FMC

The FMC itself consists of front panel, buttons, circuit board, psone screen holder, psone display and the related control board. You can see on the picture how it is assembled.
It is backlit with the usual 12V LED stripes put behind the front panel. It is very bright at the moment so i will control the brightness of the backlight with a LED dimmer from hongkong i pulled from ebay for 1€ per piece and 3 euro shipment fee.

Printout of Autocad file showing all layers of the FMC

Printout of Autocad file showing all layers of the FMC

Paint has dried and the Buttons are cut out.

Paint has dried and the Buttons are cut out.

Milling of the PCB Board

Milling of the PCB Board

Starting the assembly

Starting the assembly

I had trouble with milling the circuit board of the FMC, i broke 5 end mills (0.5mm) until i used 0.7mm mills. The circuit layout has been adopted from a website i fortunately found 2 years ago and downloaded the documentation that time. Now the website is gone. Sometime it pays of, just to download informations even when you need them in the future. The layout was adopted, which means i made the whole layout new with a program called “sprint layout” from abacom. Which is very good softare as it can create toolpaths for the cnc machine.

PSONE Display in place

PSONE Display in place

Assembly nearly done.

Assembly nearly done.

The connection of the PSONE lcd was done with the well known PSONE screen mod you can find everywhere in the web. Unfortunately the viewing angle of the psone screen is not the best and for the next fmc i will get a 5 inch display at www.lcdstore.deThis is the place where i also purchased an excellent 10.4 inch open frame display used as lower eicas screen.
How does it work?
The keypresses are recognized by an OC usbkeys card connected to the main computer. With sioc script (thanks Mario !) the key presses are changed into the right output values that the Open Cockpit FMC uses (as this is supported by PROSIM). Prosim reads the values from SIOC and controls the Prosim CDU application which is running on the client computer. The PSONE display in the FMC is connected also to the client computer and displays the output of the prosim CDU Application.

Voilá - the FMC up and running. Bad viewing angle on the PSONE Display but it works.

Voilá – the FMC up and running. Bad viewing angle on the PSONE Display but it works.

21 thoughts on “FMC

    1. Geferson Leandro Alves

      Belo Trabalho!!!
      seria possível me enviar o arquivo em autocad para eu também mandar fazer uma placa desta para eu montar meu fmc ? esta placa é compatível com a usbkeys da opencockpits?
      meu email gef_leandro@terra.com.br
      obrigado

      Reply
  1. ibnu

    Hello sir,
    I very interested about your diy like this fmc n mcp, n i want to build it in my home, can you share about the pcb schematic n controller to pc n the script sir

    Reply
  2. Martin

    Hello,

    very nice job! Is it possible somewhere get the FMC dimensions parts? Or model in CAD or something like that?

    Thanks.

    Reply
  3. Petr Cenek

    Very nice job! Is there any chance to get the plans for your FMC including PCB (any vector format is appreciated)? Thks a lot
    Petr

    Reply
  4. Hubert

    Hello!

    I am student of Aerospace Engineering and I do FMC sim for my bachelor thesis. However, I don’t have any sources to get dimensions of FMC. Yesterday, I have seen your work, and it is marvellous !! I will have a big request for you, if you could share the AutoCad draws for FMC. I have checked the “AutoCad Files for download” on your website, but there is only datasheets for whole cockpit and other parts, and I haven’t found draws for FMC. The last question is about, how you made the front panel, it is lasser cutting ??

    I look forward to your answer, I believe it will really help to end my project.

    Reply
    1. haoge Post author

      Hello,

      The Link to teh FMC data in the download section has been fixed and the File is now avialable to the Public…

      Enjoy !

      Reply
  5. Frank

    Hello,
    I was wandering how you interfaced the FMC with FSX. I’m planning for everything else to use an arduino interfaced with the link2fs software which does not support buttons for the FMC. How does it communicate with the simmulation software?

    Reply
    1. haoge Post author

      Many People asked this question via Email so here is the concept:

      The FMC I built is just hardware.

      Input:
      The keypresses on the FMC keyboard are read by an Opencockpits Keycard. This Card delivers the information which key is pressed via a SIOC variable to the PROSIM 737 software. The Prosim 737 software (I think you already know this software, if not just google it..) is a complete system simulation suite for the Boeing 737. It also simulates all FMC functions based on the inputs which it gets from the Open Cockpits Keycard.

      Output:
      The display module in the DIY FMC is connected to a computer (via VGA Cable) which runs the Prosim 737 client FMC program. So the main Prosim Program reads the Open Cockpits Keypresses and simulates the function of the FMC. The Output which is displayed is send to the FMC Client program and shown via VGA Cable in the Display unit….

      LEDs:
      The LEDs are driven by an Opencockpits Output Card… This Card just lights up the related LEDs when Prosim 737 Software tells it to do so….

      Summary:
      DIY FMC Keyboard Key Press Flat cable -> Opencockpits Keycard SIOC Variable-> Prosim 737 Main Programm on Main Computer via Network -> Prosim 737 FMC Client Programm on separate computer via VGA Cable -> DIY FMC Display….

      I hope i made it clear how it works….
      Good luck !

      Reply
  6. luca

    Very nice project, really . Do you can send me the cad project of pcb?
    I have buy kit from OC but not have any pcb to weld…and make a wiring by air
    seem to be a a mission impossible

    tanks in advance

    Luca ( lucas@spednet.it ) – one pizza payed if pass trought Verona Italy

    Reply
  7. Peter Dill

    Hello Andy

    First of all congratulations to your cockpit! Excellent work!
    For my cockpit I currently work on the CDU (a kit from Open Cockpits, with the O.C. usbkey card). I do the wiring by soldering, and I take your PCB as a template. Would you be so kind and send me your SIOC script that does the translation of the keypresses (I use Prosim too)?

    Thank you! Greetings from Switzerland,
    Peter

    Reply
  8. Alex Boyd

    Thank you for the FMC circuit.
    I use Opencockpit FMC’s and need a third one but they stopped selling the circuit so this is very useful.
    How do you connect your OC Keys board?

    Cheers,

    Alex Boyd

    Reply

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