Had limited time at the moment, but managed to make more progress on the F16 ICP Controller
First thing was to make some amendments to the buttons! correctiong the 5 “CRUS” button, and also making the ENTR key a bit higher to match the real world F16 ICP.
Next I twas time to have a look at the thumb-wheels and see what I wanted to do there, I decided for the moment at least to go White Acrylic, and I went for a COG Design which will allow the thumb to easily get traction to turn the wheel. I am using DShaft potentiometers so this make it easier to mount. This is made to be 6mm thick.
Then Looking at the DCS toggle I figured I’d go for 20mm High and will align with the toggles (unsure on the real world, but this works for me)
Putting the unit into its enclosure, after prototyping in MDF the final product shown is Matt Black Acrylic.Below is a pic of the guts, I of course needed a Pot to control the backlighting and an arduino for controlling.
Once we mount the plate in,I am not “Bolting” it in, I using a friction fit with the top plate, it holds it well enough while making it easier and less stress on any acrylic parts when physically screwing it.
Most people may not want this just sitting flat on their desk like this, so I went for a keyhole mounting at the back plate so it can be affixed to any surface with 4 M4 screws and slotted onto them.
The default mounting for me will be a MDF frame it sits in, and can use the 4 keyholes as well.. I worked on it sitting at 70 Degrees, this is what I found optimal.
Now I get it all plugged in and lit up!
I am going to be working on the light leakage to the sides of the wheels, (although it does look cool to me) with perhaps some thick reflective tape and next is some software coding.. Now that DCS Viper is released, I’ll look at HID as well as DCSBIOS.