Where do I start?

First, you will need to take a good, hard look at your shop and make a realistic assessment of your capabilities and ability to learn how to build this. To 100% self fabricate your OpenHornet you will require the following tooling at a minimum:

CNC ROUTER

OpenHornet assumes you have a X-Carve 1000×1000 CNC Router. (750x750mm working area.) Any router with similar capabilities and work area should suffice.

You will primarily be cutting MDF wood, acrylic, ABS, and thin aluminum sheets.

3D PRINTER

Hobby FDM printer. We assume a Prusa i3 MK3.

You will primarily be printing in PETG.

(OPTIONAL) A desktop DLP printer may be useful for some of the finish parts, like knobs and similar visible, detailed parts.

Many of our builders like the Anycubic Photon DLP printer.

HAND TOOLS

Common hand/power tools including (but not limited to):

• drill press
• hand drill
• screwdrivers
• sanders
• wrenches
• ratchets and sockets
• calipers
• tape measure
• ruler
• square
• clamps
• marking devices
• files

ELECTRICAL TOOLS

Basic SMD electronics assembly equipment including (but not limited to):

• multimeter
• soldering station
• magnifier (optional)
• SMD reflow station
• desolder vacuum
• desolder braid
• solder
• flux
• ESD protection

OpenHornet Development Status

Currently, the entire OpenHornet design is in early development. We are targeting a hardware beta release status by the end of the year.

There are items prepared to build, but you build at your own risk, and will likely run into problems. We are doing our development in a GitHub repository. If you want to build now, you can go there and try it out.

GITHUB

Click here to access the OH Development files!

DOWNLOAD THE BUILD PACKAGE

OpenHornet is still under development.

Once we achieve a beta release, there will be a link here.

Current Development Progress

Upper Instrument Panel (UIP): 90%

Lower Instrument Panel (LIP): 90%

Center Tub (CT): 95%

Left Console (LCON): 80%

Right Console (RCON): 80%

Ejection Seat (SEAT): 95%

Flight Stick Assembly (STK): 90%

Throttle Assembly (THRTL): 90%

Electronics (ABSIS): 90%

Beta1 Hardware Freeze Candidate

Beta1 Hardware Freeze Candidate

Final Development

Beta1 Hardware Freeze Candidate

Don’t have a CNC Router?

Maybe not one quite large enough? OpenHornet has selected OpenHornet Authorized Vendors to fabricate “quick-build” kits to help people get a leg up on their build. We are hoping to expand this program for electronics and other parts as well. Click the button to learn more about this program.

LEARN MORE

OpenHornet System Description

SIMULATOR STRUCTURE

The structure of the OpenHornet simulator is constructed primarily of .75, .50, and .25 inch MDF wood. The majority of console surfaces are 3D printed from PETG with threaded inserts, as well as printed alignment brackets.

PANELS

Panels typically consist of:

• 0.125 (1/8) inch clear acrylic backplate
• 0.1875 (3/16) inch clear acrylic light plate
• 0.0625 (1/16) inch Rowmark Ultra-Matte, White on Black legend plate

The light plates and legend plates should be bonded with Weld-On #4 or equivalent.

Panels are not designed to be backlit in the current iteration of OpenHornet.

HANDS ON THROTTLE AND STICK (HOTAS)

The stick utilizes a TM grip, however it accurately reproduces stick forces, breakout, dampening, dimensions, stick travel, and different pitch and roll pivot points.

The throttle consists of a fully functional replica throttle, to included solenoid driven detents and auto-throttle.

Both stick and throttle require fabrication of .125 and .25 inch aluminum plates.

SIMULATOR ELECTRONICS

The electronics developed are called an Arduino Based Simulator Interface System (ABSIS) and are designed to run on multiple Master-Slave RS-485 buses. The simulator is designed to run on 12V, 5V, and 3.3V power buses. You will need to be comfortable uploading the included sketches to the Arduinos.

Build Manuals

In the future, this area will link to build manuals for OpenHornet.