Making Analog Gauges - Home Flight Simulator

This video is a short look and explanation of how i made the analog gauges in my A-10C Warthog home cockpit.
Here is the orginal video i made on how i cut/paint and engrave the Panels for my cockpit- • Making Flight Sim Pane...
All my plans, panel files, and 3D printing .stls are free for download at thewarthogproject.com/
Here are some links for the parts i decribe (sellers and prices may vary- shop around / google for cheaper ones!)
Towerpro SG90 Servos - www.ebay.com.au/itm/TowerPro-...
VID28-05 Biaxial Stepper - www.ebay.com.au/itm/VID28-05-...
Easy Driver Stepper Motor Driver - www.ebay.com.au/itm/5PCS-NEW-...
Various Plastics - www.acrylicsonline.com.au/
I livestream sometimes on twitch- / thewarthogproject
Or check out my Instagram at- / thewarthogproject
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
How much did this cost?
Answer is explained fully right here! - • What it Cost! - A10C W...
What Game/Sim is this?
Digital Combat Simulator World (A-10C Tank Killer II) - www.digitalcombatsimulator.co...
Can I have a free copy of all your panel design files?
Yes you can! - thewarthogproject.com/downloads
What software do you use to warp the projector image? Fly Elise-ng Immersive Diplay Pro - fly.elise-ng.net/products/
What software do you use to export the gauges on the main panel?
Helios - github.com/HeliosVirtualCockp...
What are your PC Spec?
Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master, Intel i7-9700k OC to 5ghz, 32GB Corsair RAM, Gigabyte Aorus GTX1080ti Waterforce Extreme Edition, Samsung 920 EVO M.2 1TB SSD (OS and DCS), Samsung 860 QVO 2TB 2.5" SATA SSD (Storage), Two XSPC 360mm Radiators, EKWB Velocity CPU Waterblock, EK-RES X3 250mm with D5 water pump, Custom Hard Tubing, Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic Black Case. All RGB turned off!

[@boshypatry]

Wow, nice job on that gauge. You didn't mention one thing, how do you zero the gauge on power up? Being steper motors there is no position feedback. I was really curious to know that.

[@thewarthogproject]

I forgot about that! Basically- when the Arduino first receives power the code runs through a startup sequence, where each motor turns a set amount of times one way, then the other, then it settles in the middle. The position is then set as zero and known to DCS-BIOS. The lack of psychical stops is the main reason that the needles are press fit and not glued in place. Once the stepper does its startup and settles you can then physically move the needles to the 3 and 9 o'clock positions and you know everything is in the right spot. Having said all that- I very rarely have to physically adjust the needles at all. The fuel gauge never does any high speed moves (like the hydraulic gauges do), so it never really gets messed up. Also- the Arduino Sketch for that one was not mine- I found it shared on the ED Forums. I had a look but cant find my file, or the post on the forums, so unfortunately I can't point you to the full explanation of how it works!

[@therocinante3443]

Wow... the amount of passion and absolute artisan pride that goes in to your build is completely inspiring.

[@fns58]

I just finished mech engineering a few weeks ago. Thought I would now love to complicate my life trying to do things like these. I think I will wait a few more years to mature myself in the field a bit more before getting into this level of crazy projects xD.

[@watnoudan]

@@fns58 This IS the way to mature yourself my man. Don't think it will be easier later on. You just have to dig deep and get stuck with it like this guy did. He explains it nicely in this video and it's all said and done....but believe you me, this dude banged his head on the table more than once :) WHICH is just part of it. You want to be better at anything, try to do the impossible with the highest learning curve. Because you will find out 100 other things along the way.

[@cableguy11]

I had an idea for your liquid nitrogen needle lighting, if you replace that green LED with a UV LED, and paint the white bit of the needle with UV paint (colour of your choosing) it should make it glow nicely

[@thewarthogproject]

I'm stealing that idea!!

[@matthiasmartin1975]

I second that. The combination of uv-leds and lume is absolutely mesmerizing

[@longshot8000]

HOLY CRAP, MAN! You’re ridiculously talented! Your attention to detail, craftsmanship, & dedication to authentic, quality parts is un-freakin-real!!! WOW! It would be cool to see a video with an actual Warthog pilot trying out your Sim & giving you feedback!

[@astromansid]

Terrific job, some nice simple ways of controlling the gauges.

[@Jager-er4vc]

Please keep it up!!! Just a simply stunning project! I’m beyond jealous

[@smallfarmadventures271]

Man you have no idea how much joy you brought to me making these tutorials. i had an idea to make a custom cpu and gpu usage gauge on my pc and this is great!!

[@longslongprong]

Soooo many questions but all I can say is this exceptional work and my OCD has finally found a buddy. Inspirational! Time to learn, build and buy for the upcoming AH-64 ;)

[@YourChannelHere]

I'm don't think I'll ever build such amazing gauges but just wanted to say you're an awesome human being for sharing all that knowledge for free. My work involves both software and hardware (I'm a mechanical engineer) and it always bothered me that there's so much open source content for software and so little for hardware projects. I've already seen great things coming from sites like sketchfab and grabcad, but initiatives like your channel are really inspiring for me. Keep up the great work!

[@muhammadahdalularayhanfasy8092]

Great information for home cockpit builders out there! I'm setting a target for myself to create a Concorde home cockpit in 5 years

[@EricFergusonCinema]

This is great! Thank you for posting this, it's very satisfying to put this together with the "ebay laser" engraving video and see how everything comes together.

[@OriginalJetForMe]

I've said it before but this is seriously one of the best projects on the whole internet. Pushes all the right buttons for me (pun intended). Keep up the amazing work!

[@sgtfoose8842]

Absolutely stunning mate! Keep e’m coming!

[@axelBr1]

Your build quality looks amazing. (As someone who can't drill a single hole in line with itself.)

[@itsmetheuglykid]

Man, I bet u learned so much about electronics and writing code while doing this project. I plan on starting my own soon so thank you for sharing your ideas!

[@matthayward7889]

I grow more impressed with every video I watch. Awesome!

[@essamarram1056]

I really want to make one of these with my friends when I can finally see them again. I think it might be a pretty cool summer project.

[@flightpowersims3299]

Fantastic Video, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@damarc9682]

WoW, nicely done. Very Inspiring. I am almost retired now and have been looking for a project other than honey-do's... I am comfortable with mechanical 'stuff', but know just enough electronics to be dangerous. You offer a lot of information, which helped me decide on this project. A-10 is one of my favorites and it looks like I will finally be able to afford one ;) Truly appreciate your time and expertise, and sharing your hard work. If you have any detailed documents, how-to's, or coding you would like to sell I would be interested. ...BRRRRRRRTT...

[@shneebsful]

Its a nice touch of the ' Warthog Project' shown on the back panel for the guage

[@Binford35]

Amazing work. Thanks for the information

[@yorgle]

Brilliant work!

[@Jeropa]

Great and amazing work!!

[@neilbertg8143]

You solved my problems. Great video, helped tons. Thank you

[@Graham_Wideman]

On illuminating your gauge needles: Have you considered using fluorescent acrylic needles (or needles with a fluorescent segment), and light them with blue or UV LEDs? That way you get the needles to "light" without such evident reflection from the light bulb tower off the gauge glass.

[@kVidStream]

What a passion project!

[@RainmanHST]

Amazing work as always!

[@No1sonuk]

Looks like the 10000, 1000 and 100 lb numbers are output by DCS-BIOS. If they are full 16-bit numbers, you'll need to "map" them to 0 to 9. Something like: "digit = map(value, 0, 65536, 0, 10);" That should work - it should never produce "10" because the input number won't go above 65535. It's a pain, really - the P51D fuel levels are output in both gauge form and integer gallons figures.

[@otanguma]

This was a random recommend on KZbin but I had to sub just for the amount to effort you put in.

[@TheRealStructurer]

I wish I had the space, and time, and money, and skills to do this! Great setup!

[@jeolman1]

awesome pit. lots beautiful work

[@TheQuiQuestion]

Amazing work.

[@konturgestalter]

I learn so much from your videos!

[@Ministrator03]

Hey man, just discovered your video and this is amazing. Great work

[@JorgeLopez-qh5rz]

Nice JOB, Congratulations

[@admahecha]

A million pounds craftsmanship cockpit, absolutely nuts

[@mastersheff37]

Goddamn this so cool! I saw your other video about your set up vs VR. I'm running VR myself but if I had the space, money, and know-how I'd pick your set-up any day of the week. The immersion must be mind blowing.

[@tylerc8273]

bloody brilliant mate

[@new_comment]

TALENT, just talent!

[@heeder777]

Sir that is some ingenious work and design! When my mother in-law quarters free up I may have a project to work on in retirement. They both should occur at the same time!😀😂

[@janzugic6798]

this is next level, wow

[@Allthrashedout.]

Sick stuff brother.👍

[@nbuhler2532]

Another great video!!

[@nbuhler2532]

Keep up the great work! Cheers!

[@JLProPhoto]

I love the explanation videos. They are really insightful to someone (me) who is planning and building their own cockpit panels. Mine are a hodgepodge collection to make a general purpose cockpit for VR, but I'd still like them to look and act right. The one thing I would love to know is how you did the lighting circuits. I'm kinda copying your LED layouts for my panels, but I am pretty much a novice when it comes to planning out circuits and dimmers with LEDs.

[@TheFlyingSPR]

Realy good job mate wow

[@augurelite]

Holy shit this is the first video of yours I've come across. INCREDIBLE STUFF! Time to Binge watch all your videos lmao

[@miadrain1454]

A-10 fly's around A-10 in a Maui voice: "Ya starein at a demigod"

[@sverduijn1]

Very cool. You can always put some green foil over the white leds. Or use a slice of your screwdriver handle :)

[@unclealig]

awesome. just speechless.

[@tomurban7904]

I’ve recently flown with you on 4YA, was a pleasure to see your skill in the A-10!

[@thewarthogproject]

Haha, was that the one where I kept getting team killed? Everyone in that server seems to pick on the lonely Hog driver!

[@tomurban7904]

The Warthog Project think so... Gosh, sometimes people are crazy 🤯!

[@bobuk5722]

Amazing!

[@mysteryunwrapping9518]

Amazing

[@xMilesxHighxClubx]

Inspiring, nice.

[@kingkong2016]

Just awesome

[@SimPilot-dl8zy]

Very nice.

[@squarehat]

Great series, I am jealous...

[@nielsschenk3223]

Hello, i know if you already solved your oled screen problem but you might have the same i had : if you use U8G2 lib to control it you HAVE to convert your number variable (int, float, long...) to a String. By the way, I love what you do

[@markmedia8252]

Very cool

[@amirhosseinketabi7798]

Awesome ❤👍

[@noel12397]

CRAZY! So damn cool!

[@antoniodellaragione6091]

Ma quanto ti è costato questo FANTASTICO simulatore di volo ???? Non è un videogioco ....è REALISSIMO ... È stupendo . Complimenti 👌👌👌👌👌

[@juanmgomezb]

Nice job...

[@hsh172002]

Do you work in Engineering field? All the parts look professional piece of art! I've learn many stuffs through the videos you posted. Thanks and keep up the good work!!!

[@speedbird8326]

Dude, I fly 737s IRL. Are you available to fix the gauges in my flight deck ? You are amazing !!

[@scottl9660]

737max?

[@speedbird8326]

Scott L About 14,000 hours on 737classic and NG. Mostly NG

[@markcarabba2965]

Ozzy Man needs to do a show on YOU! Really good work....

[@alexandrepv]

> How much do you like flight simulators? > Yes

[@n.r.2258]

amazing.

[@AugustusTitus]

Awesome.

[@downwash17]

Been watching your vids really good mate your attention to detail is awesome. Any chance you can do a more in depth demo of the laser cutter you are using. Thanks.

[@Parkan15]

Это надо быть одержимым симуляторами самолетов, либо быть в прошлом пилотом...чтоб замутить такое! А вобщем, конечно круто!!!

[@TheSpearPoint]

So badass

[@nik0la263]

this is epic

[@TheDirty360]

There's another stepper with a clear post in order to light up the needle. BKA30L-F1

[@1943vermork]

I used to design instrument panel for flight simulators. Your build quality look extremely good for a DIY. Are you laser engraving the face plate? We were using 6mm cast acrylic with multiple coat of a special white paint and 2 coat of final color then laser engraving the artwork.

[@hockeygoalie35]

From what I remember, the faceplate is white. He then paints them black, and then laser engraves the paint off where the letters should be.

[@fleshwound5149]

Woah, your cockpit is really amazing! Your next step IMO should be to build a collimated display. And a HUD! You can probably use a cheap spherical mirror (plus one or two other projection optics) and a small oled display for it.

[@mirtaet123]

No, he cant do a collimated HUD. Because it's useless, when you project picture on the wall. HUD projects picture to infinity. Wall projection is plain flat picture, with no parallax, projected on the wall 5-10-15 meters in front of you. Marks on the HUD and on the terrain just don't fit.

[@fleshwound5149]

What? I'm not saying his HUD should be collimated. I'm saying that rather than using a projector screen to render the outside, he should build a curved parabolic display so that the focal plane of the outside view is rendered at infinity so you eliminate parallax. It'll feel much more realistic when flying at high altitudes

[@indyjons321]

I wan't do do something like this, but for the Huey or upcoming Kiowa

[@smeghead666]

So, when you going to add some force feedback to that joystick? ;) astounding work so far dude, keep it up

[@genericaccount9222]

Can’t wait till you build a working GAU-8/A Avenger!

[@heeder777]

Generic account Having removed, torn apart, reassembled, reinstalled and loaded more GAU-8 gun systems, I can attest that after you do it hundreds of times, loaded hundreds of thousands of 30MM rounds , cleared umpteen gun hot lights and jams, it loses its appeal after doing it for 10 years. Now I get to fire as many rounds and drop as many munitions I want without ever getting that god awful, unremovable grease on my hands and clothes. 😁😁🇺🇸🇺🇸💪💪👍🏼👍🏼

[@flymetothemoon5138]

Is there a video on the design and construction of the actual gauge itself? Really interesting in making one for automotive purposes

[@karlakaarel4830]

Hey. Awesome work. Are you willing to share the wiring and code for the fuel gauge stepper?

[@KjartanAndersen]

That is VR in beast mode

[@omarsoufan4877]

you are genius

[@channelvr1293]

i am so bloody amazed with all the hard work you did on this....but that's all part of the hobby fun....unfortunately i fly dcs in VR so there's no point in having all this.... but i'm still VERY JEALOUS

[@Topper_Harley68]

mixed reality.

[@battie913584]

do you have a video on the software/firmware you use to control all these guages,screens,switches etc

[@nunofreitas1796]

magic

[@sebastianarenram4235]

Hi! Do you know where I can find the panel lighting fixtures that they have in real aircraft for the gauges? Need them for my F-16 engine gauges.

[@umutdegismen]

great job! where can l find the arduino codes? and as what does the pc see the encoders and buttons? l mean as a joystick?

[@jager_ortizortiz2295]

Nice work brother ! And how you did to syncronize the simulation information on PC with the real gauge ?

[@Warbirdguy1]

Where can you buy these servos with the included gears? I cant find these anywhere.

[@macg9940]

Have you lowered the output voltage of the Stepper Motor Driver V44 A3967 to 5V and then managed to let it run quietly? The VID28-05 would also work with a voltage of 4.2V, but I found no low voltage driver. I will try to control the stepper motors directly using the Arduino. You have implemented an impressive project. When I see the curved screen, I'm always speechless.

[@tsangarisjohn]

I would love to learn how to do that. Looks like a fun hobby and just maybe, one can make some money... You must feel a sense of satisfaction when you complete a panel. What is a good way to start learning? Any book recommendations? 🍺Cheers Do you sell them? You should create a “lego-like / IKEA package “ with instructions for people that want to dive into electronics with little experience. If that’s possible.

[@stupossibleify]

Love the electronics, I can mainly understand that. But how do you extract all the instrument data from the sim?

[@mbkolb725]

He uses "Dcs bios" to get the data.

[@charleserskine1814]

Can the value of the digital readout be calculated in the Arduino from the sum of the values two analog indicators?

[@ninus17]

i want to make a trim wheel. what is the best way to go about it. i have a 3d printer and know some guys who are good with electronics, but what parts are required

[@philchia4764]

Mate do you laser all the pieces? And how do they get to Zero on configuration?

[@brgimscht]

what do you do with the arduino ono? connect it to some sort of master arduino/controller, or do you just connect it to some usb hub? (like the dozens of other arduinos?)

[@flyerfanatic4680]

Hi there! Where did you source the PCB board for the coaxial stepper motor? I am working on a project that uses one of those steppers and am not a fan of the solder tabs at all. It seems like PCB is the way to go, but I have never designed one myself before. It would be great if I could use the same one you have. I also didn't see the file for it on your download page/website. Thanks in advance!

[@adriansrealm]

Continuous rotation servos would help you a lot.

[@askjacob]

the problem with them is you lose positionability. They only run forwards or backwards when the PWM changes higher or lower than "mid"- you cannot direct a continuous servo to a specific position

[@CessSim]

great work mate. Always an inspiration. A little off topic but looking at your panels, can you advise what font style and size was used for the majority of the labelling? Currently developing a series of C172 panels for my rig and I like the font you have used. Appreciate your feedback.

[@thewarthogproject]

Hi mate, the font I used is the real Military Standard stuff- called MS33558. Google that and you find it splashed around the internet on plenty of free font sites.

[@CessSim]

@@thewarthogproject cheers buddy. Will check it out.