upupandaway Posted April 30, 2020 Posted April 30, 2020 Hi guys, is there anybody here who has some (long term) experience with Komodo Simulations products? I recently received a helicopter collective bundle from them and although it is an overall very nice product, I am a little worried as to the build quality and durability. Nearly all the plastic parts are printed which is generally ok, but I think this is the reason why the friction clamp makes awful squeaking noises whenever the collective lever is being moved. Does anybody have any experience with this kind of problem and perhaps some sort of simple remedy? Cheers! [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Deedle, deedle!
TomVR Posted April 30, 2020 Posted April 30, 2020 what kind of plastic is it? The squeaking might just needing it to be broken in.
Gruman Posted April 30, 2020 Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) Well, when I first unpacked my 800$ collective by KomodoSimulation about 5 Years ago, I was shocked and dissapointed as well. The build quality and especially the low weight was a bit shocking. But it worked well and still survived aggressive flight maneuvers (DCS and Arma 3 AFM). My list of broken things: The electronics was mounted wrong on delivery, had to open the case and correct it. My friction lever was either to sticky or not holiding the collective up... So I used a bottle filled with water as a counterweight... Apparently a issue with my batch. But after trying to get a hold of Komodo-Guy for a couple of months with a lot of excuses I just used the waterbottle workarround... The Throttle-Grip broke after couple of flights as well, but I never used that in Arma and you switch to auto-throttle pretty quickly in DCS UH-1. Since I stopped playing Arma the collective-base is sitting partly dissasembled in a cardboard box... Couldnt get myself motivated to fix that plastic thingy. What kind of plastic? The cheap feeling 3d printed one. IMHO Its a visually nice kit with not enough engineering and wrong selection of materials. I would have hoped they improve the whole thing... apparently not. Still, try to enjoy the collective and dont be bothered by the build quality. When you are immersed, you wont notice a thing. Edited December 16, 2020 by Gruman Intel I9 10900k @5.1GHz | MSI MEG Z490 Unify | Corsair Vengeance 64GB - 3600MHz | EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 VPC T-50 Base /w Viper & Hornet Grip | VPC Rotor TCS Pro w/ Hawk-60 Grip | TM TPR LG C2 42" | Reverb G2 | TIR 5 | PointCtrl | OpenKneeboard
upupandaway Posted April 30, 2020 Author Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) My list of broken things: The electronics was mounted wrong on delivery, had to open the case and correct it. Principally, it has been working well so far, but something already broke just the other day (after about 10hrs of very moderate use). The thread of the screw damaged the (printed) plastic clamp inside the collective base which regualtes the friction. When you peek inside the case you can clearly see that this specific part is just not beefy enough to sustain any forces and it lacks material in key areas. I was very careful (after initially seeing that it´s all printed) and I´m not a ham-fisted guy - I´ve played musical instruments for more than 30 years... My friction lever was either to sticky or not holiding the collective up... So I used a bottle filled with water as a counterweight... Apparently a issue with my batch. I am having the very same problem, plus the squeaking. It either drops right down after you let go or it´s impossible to move smoothly. But after trying to get a hold of Komodo-Guy for a couple of months with a lot of excuses I just used the waterbottle workarround... He is certainly taking his time with those things. Your comments aren´t really giving me a good feeling about this. The Throttle-Grip broke after couple of flights as well [...] What kind of plastic? The cheap feeling 3d printed one. IMHO Its a visually nice kit with not enough engineering and wrong selection of materials. I would have hoped they improve the whole thing... apparently not. My grip has a dual throttle and one of the grips had a crack in it from day one. I guess you could glue it somehow if need be. That one doesn´t worry me much though, but I agree that the choice of materials is not appropriate in some areas or they should have been designed differently. You wouldn´t expect 3D-printed gears / cogwheels to last very long for the very same reasons. Still, try to enjoy the collective and dont be bothered by the build quality. When you are immersed, you wont notice a thing. I have so far and hope I will continue to do so, thank you. If I have to open it up and jerry-rig it I don´t really mind, but it seems to me more and more that it´s simply not worth that kind of money. Nevertheless, I appreciate you sharing your experiences and maybe this helps other people in making an informed choice. Of all the peripherals I have used over the last 10 years none ever broke, not even partially - until now... Once I have an "official" response, I might post about it. I wonder how many other people are using his / their products. EDIT: After all that criticism, I still think that you are right in saying that it is beautiful. It has a lot of unused potential. Edited April 30, 2020 by upupandaway [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Deedle, deedle!
upupandaway Posted April 30, 2020 Author Posted April 30, 2020 what kind of plastic is it? The squeaking might just needing it to be broken in. Broken in it is. ;) I asked another friend who has a different collective and he said the same thing. His unit was making less noise after a while. The clamp and the whole frame inside the base unit are all one big printed part as it seems. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Deedle, deedle!
upupandaway Posted August 28, 2020 Author Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) It took around four months and many attempts to contact Komodo plus some back and forth, but suddenly I got an email with a tracking number from shapeways in the Netherlands. After disassembly I can now say that the original 3d printed friction adjuster which broke is really not suited for its purpose and a definite design flaw. To anybody considering buying Komodo products (especially the base) I would highly recommend asking in advance about what kind of 3d printing process is being used on those load bearing parts. The product has a lot of potential, but the handling of such requests and the original quality issues are really not on par with what would expect at this price (and from basically any customer support). There may be reasons for this, but if those are not communicated, I cannot help it. Anyway, with the new part in place there seems to be no more awkward noise coming from the collective base. Edited August 28, 2020 by upupandaway [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Deedle, deedle!
Gruman Posted August 28, 2020 Posted August 28, 2020 So Rich (Komodoguy) ordered the new friction part from shapeway directly to you? Do you have a part number or similiar? My collective is still laying dissassembled in a box... Intel I9 10900k @5.1GHz | MSI MEG Z490 Unify | Corsair Vengeance 64GB - 3600MHz | EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 VPC T-50 Base /w Viper & Hornet Grip | VPC Rotor TCS Pro w/ Hawk-60 Grip | TM TPR LG C2 42" | Reverb G2 | TIR 5 | PointCtrl | OpenKneeboard
upupandaway Posted August 28, 2020 Author Posted August 28, 2020 (edited) One of the first things I did was to google the numbers etc., but you can´t find it on shapeways. Feel free to try, but I guess the part is his intellectual property. It was also quite interesting to show the original piece to some real world engineers and people with 3d printing experience and what they had to say about the original design... Edited August 28, 2020 by upupandaway [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Deedle, deedle!
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