Magnetic Switches - for $20 each!

[@thewarthogproject]

Update- A few days short of 1 year later, two of the nails fell off as the bondic glue gave up. It was an easy fix, however I used a two part epoxy this time. They will never come off again.

[@CAL1MBO]

You are a legend.

[@panthero7]

@@CAL1MBO he is for real

[@benbencom]

Makes sense. UV cure adhesive is tricky to cure where no light can reach it. If the sleeves were also transparent plastic you could probably make it work.

[@asagk]

I think it would be somewhat simpler, and less power consuming, if the nail gets caught by a ramp (nose shaped hooking ramp). And the magnet pulls the "hooking-ramp" back so the nail can snap back into off-position. If the ramp is not too steep on the lockingside, you can still disable the switch manually. That way you do not need to have the magnets activated all the time, to keep the switch in position! I assume the original switches work in a similar fashion, instead of having an active magent consuming power all time while in on-position?!

[@mikehibbett3301]

When I saw you using UV curing I was thinking "that will only cure the surface". Epoxy a much better idea.

[@GoSlash27]

I have a suggestion. Suppose you use permanent magnets to hold the switches in the on position, but *counteract* them with electromagnetic windings when you want them to disengage. This would greatly reduce the current draw of the setup as well as eliminate the need for cooling. Instead of applying constant current to keep the switches engaged, you'd only need a short pulse to disengage them.

[@umi3017]

If that's the case, you don't need permanent magnets, just some self-lock switch + a disengage elecmag. IRL jets use holding mechanism to make sure it'll always jump back to OFF as soon as the power was lost, but I have seen some low-end sim hardware for 737 use switches as what your suggestion is, my guess that type of switch is cheap anyway.

[@tad2021]

Had the same thought. Essentially making a large latching relay.

[@JaenEngineering]

For this use, permanent magnets are not a bad idea. But for anyone thinking about using this for other purposes, you need to consider the failure mode. This has a "fail-safe" mode, in that when power is lost, it returns to its off position. Using permanent magnets would create a "fail-secure" mode, which means the switches would remain on even in the event of a power failure, which may cause issues if something needs to be off when the power is first turned restored.

[@warlockd]

Might be easier to take apart a cheap china linear solenoid. Many of them are push pulls so if you swap out the mosfet for a motor controller chip, you could flick the switch on and off. Though not sure how much force you need to pull a switch though, 15 newtons dosn't seem enough and the cheap ones don't have a pull more than 10mm

[@modmen.]

You could still make it secure by adding a switch that opens when power is lost, a capacitor would be enough to reset the manual switch. It's arguable if it's more complex since you get rid off the fan.

[@PeterKNoone]

Wow. The WAF (wife acceptance factor) of your hobby is nearing zero. You are my hero, great stuff as usual. Makes my pathetic sim-racing cockpit look pretty sad (I still love it even if my wife doesn't)

[@WarrenPostma]

I do not have anything built yet. I just live vicariously through others and wonder what sort of face my wife will make if I buy the warthog hotas and throttle.

[@blahorgaslisk7763]

@@WarrenPostma In my experience, and not knowing your wife, I'd say at first she would look skeptical with a hint of disapproval but also some resignation like she's thinking "boys will be boys". Once she learn what they cost, indignation and disbelief that you will waste so much money on kids toys. When you tell her this is just a very small fraction of the cost of the cockpit you are going to build, it's going to be the sofa for a week at least. Oh and if you try to hide the cost... Lets just say it's probably better she knows from the beginning rather than finding out the reason your kids university funds seems to have gone AWOL is because of your toys in the basement...

[@MrNoobed]

Just tell her he saved 20,000 by not buying the real switches... ouch

[@november9727]

this comment section is definitely what i think how my girl looks at me when i tell her about anything related to the sim or real life 🤣🤣

[@npc6817]

@@blahorgaslisk7763 and that's one of the many reasons why I'm not having kids. I want both me and my partner to be able to afford our expensive toys.

[@frollard]

Worth adding - a lot of the cheap mosfet boards don't have a back emf protection diode (should be one inside the mosfet but easy to blow out) - inductive loads like that magnet could have an appreciable pulse that the mosfets won't like.

[@marks47]

Better the mosfets than the arduino!

[@rav3nx33]

Yeah diode every coil you ever use. Ever.

[@lionlinux]

i did notes it either

[@liveen]

OH, shit, I completely forgot about that part. This is actually a massive thing for this video yeah. For TWP: any transistor connected to an inductive load, like a motor, electromagnet, straight up inductor etc, will HAVE to have a diode connected to the source and drain pins, because inductors will store current during charge, then release all of that when the charge stops (electromagnet turns off, in this case), and that current will likely be going straight back to the mosfet as there's nothing else connected after the electromagnet, and the electromagnet IS the inductor, so it wont be sending the current to itself. And to the mosfet this will be a reverse current, which is what a diode would help redirect to protect the mosfet. So the arduino isn't in any danger from this necessarily, but 1 diode per mosfet can still save TWP a lot of work down the line if a mosfet dies because of this. The arduino does connect to the gate of the mosfet as well though, and one thing is important to note here. If the mosfet dies, the drain's leakage current to gate can increase a lot, so assuming the arduino has pins connected directly to gate, this EMF could end up reaching the arduino. I've even had mosfets straight up just short both drain and gate to source (ground) when they die, which in this case could mean the arduino pin drawing way too much current and the circuitry connected to that pin dying. If the arduino is powered by a PC's USB, the PC's OS might actually detect the large current draw and shut off the USB though, but it can take a bit of time, and I wouldn't want to count on that. Honestly though I would just use BJTs and a diode, that way anything that breaks will be extremely cheap. but i understand that TWP chose what he did. Still really, really do need a diode though. Won't be hard to implement, just put it across drain and source, line facing the positive side, and you should be safe. Gate already seems to have resistors judging from the appearance of that board, so that one is okay at least. Diodes for gate can be a hassle sometimes because of voltage drop, and adding another resistor there would just make a voltage dividor which ends up being the same thing.

[@pedrohcs8]

Not really a must, the internal diodes on the MOSFET do heaps! I run my bldc driver without back emf diodes and it still works like a charm

[@CYMotorsport]

oh no.... I was running out of inspiration in sim racing as I've gone as far as i've been able to find online re: DIY electronic tinkerers. Your complexity just blew that away haha looking forward to this rabbit hole

[@youkofoxy]

Why that sounds like: Oh no, I thought I had done everything that can be done with my sim setup, now I have to reconsider everything... anyway, back to tinkering. To me?

[@CYMotorsport]

@@youkofoxy flight sim folks tend to do that to sim racing folks haha I'm big enough to admit that happily :)

[@lexeindhoven]

Would recommend looking into solenoid driver ic's. They limit the current after a set time. The hold current is much lower thus less heat

[@WarrenPostma]

And if there was more metal at the bottom of the nail (ie a ferrous washer attached) it would need much less current to hold it since the cockpit design is not that it can be switched ON automatically. It just has to hold the switch in on position once it reaches it. In fact a permanent magnet and a small “off kick” solenoid would also work. It would only need power when tripping the switch off.

[@No1sonuk]

I was about to write exactly this. Some of the aviation contactors I deal with even have extra coils that are only switched on when the contacts are open.

[@StephenHoldaway]

Could also potentially only turn the electromagnet on for a switch when that switch moves to the hold position, rather than always having them powered Edit: just continued watching and he already does this 👌

[@lexeindhoven]

@@StephenHoldaway he does that.

[@Whiskey11Gaming]

@@lexeindhoven i think he was more referring to have the switches on in the position they are least likely to be in all the time. SAS switches, for instance, are always on... so inverting the setup to hold them for SAS off and spring loading to SAS on week help because they won't be on except aircraft start... if course, he'd have to reset them to the off position every restart.

[@steffennilsen2132]

Regarding the electro magnets getting too hot, you can pwm modulate the powerdraw so it pulses on and off quickly with a mosfet and tune it so it will still hold the switch but use less power overall and thus not get as hot. Edit: I see below someone has suggested a dedicated solenoid IC and it would be an even better option. Another way to reduce power draw is to increase the surface of the part to hold, seeing as its a small rod it has a very small surface compared to the magnet, if you could have a flat wider surface you would need less power to hold it

[@TerryLawrence001]

I love the amount of work you have done on this project. Making all this public and open is awesome . I made a similar switch setup but I use a permanent magnet on the end of the nail. This magnet sticks to the electromagnet by default to hold the ON position. Simply pulsing the electromagnet in the same N/S polarity as the permanent magnet will push the magnet away. This means only a brief pulse is needed on the electromagnet.

[@DerSolinski]

Magnetically hold monotary switches are such gems. A lot of machines used them as main switch in conjunction with e-stops. Also made sure they wouldn't start up after a blackout.

[@prairiedawg792]

As you're using an Arduino to do the switchng I'd definately consider PWM-ing the solonoids. So for example pulse ON for 1 second to actuate then switch to percentage PWM to hold (you'll need to do a bit of trial & error so it feels right). As a benefit you can probably do away with the fan. NOTE don't even try PWMing without flywheel diodes though!!

[@modmen.]

You mean a flyback diode?

[@prairiedawg792]

@@modmen. Yes same thing, different name. I personally prefer the term freewheeling as [to me] it describes the current path through the diode+coil while the mag field collapses.

[@modmen.]

Yeah makes sense. Wouldn't it just turn into a stepdown converter?

[@prairiedawg792]

@@modmen. Yep that's basically it - add a bit of smoothing & regulation and you have a good old buck converter...

[@Wtfinc]

@@modmen. yeah I was bout to ask wtf a flywheel diode was. I Was like "great, just when you think you know your diodes..." is that a map makers fish? or whatever. red herring to weed out the unworthy. I find it hard to believe someone who knows electronics enough to suggest pwm and know inductive loads require a flyback diode. flywheel makes no sense and I might imagine one to be a backward flyback diode. it might help to think of the diode as a flyback arrestor. the flyback being when current to the coil stops flowing, the magnetic feild collapses, forcing current to move in the other direction burning out the FET/s

[@benqenobe]

Ha, amazing work. Just when I think you are basically done you go and add another level of realism.

[@ollyk22]

If you are worried about the magnets dieing, one standard technique with electro magnets is to lower the voltage. You might be surprised how low you can go. Fantastic job!

[@thewarthogproject]

Sorry all- I fixed the broken links in the description!

[@stephenhoward9901]

Thanks :)

[@zaelu]

and the wall??? :D :D

[@AndroidFerret]

Only big thing missing now is a mechanism to move the cockpit to simulate flying

[@AndroidFerret]

Why do those switches cost 4k ?

[@SaajaadeenJeffries]

You ever think about converting to a motion rig

[@ChadCyr]

The magnetic switches are like ASMR. So satisfying! Bravo!

[@benoitmalenfant5287]

Great stuff! You might want to look into using flyback diodes at the output since this is an inductive load, there will be massive voltage spikes at turn off time, those can damage the mosfet, putting a diode in parallel of the solenoid but in reverse polarity will prevent that

[@mfx1]

If you put a small flat plate on the nail, free to "float" a bit so it self aligns to the magnet then you could use a much smaller/lower powered magnet eg a cannibalised relay coil . You can also get energise to release magnets but not sure if you can get them that small.

[@cageordie]

Man, this takes me back! In the early 90s the company I worked for did a startup simulator for the Harrier so they could practice procedures for hot and hung starts, etc. We got a cockpit built and installed instruments and displays. The two impossible tasks were barrel gauges and these switches. Both extremely expensive and impossible to find used. This was long before Internet and Ebay. We eventually subcontracted to have the gauges built for us. I don't know where we eventually found a start switch. Our engineering manager spent his weekends going round aircraft scrap yards, and aviation museums looking to buy one somewhere.

[@John-gm8ty]

dude, the level of effort and workmanship and ingenuity is off the charts. fuck me it's impressive.

[@johnwickham]

This is an insanely clever design. I've been thinking for a while about toggle switches that will actuate themselves and could never come up with a way to do it. Really dig this.

[@Builder707]

I've seen a lot of stuff on "makter" youtube...woodworking, metal working, cars, off the wall vehicles, smart homes that feel like they're from the 22nd century, diy-ultralight airplanes, (ya'll know which channels I am talking about haha) but the quality of your work (I mean there is nothing bodged there) and dedication that you put into this project over this many years is something I've never come across. Not on YT, not in my private life, not in my professional life. Keep it up!

[@powderslinger5968]

Great work! Very impressive results. The "ramp" is a jet deflector. People need to access the area between the rows of hangars without being barbequed.

[@sween187]

I think the sky jump would be to redirect air flow, from jets leaving the hanger, so not to wipe out people/vehicles passing behind. (Just my guess), super work.

[@GaryGraham66]

I've been following this series for years and you still amaze me with attention to detail and in house manufacturing. 👍👍

[@GeoFry3]

Always loved those switches on the various aircraft that I've worked on. Of course the trick was figuring out which one clicked to off when you were running checks.

[@downtheshedwithjason]

i skipped through the video, but your genius knows no bounds. that is an excellent solution to a problem, and to be honest, i reckon you could sell those switches to like minded sim users. well done. bloody impressed. really nice job and solution for your needs.

[@Silvar-_-]

You may use permanent magnets for holding position and electromagnets just to release switches. It will reduce heating.

[@jonathanm9436]

Well, the algorithm offers up another gem. This is wild! As an ex-RAAF avionics guy, this speaks to me. Obviously your simulator is the bomb, but I'm also super impress by your mad hacking skillz. I think I'll be here for a while ...

[@ckolonko86]

Truly impressive! I love seeing your project cockpit develop over time and the ways you are finding to bring it to completion.

[@peterlee2622]

Blown away by your ingenuity! One way I have used in days gone by with current hungry solenoids is to provide the initial "attract" pulse from a capacitor. What you do is put a resistor from the supply in series with the coil to set the required holding current (typically one third of the attract current). From the junction of coil and resistor, you connect an electrolytic capacitor to ground. (Probably a few hundred microfarads would be required.) The mosfet switches the coil to ground, When the mosfet is off, the capacitor charges up to supply voltage via the series resistor. When the mosfet turns on, an initial high pulse of current flows from the capacitor, dropping after a few milliseconds to the holding current supplied via the resistor. When the mosfet goes off again, the capacitor charges up via the resistor again, probably taking just a few milliseconds.

[@ilbey]

what a time to be alive... I am so happy that a man like you exists and I can be aware of your work

[@ModerateDev]

Being directed here having no experience in flight sim builds this all looks amazing to me, I admire your dedication to the craft thumbs up :D

[@MeppyMan]

I saw your comments on other videos years ago showing envy for these switches… awesome to see when you finally do it, you do it well. Nice work. Freaking awesome.

[@fuzzyboi1721]

Clicking a button in game and having it actually do something in real life is absolutely amazing!

[@rallymax2]

Dude. You Da Man Doing OZ ingenuity proud.

[@Black3ternity]

Great Stuff. Always love the ideas you come up with. One idea for "bulkier stuff" that might cause heat-problems: If you need to hold stronger stuff you might be able to use a latch-mechanism with springs. Basically a car-door lock style lock that snaps in place when you flick it on but the clasp is controlled by a solenoid and can be retracted. This will prevent you from constantly powering the magnets. ANd if the clasp is a V-Shape you can still "unlock" it by just flicking the switch. Might mess with the feedback / feeling of the switch though.

[@MeppyMan]

Won’t turn them off when the power is lost though right?

[@kennethjanczak4900]

Some project you got there.... Impressive. Thanks for taking the time to make the video and share your project....

[@rickestabrook4987]

Jaw dropping. It must be so much fun to let nothing stand in your way. Well done!!!

[@redbaronrefining5322]

I’ve been recovering and Refining precious metals from electronic waste for years now, but for the past roughly 10 years or so I’ve been absolutely fascinated specifically with the aviation materials from from the 60s to the early 90s. When I first saw these oversized blue switches when removing them from some cheap avionics, I had one at auction, I was absolutely floored to find them selling for around 17 or $1800 on up and wondering why it was such a overall large nature for such a simple DPST switch. Looked into the diagrams and found they were magnetic latching switches. I quickly pulled out my benchtop power supply and started playing with them. To this day I have a few handfuls of them some even NOS, and I refuse to take them apart haha. Such a neat design that nowadays would be solved for 1/20 of the price , efficiency,and size haha. Long story short, auctions online will have lots of avionics you can bid on cheaply and if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll not only get some of these switches, but a bunch of other badass parts,switches, wire wound potentiometers, lights, and even high grade silver alloy wiring!

[@55parkerb]

Really appreciated the TOOL in the background!

[@natalie5947]

I've been going pretty ham on my own sim cockpit. But nothing compared to this. This channel is like ASMR to me. It's so satisfying.

[@ruftime]

Awesome! Yes, A10 warthog replacement part prices have just gone crazy😎

[@ricardodm9241]

my suggestion for extracting the key contact points by the right way at the beginning of the video is: DO NOT hit it with a punction and a hammer... this could break the key body... use the drill system right away, as he himself showed in the next step... first remove the stitches with the drill and then drill the new holes! I think if you already have an arduino board and if it is NOT so IMPORTANT to have a visual aspect of the key activated and held by the magnet, in that case I would use that same momentary contact key and leave it up to the arduino to undo this "contact" which is made by the magnet. if you want visual information, you could use green led for "on" and red led for "off" my sincere congratulations, your cockpit is AMAZiNG!!! ;)

[@jpkdds]

For a long time , i`ve searched for the magnetic switch. Thank you for your knowledge-sharing.

[@hardy_bm]

This is seriously, seriously impressive.

[@mikehibbett3301]

I love the way the complexity of your solutions are increasing over time. Please keep it up! I'm looking to translate what you have done to Elite Dangerous.

[@Boslandschap1]

Amazing hack. Also, those prices for the official switches are outright outrageous!

[@jonathanm9436]

Welcome to the Defence industry vortex.

[@someguy4915]

That's not the normal part prices obviously, military contractors might buy thousands of them at the same time, at a part cost of $150-300 each, pricey but if your $130 cost-reduction by hacking together a $20 version crashes a 20 million dollar aircraft and kills the pilot you'll be embarrassed to say the least. It's just that sourcing a single part as a consumer is hideously expensive.

[@CMDRSweeper]

One of my recommendations is the same that a lot of model railroaders should do. If you have a lot of stuff on 12V, buy a bunch of extension cords for a PC Power Supply (PCI-E extensions, motherboard 24 pin and the like) and then you hack the extensions and use the ATX power supply to give you power. This will give you a common 12V provider with decent amperage, and if it fails you have a common part to exchange for that would be plug and play without having to do any modifications, and you can still get it RMAed :D

[@rattler-60]

Absolutely ingenious to a rookie like myself. I would love to have a go at building a simulator like this, but unfortunately, I don't have steady enough hands, only one decent eye (the spare one) and conceivably the years left to contemplate a project like this. My admiration and envy goes out to you for what you have shared, I even purchased a K40 to have a go at cutting some simpler panels myself, but what you have succeeded in building is massive. Congratulations to you, I hope you enjoy it.

[@Tollyman69]

Just a tip, Dremel rotary tool with a cut off wheel and other attachments would make some of the operations you did in the video easier/faster. Great content!

[@37Kilo2]

I don't know why I'm watching this or why it was recommended, but... Damn. Amazing work!

[@JLTSoft]

You, sir... are a scholar and a gentleman. Thanks for sharing this. I plan to use this in my AV-8B cockpit... if and whenever I actually build it!

[@dand3975]

The mounting of the flush mounted switches look better than seeing the mounting threads and mounting nut. Wery cool build, thanks for the video and explanation.

[@Mrcaffinebean]

I had no idea what a magnetic switch was but $20 sounded like a fair price so I had to watch! You build incredible stuff!

[@my3dprintedlife]

Brilliant. Simple and elegant modification. Thanks for sharing!

[@Archamfer]

Cheeky bit of Tool playing in the background :P Sick build tho man, remaking expensive things for cheap is my favourite!

[@burnzoire]

Just what I’ve been looking for. Bravo! My F-14 pit will need (on) off (on) so I imagine I could make a double bracket with a magnet either side.

[@No1sonuk]

I was just thinking the same for the mosquito bomb bay, gear and flaps levers.

[@stepvanjoe3469]

I have to say this is impressive! First of your videos I have seen surly need to get up to speed on your project by watching more. Cheers!

[@superdude4402]

Awesome swtiched! May I make a suggestion; add protection diodes (flyback protection) on each electromagnet. Don't really see any on the mosfet driver board. The electromagnets are zapping themosf ets everytime they are turned off which will cause the mosfets to fail over time. Protection diodes are reversed diodes in parallel with the electromagnets, this will allow the current generated when the magnetic field collapses in the coils to go thru the diode and not thru the mosfets. Very important.

[@adriancentra]

I have nothing to do with flight sims but glad that I was recommended this video randomly! That is super neat that it works exacly like the real thing. Gave me another idea: with linear solenoids instead of the electromagnet, it would be possible to make a switch that works manually and automatically in both directions.

[@mikkihintikka7273]

have you tried flight simulators?

[@iceowl]

fyi, all drills naturally wobble. it's why centre punching holes to be drilled in metal is important. the divot created by the punch helps to centre the drill in order to make a more accurate hole. for higher precision, reaming or boring tools are used on holes started with drilling.

[@cadcoke5]

Thanks for this. I know don't how this seemed to have showed up at random on the suggested videos to look at. But, many decades ago, I recalled seeing a magnetic switch. I forgot the context of how that switch was used. But there is no way it would have cost thousands, or even a hundred dollars. Years later, when I wanted to find one, I could not. Though, at the time I didn't know to use the word "magnetic". My purpose was because when everything switched to electronic playback of music, Puppeteers lost the ability to feel when a playback device was actually playing. With old cassette tape players, you could reach to the player in the dark, and press the play button, and know it was playing. The fact that you often added some silence before a sound cue (to give time to put that free hand into another puppet) means you can't hear if it is playing. Worse yet, the play button on an MP3 player often serves double-duty as the pause button. So, if you are not sure if you pressed the button firmly enough the first time, you can't press it again to insure it is playing, since you may be pausing it. I was going to design an MP3 player that would recreate the play button of an old cassette tape player. It could even "auto stop" at the end of a sound effect.

[@DEADB33F]

Great project, thanks for sharing. Years ago I had an idea for a thing that needed a switch like this but with the ability to be toggled both ways either manually or electromechanically. At the time I couldn't figure out how to do it but this has given me some ideas of how this may be done. Cheers.

[@fjs1111]

I got an idea for you!!, though you are extremely creative with your own. But perhaps this will work great for a DC Bus/distribution system: If you use a relatively low current DC breaker toggle switch (you can get small 1amp DC breakers that look and act like toggles) - you can trigger a trip from ON to OFF using a simple crowbar circuit driven by either a MOSFET or relay. The crowbar circuit will cause a momentary short/load through an appropriate resistor when triggered, ultimately disengaging the load connected and tripping the toggle. This will work excellent and reliable for ON to OFF situations but not vice versa.

[@hansangb]

Talk about taking it to level 11. Kudos to you!!

[@djdrew11]

This is inspiring be to go back to designing the Mech Cockpit I theorized many moons ago!

[@Hyperlooper]

This is awesome. A linear push pull solenoid paired with a switch with no spring would probably fix your heating issues since it will only need powered momentarily.

[@Gunbudder]

you should be able to use less power in the magnets if you play with the iron nail. you could try a washer glued on to the nail instead, or some other shapes that would be easier for the magnetic field to hold on to

[@adrianvalbuena8158]

Oh god, oh man... new to my freaky repertory 😉 What an impressive job you're doing!!

[@fukkenPavlo]

You can mount a permanent magnet to the end of switch shaft, then you can polarize the solenoid to pull magnet close enough to make it attracted, then it could hold the position without any current running in solenoid, and when you would want to release the switch just power the solenoid in reverse to repel the permanent magnet🧲

[@darrenwatson1539]

Dear lord. THAT is a impressive set up. WOW

[@randycarter2001]

Once the solenoid (electromagnet) has reach the end of stroke the amount of power it takes can be cut. I have a solenoid here that it takes the full 12vdc to pull in, but then it will stay in with only 3vdc. With an 11Ω coil that's 12 watts worth of heat (very hot after 1 hour) cutting back to 3 volts is only 0.75 watts worth of heat. The power cut can be done with PWM.

[@PaulJosephdeWerk]

Those "ramps", or "ski jumps", as you call them are Jet Blast Deflectors. When rapid response aircraft power up in those aircraft bays you want to allow people and vehicles to be able to move behind them without getting damaged, so the engine exhaust hits them and gets deflected upward. You see the same on aircraft carriers behind an aircraft that is about to take off. -- US Air Force Veteran

[@MrHichammohsen1]

So inspiring as usual! I love how you find small fixed to everything.

[@notanimposter]

I've heard of people using toggle switch style circuit breakers for this purpose, but this seems easy enough!

[@Centar1964]

With the addition of a small inverter circuit to create AC current and the use of relays to switch the AC to the electromagnets you could greatly reduce the heat generated by the electromagnets using the resonate frequency of the electromagnets....ie. the right frequency.

[@TEACypher]

Brilliant, Have been trying to think how to handle this issue for a while, and had almost decided not to bother but will try this now.

[@conorstewart2214]

You could likely use a weaker electromagnet by increasing the surface area it is in contact with on the lever. At the moment you just have the relatively thin nail, if you glued a washer or metal disc to it then you would greatly increase the surface area and increase the pulling strength, meaning you need a weaker magnet which would use less power too.

[@pdp11henkie]

splendid excellent work! Just one remark: make sure that the metal mounting base of the MOSFETs do *not* touch each other. Depending on the circuit design that may cause issues. The 2 MOSFETs in the middle are awfully close to each other ... Just love this idea!

[@zurreality]

First of all... BOMBASTIC Cockpit :D and really nice technique you are showing us, with the magnetic switches - really like this Project :D!

[@eh42]

If you adjust your arduino code to use PWM on the mosfets, you can set a high duty cycle to initially grab the nail, but then quickly (100ms?) ramp down to a lower duty cycle that still firmly holds the nail but uses less current, producing less heat, etc.

[@marked23]

Cool project. I wonder if you could design the switch so that it holds "on" with a permanent magnet, and then you would only use the electromagnet in a short burst, to deactivate the permanent magnet.

[@adriancentra]

There are "reverse" electromagnets that do exactly that. magnetic when off, let go when powered :)

[@mikehibbett3301]

That was a fantastic modification, well done!

[@Rundumsfliegen]

i mean the whole project is, but THIS IS BRILLIANT!

[@JoyceDavid-t5h]

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

[@Jager-er4vc]

An A-10 Haynes manual!?!!! 😃 THAT IS SO BAD ASS! 🤣 How do you change the blinker fluid? 🤣

[@ralfidude]

Wonderful work!

[@PsiQ]

the reverse (toggle with pulse to switch instead of hold) was already asked in the comment, i would also prefer that. - you could even use a smaller magnet and overdrive it shortly. So i'm gonna comment on the skijumps (probably also in the comments..): its a blast shield, so if the thruster blast out the back on start people/vehicles are not in danger (less...) passing behind it unknowingly. Diverts the flow upwards.

[@mjktrash]

Wow, I stumbled onto this, while the switches in and of themselves are somewhat impressive, I find myself wondering more about the overall project than the damn switches! Amazing!

[@alexwang007]

You can use a better solenoid driving circuit, adjust the holding current, and add absorption elements for the inductive kickback

[@jaqcipher6835]

Nice, thanks mate. You're a legend. I'll definitely have to use some of the panels as I keep adding to my cockpit. They still go with my X-55 HOTAS.

[@mattsains]

This is insanely clever, I love it

[@dougtaylor7724]

I love electromechanical machines. Brilliant presentation.

[@NomenNesci0]

There is an option using a permanen magnet for holding the switch and an electro magnet for releasing it. A short pulse on the electromagnet zeroes permanet magnets force and so the switch resets. No extra heat produced and easy to use.

[@FerretBomb]

You could likely use the smaller, cooler-running 5V electromagnets if you made a small coin-sized plate out of a ferrous metal and fixed them to the nails, to increase the acting surface area. Preferably bending a channel-hump across the flat plate for the nail to lie in, so it would clamp the nail against the magnet, and any glue would only be there to keep it on the nail while the magnet was off. Or just use a longer nail and bend the end of it into a circular hook or eyelet to get a similar effect. I'd probably also flip the bottom board over; if you're going to have active cooling *right there*, might as well catch the MOSFETs and microcontroller with it too, and help extend their working life. (Technically you could also use fixed magnets epoxied in place for the plates that are *just* weak enough to pull away from the electromagnet while off, then run the electromagnets at a lower gain to also drop the temperature... and even have gain adjustment pots, so you could tune just how firmly the switches lock into the 'on' state.)

[@liveen]

Keep in mind, if the electromagnets stabilize at a certain temperature when you use a certain voltage with no resistors, that's the max they will reach on their own. Resistance lowers with temperature, and the electromagnets of course have a resistance as they are coils. Hence, the current going into them at the highest temperature you recorded will be the maximum for them. But, the fan can still be a good idea if it happens that the inside of your cockpit gets hot at times, as external factors still can heat things up, which could lower resistance and increase current and lower resistance more. This also does have a limit though, so unless you used a low temperature filament for the panel, I think you're safe regardless. But you ARE using a fan though, so for THAT, I would recommend going with whatever is the largest and thickest normal size your panel allows for, or better yet just a really good quality, good bearings fan, just to make sure the noise level won't increase too much for the person in the seat Not that I need to pick at anything in this video really as clearly you do know what you're doing, this is more just info for down the line if you experience the fan being too loud, or have doubts about whether it was actually needed, or you just want to do some more tinkering in general. Not that its exactly what your channel is about, but I'd love to see you make completely custom electromagnet switches like that from scratch. You already have everything you need to do it in your workshop it seems, and I feel like it'd be a really cool project, maybe even something that could be mass produced and sold, and we know by now that pretty much any price will still be a plus over the original cockpit's switches hahah, so profit would probably be guaranteed. Mental health, maybe not, but Im just here typing on a keyboard so I wont think too hard about that

[@liveen]

Also, btw, one small thing. You don't need to use a mosfet board at all. Not a big issue, it does look clean how you did it, but you could just use any cheap BJT and a resistor to control each switch, and if you have a multiplexing type IC sitting around you could just use 1 extra pin on another microcontroller you have in your setup, which might be fantastic for keeping things small and clean-looking on the inside. Plus it'd be cheaper. Electromagnets at that size, especially 12V ones, dont tend to draw much current, at least not current that an okay BJT wouldnt easily handle, and mosfets would mostly be beneficial for fast switching anyways. Plus, one needs resistors for mosfets anyways, which makes the whole thing where its controlled by voltage and not current kinda pointless if the lack of resistor was what a person would hope for. Basically, BJTs aren't dead, they're very much used, and often a better choice than mosfets, but I do understand if you prefer mosfets, especially if price isnt much of a concern. They do tend to last a bit longer too under heavy loads from what I remember. Still though, these are all just me nitpicking, its a great build and you dont at all have to change anything. Its all just for if you decide you want to find some ways to improve stuff, or minimize the use of space

[@home-lab]

Impressive! You make it look so easy to make my own cockpit. Btw the link to the 4 channel mosfet is going to the magnets. Thanks!

[@CaptHog]

That's awesome! I wish this was posted last year when I still had my F-18 cockpit. Well, at least now I can make up some switches for something.

[@TheAtomstrike]

for minimise heating magnet may use PWM mosfet/ After the nail adheres to the magnet, you can reduce the current and eliminate nagging

[@ralmslb]

Very cool. Considering that you are doing more force to turn off the switches then turning them on, you can probably lower the power used on the magnets so they don't heat as much.

[@DGFX64]

Mate, you’re a genius…love the video, the explanation and all round tutorial.