My Collective Build

[molevitch]

Hi All,

 

Thought I would share my Helo Collective build with you. Acknowledgements to PeterP and Bignewy in particular for inspirations.

 

Having built a FrankenCyclic based on the MSFFB2 method of PeterP I have planning ever since to do the collective to go with. I have all 3 Chopper modules for DCS, and I love all of them. So I could not decide which collective to go for. In the end I have decided to build several over time. I want to make a set of swappable control boxes to go on the head of the collective lever. The lever itself will be common to all 3, and have a twist throttle too.

 

To start with, however, I have gone for a generic, non specific switch-box.

 

 

On my way home one night I found a pair of crutches in some junk, so I took one. I then hacked it up, and am using the adjustable inner tube as a rotating attachment to a potentiometer. At this stage it was my plan to use a load of scavenged parts from some old joysticks, like the FFB mod.

 

 

I cut a slot in the outer tube, and then need to find a third tube to wrap around and connect to the inner tube through the slot. This will give me a 180 degree turn of the pot.

 

 

The lever was going to be mounted on the side of an existing box I had built to support my WH throttle. Instead, I have now made a pivot bracket which will attach to the left side of my seat.

 

Of course, I need 2 pots, one for the throttle and one for the collective itself. These both came from the cannibalised FFBs and the Flightstick. The smaller MSFFB one fits inside the tubes, just, and the wires trail through the tubes. Since I started this build, that configuration has changed a coupla times.

 

In my next post, I will show how the switch-box comes together....

 

Hope you enjoy my work

[Stevos758]

Very nice! Soon I will get back to mine! I like your approach!

[Swaty]

Nice! Keep posting!

[Mewle]

I just started mine. I have a recalled accelerator pedal from an Aston martin as the main pivot. Its perfect as it has a hall sensor in it already and has nearly perfect range of rotation at the hilt for a collective(at least in arm chair pilot terms). I'm just getting the button box worked out then I'll build a mount for it

[BIGNEWY]

Looking great, keep up the good work and thanks for sharing

[Scarecrow]

Great idea. I'm now thinking about if I could build one.:D

[molevitch]

My Collective Build continued...

 

Hi all, thanks for the comments.

 

Here are some more pix of the build stages.

 

I struggled a bit to find a piece of tubing to fit over the aluminium tubing to form the throttle handle. Finally I discovered that a cut down vitamin container served very well, and I stiffened that with a copper 25mm connector. Drilled through and screwed to the internal turning tube.

 

Disassembled to redirect the wiring for the 2 pots, one from the lever axis via the base and up through the tubing, through the rotating mechanism, and out to the top, and the same with the throttle pot wiring.

 

The throttle handle tubing then covered with thin foam. I am going to cover it with the kind of adhesive grip tape used on tennis rackets/bicycle handlebars.

 

I then set about building the switch box. I bought some black styrene plasticard from a model making shop, along with some styrene tubing. A razor saw and Plasweld also. I bought some toggle switches and momentary switches, but planned to use some boards recovered from old joysticks. (That plan went out the window once I looked at the complications of rewiring and fitting them in.)

 

I used my sketch and worked out a size to suit switches, and hand size. I wanted to keep the switch box small and neat, but not too fiddly.

 

I cut and bent the plasticard into shape, and cut the switch plate and back plate to form according to my sketch. Drilled the switch-plate for the switches, and for the Xbox style controller board of 2 pot based joysticks I planned to use.

I made a kind of clamp-jig to hold it all in shape as it was gluing. I really enjoyed working with the plasticard, took me back to my youth, and Tamiya memories (sigh)....

 

After trying to work with a mixture of MS joystick and an Xbox controller parts, I began to scratch my head about wiring and USB connections.... I had planned to use the pcb's from the joystick in the lever base, using the USB connection built into that. At which point I caved, and ordered a Leo Bodnar BU0836A. What a relief!

 

The Bodnar board would fit behind the main switch box, in a secondary box below the base plate. So suddenly I am soldering and wiring, and having control over design decisions, rather than following someone else's board layouts. So I built a new box for the Bodnar, and cut through the base plate to open up the whole inside of the switch box for wiring and ease (relative) of access.

 

I did a quick test with the board and a few switches, and used the Xbox joysticks. Because these joysticks are analogue, they used 4 of the analogue connections on the Bodnar board.

 

Didn't like the xbox joysticks.... So they came out and I ordered some 8 way joystick style switches from RS Components. 6 x 516-306 Joystick switches arrived the next day. These look to be the exact same switches used on a pcb by Bodnar, but which are out of stock there. Took me a while to work out how to wire them up without a pcb.... And I realised that I would need a lot more switches than 12 to have everything connected.

 

So now I had to get my head around wiring a Matrix!

Took me 2 days just to understand it.

 

I put the mini joystick switches in instead of the pot based ones. After each wiring attempt, I tested with a connection to the PC. After a few mistakes, and corrections, it seemed to be all working. I soldered on the analogue connection blocks to the lever pots cables and threaded them through into the switch box. Attached the box, connected the pots to the Bodnar board, closed it all up. I added a tube under the lever to house the USB cable from the Bodnar board to the lever base, and then cut the end off a spare USB cable and threaded it through. I then used a USB cable from one of the scrapped joysticks to extend the cable, and joined the 2 inside the lever base.

 

I now need to make some hat switch caps. I plan to take a cast of ones on my CH Flightstick using a kids casting kit, which uses dental alginate and plaster. Then I can make a mould which can be used again and again to make a few for future projects!

 

Finishing later today I hope!

[mhe]

This is such a dirty minimalistic hack, it is a work of art. I love people achieving great things with just some stuff they have lying around. Surely the sign of a great tinkerer's mind.

[molevitch]

And here is the final object!

 

Except the green light up switch is not wired in properly, and I have one button conflict to fix....

 

But I have been in the KA-50 for 2 hours since I finished it. WOW what controls I now got!! I just cleared the entire practice field of targets in about 30 minutes. Stable hovers, switches for slewing shkval smoothly, thumb button to lock target, switches to change TV scale, target box size etc. I have really impressed myself today!

 

And I made a plaster cast of the Flightstick hats, and pushed epoxy putty into the moulds to make my own hats for the 2 joysticks. Could be a bit cleaner, but it worked....

[BTTW-DratsaB]

Looks fantastic, great work!

[mhe]

Impressive, especially the speed and the materials used to achieve it. Makes me want to build one myself right now, thanks for the pictures!

[molevitch]

Molevitch Collective

 

Impressive, especially the speed and the materials used to achieve it. Makes me want to build one myself right now, thanks for the pictures!

 

Hi MHE,

 

To be honest, it took a few weeks, of evenings and weekends. I think I started it around 7th Feb, when I found the crutches for the aly tubing. I had already bought some switches and cable, etc when I was building my MSFFB2 combined cyclic, based on PeterP's method.

 

I have been planning it since then, sketching, researching etc. but yes, I suppose the build was quite quick! I had to learn soldering better for all the wiring, and read up on how switches work. I never thought I would be out buying diodes!:music_whistling:

 

I hope you all can take a bit of inspiration from me. You have to dare, to win! Just believe you can do it, and do it. But make a plan first....

 

Thanks for the compliments, I like " dirty minimalist hack"!

 

And the flying is so much better! I took the Huey out for a jaunt, it was like flying a winged colt, but I still crash landed after taking out all targets in the easy ground attack mission, instant action. Laziness....:cry:

[mhe]

I have a background in technology and engineering, so I don't doubt my ability to do such a thing, but I am still very impressed by what you achieved, especially given the materials and pieces you used. The end product compared to the resources used to achieve it is the thing that makes this special for me. :)

[molevitch]

Looks fantastic, great work!

 

Thank you, I really enjoyed doing this too. I want to make the switch boxes interchangeable, so I can have a different one for each machine. Or just better ones. I have seen lots of different versions on the net....

[molevitch]

Nice! Keep posting!

 

Thank you. I have posted finished item pics. I will take some pics of it in-pit later this week.

[molevitch]

Great idea. I'm now thinking about if I could build one.:D

 

If I can do it, so can you! It's worth it

[molevitch]

I have a background in technology and engineering, so I don't doubt my ability to do such a thing, but I am still very impressed by what you achieved, especially given the materials and pieces you used. The end product compared to the resources used to achieve it is the thing that makes this special for me. :)

 

Thank you again. Well I am a clothing designer & pattern cutter. All about measurements and aesthetics. Solutions really. I love making things, and in my work I make quite unusual products....

 

I wish I had a lathe and a CnC machine though. And a 3d printer maybe.... And a laser cutter... And a workshop....

[molevitch]

I just started mine. I have a recalled accelerator pedal from an Aston martin as the main pivot. Its perfect as it has a hall sensor in it already and has nearly perfect range of rotation at the hilt for a collective(at least in arm chair pilot terms). I'm just getting the button box worked out then I'll build a mount for it

 

Aston Martin, eh? Very nice! I may upgrade mine at some point to Halls, or I might just build a whole other one. This was always intended to be a prototype. Then if I put another cyclic together with the spare FFB sticks I acquired over zealously bidding on ebay, I can have 2 pits in the Man-Cave! Build some pedals too? Why not!:P

[molevitch]

Looking great, keep up the good work and thanks for sharing

 

Thank you, I have greatly admired your projects! My wife actually approves of the Man-Cave! Now if I can just persuade my son of the pleasures of flight simming....

[Stevos758]

Yep. I am going to start mine in the next week or so. Nice job!

[Mewle]

Aston Martin, eh? Very nice! I may upgrade mine at some point to Halls, or I might just build a whole other one. This was always intended to be a prototype. Then if I put another cyclic together with the spare FFB sticks I acquired over zealously bidding on ebay, I can have 2 pits in the Man-Cave! Build some pedals too? Why not!:P

 

I was lucky to get that pedal, but it was headed for the bin as that run was made of shoddy materials and they switched supplier as well as the engine management system. But I'm sure other cars have this or a similar system and you could maybe salvage a hall sensor pedal at a scrapyard(if you're lucky). But they're so perfect for these builds and they eliminate a ton of headaches from the design element.

[kaziekama]

Could you by any chance post an exploded view of how your collective arm operates the pot? I'm trying to build a collective myself and am stuck on this aspect. Does there need to be a gear ratio setup so that a 45' movement on the arm rotates the pot the full 360'? Or

Is a 45' turn on the pot sufficient to control the collective properly?

[molevitch]

Hi Kaziekama, I didn't use any gearing at all. Partly laziness, partly impatience! Plus for the main lever pot, I think what I used was a rotary hall sensor recovered from the base of the CH fighter stick. As for the one for the throttle, that was one of the several recovered from the MSFFB stick.

 

I will try and draw uphow iusd the Hall sensor.

 

Cheers

 

M