46 replies to this topic

[Gevurah]

Thanks dude. I'm doing this on the cheap; scrap lumber, about 30 dollars of electronics, whatever **** I have lying around the house. Hell, my door is basically comprised of a 5 dollar piece of MDF cut in half, part of my wife's old art easel, and a drawer handle from an old dresser in the basement.

Once painted, it should look pretty great.

I think at this point I've spent 80 on lumber (mostly on MDF, which I didn't *NEED* but wanted because I had the $$). The 20 dollars comes from the teensy USB. I had the 2x4's lying around in large nums already but they're not terribly expensive. I spent like 20 dollars on arduino kit items on ebay.

My biggest upgrade lately was actually a new motherboard, which cost 50 dollars.

Next up I'm getting some used Saitek X45 throttle/control flight sticks for 35 dollars.

After that are pedals for about 35 dollars or less. If I can't find em for less, I'll build my own using switches processed via the teensy USB, now that I'm comfortable with it.

Lastly, I'll be buying a 30 dollar fresnel from bhlens.com for the purposes of collimating the display. Last piece should be cost of painting the thing. After that I should be golden.

So I'm looking about 300 dollars +/- for cost of the pit, primarily because I had a lot of the stuff/repurposed things as is. Some of my lumber actually came from a tore down old dresser, entertainment stand, etc. Some old auto parts gauges and a dusty old sharp zaurus sl5500 will find their way into the cockpit as well.

It can be done on the cheap Just look to others (propnut, faust, etc) for inspiration.

[Gevurah]

It's update time.
First I stole a Sapporo beer during a recent raid into Drac territory. Then I drank it. Then I cut the bottom off it.
On the left is my interior panel. There will be three holes. Large square and medium rectangle are both going to be covered up with 'maintenance access only' panel covers. Small circle hole is for the LED.


Drill a hole in the mirror-like reflective bottom of said can.



Initial lighting test.


Mocking up the mocked up wiring to test fit the interior panel. Note the gratuitous use of tape.



Physically placing the interior panel to test fit.



It fits! Surprising, given I'm doing the work and there's beer involved.

Now to test the wiring (after adding more tape).



It works! Note the door handle inside which tripped the little momentary toggle. The only pieces missing are the access panel covers and a motts applesauce cup which will fit over the now repurposed sapporo can bottom. And paint. And stickers. This will be one of my first truly completed interior pieces. I'm looking forward to it's being finished hopefully in the next few weeks. Not bad for lots of tape, the wrong tools, a minimal understanding of electronics, and an old 9v battery + parts

[Gevurah]

Recent changes - modified a motts applesauce cup to act as a 'bulb' for the LED door indicator. Fits perfectly over sapporo can. Used red duct tape I had lying around to cover the cup. Might need to go back and paint it, we'll see.

Purchased a saitek X45 set for 35 dollars off ebay. Needs room, it's larger than it seems. I need to figure out an appropriate mounting method for it.

I also chopped off that godawful brace that I'd left up forever and a day. I'll begin complete enclosure shortly.

Work list for things to do:
1 --> paint/detail door light/latch panel
2 --> install panel.
3 --> paint interior components. This is a problem, as my wife got into rabbit breeding recently and I can't risk killing them with paint fumes. I may just go the cheap route and cover everything with labels/printouts. Might need to disassemble and paint upstairs (sigh)
4 --> figure out where I want my MFP functioning at. I'm still on the fence about using my center console.
5 --> Build, install, and test working pedals ala Choowy.
6 --> finish enclosing mechbay.

After that I move onto detail work, painting, adding decals, etc.

[Gevurah]

Just an FYI - This thing has sat idle, but I'm renewing the project. I'm going to saw off the front half of it and make it an open mechpit of sorts where the front part is my new PC desk upstairs. Better than it sitting downstairs collecting cobwebs.

[Smokeyjedi]

I have yet to heave my massive desk down to the basement where my drumset currently is. But the wife is 35weeks preggo so The drumset is relocating before it becomes an issue, I want to back a mechpit thats open like your idea upto my massive desk allowing me to rotate my 24" 3D asus 144hz into the mechpit, Would need wireless KB + mouse + joysticks that would sit dead while desk is in use...and pit closed off.........

[Gevurah]

Which pit is yours again? Sorry - I looked but couldn't find it.

In my case, I got the front nose chopped off. So downside to keeping things in the basement? Mouse poop and giant spiders. Not cool. So gonna need to clean it up before I take it up and get it setup. I'll try to get some pics once I get it to a cleaner state. I just got a few sheets of hardboard too which I plan to use to make interior paneling so it looks less clunky.

[Gevurah]

Being I've dropped out of MWO and I'm moving soon, I cut my simpit in half a while ago to try to make it a little easier to transport.

So that said, I'm trying to get rid of it in the near term; I may rebuild a machine later but for the time being this thing is just languishing.. Anyone want an unpainted pit? Free to a good home You basically get whatever you want here; front half, back half, door, etc. It slots perfectly together so it's easy to transport and reassemble.

Time is limited on this so if you want it let me know. You can message me here and I'll get back to you.

If you reply back to this by 10/30/2017, don't bother, I'll probably have torn it down and used it for firewood by that point.
I have a lot of scrap lumber you can use if you want, as well as other things such as foam. I don't mind holding it a bit if you really want it. I will not provide switches for free, I'll be keeping those tho if you really want them you're welcome to pay the price I paid for them

Otherwise the only price you pay is the price of driving here and picking it up.