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Trip Rodriguez full motion Huey Cockpit


TripRodriguez

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Greetings friends!

 

If you are looking for info on the motion simulator specifically, visit my build thread over on Thanos forums here: http://motionsim.freeforums.net/thread/35/trips-ac-hp-6dof-build

 

I have decided it is finally time for me to start a cockpit build thread. Some of you may know that I did a lot of asking questions/research to build various cockpits for DCS. Originally I intended to do a Warbird cockpit, but plans change. I do still intend to build modular cockpit modules in the future including a WWII plane, Ka-50, and several other planes, as well as my racing and space sim setups.

 

A couple months ago I finally settled on doing the Gazelle cockpit because I thought it would be really cool to be able to fly multi-crew on the motion sim. Unfortunately as I worked on the Gazelle and spent some time flying it I became less and less satisfied with the flight model compared to the other DCS helicopters.

 

A few weeks ago I finally decided to stop working on the Gazelle and build a different helicopter instead. I deliberated for several days, deciding on whether to build the Ka-50 or the Huey. The Huey really appeals to me because of its lack of advanced technology. I really prefer not to have automated systems and guided weapons. I also absolutely love the Huey flight model, and it's the only Western helicopter.

 

Without further ado, here we go!

 

This is what I started with. This setup is really minimal, without even a full floor because when I originally built my motion sim I was under the impression that lower weight meant higher performance. I later decided that was not the case for me. More weight actually smooths things out a bit and feels better in my opinion. My motion sim capacity is theoretically over 300KG, and I've tested it with over 600 pounds on it without any negative impact.

 

yUa1bVq.jpg

 

My new seat is from a 1970's Rotorway kit built helicopter. I made the cushions from scratch, and they contain a secret! I integrated my JetSeat vibration cushion into these cushions. It's basically invisible but works at least as well as it did when it was in it's original condition.

 

My Cyclic (joystick) is from microhelis.de and it is excellent! It's got basically no centering force and hydraulic damping, along with a proper asymmetrical gimbal. Excellent quality and feel. I will be building a tube to attach my Warthog stick grip to it for the Huey, in place of my original Gazelle grip. I'm going to stick with this instead of getting a B8 style grip because it will be very beneficial to have the extra Hat buttons etc. for binding functions that don't exist in the RL Huey, things like centering the Rift camera. Also the metal Warthog grip just feels amazing, and a natural mate to my metal collective. More on that later.

 

Note that the floor in my new setup is basically a four foot wide grid for attaching modular components for different cockpits. The seat can be located in any of three positions, in this case it's on the right hand side to match the Huey layout. The pedestal console will be occupying most of the left side, and the collective is almost dead on the center.

 

JXhzAQD.jpg

 

This past week I mostly completed my main instrument panel. I suppose this requires explanation since I fly entirely in VR:

 

What I'm going for is Mixed Reality, where every switch etc. I use in VR has a real life counterpart in as near as possible to the same position.

 

The big problem with this of course is that there is no support for mixed reality so you generally wind up blindly fumbling for a switch you are looking straight at which breaks immersion.

 

My solution is that I cut the bottom portion of my Rift's foam surround assembly (including the frame) off, and made an opening at the bottom.

 

I can look down, almost like bifocals, and I can see my hands and any control that is in about the angle range you would normally find your keyboard. I can still see what is going on in the simulation a bit in my peripheral vision, things like the rotor beginning to spin up for example.

 

When I'm done operating the switches etc. I look straight ahead and I'm 100% back in VR. I don't even notice the opening at the bottom unless there is VERY bright light outside the headset or I'm intentionally looking down at that area. The opening is only slightly larger than the Rift DK2 had out of the box.

 

It did make the headset just a touch less comfortable as there is a little bit more pressure on my cheeks but so far I don't even notice after a few minutes. I do have a replacement foam surround too, so it's not like I wrecked the Rift if it turns out to be a bad idea. My original one was starting to get a bit beat up from many many hours of use.

 

I think it's going to work great, but we'll see!

 

Here is my main panel, non-functional instruments but functional switches and rotaries:

5lQvsI2.jpg?1

 

And last, the star of the show! I'm incredibly excited to (for my Birthday) have got my hands on a 100% genuine real life Huey collective! I think it's going to be pretty easy to get it wired up and fully functional. Tonight I got it mounted, this mount is the beginnings of the permanent mount but it will be beefed up a lot mechanically and cosmetically finished. I matched the angle and position up almost perfectly to what I see in VR when seated in the Huey:

 

Y37oaDN.jpg

LxfJc78.jpg

 

That's all for now. Hopefully next week I'll be making progress on the pedestal console and overhead console. I'm trying to get ready to fly as fast as I can manage, given other family responsibilities etc.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Trip


Edited by TripRodriguez

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Demo of my 6DOF Motion VR Sim:

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Bloody awesome Trip. :thumbup:

 

Oh and happy birthday mate. :D

Control is an illusion which usually shatters at the least expected moment.

Gazelle Mini-gun version is endorphins with rotors. See above.

 

Currently rolling with a Asus Z390 Prime, 9600K, 32GB RAM, SSD, 2080Ti and Windows 10Pro, Rift CV1. bu0836x and Scratch Built Pedals, Collective and Cyclic.

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Love it Trip. Looking forward to more updates.

__________________________________________________

Win 10 64bit | i7 7700k delid @ 5.1gHz | 32Gb 3466mhz TridentZ memory | Asus ROG Apex motherboard | Asus ROG Strix 1080Ti overclocked

 

Komodosim Cyclic | C-tek anti torque pedals and collective | Warthog stick and throttle | Oculus Rift CV1 | KW-908 Jetseat | Buttkicker with Simshaker for Aviators

 

RiftFlyer VR G-Seat project: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?p=2733051#post2733051

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This is awesome work!

 

How much? I want one!!!!!!:D

"Yeah, and though I work in the valley of Death, I will fear no Evil. For where there is one, there is always three. I preparest my aircraft to receive the Iron that will be delivered in the presence of my enemies. Thy ALCM and JDAM they comfort me. Power was given unto the aircrew to make peace upon the world by way of the sword. And when the call went out, Behold the "Sword of Stealth". And his name was Death. And Hell followed him. For the day of wrath has come and no mercy shall be given."

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Update for May 19th:

 

Minimum work required to start flying:

 

  • Cyclic warthog tube not done
  • Collective not functional
  • New Motion Sim electronics need to be wired up

 

I'm working on building the Warthog grip compatible tube for my microhelis.de Cyclic, hopefully I'll have that together in the next couple days.

 

I've got the right half of the overhead console panel made, but haven't installed the switches etc. yet. I also just finished prototyping out the mount for the overhead console. I placed it very close to the proper height above my head (within an inch) which is great but I am definitely worried about clearance to the ceiling of the room.

 

I'm really wishing I had sunken the motion sim into the raised floor now, at the time I had no intention of doing full cockpits like this because I thought it was going to be important to keep it light. I can still go back and sink it into the floor but that's going to take probably at least a couple weeks by itself as well as requiring materials etc. I can't currently afford so for now I'm going to keep it where it is and reduce motion travel if need be.

 

No pics right now, hopefully I'll have some with the next update which should be Monday or Tuesday.


Edited by TripRodriguez

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Hi Trip,

Wow, looking mighty fine there, with your dedicated Huey setup. Do you have Jetseat in there too, or Buttkicker? How are you setting up a collective brake/damper?

 

Looking forward to flying with you at BSD in a few weeks time, low level over Normandy I expect....

SCAN Intel Core i9 10850K "Comet Lake", 32GB DDR4, 10GB NVIDIA RTX 3080, HP Reverb G2

Custom Mi-24 pit with magnetic braked cyclic and collective. See it here: Molevitch Mi-24 Pit.

 

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] www.blacksharkden.com

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Hi Molevitch, and thanks!

 

I have SimShaker for Aviators running L/R Aura ST Bass shakers, and also have a JetSeat that has been integrated into my home made seat cushions. Totally invisible except for the wires coming out of the chair, but works as well as it did in it's original seat pad if not better.

 

The collective has plenty of friction in it's existing (real) mount. I also have a motorcycle hydraulic steering damper on hand if I need it, that I had been using on my old home made collective.

 

I'm working as fast as I can (given other RL responsibilities) trying to get flying again! I'll be flying before the panels and wiring are all done, as soon as I get the things in the "blockers" list taken care of.

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Minimum work required to start flying:

 

 

 

- FFB Cyclic: Ready to fly! Added springs today.

- New Motion Sim electronics: Installed and working but have to redo one bit of wiring after parts arrive

- Collective: Need to convert RL collective for PC use

 

Today I took down my Super Sidewinder FFB and added four springs (instead of a counterweight) to give it better feel and help the force feedback mechanism deal with the heavy Warthog grip on an offset extension. I'm very happy with the feel now.

 

I added the "floor" panels around my center console that make it bolt down securely on my modular floor grid.

 

Lastly, I tested the overhead clearance since the motion sim is once again capable of motion! In so doing I punched a hole in the ceiling! Good thing the ceiling of the Sim Room isn't finished yet. Regardless of that incident my conclusion is that there is less clearance issue overhead than down below and with the settings I intend to run it should be fine. I am going to tweak the overhead console just a little to help avoid collisions. Ultimately I want to lower the motion sim about six inches to eliminate these clearance issues, but this will be a several week project in itself so that's going to wait probably until next winter.

 

Unfortunately I'm probably not going to get any more sim work done until Tuesday. I'm now on wife time, and have to go to the in-laws for a couple days through Monday.

 

Trip

 

 

Adding image from tonight: Please note that much of the white you see will be painted black, and the rest will be painted the same gray as the actuator covers:

AbCYNEZ.jpg

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Update: May 31st

 

Minimum work required to start flying:

 

- New Motion Sim electronics: Have to redo one bit of wiring after parts arrive

- Collective: Need to convert RL collective for PC use- NOW IN PROGRESS

 

Tonight I started working on the collective. As always progress was slower than I had hoped, but at least I got a little bit done.

 

I got the wiring sorted, once my wires with the connectors come in all I have to do is a few minutes of soldering and plug them in (those are also the same parts I'm waiting for so I can fix my motion sim electronics wiring). This process took a significant amount of time because I had to identify the wires and the wiring in the collective head is more confusing than you would expect. There was one common ground, and then at least four of the switches had their own dedicated ground. What really mixed me up was the search light on/off/stowed switch. When the switch is in the stowed position it basically shorts the "down" side of the HAT switch which makes sense but took me a bit to figure that out. Even after I figured that out it was a bit confusing to figure out how exactly it was wired. In the end I had a slight problem in that there was no wire going down through the harness for me to use as a dedicated line for the "stowed" position, so I had to combine one of the dedicated grounds up in the head with the common ground and then use the dedicated ground wire from that circuit as my wire for the "stowed" position.

 

I also got the potentiometer for the collective axis attached, but still have to make the bracket for it. The throttle axis potentiometer I haven't got figured out yet, but I have an idea or two. I also have some ideas on how I might work around the annoyingly incomplete "idle stop" functionality in DCS. I sure wish BST did that differently.

 

That's all for tonight!

 

Trip

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Hi Trip,

 

I am interested to see your solution for the Collective Throttle potentiometer. I used Halls in my collective throttle. Less moving parts to align....

Looking good, good luck over the next few days and I look forward to flying with you finally in a few days time.

 

M

SCAN Intel Core i9 10850K "Comet Lake", 32GB DDR4, 10GB NVIDIA RTX 3080, HP Reverb G2

Custom Mi-24 pit with magnetic braked cyclic and collective. See it here: Molevitch Mi-24 Pit.

 

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] www.blacksharkden.com

bsd sig 2021.jpg

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I also got the potentiometer for the collective axis attached, but still have to make the bracket for it. The throttle axis potentiometer I haven't got figured out yet, but I have an idea or two. I also have some ideas on how I might work around the annoyingly incomplete "idle stop"

 

 

i put an "on-on" switch, i just had to calculate the correct postition to make it correspend ...

With respect

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I'm pretty certain now that the problem isn't anything I did, but a defect in the PCB so I will be having to send that back and wait for repair or replacement. =(

 

I got the collective mostly finished but looks like I really do need to put in a gear reduction setup for the pots. Buttons are all working on the PC now though, so that's progress!

 

I also think I came up with a pretty solid solution for operating the throttle below the idle stop. I suppose first I'll briefly outline the problem:

 

In a real Huey the throttle will not physically rotate beyond the "idle stop" until you push the idle stop release button. After that you continue turning the throttle beyond the stop.

 

In DCS it is not possible to operate the throttle below the idle stop with an axis. Only buttons or keyboard input for throttle up/down work when you are below the idle stop. Obviously, this sucks for those of us with full Huey collective setups!

 

My solution is this: In addition to the potentiometer being driven by a larger gear on the collective, I'm also going to put on a rotary encoder driven by the same gear. This rotary encoder will be set up to tap "throttle increase" and "throttle decrease" depending on which way you are twisting the throttle. I have done some testing and as soon as you pass the idle stop DCS prioritizes axis input over button input and basically ignores the commands that will be coming from the rotary encoder. It should work brilliantly!

 

Also, I could probably remove teeth from the large gear in the proper location if I wanted the rotary encoder to stop working once I get into the working throttle axis, but this would probably be complicating things for no reason based on my testing.

 

I'll be sure to let you know how I make out, and provide pictures of the assembly.

 

Trip


Edited by TripRodriguez

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good news on the collective, still don't know how long it will be until I get my replacement motion sim controller. =(

 

As for the collective, tonight I achieved 100% functionality including my solution for the idle stop problem. I'll add pictures in the next day or two.

 

I still have to do final assembly which will take a while, so far just bench tested it but it works!

 

For the idle stop, on the throttle axis I have two sensors driven by the gear. One is a potentiometer for the actual throttle axis, the other is a rotary encoder for the "throttle up/down" commands that work below the idle stop. I added a physical detente to the throttle axis and calibrated the throttle sensor so that this detent matches 0% throttle, right where the idle cut off would stop the throttle from turning any farther.

 

The detente is just a significant amount of friction, not actuated by the idle stop button as it should be. My procedure is to decrease the throttle to zero percent at which point the in game axis won't go any further and I hit the physical detente. I then press the idle stop button which enables the in game axis to go below idle stop via the rotary encoder button presses as I turn the throttle past the physical detente all the way to the physical stop, achieving full engine stop position. When I rotate the throttle to increase again the rotary encoder also works to increase the throttle up to the idle stop, and then the potentiometer takes over and my throttle works as it should.

 

It's not 100% perfect but it's pretty darned satisfactory IMO. I've officially started the engine a couple times using the real Huey collective start trigger and throttle, EPIC! I can't wait to get this thing buttoned up and installed, and then of course all the other panels I have yet to finish.

 

This week is a bit busy for me, but hopefully I'll make faster progress next week. In the meantime I'll still be waiting for those motion parts. Honestly I'm tempted to lower the motion sim while I wait for those parts, and I might do so but this could cause more delays so I probably should let it be.

 

Trip

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Good news today folks! I should have my replacement electronics in about a week and then after a day or so of work be ready to fly! Also I've pretty much decided to try to lower my motion sim down onto the real floor for additional clearance overhead. Hopefully this won't go horribly wrong and take longer than expected LOL. I expect to show some pics of the collective conversion later tonight, I have some things I need to get done first or the wife will have my head!

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Quick update:

 

Sorry no pics of the collective conversion yet because I forgot to take them before making the huge mess I have now! I'll get them in a couple days.

 

The new motion electronics came today! This means I should finally be able to get back in the air as soon as I get the sim put back together.

 

I totally dismantled my motion sim to sink it into the network center flooring (which is about 8.75" above the real cement floor) and gain about 7.5 inches (~19cm) of overhead clearance so I can go back to using 100% heave travel AND raise my Huey cockpit about 3" further above the cockpit floor to get the correct full scale dimensions! This is a change I wanted to make but didn't want to add to my workload. I decided to suck it up and do it now because I know I'd never do it when the rig was up and running.

 

This required fully dismantling the motion sim. I had to make a new base for mounting the actuators, and have to modify the actuator covers as well as build new floor panels to go around the new assembly. It's coming back together now, but there is still lots to do!

BLvNY31.jpg

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Thanks Deadman. It's very hard to estimate since it was spread over a couple years, I used some stuff I already had, etc. My guess would be I have about $6,000 USD in the motion sim, not including joysticks etc.

 

For someone looking to build a rig like this, assuming you have the tools but not any of the parts or supplies you should probably plan for about a $8,000 plus investment.

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Update Jun. 24

 

Actuator cover mods 90% complete

Cockpit Platform installed

 

6zlubj3.jpg

 

Next tasks:

 

Finish up actuator covers 100% and touch up paint

Install actuator position sensors

Build floor panels around base

Wire up new electronics

Adjust position sensors

Modify seat, consoles, stick, collective to sit 3" higher (proper height)

Assemble all above components

Start training flights at this point

Post modification motion sim tuning

Resume work on UH-1 panels and wiring to complete the UH-1 build


Edited by TripRodriguez

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