Thadiun Okona

I was toying with the idea of making a little plunger axis with a button at the end of the travel in the form factor of one of TM's single button housings. The intent of which is to install instead of the stock one the pinky paddle depresses, to make it an analog axis without any real modification to the grip itself. It dovetails with other facets I'm working on, like a z-axis twist modification for Warthog, so am already looking at alternate miniDIN plugs with more pins etc.

The solder connections are pretty frail and encapsulated in hot-gue as a cheap strain relief. It's pretty common to disturb those connections by opening it up, as is pinching one or more wires by getting the articulation sphere in backwards during a re-grease. The micro switches inside the 4-ways are cheap but last a very long time, they use Alps instead of Omron but in the single buttons and the bottom of the 5-way is where they use -awful- membrane tact switches. I can easily see those getting tired and quitting, but not the ones in the 4-way bodies. If so, you can do a direct replacement of the tact switch itself or upgrade to ones like the 4-ways. The only mod needed would be shortening the plunger inside the button to accommodate the taller switch replacing the flat membrane one. If it's a tact inside the 4-way, they are 6x6x4.3mm tact, 260g force and any brand will do but Omrons are nicer than Alps. You snip 2 of the 4 legs off and bend the other 2 90deg to poke out the bottom, which is where they solder. It's most likely a wire, second to that the switch itself. Rarely are these problems the board though, but it's not unheard of. Easy enough to test though, because all the switches inside use microJST 1.25 plugs so you can swap known good buttons to suspect sockets on the board to isolate whether the problem is the board, or a wire/switch. edit: here's a nice guide to the wires inside Warthog, handy thing to have around: http://imgur.com/a/4WeVW#0

Once I got my hands on an Otto U2-016 I was surprised how much softer it is than TM's. Warthog's tactile click of the first stage is about right though activates a bit soon, although Ottos's un-clicks on the return stroke as well. Otto pulls in a little farther before the first click too. Otto spring strength is noticeably lower though and it also doesn't pull in quite as far as Warthog, nor get noticeably harder to pull as it progresses to stage 2. Kinematic feel is something in between Cougar's light trigger/short stroke and Warthog's heavy/long setup. Warthog feels weird and can affect aim because it pulls in so far and gets so heavy, enough to cause tendency for muscle spasms. I'm guessing this is why the real one doesn't feel that way! :p edit: forgot to add, I'm making a modified version of the trigger to better match Otto for those on the 'quest for realistic feel' :)

Usually Ace Hardware (and many other local hardware) stores have a rack of springs in their bulk hardware section with a confusing guide hanging next to it to find which drawer to look in, but the springs are individually sized/bundled and they have a decent range. RC/hobby shop might be another source if you have one in your area. If you end up having some made and they actually match the kinematics though, I'd be interested in picking up a handful of them. I'm making left hand Warthog mods that currently req a donor stick, but want to move towards supplying complete grips and those springs would be needed. The upper spring is not as critical since it operated pretty generically, but the lower one is 'screwed' onto the stem of the 12mm tact switch and is calibrated in such a way as to activate the switch while only partly depressed. I've had to tweak the length on that spring before to make a trigger behave on one that was disassembled. Also found a good trick for making the installation less frusty... use a piece of electrical tape to secure the trigger/springs while you do the closeout of the halves... got tired of shooting the spring across the room but wear safety glasses anyhow!

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=138821

Upper spring: Length: .750 (19mm) OD: .300 (7.6mm) Wire dia: .030 (0.7mm) 6 coils Lower spring: Length: .700 (17.8mm) OD: .241 (6.2mm) Wire dia: .025 (0.6mm) 5 coils (coil numbers include loops to form flat ends)

Whether VPC produce such an adapter or not, they should be available in short order. The grips are compatible electronically so it's a no brainer, and there's DIY folk (myself included) on hand that will quickly fill this gap if needed :) As to people saying Warthog is just illusion of quality, well, yes and no. The switches/hats/wiring/board/grip/software are all pretty damn good (better than anything else... so far) and the sensor decent though the use of zinc for the tail-stem questionable. Base/gimbals however are pretty bad though not because they are plastic specifically, it's the easily manufactured/low hanging fruit centering mechanism that gives it behavior that makes it undesirable. Even if TM's trailer hitch/bell/articulation sphere were made of precision machined metal and they used linear bearings on the piston guides, it would still suffer the annoying tendency to want to move only in circles due to the unified spring, and still have a nasty detente across the centers though the detente could be minimized if the contact surfaces were mated radii instead of two flats that strike each other. Even under the best of conditions if you tried to write your own name in cursive using a tracing program, that type of gimbals will make it look like you used your left hand and/or possibly drunk. That's where the miracle of cam centering comes in... precision levels not seen on commercial hardware outside of the Boeing trim mechanism from which they are all derived. Hats off to BaurBRD and Milich and VO101MMaister and the many other pioneering contributors I'm leaving out, who collectively worked for years to bring joystick centering mechanisms out of the dark ages :)

The new damping mechanism is a variation of a 'band brake' from an anatomical description, which relies on damping grease and controlled tension.

An imgur account is free and if you don't have your own image rehosting account you should. By rehosting images you can change them to a url that works with this forums image embedding. http://imgur.com/

Wow, looks really nice. I have several questions off the top of my head... I asked them on your redit post but figured people here would be interested in the answers as well so: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What are your grips going to made from? Are the 4-ways and other buttons self contained, or are there mounting boards inside the grip? Any use of shift registers? Are grips removable/replaceable/compatible with other systems such as Thrustmaster or VKB? How does the centering work? Is there any damping? Tension adjustable? Is there a detente when crossing the centers? Any plans on selling mechanics separately? What type of sensors are being used? What resolution are the axes?

I am about to start making metal articulation spheres as well, though I am going to make one small modification... include the relief for the wire pass-through on both sides of the slot, this way no one can accidentally install it backwards and pinch wires. I need them as replacements to accommodate the twist axis stem I'm working on. Good to know there are purchasable options in the meantime.

Glad to hear my influence pushed you a good direction, and that you actually stuck to the plan hard enough to make it work which is a feat in itself and I was pretty stoked for you and your rig when I saw a vid a while back. As to P51 vs A10, cropdusting with a 30mm cannon in an acro twin jet will probably be one of the most satisfying uses of such a platform, can't wait to see!

I have a grip from a P-51 and dabble in casting, any interest in replica grips cast in black resin? Sup Trip o7

FF2 used 16 bit optical encoders that are still ahead of their time.

Sweet, this was the fist use I thought of when pico projectors became a thing. This approach makes much more sense to me than trying to hack an oscilloscope crt, plus a whole lot more versatile. I'm surprised there aren't more examples of this, would be a better way to handle mfd's in cases where the bezels butt right up against other instruments and don't have room for lcd's without fudging panel layout. One could probably use a mirror to reduce the throw length in half if necessary, or also a larger projector to rear project multiple instruments at the same time the way people use big lcd's for full panels.

edit: wrong thread

Maybe in the throttle, but the stick has 1.25mm microJST connectors inside it. Same with Cougar.

Glad you solved the problem and it was something easy... it's almost always some source of interference and hell yes a ferrite magnet qualifies. Your other issue is likely the software. SST and it's warmed over reskinned variants for x55 and x56 are pretty bad, and cause all kinds of unwanted interactions in games/sims. I used to use it for pedals and it made things crash and usb's unplug themselves and other fun stuff. I think I just saw one here about SST and DCS even. Try out Joystick Gremlin instead https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=178204

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. :v ${1} 8:00 for opening base... nothing to it, it's just a big empty box.

Sounds like perhaps a dislodged magnet or loose ferrous metal bit inside your base, have you looked inside yet? Hall sensors tend to be quite free of 'noise' or this twitch as you put it unless something is making them actually read what they are reporting.

Looks can be deceiving... I'm pretty sure this mod is ironically the cheapest! By making parts out of scrap instead of ordering parts I saved $30-$35 between a printed stem and a Gardena nut inc shipping plus didn't even have to wait the tortuous 3-4 weeks it takes printed parts to show up ;) Last night I cut the grooves I initially omitted, now the stem fits in the grip and even though the grooves go all the way around it the grip has no tendency to twist on the stem. I left just enough gap to allow the nut to easily twist Going to use the board from a Cougar and probably my own switches but may scavenge Cougar parts if I get impatient.

Yeah, guess I just had a lemon batch but either way Shapeways was super cool about it and very fast to respond to my issue. They promptly issued me store credit for all my acrylate parts which was my request, but they also offered a straight refund if I wanted. I kept the store credit because I'm buying some parts again soon and I also felt that was more than adequate compensation as well and I'm pleased with the outcome. I'm still staying away from the acrylate, but will gladly continue buying things from Shapeways. ps: your pm storage is full debolestis

Honestly, I would not recommend rattlecan or any single part paint for knobs unless you touch them very infrequently. Ideally some catalyzed paint you use with a sprayer, which an airbrush is ok but the super tiny tips make it hard to spray industrial coatings without thinning them a great deal. Polyurethane paint (catalyzed car paint) is toxic as hell, but is thin enough to be reduced to use with an airbrush and if you make a ventilation booth to evacuate the fumes and use a decent respirator you can paint these things with a seriously durable finish. If you are doing a bunch at once it makes sense, not so much for just a few knobs. There is a more recent development in rattlecan offerings though, you can buy a can of disposable polyurethane touch up srpay that you bang on the ground to release the catalyst and shake/spray same as normal, but it's straight up catalyzed car paint and you can pick any color/sheen you want. Example: http://www.66autocolor.com/Auto-Spray-Paint-Spray-Max-2K-Aerosol-p/spm2k-custompaint.htm Also one last option, are Perval disposable sprayers. I've personally used these before to spray gelcoat into molds for composite part work and was surprised how well they actually work. You can use catalyzed polyurethane in one of those as well, reduced to the proper viscosity of course.

Super cool, but if it were me I'd make a working lcd version first and after the pit is complete maybe retrofit an actual scope screen. Very few people will truly appreciate the difference between a real crt vs a faked lcd if the function is identical. I've seen too many projects/cockpits not get done or even to a working state by focusing too closely on something which can be very nicely handled in more practical ways. ...then again, this is the cockpit builders section of DCS :p

Took advantage of the sale and picked up a set of the Cougar gimbals parts in polished green nylon since I have a few junked ones laying around anyhow and I already wanted to evaluate these parts. Also picked up a 13deg stem to play with...