Cougar joystick gimbal repair. (3D printed)

[Terry Dactil]

With the F-16 arriving soon it was time to dig out my old Cougar Hotas.

I had previously converted the throttle and joystick to USB and Hall effect sensors, but the roll gimbal had busted and as I had moved on to the Warthog the Cougar had been gathering dust for the past few years.

 

 

A perfect opportunity for another 3d printing project to repair it.

 

 

It took several tries to get the design right, as the dimensions in the centering spring area are critical to avoid slop, and this is also the area of maximum stress and the layer direction there does not help. However, this was finally fixed by increasing the dimensions to maximum possible, increasing the wall thickness and infill percentage.

 

For anyone with the same broken gimbal problem, here are the files (STL and F3D)

Cougar joystick.zip

 

• Printed in ABS- top down on a heated base.
  
• Layer height 0.2 mm
  
• Top, bottom and wall thickness all 2.4 mm
  
• Infill 70%
  
• Brim and supports.
  

[sirrah]

A few months back, my Cougar broke at the exact same spot yours did! Guess we literally found the weakest link :D

 

Thanks for sharing the 3d print file (personally I'll just use the Cougar's throttle in combination with the Warthog stick, but still very nice from you to share)

[Terry Dactil]

Perhaps we will see a revival of old/broken Cougar sticks and throttles now that the F-16 is on the way. :)

[Nellie]

That's exactly where mine broke. Ended up ordering a couple of upper gimbals and a lower gimbal from Thrustmaster. As of last winter, they still had them in stock. Figured that would hold me until a better solution becomes available.

[BishopC]

This was a great starting point for me, and is overall a great design. I probably have a different version of cougar, because with this version I could not install the poti, and the little "wings" on the gimbal prevented the stick from moving diagonally. It was also a little too close to the ledge of the stick in mine, but I think I can edit it slightly and thus it will be perfect.

Thank you a lot for the work you did, saved me a lot of time.

I will upload my version once I have tested it.

[BishopC]

Upon further inspection, the original design will break the lower gimbal when moved diagonally. Dont use unaltered.

[Rudel_chw]

1 hour ago, BishopC said:

Upon further inspection, the original design will break the lower gimbal when moved diagonally. Dont use unaltered.

 

Thanks for the warning 

 

[Mudspike]

On 1/20/2021 at 4:49 PM, BishopC said:

Upon further inspection, the original design will break the lower gimbal when moved diagonally. Dont use unaltered.

a little too late to resurrect this thread?

My roll gimbal snapped last night and discovered this thread.

Do you or anyone have "altered"  file for this?

 

Thanks

[Terry Dactil]

Apologies to those that had a problem with the 3d printed replacement gimbal.

 

All I can suggest is that you modify the Fusion360 file and make a new STL file with the clearances required.

I did not have any problems, but then I did not use it for very long before abandoning it for a new project.

As the F-16 module was now available, it was obvious that I needed a rigid side stick to go with it.

I have completely removes all all of the base and replaced it with a length of plastic tubing and two strain gauges.

(not quite finished yet, as programming  the USB descriptor makes my brain hurt!)

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Terry Dactil

[BishopC]

Hi,

 

I uploaded both roll and nick gimbal to thingiverse. Those are far from perfect, but they work. The roll gimbal is a tad wobbly, so feel free to play around with the spring holder "roof".

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4759533

 

[Mudspike]

Great to have both roll AND pitch gimbals.

I believe it will help many people tremendously....

[- Sonic -]

my roll gimbal just left me. I have to try it tks!