I’m Dan. I like to make stuff.
I have been tinkering and making as long as I can remember. It probably really started around high school. Before that, it was LEGOs and Mechano sets, but at high school (2009) is when I started actually /making/ things, not just assembling.
I’ve been 3D modelling long before that. Probably since 2006 at least. (I wanted to 3D model Aphelion from Ratchet and Clank and it sorta splintered from there a little, whoops..)
Right now my life is dominated by aircraft, drones and micro controllers. I hope it stays that way, but with even more things.
I’ve made this blog because I hope it can maybe help others. I was inspired by several blogs, such as Blondi-hacks and Etothepiplusone, as they have both helped me immensely. We’ll see what contributions I can kick into this big internet bucket.
I’ll probably add more to this description later if anyone actually starts reading this blog.
ITman496's Blog 
How is the glass panel project coming along? I have been waiting for a project like that. The commercial panels, even for homebuilts, are stupid money considering what is in them. Daylight readable panels cpu and sensors. All which are small dollars sourced right.
I am assuming a normal HSI. Engine gauges and maybe ADS-B?? Getting charts in there may be the biggest hassle.
You taking inspiration from Great Lakes or Garmin G3x?
The holy grail of a home built panel would be to integrate the radios using SDR radios ran from the panel.
For open source ADS b receiver have you ran across across Stratux?
I am super excited about your project and will be eagerly following. Especially the avionics.
Hello! Its coming along nicely, actually. I’ll link the pictures here, but I’ll eventually make a blog post. I’ve been caught up working on other projects for work, but right now the panel is built, and I’m working on the overall system for the rest of the aircraft.
Info on the panel was going to be… based on my notes:
Fuel amount Main
Fuel amount Surge
Tire pressure 1
Tire pressure 2
Battery Volts
Battery Amps
Alternator Amps
EGT cyl1
EGT cyl2
Cylinder Head Temp 1
Cylinder Head Temp 2
RPM
Intake Manifold Pressure
Fuel Pressure at carb
Fuel Flow from main to surge
Fuel Flow to engine
Airspeed
Altitude (AGL)
Climb rate (ft/s)
Heading (compass)
Turn and Slip indicator(maybe)
Artificial horizon(maybe)
Air temperature
Humidity
GPS lat/lon
Time
Ground altitude(if I can get the ground radar sensor working)
Engine hours
Angle of attack
A thing to note is that this is an MFD, so not all of this is going to be on the screen at once, you have various modes in which to filter info. On the ground, it will be a more diagnostic view with lots of information for pre-flight, in the air it will be more minimal and the computer, knowing the limits for each reading, will alarm and show important things if necessary, and otherwise keep quiet and show important stuff only. (For example, who cares what amperage the alternator is putting out and what voltage the battery is, unless it fails, then tell me so with a pop up and a beep.)
Navigation is going to be a pain, but right now my idea is a simplistic top down view with hard coded points of interest, plus manual programmable waypoints. When the plane first fires up, it stores the location as a reference to home and will always have something pointing back to that, the local airports in my area will be programmed in, as well as restricted zones, and then I am also free to type in lat-lon waypoints, which it will guide me to in sequence.
I’m taking a lot of inspiration from the other MFDs, I admire their simplistic UI.
I am not super familiar with transmitting SDR’s, but I will have a software controlled .. essentially the guts of a Baofeng UV5R hooked in, as well as an aviation band radio, both adjustable via software. Can do simple stuff like change channels, transmit, listen, adjust volume, etc.
I have ran across Stratux! I’d love to integrate it. I’ll admit, I’m pretty weak at the software UI side of things compared to mechanical, so.. We shall see.
Glad to hear you are excited! Here is my pictures so far of the glass panel.
You run across this? May jumpstart things. https://makerplane.org/?p=2335
Interesting! That would save a lot of time, if I can figure out how to adapt it to all of my systems. I like the wind sensor!