Where are all the DIYer's?

I tried VR, granted it was only a Rift S. It was cool at first then I noticed how bad the resolution was. Then I found it really annoying having to feel my way round the desk to find my controls etc. In the end gave up and sold the Rift. I think if you have a ton of cash to spend on high end VR then the visuals would be amazing but trying to interact with your cockpit has to be so limited/frustrating I think. It was for me.

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I’m on hold for now because I thought of a weird idea for my setup because it involves converting a (thin) tunnel closet area into a simulator room because of how many beams are up there for shelves and there’s a good wire system that goes through there giving the perfect opportunity to set up shelves so I would just need a chair

You still need controls. I designed and built:
a button box that covers everything I touch in a 172.
a Helicopter collective with hot swappable heads. (Currently have a UH-1H and OH-58)
a finger mounted IR pointing device that turns your finger into a mouse.
I’ve replaced all the sliding components in my Saitek combat pedals with bearings, removed the center detent and slop, and modified the return spring.
I’m in the process of finishing a Microsoft/Saitek FFB yoke that I designed so it will just look like a Saitek yoke but be FFB. I will probably make my WH stick and combat pedals FFB as well.
See, there’s lots to build with VR. :smile:

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Have you been reading too much Harry Potter? :rofl:.
Seriously please post photos on your progress👍

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I have built a home cockpit and I fly in VR sometimes, and I think both have their place.

I fly VR for those wow!-moments, doing sightseeing in a scenic location or practice airwork where procedures don’t matter so much.

I fly using my homecockpit when I‘m doing a cross-country flight under real conditions. Practicing procedures, making a flight plan, setting frequencies and so on. It’s immersive in its own way because it’s recreates part of the challenge of real world flying.

I think both have their place and it comes down to personal preference and goals. It’ll be a long time until you can fly a plane in VR using the full dashboard. At the current state, flipping switches is difficult and setting a direct or a frequency is so finicky that it really destroys the realism.

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My button box and controller button cover everything I need. Muscle memory allows me to reach over and put my hand on any button, switch, or knob. but I’m following this build PA-28 Arrow III - #14 by Sim4good because I’ve been considering the same thing.

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Never read that series or saw the movies.
The button box is in this thread here. The collective is here https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/WT2hgH_QHuA and the yoke is here Force Feedback Yoke project - #303 by JCSLOVE
I don’t have a link to the finger mouse. Haven’t really used it since the button box.
I have to take apart the pedals to shorten the foot rest extensions I made for my big feet. I’ll probably do a video then.

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I was just looking at areas of the house not used that much for anything on the house blueprints I can’t build anything yet until I move to Georgia but I’ll get pictures once things start happening there’s a waiting list to move into the south currently so plan b is to log cabin in the mountains if nothing appears in Savannah

All righty. Sounds like some pretty big plans. Good luck mate!

I’m building a PA-28 VR cockpit with everything where it should be. Just tested some on it today. The topic isPA-28 Arrow III to see pictures of the build. I like the VR experience and now with a full cockpit it’s much easier to fly without fumbling for the switches. I’ll do a regular cockpit if the multi-view is worth like it is in XPlane. You’r right though that both have their place.

I’m not very interested in building panels similar to real ones, but rather in making some HW/SW solution to use the simulator efficiently and for this purpose (for now) i built 2 simple panels from scratch using 2 Arduino Nano.

You can find them here:

DIY Rudder Pedal. Practically from waste …

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Looks great! Is that metal? If that’s made from waste, I’d like to see your „good“ products :smiley:

Thx. :slight_smile: It’s made of wood.

Hi, I love your project, I would like to make the same, is it possible to share your design files?

I have a Snapmaker machine. There are printed, lasered, and CNC’ed components. Not something you could just print. You are welcome to what I have though. I can convert the Lightburn files into DXF format that can be imported into Fusion360 if that would help.
I was just playing around with the faceplate DXF file in F360. It wouldn’t be hard to turn it into a fully printed unit.

Ok, good, I also own a cnc (with fusion360+candle), a 3d printer (with prusaslicer) and a laser engraving machine (with lightburn)

Ok, I’m currently working on my own pedals. Need someone to tell me, am I moving in the right direction or nah?
So concept is using pulley system with cables to actuate the hall sensor. 3 sensors in total - 2 in pedals, one on the central pulley.

Spring/gas pistons to create tension on the pedals (all 4 are under load, so when you apply pressure on one pedal, they should to move relief it from the other pedal)

Why pulley? IDK tbh.

Wanna hear critique

So what happens when you push both pedals down at the same time?

I think, all 4 pistons would contract and basically zero movement on rudder