid and wait.
What a awesome setup. Step up from VR.
Amazing job!!
Love the diy ingenuity. I've been following for awhile and it's turning out better than I imagined.
What laser are you using? Looks like a Co2, but curious on the wattage.
Cheap Chinese K40, thats been upgraded with a 60 watt tube.
The Warthog Project
Do you recommend the 60w tube upgrade to the K40 for doing these acrylic panels? Or would the standard 40w tube do ok as well?
I love it too
This is absolutely insane! So proud you're a fellow Australian! If you were to do it all over again with what youve learned would you use Arduino or just go full Leo Bodnar ? Cheers mate. Also do you have a video showing your weathering process to get the scratched up aluminium look?
Thanks mate! Yep when I started DCS-BIOS wasn't around, and if I started today I would absolutely use Arduino alone. Having said that, the Leo cards are great and very simple and if people are scared off by Arduino coding they are still a good option. No video on weathering at all, but it's just very simple dry brushing. I'll throw it in an upcoming video.
@@thewarthogproject awesome mate cheers! I’ve been looking at using traffolyte for some custom panels but love you sandwich technique. Yeah I’m pretty good with the teensy microcontrollers, used them for my uni control thesis, they use the same arduino language, but have lots of extra useful libraries
Absolutely awesome, Thanks for sharing. Can you specifIcly show the wiring of the tactile switches, to include how they are ran from and to controller. Building AH64 TEDAC. Share wiring diagram, please ? Thanks!!
Very Nice
crazy amount of work! looks great though! how much power are you using on your K40 to cut the PCB boards strips?
Mines got a 60watt tube. It cuts the board at 60% power at 12mm/s. It wont go through the metal on the boards, so i have to score the metal first and then just pop them out. Works well!
hi hi, wow, must say amazing....
would you mind showing the big screen thats at the back...
how do you position locate the MFD displays exactly at the location where the hole is in the MFCD's.
on this screen a@17:07. whats a build up display and whats from the screen at the back ?
nice
11:45
"pretty simple nothing fancy"
yeah sure this is *not* fancy
Did i understand your videos correctly that the gauges on the front panel is just a big regular monitor screen? And then using some kind of program to copy that area of the display in dcs show it on that perticular space?
Yes the entire front panel is a normal 27inch lcd monitor. The program used for the gauges is called 'Helios.' It takes the data from DCS and uses it to run separate guages, so they are not viewports and are completely separate from DCS. They can even be run over a network to a separate PC. And it's free!
Im trying to make my own MFDs and I ordered the wrong experimental PCB lol. Trying to figure out your soldering and wiring there, do you have any other detailed pics or diagrams?
Love watching your videos, great project, as well as great video production quality. I have a question though, how many arduinos does it take to operate the pit, and is it hard to get them to interact? Never done any coding, but really really really want to make my own pit for the F14, I've found a stick and throttle for sale so that's a good start! Also ordered flight manuals off Amazon for it.
hey RomeoKilo do you remember/know which specific switches you used for turning on/off the mfcds? i looked through the build log on the ED forums but didn't find any specifics. the how much did it cost videos glanced over it too i think. if you know, let me know!
Sorry I do miss a few things in the videos every now and then! I used this one - au.mouser.com/ProductDetail/688-SRBV131803
@@thewarthogproject no worries! I've learned a ton from watching your videos and have stolen a lot of your ideas already. Now i'm just actively resisting the urge to buy a laser cutter and 3d printer i don't have room for! thanks for the info! keep up the great work!
实现你的梦想make your dream comes true
did you use a 8 pos rotary switch for the Day-Night -Off switch? I dont find anything in the proper size... They are all to big.
What colour spray did you use for the buttons mate? Was it still rustoleum? Can't see a matte grey version from them.
Hi. I was wondering what kind of rotary switch you used? I've tried searching ebay but haven't found anything other than rotary encoders that look like that. Can you tell me the model of the switch. Thank you.
I know this is an older video. But where do I get the boards like that you have your switch in.
do you think you will sell these? I mean the kits so you just print/cut/label and then just send it out ..
Also Interested in buying a kit if possible
Quick question...what 3d printer and laser cutter do you use and how much was it for the gear.
PCB design is really easy with a software such as KiCad (free) or Fritzing (dunno if still free). you can learn enough to meet all your needs in less than 1h. I get that prototype boards are easier to deal with for such simple circuits (and much less expensive too), but you shouldn't be afraid to try them out if and when you do more complex stuff.
Also other question, why use the BBI-64? Currently working with a teensy LC, and with easy to implement matrix I can get more buttons (incl. analog inputs) than the BBI-64 for a fraction of the cost while still getting joystick emulation...
I used a BBI-64 only because ive used them before, and they are a proven and simple plug and play solution. A teensy/Arduino would require me to design and/or build a seperate matrix, then flash firmware on it to have it show up in windows as a HID device. With the Leo Bodnar- i just have to connect one wire to the card and its good to go. In my opionion they are worth the cost.
@@thewarthogproject Good point, thanks for the reply. I knew someone who did a 737 sim in his house and I also always wondered why he used older hardware he needed to code in assembly. But since you don't need extra coding, I can see the convenience is worth the price. Keep up the amazing work!
Great job mate. You should consider doing these cockpit builds as a business. I’d be happy to discuss building me a VR pit for a reasonable price. Let me know if you’re interested. Cheers, Craig (Sydney)
I'd love to do it as a job, but its just not tenable. Manufacturing in Australia at a small scale (or any scale really) is not really possible with the costs of shipping. With how much work and time goes into one of these setups, and with such a small niche market- I wouldnt be able to feed my family let alone make any decent profit!
@@thewarthogproject Thanks for the reply. Just out of curiosity how long did it take you to put this thing together? Obviously you've had to invest a lot of patience and time outside of your normal job. Did you ever think about giving up or was it a case of never looking back? Just out of interest, I showed my brother who is a pilot in the ADF. He has flown a number of aircraft in the Army and Airforce. I showed him this video and he was very impressed with what you've been able to achieve. He is a fan if DCS but is waiting for the VR technology to mature a little more before jumping in. I understand what you are saying about doing 'side orders'. Whilst I would love a hornet pit, I wouldn't know where to start, nor do I have the time to invest in a build. For me, I like the idea of VR; something as simple as a hi fidelity eject seat with some controls attached to it, would suit me - something akin to the photos on Dogfightboss's website (www.dogfightboss.com/) If you scroll to the bottom of the webpage you will see a couple of ejection seats with controls attached. Any ideas where I can get CAD drawings for an ejection seat that I can take to a machine shop to get made up? Appreciate it. Thanks Craig
Wow have you thought of selling them
Hiya, what laser do you use to cut out the acrylic sheets ?
Hello Warthog, this very good project of yours that I have seen to date, I consider it the best !!!!!
Please, it would be possible for you to give me, these drawings, with the measurements and the electronic part, please could I list electronic components used in your project, I fly BMS, and I will assemble two MFD'S with 8 inch LCD screens, I don't have MFD'S Thrustmaster, I'll start from scratch, the MFD'S project !!!
Stay safe !!!
Thanks !!!
What size screen did you use for the mfcd