EEVblog

Full tour around, under, and inside the world's most expensive DIY Boeing 747-400 full motion flight simulator under construction. With Rod Redwin from Simulator Solutions:
simulatorsolutions.com.au/
Forum: www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/ee...
#747 #FlightSimulator #DIY
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[@SteveMHN]

I could watch a few more hours of this, it's so interesting.

[@basshead.]

Too bad it isn't a teardown video tho.

[@jlucasound]

Airliner cockpits are awesome!

[@awesomeferret]

So could I, such a shame that the video on the first SIM that he references doesn't seem to exist on KZbin.

[@ZeroCool-vn9bd]

Brings back memories. I released most of rev - CAD for the emergency oxygen system on the 747-8F/IC. They run through a majority of all the airframe sections.The amount of time and calculations used to make absolutely sure nothing can chafe ever is hard to imagine unless you are in the trenches. I have a lot of pride in the amount of hours I spent to account for every detail. Compromise is not an option when peoples lives are at stake, and every person I worked with respected the task at hand no matter how many hours they had worked. You are spot on with the flight controls, it's not a bad idea to have the old bike cable as a backup, plus, you get a little more pedal feel. :) I saw the date on one of those parts when you were looking under the fwd section structure. 1994. If you sand that green anti-corrosive paint, it's bad to breath the dust. It's great paint because it contains chromium, now it's banned to use. Mostly for painters safety and the environment. PS Sorry for all the wires being the same color in the wiring harnesses. I used to walk through the building where they assembled the harnesses every day. I think the reason why they don't use different color wires for the majority of all runs has to do with the cost of testing and certifying a ton of different wire of the same type, just a different color, which would make it a new material type within the engineering bill of materials. Every material used in the airframe has to be burn tested, corrosion tested, stress tested... etc. Reducing part count is a very appreciated thing in engineering, the harnesses are all made on huge boards that have 1:1 wire, by wire drawings with pegs at routing bends etc. There are all the spools of wire at the various places needed with the terminating tools and supplies. Multiple colors would make a ton more stock of materials at workstations. So white it is.

[@Laz_Arus]

This is _ABSOLUTELY_ brilliant 😉

[@croyfer]

Laz Arus Word of the day ;)

[@mattmoreira210]

*A B S O L U T E L Y !*

[@sibandy]

@@mattmoreira210- Quite!!

[@mattmoreira210]

BTW, does anyone know why KZbin replies aren't working? I don't seem to get a notification when people mention me with @.

[@mattmoreira210]

@Lassi Kinnunen that sucks...

[@VeraTR909]

Absolutely love this series, the guy is great at explaining things as well. A joy to watch!

[@srfrg9707]

this takes the expression "playing alone at home" to another level.

[@crazor01]

I had a good laugh at 34:08 when the NiCad battery assembly called "SAFT" came up. Saft is the german word for juice ^^

[@martinda7446]

If you happen to be reading this Ron, everyone here watching with me thought you were just wonderful. I watched all of the films Dave made over and over. Truly inspiring stuff. Dave is wonderful too - of course, and we are privileged to have him.

[@alext8828]

Guy's name is Rod.

[@VeraTR909]

27:10 Dave totally came :P

[@pro5p3c7or1]

lmao 😂😂😂😂

[@SeanDuffyProductions]

Who wouldn't!

[@warrenprice2137]

I'm blown away by the level of expertise, the amount of work that has gone into this, and the complexity of the aircraft's basic control systems let alone what you've done with the panel and lighting systems. Absolutely amazing. I'm a private pilot and I learned more about the 747 and how it's engineered in this video than I have my entire life. Awesome video.

[@Digital-Dan]

I stayed glued to this for 1:10:24. So different from the brief exposures of conventional TV tech programs. If the guy who dies with the most toys wins, this is a good candidate. As a kid, I spent hours playing with a large cardboard control panel for a space ship. This would be a lot more fun. Thanks for doing this, Rod and Dave.

[@Nighthawke70]

I can hear the Customs officers going nuts asking about it. "For what reason you are bringing this in to this country?" "Oh, I'm building a simulator with this." O.o

[@FranLab]

This was great! Good on ya, Dave!

[@alext8828]

Hey, Fran!...again.

[@JamesMossR33]

Absolutely fascinating, I could listen to Rod talk about this for hours! Where did an hour and ten just go. Awesome. Thanks guys.

[@mikemike7001]

Absolutely. ;)

[@JesusisJesus]

I want to hypnotise this guy and tell him to say "Fukn Oaf" every time he says "Absolutely"

[@Allan-]

@27:00 I think Dave was very very excited LOL... So impressive what work Rod has done.

[@Rolly369]

oh dear, watching this reminds me going back to work tomorrow :S (plane electican, long range)

[@hw5950]

Electrician "WORK" ??????????? Plain Electronics???????

[@roberthorwat6747]

Cotswolds airport🇬🇧 got a mention on EEVBlog!!!! 😁😁😁 A mere 18 miles away from my house. Been there a few times.

[@jackwilliamson3448]

43 miles from mine!

[@stewartthompson72]

Fantastic Dave! Great content, keep it up! I am thoroughly enjoying the Simulator Videos.

[@SidneyCritic]

Just make some gimbal rings and put that inside. A 5 ton cockpit upside-down should be doable, you just need the room for the ring diameter. Can you tell I worked in a metal fab shop that made bridges and ships, because to me spinning a 20t boxed beam the size of a container upside-down was pretty easy with the stuff we had.

[@chuckvanderbildt]

Really nice job on this, from both of you!

[@nicwilson89]

Oh boy,,,this is my early birthday present and christmas present...absolutely loooooooove these long videos :D

[@GreatYTShark]

Awesome couple of videos Dave thank you. I'm not an elec engineer but I do love my flight sims so for once I actually understood the terminology in one of your videos ; )

[@thomasolsen7108]

Awesome! awesome! we need more of this please, thank you Dave!

[@martinda7446]

Do you know MikeMike?? 😂

[@thomasolsen7108]

@@martinda7446 Mike+Mike=Awsome! The answer is no, I dont know about MikeMike, but it sound Awesome!

[@zakofrx]

When I was a kid I went to an old mainframe supercomputer room and the first thing I was told was to run if the fire alarm went off because the Halon systems would kill me.

[@Richardincancale]

I’ve been in a flight where the take-off was aborted due to an alarm - pilot said they didn’t believe it was a ‘real’ alarm and they would power off and in again. Engineer came over and disconnected the batteries for a minute. You can imagine there was a strong silence on the plane at the second take-off attempt - which worked!

[@hw5950]

Master reset, Damn 1 and 0's

[@slartibartfas0428]

@16:11 : All I could say to the cutting with an angle grinder: "Holy toledo, somebody had fun!" :-D

[@EEVblog]

Heck of a job hanging 40ft up in the air doing it though.

[@slartibartfas0428]

@@EEVblog lol, yeah. But not just fiddeling around with some nifty traversals or such peanuts! Why not cut off the whole nose of a plane.... :-D I do like the whole idea. And connecting *all* that stuff is quite a bit of work! That's really crazy good!

[@FesixGermany]

Never really was into aviation before but I need a lot more of these videos!

[@mikemike7001]

Fantastic series. Looking forward to some teardowns back in the lab.

[@DuoGlassix]

I loved this @EEVblog @Dave! Great stuff!

[@reallydeej]

Definitely need another video once this is completely up & running.

[@dash8brj]

32:30 did you turn it off then back on again? I could so spend hours hanging out with this guy. he seems like a lot of fun, and I love flight simulators. Thanks for doing this series Dave! :)

[@Derundurel]

I spent many years producing interfacing solutions for a major simulator manufacturer. This certainly brings back memories!

[@donmoore7785]

Fascinating! Amazing variety of technology involved.

[@Stefan_Payne]

Oh nice, a Video I can use my 4K Screen for :) Nice to see a long form vid, Dave!

[@SCAPE0GOAT]

Good God. This is fantastic ☝️ The complexity per system is mind boggling. Very nice job. I look forward to seeing the project completed and functioning. Great video Mr Jones

[@gszikora2000]

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing...

[@owensmithcameraman]

Correction : When they look at the rudder box described as the First Officers rudders. It is in fact the Captains rudder peddles as on all commercial aircraft the captain sits on the left hand side of the flight deck/cockpit not the right. On the right hand side facing forwards sits the F/O it was incorrectly stated near the beginning section of this video. I would like to add that he is a very cleaver guy. When they start talking about smoking on flights. I used to fly with a captain who would smoke four cigarettes from engine start and taxi to the time we had lined up on the runway for take off. I look back today and think we must have been crazy to smoke on flights back in the day.

[@gotj]

WOW, what an awesome vidjeo. Thank you very much!

[@hoofie2002]

Incredible stuff. That autopilot display movement was positively orgasmic. Please Dave - lots of more videos on this!

[@TechNed]

What an absolute dream! (And a monumental amount of work!)

[@flymypg]

Makes me want to get back into the aviation instrument industry.

[@VeraTR909]

Do you have any interesting stories about that time? An especially complex instrument for instance? (no problem if you don't feel the need to expand)

[@octapc]

lol, I was thinking about the time I had an F-111 main computer system that just wouldn't divulge it's fault and man was that a complex setup with 22 individual boards.

[@VeraTR909]

@@octapc Wow, yeah that sounds like an absolute nightmare :)

[@davidpalmer9780]

@@VeraTR909 Take a look at @BobC post, pinned by Dave, on the previous video for a few story snippets of his previous experiences in the aviation instrumentation business. It's fascinating.

[@VeraTR909]

@@davidpalmer9780 Oh I didn't know he had posted before, thanks! I feel a bit stupid now :P

[@MatthewSuffidy]

They are going to have to: *Get the mechanical movement thing working. *Put up view screens hopefully just outside the screens. May be better with a wrap around projection screen. *Put together the software that drives the computer screens and the exterior screens as per simulation. That is not trivial amount of stuff to get right and be realistic.

[@MarcelHuguenin]

Great video Dave!

[@athanasiosstefanopoulos5211]

What an amazing video! Great job! Awesome!

[@09danstart]

that was very interesting.. didnt seem like 1 hour and 10 mins.. dont time fly, great video lol

[@mikemike7001]

Dare I say absolutely beautiful? Absolutely? Absolutely!

[@martinda7446]

Absolutely, absolutely, MikeMike, MikeMike....😁

[@codebeat4192]

Impressive........ Was thinking about the design documentation/schematics of this..... mind blowing. Hats off to the designers.

[@lasersimonjohnson]

Just fantastic... thanks

[@Rob2]

Absolutely Fantastic!

[@pradolover]

Utterly fascinating! ❤

[@demofilm]

What a great job ! Hats off

[@rarbiart]

i'd like to see the backlight and panel flicker when switching from APU to external and back....

[@AllElectronicsGr]

Absolutely!

[@MathieuB05]

Amazing!

[@jfwfreo]

I can only imagine the amount of work that would have been needed to make the original displays usable in a cockpit like this and I can see why replacing them with LCDs is a better choice even if its not so authentic. Some amazing work going on in reverse engineering all this stuff (surprised all the people who build things using actual aircraft parts don't have some sort of open source reference/database for all the reverse engineering they do to help each other out. Or ar there legal/security/whatever risks involved in sharing all the exact details of this stuff in public?)

[@DavidKenny64]

Dave, I strongly encourage you to ask Rod to check out tilt5.com Their augmented reality system might be a low cost, high quality, visual solution to their cockpit visualization needs. Each viewer will get their own perspective through every window that will also change when they move their heads. Tilt Five is a startup, but has a very impressive product. Each kit also includes a SDK so custom software can be written for it. The magic is that each pair of glasses projects its own perspective onto the retro-reflective material that directs the reflected light only back to the glasses that projected it. Contrary to what is implied by their "game board", the retro-reflective material can be much larger and real objects in front of it (pillars between windows) will block the view realistically. I am not affiliated with Tilt Five, just a fan from way back in it's prototyping days.

[@Robvdh87]

Looks awfully like his work is also his favorite hobby ;-) Great!

[@CaspaB]

I flew a 747 simulator for about 10 mins in 1970. Luckily I was standing next to the empty pilot's seat and as I had flown gliders was offered the opportunity to fly it. ( btw: The first hand held calculator, HP35, did not even exist then.) I was allowed to waggle the wings and even stall the simulator. We did not have time to get back to Essendon airport (Melbourne) so I "landed" it on Port Phillip bay. Touchdown sounded like wheels on concrete not wheels in water. FAIL ! But great fun.

[@drewlarson65]

I can't believe how much cool shit you can cram into an hour dave, keep it up

[@norbert.kiszka]

32:10 Aerodynamic engineer: we need more weight at front to move CG or this will not fly correctly. Electronic engineer: Hold my beer. I have nice new connectors.

[@apbosh1]

Enjoyed that a lot! im gonna make something with an arduino now haha

[@AlexSmall71]

Incredible! :)

[@dcallan812]

Fantastic.👍👍

[@gcewing]

Should add a rain simulator so there's a reason to hook up the windscreen wipers.

[@salehjamali8752]

amazing, just amazing 👌

[@martinda7446]

Another friend of MikeMike???😵

[@cambridgemart2075]

The great thing about standards is that there are so many to chose from!

[@6Diego1Diego9]

this is fascinating...

[@proudsnowtiger]

You took it apart. Heroes.

[@electronic7979]

Super 👍

[@Valenorious]

27:00 Proper Nerd-gasm inbound!

[@nixxonnor]

That sim is soo nice

[@Deipnosophist_the_Gastronomer]

Excellent :-)

[@BuysDB]

Thanks so much for filming all of this Dave, I love all these old school electro-mechanical devices! And I had never heard about DSUZ rails ( 28:20). That is a very nice looking mounting system!

[@DJlegionuk]

Totally Amazing ! can you take something back for a proper tare down ?

[@biggiejohn3360]

Data centers have almost entirely removed Halon, it's just far too dangerous. The direct replacement commonly used is HFC227, HFC227ea, or FM200, all of which are derivatives of Heptafluoropropane. Yep, something with "propane" in the chemistry is a fire suppressant. The modern gasses are breathable as they do not consume oxygen unless heated as it would be directly at the source of the fire.

[@darksidefloyd1]

Great video. This video checks so many boxes of things that I enjoy. I'd love to work with Ron on this project. For all of those counting 67 times. In an hour+ video... I'd "um" bet everyone has a word or two they use. For the record only one "um". :P

[@matthewdru8941]

Funny he called those Cannon connectors. They are either from Cinch or RMS. The only two suppliers qualified at BOEING for the BACC 45 and 63 series that are used. They are actually Mil Spec 26500 series with BOEING special requirements.

[@ELPaso1990TX]

Wow that was amazing! Really enjoyed your video. I was fascinated with the manual control pulleys at the start of the video also the rotable parts bit was really interesting. So when in civil aviation did this rule that requires documentation for any faults, repairs or modification become compulsory was it as far back as the first jet liners or before? After watching this video I feel I now know my way around a 747 cockpit, that smoke vent too lol. I would so love to build something like this if I was more knowledgable with electronics maybe I need to get learning lol. Once again thanks for uploading this fantastic video! Liked and Subscribed :)

[@mralmnthwyfemnin5783]

Uber cool !

[@douro20]

We use the same type of connectors on modern ag equipment. The tool for removing the pins is made of plastic.

[@davidpalmer9780]

The pin insetion /removal tools used on the plugs were made by Daniels Manufacturing Corporation of Florida, USA.

[@gabrielprates8385]

When I got rich, I'll move to U.S. and make some of those cockpits: 737 747 777 767 MD11

[@DanyIsDeadChannel313]

Anxiety is a beneficial trait for airplane pilots ;)

[@mumblbeebee6546]

I would love to sort out the windscreen wipers for him when he's away, and then see his face when he flies it, many months down the line, when suddenly a mister makes the windows wet :) Thanks, Dave!

[@planegaper]

at 30,000 us per window pane, just make sure there's blades on those wipers.. scratch could be costly as hell.. the wiring must have been crazy, mind you, you break it down into smaller bits.. Mind you , an existing 747 sim must have lots of already made up software, don't know what he's gonna drive this with, probs one plc machine for hyraulics, one to drive the graphics, and one or two dedicated to interface and tie the sim into the cockpit, which would look like a bloody server with a gazilion connections.. As for software, im sure boeing had stuff already, as that would be a monumental task , amazing to see it done by this pro ..

[@PrinceWesterburg]

So I need to create a MIDI controller with that Arduino kit thats gathering dust - then KZbin recommends this. I feel safe I will have no problems!

[@garyjanssen5388]

OMG im a big kid again, i like it. Good luck.

[@TomStorey96]

Modern data centers don't use Halon, they use something like FM200 instead.

[@JesusisJesus]

Absolutely....!

[@Apple.Repair]

Wish I could fly one day again ;(

[@MetallicBlade]

They should bring some back into the air. That is, if they still exist and haven't been scrapped.

[@EEVblog]

I took a Qantas 747-400 from Melbourne to Sydney a few months back.

[@gus6rocks]

absolutely

[@martin.B777]

No kidding!😮👌👍✈🚀

[@Knight8365]

Great video, really interesting to see all these details that are normally hidden. But AC & DC sharing common ground? On a fuselage which could be struck by lightning? Synchros and resolvers at different voltages & different protocols? I AM NEVER FLYING AGAIN! :D

[@brainfleming8756]

Notice that there are no color codes on the wires and that they are all white? There is a numerical id for each wire hot stamped on the white insulation.

[@davidpalmer9780]

... within each individual instrument component terminating at the male plug. @BobC ... Can you comment further on this?

[@brainfleming8756]

@@davidpalmer9780 Hi David, not sure what you mean by your question. But If you look at the wires going to the various cannon plugs they are all white (may be some different gauges) with black lettering stamped on the white insulation. The circuit diagrams all refer to that numerical code, and then the engineers on the aircraft refer to that code when doing troubleshooting etc. I am not an avionics person, I write software for aircraft maintenance. I remember many years ago when I first saw from a distance all the white wires bundled together, I was stumped until it was explained to me. Cheers!

[@davidpalmer9780]

@@brainfleming8756 I noticed the wiring trolley at 1:58 that held many spools of different coloured wire that's used to create the wiring looms between the avionics and the SimStack boards via the CB's. I'm guessing that due to the small amount of wiring within each avionic device, there's no need for a coloured wiring protocol. I was asking @BobC if he could comment on this given his expertise.

[@brainfleming8756]

@@davidpalmer9780 True, but he is probably not an AME (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer) and nobody is going to sign off that work and declare that it meets all applicable standards of airworthiness. That flight deck that he is working on will never fly again. The cost of approved wires is so high that nobody would ever use it for non avionics purposes. Finally, hot stamping is being phased out for laser marking and that equipment is out of the realm of the hobbyist. www.laselec.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Why-choose-a-Laser-over-other-wire-marking-methods.pdf

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

It is most likely going to take another 2 yrs before everything is finished would I be right in thinking that.

[@Stoney3K]

What are they planning to use for the upper and lower EICAS (the two big square holes in the middle)? Because there's not enough space for a rectangular LCD to fit unless you make some serious cuts on the frame.

[@awesomeferret]

What happened to the first video about the older simulator? Not on this channel, not on the EEVBLOG2 channel. Was it removed for some reason or just never uploaded?

[@martin.B777]

Hope they'll use Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020!👍👌🚀

[@frother]

absoleeeeuuutely, absoleeeeuuutely

[@trickyrat483]

I wonder how much solar roadway is needed to power it? :)

[@JerryDodge]

"Eye protection must be worn" right behind a man with no eye protection.

[@daa3417]

It’s okay he was squinting.

[@icesoft1]

Australian safety goggles... (just like Flip-flops/Thongs=Aussie safety shoes)

[@programagor]

33:25 - "A lithium battery fire can burn at up to 1000C - three times hotter than the melting point of the Dreamliner's revolutionary carbon-fibre skin at 343C" I don't think that's how temperatures work.

[@Stepclimb]

True. One needs to use Kelvin scale to get multiples of temperature.