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Gregdpw

Have ya guys ever thought about a home cockpit?

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i have been looking around and seeing sites out there like flightdeck solutions and thier jet max 737 kit. That would be so darn cool. Just so expensive. And people with Thier wrap around screens.

 

That would be so awesome. Has anyone here done anything like that for under 10,000 dollars?

 

It would be fun just to have a working cdu. Just so much money.

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Just last week I saw a video from a guy who claimed he had build a 737 overhead panel for as little as $50. I recalculated with prices for materials that I could find and I dont come at $50, but it is certainly possible to build one for around $200 if you leave out the gauges for the pressurization and settle for the switches only.

 

You can buy UBS controller input modules from around 30 bucks and up, depending on how many inputs you want, which allow you to connect all kinds of standard knobs and switches to the functions in your cockpit. All you have to do is take a piece of plastic or plywood board, you can print out a sheet with lettering and glue that on the board, drill a couple of holes and screw in the switches... No special knowledge about electronics needed, you just have to be able to use a soldering iron, that's it. And this can, of course, be done for any panel for any aircraft and from there on you can make it as expensive as you want by adding gauges, or even PFDs/MFDs.

 

And there are plenty of videos out there where people show how to build your own yoke, or throttle quadrant, even. If you dont mind spending some time to build you own stuff, you can do a whole lot already, for pretty reasonable prices.


Cheers!

Maarten

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Okay cool. That's a good idea. It would be nice to learn how to set up all the different switches. And then have enough money left over the different displays in the cockpit

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Just last week I saw a video from a guy who claimed he had build a 737 overhead panel for as little as $50. I recalculated with prices for materials that I could find and I dont come at $50, but it is certainly possible to build one for around $200 if you leave out the gauges for the pressurization and settle for the switches only.

 

You can buy UBS controller input modules from around 30 bucks and up, depending on how many inputs you want, which allow you to connect all kinds of standard knobs and switches to the functions in your cockpit. All you have to do is take a piece of plastic or plywood board, you can print out a sheet with lettering and glue that on the board, drill a couple of holes and screw in the switches... No special knowledge about electronics needed, you just have to be able to use a soldering iron, that's it. And this can, of course, be done for any panel for any aircraft and from there on you can make it as expensive as you want by adding gauges, or even PFDs/MFDs.

 

And there are plenty of videos out there where people show how to build your own yoke, or throttle quadrant, even. If you dont mind spending some time to build you own stuff, you can do a whole lot already, for pretty reasonable prices.

 

How do you actually map all the knobs, switches and gauges of a self-made panel to their equivalents in the sim for the PMDG 737 for example?

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Yeah I know. For the Pmdg it seems like the extra money would be worth not dealing with the hassle of building all this stuff and countless hours trying to make these work.

 

I am thinking of buying a the cdu first. Then maybe 6 months later a mcp and so on

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I can imagine when using a USB module, you install the driver for that device and Windows/the sim recognizes it as a joystick. Then you can map all the functions in the sim to these buttons but there are plenty of buttons that you can't configure in the settings, like auxiliary ground power, GPWS test button, wiper positions and hundreds of others. Thing is if you can't build this yourself, you'll spend a few nice cars on building a cockpit..

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search for "leo bodnar" for usb controllers that can interface switches and rotary encoders

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How do you actually map all the knobs, switches and gauges of a self-made panel to their equivalents in the sim for the PMDG 737 for example?

 

I think for gauges you need an aircraft that gives an output signal. I never done this myself, but I bet there's plenty of info going around.

 

Switches are simple, use LINDA (Lua Intergrated Non-complex Device Assigning). LINDA can assign any switch input signal to a desired switch in the VC, through a very simple to use interface.

It's freeware, you can find everything you need (software, profiles and manuals) in the freeware section on this forum.


Cheers!

Maarten

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So I can go to this Leo bodnar site and buy a small board. And it will allow me to connect switches to the board that I can assign to the Pmdg cockpit? How many buttons or switches can I connect to one board? Thanks guys

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So I can go to this Leo bodnar site and buy a small board. And it will allow me to connect switches to the board that I can assign to the Pmdg cockpit? How many buttons or switches can I connect to one board? Thanks guys

 

I think LINDA can assign most, if not all functional switches in the PMDG aircraft.

For 32 British pounds you get 32 buttons and 16 rotary encoders from Leo Bodnar, but he has several different modules. But there are also other brands that make similar products.


Cheers!

Maarten

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This guy did a video to show how to make a reasonable 737NG cockpit for not too much money.

Eugene

 

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