Dual flight controls for simulator

[Hawkeye]

Shawn, if you need a test pilot when it's done, I might remember enough to give it a go. I earned my commercial License in '83. Same year I got married. End of story.

Anyway, if you've got a C-172, C-120/140 or a PA-28 or even a PA-11 in the mix, I think I could fly it.

[Mayhem]

That sim you built looks fantastic Shawn - what has the feedback form the pilots that have used it been?

[Shawn]

Thanks Mayhem, all the pilots have been pretty impressed with the sim. Both if the companies that supply our fixed wing tankers during fire season have started simulator projects as well now. We use the sim for training our AAO's, they ride in the right seat and don't actually fly.

If you are ever in Kamloops Mike drop me a message and we can take the sim for a spin. I can give you a tour of the planes as well if you like. We have two Convair 580's and four Air Tractor 802's based in Kamloops this year so the pits will be full of planes this summer.

Shawn

[Hawkeye]

Shawn, that sounds like fun. You can take the pilot out of the sky, but you can never take the sky out of the pilot. If we ever get some summer, I'd like to hop on one of the bikes for a burn up your way.

[Shawn]

Sounds good Mike, our first group starts on Monday so we will have planes in the pits soon. I was giving myself fits trying to cut plexiglass on my little mill. If I allowed any chip buildup on the bit at all it would almost instantly get hot and melt plexiglass into the bit ruining the part in the process. I decided to make my panels from aluminium instead. No backlighting but much less hassle to cut. The powder coating system gives the parts a nice look and I should be able to full in the engraving with whatever colour I like.



Shawn

[Hawkeye]

Shawn, you're really hitting the ground running with your CNC. Lots of good stuff happening.

Seems to me I read something last year about milling plastics. I'm not positive, but I think they recommended lower RPM with fairly fast feed rates to keep the heat down. Might be worth experimenting with.

[Shawn]

Thanks Mike, I don't know why I didn't do some research on speed and feed rates for plexiglass? I am most certainly running the bit too fast and my feeds to slow. I have enough scrap to run a few tests tomorrow and see if I can't find the sweet spot. I have set up a compressed air line with the smallest orifice I could find to constantly clear the chips and cool the bit but I think the chip load was definitely too small.

[stevec]

[TomG]

Shawn,

Acrylic is a major PIA to machine because the melting point is so low. I'v found that WD-40 works great to keep it from melting and fouling the tool, but better yet, just substitute polycarbonate instead of the acrylic.

Tom

[Shawn]

Thanks Tom, I will look into getting some polycarbonate sheet.

Shawn