Building a small control box

[Dukey]

Building a small control box-

I have just been taking apart an old wingman 3D joystick so I can take the PCB’s out and rewire them to switches. However I have screwed up a bit because of the type of iron I was using and now some of the connections don’t work. Anyhow I was just looking on the net and found these cards that replicate keyboard inputs and I was wondering if anyone had used them before. If I understand the site correctly I can wire a whole load of switches and program them to perform keystrokes including “shift, alt and ctl” functions without to much hassle; am I correct?
If that’s the case I may well purchase one, that is if I can’t get the Microsoft stick apart hahahaha :joystick: :owned:

This is the site:

http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/

And this is the type that I thought would best suit my needs:

http://www.hagstromelectronics.com/products/ke_usb24.html

Cheers guys

[lowwing_99]

Try the link below. Alot of people on Viper pit uses it.

http://www.betainnovations.com/

Check out viper pit.

http://www.viperpit.org

[Venom]

I have x-keys now but will prolly switch to betainnovation in the future

[Dukey]

Thanks guys, X-keys looks like the one for a user like myself, I am just making a gear lever, flap lever and some other switches for stuff that shoulden't really be on the HOTAS. Its also in my price range for this small project. I will post some progress pics when I get started for anyone that is interested. :smile:

[ruggbutt]

I use the CH Pro Throttle for flaps, gear and canopy levers.

[heartburn]

I just ordered my x-keys matrix board yesterday (WOOHOO!!!) from their site: http://www.x-keys.com/custom/xkmatrix.php

I am way too excited. I, too, am just building a small desktop pit that will have the ICP, two MFD's and as many other things as I can cram into 128 switches and buttons.

[Sundowner]

I admire you guy's how much money you can spend on things you can get for way less :wink2:

That THING costs 80 bucks :bigeyes: ... And you can do the same buying the simplest and cheapest USB/PS2 keyboard, for lets say 5$ and wire all switches to its matrix, it's very easy, and you can do combinations like ctrl+shift+F under single button too which means you can have 315 buttons, if the sim is sensitive to Right Shift / Left Shift thing, that number is doubled. But bare in mind, that any keyboard under Windows is limited to 3 keys pressed at one time… and that rule also apply to those emulators.

[Hell Sqn Protos]

I admire you guy's how much money you can spend on things you can get for way less :wink2:

S~!

......... very constructive.............. not.

Not everyone has the time. skills or inclination to make every simple circuit themselves. I put myself in that group (regarding time) I have a strong Electrical/Electronics background and I wont go through the hassle when ready made modules are on the shelf.

[heartburn]

I, too, have a pretty good understanding of electronics and pcb soldering... But I don't have the time, nor the patience to take apart a keyboard to make my pit. The x-keys matrix board that I bought is $59, that is not a bad price to pay for saving myself a heck of a lot of hassle. Time is money and they saved me a ton of time. I have plenty of responsiblities to my wife, so the less time I can spend pulling something apart creates a win win situation for me.

[ruggbutt]

My free time is limited and it's more valuable to me to buy a controller than to make one. If it was going to cost me $100 to purchase a controller but it was going to take 6 hours to make, then I'd rather pay for it. I can work my day job for 1/3 that amount of time and get something guaranteed to work.

[Sundowner]

You know you still have to wire all those buttons and switches, which gives you the same amount of time minus time to unscrew the keyboard. Sorry but for me it's wasted money. :nono:

For 75$ I can drink beer for two months :tongue:

[Hell Sqn Protos]

S~!

Thats nice for you.

No need to knock others for their purchases though. Its their money, they worked for it and can do what they want with it. As most have stated their time is worth more than the hassle.

And while beer is important to most guys, it clearly has a meaning all its own for you.

[ruggbutt]

In all fairness, they have really good beer in that part of the world.

[Hell Sqn Protos]

S~!

Beer drunks vs Sim Components

No contest - My sim will win everytime. :wink2:

[heartburn]

Yeah, $75 is a fair binge :) I don't know, for me I have been wanting a pit (in any capacity) for about six years. I finally have a way to get it and my wife is happy about it (thank God).

I am writing an article for a magazine, it'll be a documentation of the building of the desktop pit (a how-to), hopefully they pick it up. If they do, the the whole thing is paid for by them, if not... well, I still have the desktop pit that I have wanted for a while. To me, I get what I want either way and that makes me happy.

Believe me, I totally understand how it wouldn't be worth it to you, there are plenty of things that I see that make me think "Why the hell would anyone spend money on that crap..."

[Dukey]

I have the X-keys, This is a quick look at the start of my long term project.

This is the ribbon cable that I attached to the X-keys card:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox002.jpg

Here are a couple of shots of the X-keys card, the quality isn’t the best:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox004.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox003.jpg

This is a prototype of the gear lever:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox006.jpg


This is a switch being tested on the terminal board layout:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox005.jpg

There is more to come, I just need to upload them. So far I have nearly completed the first prototype control box, thanks to my brother who cut the workload in half and came up with a neat way of arranging the components on the strip board. Below is a scale shot of the prototype faceplate.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/contbox-1.jpg
And yeah sundowner it may seem a bit silly but I enjoy doing things as neatly as I can, that failed when I tried to take apart sticks so I spent some money on a good solution; It's a hobby and don't really mind spending a bit on it. Your point is valid though I could have done it with a keyboard and saved money.

Heartburn do you have yours yet?

[Dukey]

Here are some more photos:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox002-1.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox005-1.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox006-1.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox007.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox009.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox011.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox012.jpg

Everything is going well, I have just come in from the workshop having completed my gear handle, now I just have to figure out how to fit the thing properly :confused: and then wire it up.

More to come, cheers :smile:

[heartburn]

Great pics, Dukey! Nope, no pics of mine just yet because I am still testing the switches and buttons that i want, and I am awaiting the arrival of my matrix board. My wife only agreed to allow me to make it two weeks ago.

I have modelled the main console in 3d, it is going to be a monitor and speaker stand/desktop pit. The controller part is going to be removeable, when I am using it I want the pit part to sit over the keyboard as a cover. I am now working on the layout for the components. If I get a chance I will render out a few quick things while at work, tomorrow. I am not going for realism in the modelling, just scale.

Once again, thanks for the pics Dukey, that is a great project you have going there. What game are you building it for? I am going to be using mine for F4AF so there are a few more controls that I would like to build into it.

I am going to have to post photos when i get to that stage.

[Dukey]

Cheers heartburn,

I am building this one for LOMAC since I use that most, with buddys online. I will make the next layout a bit bigger with black shark in mind, and then perhaps start thinking about the T6 that I would like to make (full pit) for FO.

I look foward to seeing some pics of your project, your gona have bags of fun :thumb: good luck

[Dukey]

The prototype is now very nearly complete; all the switches are now working after I sorted out some minor keypress snags. The Gear, parking brake and chute levers are yet to be completed. Below are two recent pictures of the box.
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox015.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/ControlBox014.jpg

The gear lever is now in and working although its a much more simple design than I had hoped for due to the lack of space. Now for the parking brake and chute levers, this should be interesting.

Below is the planned faceplate for the weapons systems module (phase 2 of the project). I am still trying to sort out an effective parking brake but that shouldn't take to long now.

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/WeaponsSystemsJPEG.jpg

[Dukey]

OK the parking brake is now in and the gear lever has been improved, here are a few shots:

A LOMAC test

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/controlbox.jpg

The improved gear lever

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/controlbox008.jpg

[Dukey]

Ok the latest change; I have removed the entire gear lever assembly and replaced it with a rotor pot, this works really well and feels much better than the micro-switch version. Having played lomac for a few hours today I can safley say that having real switches is the way forword, although there are a few changes to be made mostly to do with programing.

Here is a picture of the box setup on my desk:

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/contboxgear.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k95/dukey_37/contboxgearinside.jpg

[Deckerd]

Beer drunks vs Sim Components
Gosh, this is a tough one... :confused: ...hm... :sad: ... Is it a catch question?

@dukey very nice, good craftmanship

[heartburn]

nice job, man. Where'd you get your Waypoint buttons?

Also, in the picture of post #21 is that a db meter in front of your monitor?

Nice job on your setup, I am still designing mine, but right now I have work around the house that needs to be done in order for the green light to work on my setup... that is the deal with marriage, compromise. Heck, I get something cooool out of it so I am more than happy to work on the house.

[Dukey]

All my switches come from Maplin http://www.maplin.co.uk/ I will find the part number if you like.


Also, in the picture of post #21 is that a db meter in front of your monitor?


There is a soldering station,a camera case and a X52 thottle in the shot.

All the best:smile:

[Sundowner]

Finely yesterday I got my custom made PCBs so I could start making my own thing. Its based on Mjoy16 (http://mindaugas.com/projects/MJoy16/) design, it have its software, and the hardware is slightly modified to suit my needs. Cost for two: around 35Eu - more than half of it was the price of custom made PCBs, a dozen of people on the Polish Simulation Forum ordered them so the costs went low enough.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/46/dsc01959resizeha7.th.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01959resizeha7.jpg) http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5383/dsc01960resizeil8.th.jpg (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc01960resizeil8.jpg)


Each one can handle:
-8 axis
-64 pushbuttons
-16 switches
-4 rotary encoders
-1 Hat switch

[heartburn]

That is just gorgeous, great job on those pcb's... I am totally impressed with it.:bigeyes:

[Dukey]

Sweeeet, nice going :thumb:

[ruprecht]

Just on the encoder vs stripped keyboard issue:
The best example I can think of is the gear lever. If you're building a pit for a single sim, single aircraft you're all good with your stripped and rewired cheapy keyboard. But if you want to flip between say FO and FSX, how do you wire it? FO will take separate keys for Gear Up and Gear Down, but FSX has just "Gear Cycle". However you wire it (unless you do something very funky in hardware) you're stuck with either one or the other.
With an encoder, you wire each position to a different pin, and simply switch profiles to switch between sims.
Not saying that the skanky hacked keyboard doesn't have its place (I've done similar with a USB numeric keyboard) but the encoder is a valuable tool in the pitbuilder's arsenal.
$0.02

[bingo]

Dukey
Glad to see the progress on you panels, doing a great job, keep the pics coming.....