the only bit missing is some dark red plastic to cover the led displays, this hides the unlit segments, and allows the lit ones to shine through :) makes it easier on the eye, and much easier to see on camera too. (sticky "stained glass" plastic stuff is cheap and perfect for this)
Great build! I've had similar ideas for a sim racing dash build! If you can, add some kind of diffuser sheet infront of the 7 segments to mask the un-lit segments and improve readability 👍🏽
Wow! What a great product! I followed the instructions in the manual and downloaded the pre made profile and it’s was basically plug and play! I love it and is a great addition to my home cockpit!
Just bought this today! Can’t wait for it to be built and sent! This is so much more affordable than some of the other options I was considering. Can’t wait!!
Oh man that’s what I’ve been looking for! I had exactly the same problem using flight controls with a mouse. So I built a com radio with an Arduino which functions like the real thing, but the trouble was the interface software. I had to use FSUIPC, which was a total pain in the butt because I had to then write a gateway app to interface that to my USB port. The controls are easy for me, I design electronics and a living. It’s the software interface that’s been the obstacle. I’ll take a look at MobyFlight. Thanks!
Some people are unbelievable, basically demanding step by step instruction or asking how much did it cost him to build this... Get a grip people, he is nice enough to share a lot of information, but he is trying to sell a product too. Cost of materials is obviously around 50 dollars, check it by yourselves on the links he actually provides to Amazon, fking lazy people. Also, you cannot expect him to sell it to you at material cost. He uses a 3D printer, that has a cost too plus he is not going to do it for no profit, work time = cost. So it all adds up.
Great video and very nice add-on. May try to get one when available. For the moment I'm using the Logitech autopilot panel in conjunction with the radio panel and using SPAD to map HDG, ALT, IAS & VS to the four digital displays and the four knobs of the radio panel.
Agreed. Push/pull knobs just don’t exist as an affordable off-the-shelf unit. That’s why I decided to not pursue it for this device. It would make it unfordable for a lot of people out there, and the pull action just isn’t a must-have for most people out there.
Suggest to join mobi flight discord. Even i never touched circuits in my life. Believe me with lot of support from others im going to complete one FCU.
Great job. I did 3D print the box and bought all the switches etc.. but I would like to know how you did the wiring from the displays ,encoder to arduino
I built a couple of these using just off the shelf project boxes from Amazon (less than ten bucks) normal unlit pushbuttons, rotary encoders and mini-toggle switches. I saw no reason to duplicate the displays since I'm using the simulator for all of that info. Also, rather than an Arduino I used the Leo Bodnar interface card (BBI-32 or BBI-64) which requires no programming, it just shows up as a joystick controller that can be configured with the in game functions in MSFS and DCS (or Spad.next) The idea is to physically replicate all of the dials, buttons and switches so that you never have to touch the mouse and it makes the game much more enjoyable.
Hello Jeff, Thank you very much for sharing everything, I built a prototype here in Brazil and it was excellent, everything worked perfect now I just need a 3D printer. jejejeje
Whould it ba Possible to Buy/Print a 3D panel of any Cockpit with Holes where the Nobs & Push Buttons Go.and Holes with Lens to Read outs. This Panel would be FULL SIZE to fit on the Front of a 50" to 65" UHDTV used as the Panel CockPit that would be displayed Behind the Panel as the primary flight display (PFD), multi-function display (MFD), and an engine indicating and crew alerting system (EICAS) display. This would Eliminate the need for Separate Components that aren't really Representative of thr Full Scale Aircraft. This Printed Panel could be done in Sections to accomidate smaller 3D printers. While all Buttons Knobs & switches could be installed By the Builder.
Really great. Are you able to differentiate between "managed" modes and "selected" modes on the FBW A320? So, can you build "push" and "pull" into the speed, altitude, V/S knobs like the real thing?
Yes. The knobs are also push buttons (for going into managed mode). Wasn't able to find knobs that you can also pull. So you just press the HDG button (for example) for the "pull" function to go into selected heading mode. So it's more like a traditional autopilot panel in that regard, but it has all of the Airbus functionality.
@@vizix2049 It looked like you pushed the ALT to change to increments of 100ft. Is it also a push to get into Managed/VNAV mode now that the FBW A320 supports that?
Thank you! There's no way to give a real answer to the PMDG 737 compatibility question. Not enough is known about that aircraft yet. I'll say this. I will be buying that plane, and if it's possible to get this autopilot controller working with it, it will happen. It may require MobiFlight support which might not exist initially. However, I imagine the MobiFlight team will be very interested in supporting this very popular aircraft. MobiFlight does support P3D. However, I don't have P3D. You would likely have to program the autopilot controller to work with P3D yourself. Definitely possible, but would take some work. The autopilot controller currently has several profiles that work very well with MSFS and X-Plane 11. If you want to buy an autopilot controller or have more questions, you can email me at vizix.contact@gmail.com. Thanks!
could be even simpler. rotary encoders have push SPD and HDG button could replace. and ALT and VC knobs could work like push and rotate BIG rotate without push small. where LNAV and VNAV even its like all on then its so lol
Hi. What a great video. You mention about being able to build one yourself, so do you share build instructions and arduino code if I wanted to build my own from scratch? Please keep developing! You're obviously very talented. Cheers from Australia.
Awesome!! Question, I am considering getting your module, however I have a question about the managed decent mode in FBW, does it support that along Open decent mode?
@@vizix2049 Yeah, the actual aircraft knobs can be pushed in or pulled out, but I have still not found any encoder modules that do that. A solution i came up with was to put a button on top and a button below the encoder knob, which behave like pushing and pulling the knob. This also means that you can use the encoder button to do something else. Not as faithful to the real aircraft though...
Since everyone is going to ask, do you have a 737 profile for this yet? Using the CRJ profile, everything worked except the altitude. I love this unit and highly recommend it! Thank you!
Thanks for the positive review! I've been busy upgrading my sim setup. Almost finished. Then I'll be buying planes (PMDG 737 included) and making autopilot profiles. I've heard a few people now that have had partial success using existing profiles with the PMDG 737. So it seems like a fully-functioning profile is possible. Feel free to tinker around with the profile if you don't want to wait for me. 😄
Good video. I'm able to get all the components except the led push button. I'm in progress of making one now. Connection is challenging as I have very basic electronics knowledge. All the best and keep posting good stuff like this. I wish your product to become a big success. Though you sell the product you are teaching others on how you made. One should have a good heart for this. One question: Will it work with Adriuno uno ?
THIS was the video I was looking for! Thanks a lot!! Just one question.. how did u "turn" 1 display (8 segments) into "2"? Like you are using only one display and you are showing and controlling SPD and HDG
Thank you! MobiFlight lets you use specific digits for different things. So I just use the left 3 digits for speed and the right 3 digits for heading (###XX###). And the panel just hides what's happening. Let me know if you want one!
Love this project and I'm trying to make it. The STL comes up very small, would you mind posting the correct dimensions so that it can be correctly scaled? Edit: I'm printing it at 2540% scale to get it the right size
I like. One question, could we make the dashboard shape if it’s just 3 d printed and therefore specific to Boeing and or airbus. And do you make them for folks like we order? Very nice
Would be better to have this thing working just plug and play like a regular controller without having to use mobiflight. This would involve some coding but i dont think its impossible. Else well done dude.
Great job. Am considering having a go at building one are you able to tell me where you got the square push buttons with the LED in Am currently using Mobieflight for my other panel stuff but a separate Auto panel would be great. Thanks
Thanks! MobiFlight loads the appropriate code onto the Arduino automatically. The aircraft specific profiles are on my website: jeffrlatham.wixsite.com/vizix/autopilot-resources
@@vizix2049 and did you use wiring diagrams from mobiflight flight as well? I think the wiring is the only thing stopping me at this point but your connectors look really easy
Good job! Is it possible to let me know the following: The max7219 (8 digits) is split into two parts of 2x3 digits each (2 digits unused). How do you control these 2 separate parts in Mobiflight...?
Do you do a channel for setting switches above these switches for the Honeycomb Bravo controller for setting up for NAV, heading, approach, vertical, etc. for Xplane?
Nice!! exactly what I was looking!.. have a question. can you share, hw did you connect K2-22 switches? i tried, but my LED dose not works.. or stay On.. Thanks in advance!!! great video!
Thank you! Take a look at the wiring diagram link on this page: jeffrlatham.wixsite.com/vizix/autopilot-resources The LED is between the "+" and "-" pins on the switches. Good luck. Let me know if you're interested in buying a fully-assembled autopilot.
@@vizix2049 thanks a LOT!!!!!!!!! u made my day! I just forgot to 1 of GND wires.. just question. 10ohm is enough? or we need something bigger? i ac not find much info about kd-22 switches
@@miketango507 Lower resistance just means the LED will be brighter. If you go too low on the resistance, you risk burning out the LED. You should aim for less than 20 mA. Remember voltage = current x resistance.
@@vizix2049, I have seen your wiring diagram. I can see that with the KD2-22 switches, you are only wiring the switch to the ground and not the LED right?
I can see that you have a red wire connected to pin nº2. to where are you connecting the red wire in the arduino? thanks a lot and sorry for all the questions ;)
There's no dedicated LOC button (I was running out of space on the panel). APPR button arms LOC and glide slope. NAV button arms your nav source. If your nav source is set to your nav radio and it's tuned to the LOC, then the NAV button would arm just the LOC. You can also remap the buttons to whatever you want with the MobiFlight program. Honesty, I've never needed to arm just the LOC.
The information is not very complete to be able to make the connections, you can better show the internal part of the wiring in a video, It would be a great help, thanks.
Hi there. Great project. i will be building this over the weekend. But i am not getting the 8 pin DPDT switches. I have 5 pin switches. Will those work ? and how would the wiring be connected ?
Beautiful video!! A maybe silly question, if I make one of these, do the programming and instead of connecting to a computer, connecting to an xbox, will it work?
Good job! I've printed the box you open sourced, nice and beautiful. But I am having trouble fitting the 8-digit led screen into the slot. It seems impossible to fit two 8-digit led screen without overlapping each other. Did I picked the wrong number of digits or wrong type of led screens? Hoping you could help me. Thanks!
Thanks. I don't have a wiring diagram for it yet, but the MobiFlight website shows you how to wire up different kinds of components. Yes, I had to cut off the ends of the display boards to get them to fit.
@@maramberri For the A320, it switches from heading and vertical speed modes to track and flight path angle modes (basically determines if you're referencing the ground track or your track through the air). On other aircraft though, you could have the button do whatever you want.
Hi Jeff Great work you did with the Autopilot for MSFS. Thanks for providing so much information on how and what you did, both on RU-vid and on the website, so others can try to do it for themselves. It seems to me there's a fair amount of demand so it's a little unfortunate your real life makes you too busy to make them anymore. I was just wondering about the 3D printing aspect. Looking into the options it's very confusing! What processes and material did you use? FDM? MJF? SLA? Infill level? Resolution or layer thickness? Thank you for any information you provide!
@vizix2049 Forgive me for prying into the 3D printing aspect but might I ask What processes and material did you use? FDM? MJF? SLA? ABS? What Infill level did you use? At what Resolution or layer thickness? Your ready-built autopilots appear to have been very well priced based on quotes I’m seeing for 3D printing the enclosure.
This is cool, you are just being a bit inaccurate with your word choice. You did not make an autopilot but a mode control panel. It might be good to label it as such so people can find it if they want one.
This is great. Does it work with the Fenix A320? I've read similar controllers that don't work 100% with the Fenix A320 because of the way it is coded, eg. it has it's own set of variables which are inaccessible, therefore the values cannot be displayed on those devices.
Here you go: www.thingiverse.com/thing:5258730 This can totally work for Boeing aircraft as well. I've gotten it working with the CRJ (Collins avionics) and the Garmin G1000. Boeing's up next for me, but it has all the standard buttons, so there's no reason why it wouldn't work.
Just a simple question: Where did you get these special 7219 LED displays? The ones in your link description have 2 holes for fastening to the left and right and are WAY to big to fit. Do you cut them or how you do it. I am trying to build that myself at the moment, since yours is not available, Thanks for your effort though, just would like to know, if I have to cut the 7-segment myself.
