AH-64 TEDAC unit built

[SrSosio]

38 minutes ago, flanker0ne said:

Those are my 2 cents to the project.

Obviously with the intent to print this two part with an SLA printer

 

Very cool. Are you building one? I need to troubleshoot some problems I had, that's why I'm a bit in a standstill. I'm also looking for alternative build methods, specially in regards to the microcontroller. I'm going to try to do it with an Arduino Mega. Also, I designed a button matrix PCB. I've ordered it already. I'll test it and if it works, I'll upload it.

[flanker0ne]

Arduino Pro Micro or Leonardo, and Shift Registers for the buttons

With Shift Register, you can move some of the electronics, inside the handgrips, like the Warthog joystick

You will need 10 Shift Register in total. 4 for the left Handgrip, 3 for the right and 3 for the Display buttons

This way, with both handgrip, you'll need just 7 wires

GND, VCC, CLK, LATCH, DATA, Analog1 and Analog2

Edited September 9, 2023 by flanker0ne

[SrSosio]

7 minutes ago, flanker0ne said:

Arduino Pro Micro or Leonardo, and Shift Registers for the buttons

With Shift Register, you can move some of the electronics, inside the handgrips, like the Warthog joystick

You will neet 10 Shift Register in total. 4 for the left Handgrip, 3 for the left one and 3 for the Display buttons

This way, with both handgrip, you'll need just 7 wires

GND, VCC, CLK, LATCH, DATA, Analog1 and Analog2

 

Interesting. I've never worked with shift registers before. I'll do some research to explore that possibility. 

[flanker0ne]

13 minutes ago, Assamita said:

Interesting. I've never worked with shift registers before. I'll do some research to explore that possibility. 

Let the button matrix associated with keyboard

I use it for the Keyboard Unit btw ... but this is OT

Edited September 8, 2023 by flanker0ne

[Strikeman]

I went the route of using a button matrix with a freejoy and a bluepill board. Its allot of wires, I don't know where you would fit the shift registers in the grips there is not that much room.

@flanker0ne Those models look nice, can't wait to see what they look like when you print them out.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Strikeman

[Purzel]

@flanker0ne Would share these files?

Are building them for already existing TEDAC-files? (e.g. from Hannibal, SrSosio or Assamita) or do you do your own TEDAC-build?
Would be great to get some nice files...

Edited September 22, 2023 by Purzel

[flanker0ne]

13 hours ago, Purzel said:

Would share these files?

Of course!!

13 hours ago, Purzel said:

Are building them for already existing TEDAC-files? (e.g. from Hannibal, SrSosio or Assamita) or do you do your own TEDAC-build?
Would be great to get some nice files...

No I'm modifiyng just the "button plate"
The aim of my remix is

• Add lettering (obviously) with the intent of pour white resin in the grooves
• Enlarge the inner space to accomodate some pcb. Pushing out a little bit the 4ways and toggle switches
• Change, where I can, the 12mm button "soft/silent" with the more clicky ones, with a behavior closer to the OTTO

If @hannibal is so kind to share the others shell parts .stl , this will be great. I might add lettering in other positions like on the thumb buttons

Edited September 23, 2023 by flanker0ne

[hannibal]

i have long moved away from the tedac project.

i see that Assamita is selling / sharing tedac files based on some of my design and others.

conversely, komodo is developing a tedac if someone does not want the agony of building and want a professional contols https://komodosimulations.co.uk/collections/komodo-tedac/products/ah-64d-apache-tedac

i am currently designing a simple doorgun controller to share to the masses! im trying to share the design for free befor 2.9 is out.

keep a look out!

 

those who were able to build the controllers, i have to say, they work pretty well for the F15E WSO seat!

Edited September 24, 2023 by hannibal

[SrSosio]

I'm not selling my design. I actually used your grips, and designed a different button plate, as flanker did,but the rest of the grip is yours. 

I'm sharing my build process completely for free, but I got stuck because I have some troubleshooting to do. I did build a full (prototype) unit and thought it worked, so I started building a second one for the sole purpose of documenting and sharing the process. At this point I realized that the prototype one was actually doing some funky things, so I'm now working on fixing those problems. 

Eventually, I would love to fully redesign the whole grips and make them a bit more similar to the real one with the intention of resin printing them for a better experience, but my 3D design skills are very limited, specially for non-geometrical objects like those. 

[hannibal]

13 minutes ago, Assamita said:

I'm not selling my design. I actually used your grips, and designed a different button plate, as flanker did,but the rest of the grip is yours. 

I'm sharing my build process completely for free, but I got stuck because I have some troubleshooting to do. I did build a full (prototype) unit and thought it worked, so I started building a second one for the sole purpose of documenting and sharing the process. At this point I realized that the prototype one was actually doing some funky things, so I'm now working on fixing those problems. 

Eventually, I would love to fully redesign the whole grips and make them a bit more similar to the real one with the intention of resin printing them for a better experience, but my 3D design skills are very limited, specially for non-geometrical objects like those. 

nice.

what funky things is your proto type doing?

[SrSosio]

On 9/23/2023 at 4:24 PM, hannibal said:

nice.

what funky things is your proto type doing?

It was doing weird inputs. It's probably either the fact that the prototype I built it with a nano as an auxiliary board connected via I2C to the Micro, or the manually soldered in a pcb breadboard matrix with diodes.

I've figured out how to use a port expander, so I no longer need an auxiliary nano, and also designed a PCB for the button matrix, with SMD diodes (which I'm waiting for), so hopefully that will provide a more steady build and response.

[hannibal]

when it gets beyond one controller board obviously it gets complex with the amount of buttons the grips and the mfd has with it. i just 3 separate controlller boards, at the end of the day i can make each control independant. i think i have 12 joysticks that show up in windows controllers!! which is pain in DCS but i deal with it

Edited September 29, 2023 by hannibal

[Purzel]

Tonight I've got an idea... (no, not one of these "hold-my-beer"-ideas):
Instead of let everybody searching on his own to get the fitting electronic-parts, why don't we just disassemble two X-Box-controllers,
so everybody just need to solder some longer cables from the switches to the x-box-pcb... That would be my attempt.
Does anyone have done this before? Is it makeable? Could be the fastest way to get a working TEDAC?
(Downloading and printing the grips, a little soldering, put X-Box-stuff inside, assemble the grips, ready-to-fly)
I don't own a X-Box, so I don't now, if the would be possible...  It's just an idea - your thoughts?

Edited October 6, 2023 by Purzel

[SrSosio]

I think it would be more expensive and complicated. Besides, the Xbox controller (even 2 of them) does not have enough inputs. The TEDAC is running about 80 buttons and switches. Yeah, granted that you won't use some (or many) of them, specially not until the FCR comes out, and yes, you can use modifiers, but you take realism out of it.

I finally got some SMD diodes I was waiting for (it took about 35 days from China), so I can resume my development, which will be simple and also ready-to-fly, since Arduino Pro Micros are automatically identified by Windows as gaming devices.

I just need to do some troubleshooting, but I'm still working on it, and I will try to make it for everyone to build it as easy as possible.

[Floyd1212]

27 minutes ago, Purzel said:

Tonight I've got an idea...

It is an idea, but probably not the best one. 

The inside of an XBox controller is very tight, and all the devices are surface-mounted.  Trying to solder leads onto those solder pads is not easy.  I've been inside mine to make some modifications, and it is not fun.

And, a simple Leo Bodnar joystick controller board gives you all the terminals you would find in an XBox controller in a much easier to use package.

But, like Assamita said, the TEDAC is more complicated than 2 XBox controllers.

[SrSosio]

Yeah, LeoBodnard boards are also a more realistic option. I've never worked with them, but I find them not as intuitive (as weird as that sounds) and expensive. I can do the same, or even more, with a Pro Micro, for a tenth of the cost.

There is another good option, called EasyJoy32, but it's a chinese board, and there's not much documentation available. At least I haven't been able to find it.

[slowmover]

How you guyz manage to fit the ps4 thumbstick ?

 

Edited October 6, 2023 by slowmover

[SrSosio]

29 minutes ago, slowmover said:

How you guyz manage to fit the ps4 thumbstick ?

 

 

You could fit it if needed, but I don't use those. I use these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32980616037.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.80.6123194d1juPR1

[hannibal]

i think multiple usb board is better than stripping down xbox controllers. 

but if u have time and theres a xbox controller not being used, why not.

but if one spent money on 3d prints and switches, might as well get controller boards.

 

mmjoy2 and pro micro for the win!

Edited October 6, 2023 by hannibal

[Grennymaster]

I used Leo Bodnar board, yes its not that cheap but anyone with a little patience an soldering knowledge can build the TDAC i did it that way. Would do it ever again, totaly worth it

 

[hannibal]

i use a bodnar for the MFD section of my tedac. i have no complaints. but pro micro for the grips since the board is smaller

[hannibal]

waiting for someone to 3d print a gold AK47.. i mean TEDAC lol

 

[SrSosio]

9 hours ago, Grennymaster said:

I used Leo Bodnar board, yes its not that cheap but anyone with a little patience an soldering knowledge can build the TDAC i did it that way. Would do it ever again, totaly worth it

 

There were some caveats with bodnar's boards that I found when I was exploring the different possibilities, though I'm sure there are workarounds to them:

• I use 3-pin for 3 position switches, like the LST (AOM). Those are effectively like two buttons, since the middle pin is common. With the code, I can make those actually be like 3 buttons. Not sure how you do that with the bodnar.
• As far as I remember, you could either have a board with 64 inputs but no analogs, or analogs, but less inputs (correct me if I'm wrong). If that's so, you would need at least 2 boards to have all inputs available. I wanted it to be only one cable coming out, and I can do that with an Arduino and a port expander.

Also, with an Arduino, I like being able to do this, which is very cool:

Edited October 7, 2023 by Assamita

[Grennymaster]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb Assamita:

There were some caveats with bodnar's boards that I found when I was exploring the different possibilities, though I'm sure there are workarounds to them:

• I use 3-pin for 3 position switches, like the LST (AOM). Those are effectively like two buttons, since the middle pin is common. With the code, I can make those actually be like 3 buttons. Not sure how you do that with the bodnar.
• As far as I remember, you could either have a board with 64 inputs but no analogs, or analogs, but less inputs (correct me if I'm wrong). If that's so, you would need at least 2 boards to have all inputs available. I wanted it to be only one cable coming out, and I can do that with an Arduino and a port expander.

Also, with an Arduino, I like being able to do this, which is very cool:

 

the for the LST i wired two buttons. in DCS controller settings you can put an off positon in as input. So if non of the Pysikal buttons is on, DCS sets the programmed button. Hope thats understanable ( no english man here )

Yes, you will need two boards, wich is the downside. I just dont can programm, thats why i go the way i know could not get into programming But i love your Build

 

[SrSosio]

On 10/7/2023 at 12:05 PM, Grennymaster said:

Yes, you will need two boards, wich is the downside. I just dont can programm, thats why i go the way i know could not get into programming But i love your Build

Once I've finished mine, I hope to be able to share everything  with clear instructions. I will be sharing the code as well as gerber zip files ready to upload to PCBWay or similar, so anyone who wants to build one, will only have to know how to solder a bit, crimp cables and 3D print. But everything else will be provided.