Wow looks great! :thumb: The speed that you've turned this around in is making me feel lazy.
Let me know if the boards end up being more expensive that anticipated. I know low quantity boards can be expensive.
How in the world did I miss this thread?! YOU GOT THE B52 WEAPON DELIVERY BOARD WORKING?!?!?!?!Of course he did.
/me is unashamed in his love for xwhatsit
Good news, it works :D
Hey now there's a cool idea. Anybody know anyone who wants to build a really realistic B52 sim :D ?
Hah that'd be great. I still wish I could find an actual photo of one of these installed in the plane.
That's a cortron inc keyboard, either hall effect (magnetic valve) or foam&foil, depending on age. This amkey would likely have been in use in the 1980's before they switched to the more modern cortron keyboard you see in the picture there.
Hah that'd be great. I still wish I could find an actual photo of one of these installed in the plane.
I went on a hunt for this also, and also came up empty. The closest I could fine is this image of the EW Officer position showing a keyboard/trackball combo HID which doesnt match at all:Show Image(http://www.afgsc.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/120502-F-EU155-014.jpg)
I think I have a clue as to why, though.
The original government auction site listed a part number and application, "P/N MPTK-129-7770109-110, Application: Stratofortress B-52 Aircraft".
If you google that part number you get a few more results (mostly pointing to liquidation auctions with few details), and also some small pieces of additional information about the item, including this (http://www.ctg123.com/rapid-quote-system-request/?part=MPTK-129-7770109-110):
"Iii end item identification: b-52 weapon sys tnr"
I'm thinking the reason we don't see this in any cockpit or interior shots of the B52 (either for the EW position, gunner position, or the lower deck radar/nav seats) is because it's used by the controller of the B52 training simulator, specifically the Weapons Systems trainer. This makes a little more sense too when you think of the key legends on the board itself: playback, malf(unction), init(iate) cond(ition), auto (takeoff), auto land, etc.
Pretty cool! I was looking for a while for detail shots of a B52 weapo0n trainer but only saw some exterior images and a shot of the testing seat, not of the controller itself. Would be interesting to see the whole shebang and maybe catch a shot of this board in action.
That's a cortron INC keyboard, either hall effect (magnetic valve) or rubber dome, depending on age. This amkey would likely have been in use in the 1980's before they switched to the more modern cortron keyboard you see in the picture there.
The cortron keyboard is backlit.
Can you post any pics of the bottom of the keys, or whatever it is that contacts or gets near the PCB that triggers a key stroke?
Does it work? Kind of! I have a bunch of faulty connections (I tried just blobbing solder in there on the controller without stripping the wire; it often works with that thin Kynar insulation as it just burns off, but not 100% in this case), but nevertheless I was able to set a manual threshold voltage on the controller and press keys and get responses :D It's missing some columns and one or two rows, but nevertheless I can damn near use the thing.
Interestingly, changing the threshold voltage actually changes the “activation point” of the linear keys. I will have to be careful with my so-called debounce filter (there's nothing really bouncing here of course), as without the mechanical hysteresis of the IBM beam/buckling spring there's the potential to get some rapid toggling of state if the key is held half-down.
I think there's some good pics in the original thread here (http://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=61432.0); they're those shiny mirror-looking things. I think (which would borne out by the name foil-and-foam) that they're a sort of foil, but covered with a plastic clearcoat so are non-conductive on the surface. Certainly they didn't bell out when I ohmed them with my meter.
Amkey must have designed their keyboard and then realised they had one key too many, so just found two similar keys and wired them together.