MilesD

I didn't get a chance to finish up installing the the 17 kits for the USAF VRLabs on this trip, and I have to focus on PointCTRL for now. But I will try and make them available in a month or so. They are heavy, about 15lbs and have to be rigidly mounted. I was thinking around 175.00 to 200.00 USD for everything. Considering the price of an extension and spring it seems reasonable, but let me know, as you know I am always open for all feedback and suggestions.

Just in case you haven't seen this and are interested. [video=facebook_2017;242981294935/videos/623698938301216]https://www.facebook.com/242981294935/videos/623698938301216

Hey Harlikwin, FireCat says you keep your original number for v2. So when v2 comes out and you want to upgrade, you don't have to wait. When v2 production starts shipping, the list should go very fast, so the point should be moot. Thanks for your patience and continued support, Miles

Hey all, Just got back from a trip upgrading some USAF simpits. We went through a few iterations of spring combo's and the feedback from the pilots is that it's "feels like the jet now". The stick mod uses 4 counteracting springs that place no additional spring forces on the warthogs plastic ball. Pitch force at the stick is increased to about 12lbs, roll to about 6lbs and throw is 9" in pitch and roll per A10-C. Stick height is 24" from the base with a 21" stick pivot point. No center detent with consistent centering. I am focusing PointCTRL now, but I will make these available soon for anyone interested. Thanks, Miles http://t

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Ah yes, On the teams, we used to stick each other with Ringers at the end of a hard night of drinking. Would wake up a few hours later fresh and ready to go. Surprisingly, the sticks seemed to go better in our "enhanced states".

This is friggin awesome Propeller!!. A salute to you sir. I absolutely love the fact that you just jumped in there and learned what was required to accomplish each step along the way. The internet is an amazing tool for those with the interest and desire to learn. It's one thing to read about something or learn it, and something completely different and infinitely more difficult to do what you have done. I think you made some great well thought out design choices, and component selections, not to mention a nice clean prototype execution. My prototypes never look that nice. I have done a bit of work on FFB stick for the masses, but specific to DCS, using the export lua. I think your way, using standard FFB is probably better for most people. Great Choice on RC motors, I am guessing a high pole count out-runner? I initially went that route and only switched to using steppers in unipolar mode as BLDC motors with custom controllers to reduce cost of a production unit. Reference the motors 20 amps comment. Of course you are correct. As you know, amps mean very little without volts. It looks like your pushing 24 volts through those, so you max intermittent load is around 480 watts. I am guessing those motors are probably good for a 1000 watts. Some of the RC motor manufactures don't post the watts, but will post the max amps, like you stated yours were 50, and then they will post max number of cells. such as (6s) Example 6s = 6 Lipo cells x 3.7volts each = approx 22 volts 22 volts x 50 rated amps for the motor = 1100 rated watts Anyway, I know you already knew all of that, that's more for the other poster. I am looking forward to following this. You clearly have previously untapped aptitude and skills. I am really glad you chose this project as your first, and it was quite a big bite to take for your first. I honestly have way to much on my plate and realistically won't have time to bring mine to production. Thanks for sharing, and again, great friggin job!!!. Miles

Hey All, I got sick again and have been out of the loop. I also had to change my trip to Davis Montham AFB to install the pit mods project. There are a few backed up orders and warranty items that I am checking on the shipping status of, and a few that have yet to ship. I will be unboxing and doing a alcohol cleaning of all PointCTRL components as well as putting them under UVB lights to kill anything living that may be on a surface. I am just being cautious, I tested negative for Corona several times, and only had a series of Upper Respiratory Infections. Sorry for delays, and not being active on here, or the PDs. I am always way off with eta's, so I am not even going to try. I have been making improvements to a production system and have hired some help. I will post the progress as I get back up to speed physically. Thanks for all of your support and patience. Miles

I know this is probably the wrong spot, and this would be way down the list. But it would be great if we could override the AI penetration parameter with a keybind. I mostly use the guns to mark targets for the fast movers. The Huey is my favorite module to employ in varied mutually supporting roles with the fast movers. Miles

Hey Guys I will be going to ground for a few days, out on Block Island, Ri with the wife. I should be operational again in a few days. Apologies for not getting everthing shipped I wanted to before we departed. Thanks Miles

Hey Harlikwin, Sorry to hear your FCU is DOA. The batteries should be good for several hundred charges. We can try swapping out the battery with the other controller to confirm if its the battery. I can just send a warranty replacement battery or FCU, whichever it is. If I don't have pics in the discord on how to change the battery I will put them in there tomorrow. Miles

And I thought it was me. Trying to fly ball in the Huey always puts me at the wrong attitude. Now I can just ignore it. Thanks for that, it's very much appreciated. Mies

Wow, that Cougar stuff seemed a lifetime ago. Sokol is truly "the gentlemen of the internet", freely sharing his seemingly endless wealth of information just to help us all out. Thanks Sokol !!!

Hansang!!! We have to catch up my friend. My queens connection is moving home to join the family business. I hope your feeling well, Lets try and do a discord voice soon. Miles

Hey Guys, Posting this WIP without explanation. It's kind of like one of those 3d puzzles from the old Barnes and Noble book stores. Miles

I second what rel4y says Sierra. The sooner you learn the very basics of this board and the IDE, it opens up a whole world of fun, simple, and inexpensive possibilities. Hey rel4y, Awesome work on your Cougar hall conversions. I did a more complicated, and probably less effective one many years back and sent out a lot of them. Everyone's response, and this great community was kind of what got me started on this stuff for life part II. Miles Edit: And as I recall Sokol1 was guiding me in the right direction way back then.

Hey Guys, Sorry it's been a while since I posted an update. I have a hard deadline with delivering an USAF VR simpit controls hardware upgrade. These are commercial off the shelf Spec Tech products that will be in stock soon. I will post more soon, but basically these are Warthog stick and pedal conversions that implement real world stick forces without putting any strain on the plastic ball joint or keyway off the Standard Warthog base. Same with the TRP pedals. PointCTRL Update: The v2 FCUs are proofed and I am still working on the new HMS firmware. I found out that I went a bit to small for larger fingers and I will be offering at least two different FCU sizes for comfort and ease of use to the FCU buttons. I am still offering V1 and am up to 425 on the waiting list. If your number is less than 425 on Firecats list and want v1, just follow the direction in the first post. If your waiting on v2, stand by to stand by. I also want to thank everyone for their continued support and patience. Miles

And here I thought the Company CO "Conscientious Objector" was my co-pilot.

Damn, that drove me crazy in an online mission. I thought it was me forgetting to map something. He wouldn't even put his sight down.

Hey Mud, No Problem we will move you over to the "waiting for v2 folder". Thanks for your patience, Miles

Hey Pinello, No problem, please do not pay this invoice. I will cancel it and put you in the waiting for v2 folder. PointCTRLv2s price will remain at 1$75.00 Thanks for your patience, Miles

Hey Crash, I am assuming you have a CV1 and you have to attach the double face tape to the front of Headset. Nothing sticks well to the top.

I'ts hard to say when v2 will be ready. I am waiting on new proto PCBs to proof, Small issue with the originals. I am working at it though. I will probably have a smaller FCU in a few weeks, Kind of a v1.5 , Not as small as the v2, because it uses v1 PCB, but with a smaller battery. I wish I could give you are better answer, but when I do, I am always way off. Miles

When ever we have friends over for drinks, and even during parties, I seem to always end up putting people in the pit in VR. They are stunned by DCS in VR, and quite a few of them started flying with budget systems and are slowly improving there hardware. They are also usually surprised how reasonable the cost is for just a Warthog, decent pedal set-up, and a Rift S. I find it an enjoyable way to support Eagle Dynamics, and our hobby in general, by expanding the community. Surprisingly there is never a funny look about the whole thing, always just interest, and then, awe, when they first get in VR. The wives are the funniest, as they usually want to try after a few drinks, and they still do better than their husbands. I think it's because they pay more attention when I am showing them on a small model airplane what the controls do and how it makes the plane move. Just another thought, Miles

Hey Captain, You really bring up a lot of good points. It sounds like you have tried some of the gloves or, just spent a lot of time critically thinking about this. I found your "specific gesture" observation, to be spot on. I made a device to interact with DCS 3d cockpits a bit easier for me. I went through about 10 different iterations of interacting with switches and knobs. I knew from the start that 3d tracking would present to many technical and employment issues. Just what you said about real world stuff being in the way when you try get to a switch. I also did not want any laser coming from finger when I changed the orientation of my hand allowing the laser to reach anywhere in the cockpit just by pivoting mt wrist. The answer was staring at me all along. DCS does a great job with its 3d cursor implementation and projecting it on the first surface it encounters. I was then able to track an IR source in 2d space relative to my real hand location in the X, Y axis on the HMD. This allowed me to focus on the switch or control I wanted to interact with and reach out to it, and have the cursor be right where my hand is in real life in 2d space. I now did not have to worry about the 3rd dimension and could intuitively put my hand where the switches are in any cockpit. If a real-world object was blocking the perceived location of the switch, you do not have to extend your arm all the way to the switch to have the ability to interact with it. That be solved, I moved onto how to actually interact with the switch. I started with accelerometers and gyros. They worked perfect and allowed the left click on a quick pushing in/out motion for buttons, and could distinguish between an upward or downward flick of the finger for moving switched up or down. But it felt like crap. Moving my finger in space to make a switch move just felt wrong and gimmicky, and most importantly, disconnected. I moved on to touch pads, as the capability is built right into the microcontroller I was using on each finger device. This felt much better, was inexpensive, easy to implement, and made for a very slim design. But it still felt disconnected from the cockpit switch I was trying to control. I then went through about 30 tactile buttons, everything from dome switches to 5 way hats until I found something that felt just about perfect to me. A sturdy tactile switch with excellent feedback when pressing, and a large button head. This is what was missing for me. The feeling of pressing a button, hearing and feeling the click, as the virtual button or switch in the cockpit moved. There were a bunch more benefits for me, especially large muscle memory and physical limitations of turning my body while keeping a hand on a mouse. This is already about 10 times longer than it should be, but I wish we talked before I started going through design iterations, it would have saved me a lot of time. PointCTRL is just another option, certainly not the best or the most hi-tech, but it does work well for our use because it was specifically designed for DCS. Miles