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FlightGear Newsletter November 2010: Difference between revisions
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FlightGear Newsletter November 2010 (view source)
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=== Amateur Built Collimated Display === | === Amateur Built Collimated Display === | ||
Contributed by Gene Buckle | |||
A couple of months ago, my friend Wayne & I embarked on the development of a fully functional collimated display system for our DIY flight simulators. A collimated display has been the holy grail of DIY cockpit builders because of the image it generates. It's known as an "infinity" display because the focus point to your eye becomes "infinity" when you're located at the right spot when viewing the mirror. The exact details of how they work are beyond this article, but you can learn more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_flight_simulator. See the section marked "Collimated Cross-Cockpit Displays". | |||
Building the display successfully is a pretty big deal. Up until we completed the proof-of-concept project, collimated displays were the sole domain of multi-million dollar flight simulators from the likes of CAE, FlightSafety and others. It was declared too complex and too costly by just about everyone that ever approached the problem. | |||
Fortunately for us, all the "experts" were wrong. Not only did we build a fully functional collimating display, but we did it with off the shelf materials and very, very little expenditure. | |||
Total material costs for the mirror and projection screen is under $100. | |||
The test mirror was built using an 8 foot diameter spherical shape. The framework itself describes a 60 degree wide by 40 degree high "slice" of that shape. The mirror itself is made of a 48" wide, 2mil thickness of Mylar sheet. In order to properly stretch the mirror, a set of "ears" had to be added to the framework. | |||
This shows the frame prior to the mirror being glued into place: | |||
[[File:mirror_frame.jpg|thumb|left|Collimating Mirror Framework]] | |||
The framework itself is made from 12mm Baltic Birch and is under 36" tall. The arcs defined by the "inside" ribs show where the spherical section mirror will form. In order to form the mirror, vacuum must be applied. This will stretch the mirror into a spherical section shape. | |||
Attaching the Mylar: | |||
[[File:attaching_mylar.jpg|thumb|left|Attaching the Mylar to the framework]] | |||
The Mylar is attached to the oval ring by a high-tack spray on adhesive made by 3M. | |||
=== Did you know === | === Did you know === | ||
* You can act as an [[ATC|air traffic controller]] on the multiplayer servers by downloading the [[ATC-aircraft|ATC aircraft]]? | * You can act as an [[ATC|air traffic controller]] on the multiplayer servers by downloading the [[ATC-aircraft|ATC aircraft]]? | ||