Slaw Device USAF pedals not holding center

[mhe]

Hi,

 

just ran into a problem that after a long while of headscratching I could at least pinpoint:

 

When I step into the pedals, the neutral point shifts ever so slightly into the direction of input. So after a few hard steps on left rudder and after letting them return to the center point, the input is slightly off to the left instead of neutral/centered. I can fix this by using a few hard steps on the opposite direction. If I overdo it, the neutral position will be shifted to the right in terms of signal output.

 

So even if I could calibrate them, there seems to be some kind of mechanical problem going on, anybody know how to fix that?

 

A long time ago I tried to skype with Slaw and his english wasn't very good but we managed to reinstall the firmware on the controller board but it didn't help the problem at all. Have tools and I am willing to work on it, but maybe one of you guys already had that problem and maybe it was easier to fix than me taking the whole assembly apart in an attempt to figure out what is going on.

 

Cheers,

Martin

[aaron886]

First of all, I have RX Viper pedals, so this isn’t apples to apples. Second, Slaw will work with you until it’s fixed! My pedals had a similar problem after shipping and we found a damaged part after some long skype talks. It’s true, his English is bad, but his passion for good engineering is not, and he will make sure your pedals work. As he told me, at that price, they are a professional grade instrument and should work accordingly. He shipped replacement parts for free and discounted the cost.

 

In the end, my problem was the cap nut over the main axis of rotation. It was de-threaded and not holding the rudder bar firmly. I can’t remember what our temporary solution was, but it worked perfectly, and to be honest I never even installed the replacement parts. It’s held center so perfectly, I haven’t calibrated it since then. 50.00%, every time I check it.

 

Maybe your problem is similar?

 

[Slaw]

Hi,

 

just ran into a problem that after a long while of headscratching I could at least pinpoint:

 

When I step into the pedals, the neutral point shifts ever so slightly into the direction of input. So after a few hard steps on left rudder and after letting them return to the center point, the input is slightly off to the left instead of neutral/centered. I can fix this by using a few hard steps on the opposite direction. If I overdo it, the neutral position will be shifted to the right in terms of signal output.

 

So even if I could calibrate them, there seems to be some kind of mechanical problem going on, anybody know how to fix that?

 

A long time ago I tried to skype with Slaw and his english wasn't very good but we managed to reinstall the firmware on the controller board but it didn't help the problem at all. Have tools and I am willing to work on it, but maybe one of you guys already had that problem and maybe it was easier to fix than me taking the whole assembly apart in an attempt to figure out what is going on.

 

Cheers,

Martin

 

The mechanism of the pedals and their electronic part is designed in such a way that the violation of the pedals is minimal. (Of course, mechanical damage can change everything) As in the case of Aaron, it's likely that your pedals have broken the front axle thread on which the M8 cap nut is located. Try to screw this nut.

But in any case, write to slawdevice@gmail.com, and specify the number of your pedals.

[mhe]

Now that was an easy fix - the nut you told me was a bit loose, I remember being too careful with it in the past when trying to tighten it because I was doing it with the software being opened and I noticed movement on the rudder axis.

 

Now I thought "screw it" and tightened it until it wouldn't move in any further, disconnected and reconnected the pedals and voila, works like a charm. The slight inaccuracies for return to center are because of the hydraulic dampener that puts a little bit more strain on the centering spring than it can deal with but the fluctuation is less than half a percent, so I'm super happy.

 

Thanks everyone!

[FoxDelta]

Good to know